ohaverd November 17, 2012 Author Share November 17, 2012 Well, Jan kind of motivated me not to hang my head and let all my little critters die. So I scrubbed my rock and put them in a 30 gal tub along with all my plants and CUC. I decided to just go ahead and take everything out and start over... So far i've got all the walls off and all I have to do is scrape the silicon off. I am going to play it safe and use that silicone that comes in the small tube in Home Depot that says "aquarium safe" on it. its more expensive but worth it I should say. At least now we know what happens to a skimmer when you use the wrong silicone. I can literally scrape the bright green silicone out of the collection cup and roll it into a little bouncy ball in my hand, so I am pretty sure that is what it was. If mods want to move this to the build forum and change the name to "ohaverds 125 rebuild" I'll keep you all updated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami November 17, 2012 Share November 17, 2012 Remember, even aquarium-safe silicone is going to take a while to cure when you use so much of it and it has limited access to air and moisture (since a lot was blocked off by the pond foam). I suspect that's probably what most of your problem was. It had not cured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunWyrm November 17, 2012 Share November 17, 2012 If you've already taken the walls off... what shape are they in? If you have to rebuild them - it's possible to foam the rockwall straight to the glass and it will stick by itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohaverd November 17, 2012 Author Share November 17, 2012 Yiatz - I only have to rebuild one of the walls... and to get the proper effect I would need to put the tank on its side and and back when I put foam on it. Its just too big and heavy to do that. Origami - what would you suggest is a "safe" cure time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind November 17, 2012 Share November 17, 2012 I moved your thread and changed the title for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallreef November 18, 2012 Share November 18, 2012 After doing the silicone, letting it set in a warm room for 2-4 days it should be set after 2the and fully cured after 4 if your area doesnt have drastic temp fluctuations..if your doing it in a garage id leave it for atleast a week with it being so cold right now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan November 18, 2012 Share November 18, 2012 I'm glad I was positive motivation for you. thank you for saying that . Test the water everyday and have at least an entire water change of water available for your CUC holding tank. Well, Jan kind of motivated me not to hang my head and let all my little critters die. So I scrubbed my rock and put them in a 30 gal tub along with all my plants and CUC. I decided to just go ahead and take everything out and start over... So far i've got all the walls off and all I have to do is scrape the silicon off. I am going to play it safe and use that silicone that comes in the small tube in Home Depot that says "aquarium safe" on it. its more expensive but worth it I should say. At least now we know what happens to a skimmer when you use the wrong silicone. I can literally scrape the bright green silicone out of the collection cup and roll it into a little bouncy ball in my hand, so I am pretty sure that is what it was. If mods want to move this to the build forum and change the name to "ohaverds 125 rebuild" I'll keep you all updated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohaverd November 26, 2012 Author Share November 26, 2012 (edited) OK, heres an update... So I got all the rock walls off, scraped out the old silicone... (the residue was a a real b**** to get off) and then I placed them back on using daps aquarium grade silicone, and I have let that cure for 4 days now. I think I'm going to wait an entire week. I have a question now... I've decided to put sort of a pool of sand in the middle of my tank now, and I have heard of people using sand from the beach... I have a beach on my community lake that they imported from an actual beach... could I use this sand? And then just use like a bag of live sand from LFS to seed it? Or would sand from a fresh water lake have stuff in it that shouldnt be in a reef tank? Edited November 26, 2012 by ohaverd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami November 26, 2012 Share November 26, 2012 It's likely to be silica-based sand. I prefer aragonite sand which comes from coral skeletons. Take some of the sand and put a drop or two of vinegar on it. If it bubbles, it's likely to be aragonite. If it doesn't, it's likely silica. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohaverd November 26, 2012 Author Share November 26, 2012 thanks origami, I'm done cutting corners... what do you guys think of this stuff from MarineDepot? CaribSea Dry Aragonite Special Grade Reef Sand 40 lb http://www.marinedepot.com/CaribSea_Dry_Aragonite_Special_Grade_Reef_Sand_Dry_Sand_for_Saltwater_Reef_Aquariums-CaribSea-CS0020-FISSDS-vi.html and if any LFS has equivalant? I'd rather not pay for shipping... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yauger November 28, 2012 Share November 28, 2012 You can buy that live sand from Petco same size and weight for pretty cheap from last I saw them. I'm following a sad because it's pretty interesting sorry for all the hiccups so far but I'm sure that you're going to get it right this time around. best of luck bro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey18 November 28, 2012 Share November 28, 2012 Routing for the rebuild! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohaverd December 4, 2012 Author Share December 4, 2012 ok, so my sand should be here tomorrow, so I start to fill the tank back up shortly after I rinse the sand. Quick question though... Filter socks in the sump... I've never used them, should I? why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind December 4, 2012 Share December 4, 2012 If you can keep up with changing out or cleaning them regularly then they are good but if your available time to do that task is limit I wouldn't use them. If not maintained they will collect detritus and uneaten food and can act like a wet/dry filter which can cause nitrate issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind December 4, 2012 Share December 4, 2012 Did you go with the CaribSea Special Grade Reef Sand 40 lb? That is the same stuff I just added to my new tank. I got mine locally from Fins and Feathers. I didn't rinse mine, just dumped it right in. The skimmer ran wet for two days pulling out the fines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridetheducati December 4, 2012 Share December 4, 2012 There are three methods of filtration, biological, chemical, and mechanical. Filter socks act as a form of mechanical filtration. What are you doing for mechanical filtration? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohaverd December 4, 2012 Author Share December 4, 2012 CoralHind - Ya that is the sand I ordered... Is there a downside to rinsing the sand? Am I just being paranoid? Redetheducati - Biological - live rock and sand Chemical - dose kalk and vodka Mechanical - skimmer and uv sterilizer, and maybe filter sock... Does the filter sock need to be thrown away after use? Like once a week? or can you rinse it out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country December 4, 2012 Share December 4, 2012 You can rinse out the filter socks or run them through the washing machine. I used to try and change them out twice a week but was lucky to do it once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan December 4, 2012 Share December 4, 2012 Refugium is also biological (macro, pods, etc.) as well as dosing bacteria (MicroBacter7, etc.). Filter socks are good, like Coral Hind said, if you can keep up with changing them for the reasons he stated. CoralHind - Ya that is the sand I ordered... Is there a downside to rinsing the sand? Am I just being paranoid? Redetheducati - Biological - live rock and sand Chemical - dose kalk and vodka Mechanical - skimmer and uv sterilizer, and maybe filter sock... Does the filter sock need to be thrown away after use? Like once a week? or can you rinse it out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan December 4, 2012 Share December 4, 2012 +1. Right now I don't have them on my system. They're in the wash. They've been off for about 5 days now. I do notice more detritus when they are off for this amount of time. You can rinse out the filter socks or run them through the washing machine. I used to try and change them out twice a week but was lucky to do it once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yauger December 4, 2012 Share December 4, 2012 I run socks 24/7, 200 micron eshoppe socks work the best... double wash in the washer once with bleach and second with just hot water. never had an issue and doing it this way gives you about 3-5 days per sock change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trockafella December 4, 2012 Share December 4, 2012 CoralHind - Ya that is the sand I ordered... Is there a downside to rinsing the sand? Am I just being paranoid? Redetheducati - Biological - live rock and sand Chemical - dose kalk and vodka Mechanical - skimmer and uv sterilizer, and maybe filter sock... Does the filter sock need to be thrown away after use? Like once a week? or can you rinse it out? I would switch the vodka for vinegar, much safer route with the same results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohaverd December 5, 2012 Author Share December 5, 2012 I would switch the vodka for vinegar, much safer route with the same results. Does the vinegar part of the Kalk drip not count toward that? I didnt mean I dose kalk and vodka together... I have a constant dose of kalk (pickling lime/vinegar) going through my ATO. And dose the vodka once a day strait into the sump. Or are you saying I could dose extra vinegar by itself instead of the vodka? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind December 5, 2012 Share December 5, 2012 CoralHind - Ya that is the sand I ordered... Is there a downside to rinsing the sand? Am I just being paranoid? No downside to rinsing, just too much work for me so I skipped it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ridetheducati December 5, 2012 Share December 5, 2012 No downside to rinsing, just too much work for me so I skipped it. I skipped that procedure as well, too much work. Let the skimmer do the work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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