700 + Aquarium Build
- Thread starter arl
- Start date
Thanks.FishyFry;1145521; said:This is gonna be so sharp when it's done!
Yes, normally it takes 15 or so water changes in a span of 2 months before the cement cures. but I think they put in water too early. They would fill it with water after 2 days. I think if I air dry/cure it longer I might not have to do as much WC. We are talking about 600+ gallons of water here..... and do it 15 timesandy123;1145553; said:
. The last cemnt I put in was 2 weeks ago and also another theory is the use of water sealant cement instead of the popular quick crete cement should make the cement easier to cure. I used water sealant cement and hopefully I will only have to cure the surface of the cement.OK I guess might as well tell my battle plan for the cement BG curing..... I saw this product at home depot
it says for fish pond use and have to only air cure it for 12 days then put fish. It's a bit expensive $50 for this 2.5 or so gallon bucket but I was lucky to get a broken cover/opened/returned one on sale at half price. I applied this on top of my water sealant cement.
it says for fish pond use and have to only air cure it for 12 days then put fish. It's a bit expensive $50 for this 2.5 or so gallon bucket but I was lucky to get a broken cover/opened/returned one on sale at half price. I applied this on top of my water sealant cement.
Another thing is I have been rotting/soaking peat moss on our rain collector bin for 2 months or so now. I will be putting this acidic water to the tank to bring down the PH instead of changing the water. I did though of adding PH dropper chemicals but didn't really dig deep into it. My plan is to fill it up with water and put this peat moss mix into it and let it stay for 5 days or longer. The water I will be using will just be the water taken out of my other fish tank. I do a lot of water changes on my discus plus the sump tank of my aros. Might have to do 2 water changes on my sump tank before I can fill this tanks. I have no intention on puting fresh tap water for curing.
After 5 days of water I'll drain and clean the tank and dry it completely then apply my 1.5 gal of epoxy resin on the cement. I bought this resin when I ws figuring out how to stick my syro to the abs sheet but didn't really used it. That epoxy seal on top of the cement will hopefully stabilize the PH. If not ...I guess yeah ... I'll have to do more 600 gal water change 
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.Another method to use in curing the cement will be dumping ammonia in the tank and let algea/bacteria develope on the walls. This will seal and kinda cure the cement. I guess that will be my nest option if after puting epoxy resin PH is still high. I am thinking of just the household ammonia available at wallmart.
Another thing that I did on the tank is putting raised rock on the floor. Since I am putting discus in my tank, this will serve as their plate so that not all the food will drop down to the drain floor. Discus like to nibble for food on the floor so I made them this. It is also styro with cement. I'll just have to blow it before dropping new food. I actually planned a return pointed at these plate so that all I have to do is opena valve and it blows away the dirt. but I forgot about it when I was doing the back ground.
