29G Brackish

[wodesorel]

Okay, so the tank is upstairs and set up, minus the stuff inside.

This is what the tank looked like when we bought it:



After three coats of paint on the stand and the addition of some decorative trim, a trial coat of paint on the tank trim (don't know if it'll stick but it'll work until we can build a canopy in a few months), a darker light strip from another tank and some serious scrubbing:



I tried to get all the stains off the glass. Razor blades, vinegar, bleach, polishing compound... It took some of the marks off but not a lot. It's the only thing I'm upset about - since the tank will only be partially full of water it's going to be noticeable.



Really wondering if we shouldn't try for a $29 29G at Petco this weekend... Yeah, it was a $20 complete set (or was it $15?) and I'm very proud of that find, but I also thought I could get that glass clean!

And heres a photo of the redone PVC and plexi (with epoxy):


I like that look so much better! The PVC glue isn't drying, so I redid the little stand section and the sand box with the epoxy as well. I'm just waiting on that to cure and then I can put it all together and fill it with water.

[eloise13]

They look so much better now!

[wodesorel]

The epoxy will be cured by Saturday, so the plan is to fill it then and move the fids. Here's all the parts in their places. I still need to add a 1/2 inch layer of sand to the bottom, but it needs to be rinsed out to get rid of the dust that'll cloud the water. And I need to fill the upper level with sand-castle sand so they can tunnel. (I fell down the steps last night and got really banged up, so I wasn't in the mood to lug heavy buckets of sand around today.) This weekend though!

[SoulLonely]

soooooo exciting!

[wodesorel]

Okay, filled with water!! It's a bit cloudy still but that should settle down overnight. The tank holds a perfect 15 gallons of water. (I was a bit shocked about that considering it's a 29 gallon!)





Two small problems though.... The filter is insanely noisy and I don't think we can use it. Hubby and I were having to shout when we were standing next to it so we could hear each other. And the heater that I thought would work turned out to not be submersible and the only place for the heater is under the water.... We'll have to figure something out in the morning.

[Nethers]

You're doing great work! Keep us updated!!

[wodesorel]

DONE!

Ran into a few snags though....

The land area flooded sometime last night and I don't know how. Worried it may be wicking action that's pulling water up and into the sand. Emptied it and refilled it and we'll see what happens.

The filter is shot... Bought a new one but realized walking out of the store that I had another commitment and had to return it so we didn't run out of money this week. Found my old one from 1987 - works fine in a bucket but it's not strong enough to get more than a trickle when above the water level. Going to try to get away with the tiny in-tank filter that I've been using for their little tank - the motor blew in the other in-tank one.

Heater is not submersible.... Can't use it safely in this set-up. Found and old one that I stopped using about 7 years ago, and on low it's not turning off.

Other than that though - all good. It's a bit chintzy for the time being - I had to raid my packrat stores of old tank decorations. I'm hoping to plant it out and make it more natural looking eventually. I love natural looking tanks, but they cost money!

I'll move over their cocohut and freshwater dish, and the floating plants, when the crabs get moved over. I'm hoping tomorrow for the move, but I need to wait to see how the temp and salinity are first. (Got a hydrometer at least!)

[b.digital]

Very cool, nice work!!

[wodesorel]

I had "help" cleaning everything up tonight:



:roll:

[Nethers]

Haha love the cat shot!

[wodesorel]

Fids are in!





(Love this shot - headless fid time!)












The last male died last night. Really bummed about that! We'll be going in the next few days to get at least one more since I think the girls need to have a man around. So that leaves me with the six females.

The land section is still flooding. I think the sand is wicking the water up! Any thoughts on if cocofiber or peat moss might stop this? (Common crabby people! Think of what happens with your water dishes. )


I also think it needs guppies! And a nerite snail.... and.... I found out that blue-legged hermits are potentially brackish as well. I may - may - try one and see what happens. Not really sure if I want to take the chance, but others have done it successfully!

[tnt4eva]

The only thing I can think of to stop the wicking is a barrier, like a bead of silicone all the way around the land area. Something that the water won't seep across. But that's going to be next to impossible with them all in there already.

Actually, where exactly is it wicking from? Is it just coming up that ramp or is it from other places too? If it's just wicking up the the ramp, you could try sitting the end of the ramp that's in the land area in a plastic dish/lid, like the food dish - that way there would be a barrier.

[wodesorel]

As far as I can tell it's coming from nowhere. (Nothing seems particularly wet!) I thought it would look really cool to have the whole thing coated so it was camouflaged, and so I did it all the way round and up and over the inside about an inch. I'm going to stick a fan on it in the morning to dry out the surfaces and see if I can tell where it's coming from. The epoxy made the sand dark, so it's hard to tell what's wet and what's expoy. I'm out of dry sand as well, so I have to wait for something to dry off before I could test that way.

[SoulLonely]

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! I love it! The crabbies seem to be enjoying it! And I love guppies... so I will be super excited if you add those to it

[CrabbyMom33]

That looks great!