Question on repairing glass top

[bent240LV]

my glass top broke at the hinge the other day and i need to fix it. have a few questions, first, what is good at removing the leftover silicone?? i have used paint thinner but did not seem to do much. Also, what is a good silicone to use to bond the two pieces back together? I have the dap marine silicone but it seems kinda wimpy, is there something better i could get at HD or lowes.? i really want to get a diamond watchman goby and the lfs said they are jumpers. thanks in advance

[ShirleyM]

Hi there,
We don't use glass tops...we use eggcrate...the stuff you get at hardware/home improvement stores that comes in 4x8 sheets for placing under fluorescent lighting....

We kept our watchman with his pistol shrimp in a 10-gal mini reef with eggcrate...he never jumped (5 yrs). If you have a pistol shrimp for him, and plenty rockwork for them to dig up...I doubt he'll be interested in jumping.

What size tank do you have?

~ Shirley

[bent240LV]

i have a 6o gallon flat-back hex, so is the eggcrate ok with the lights and all, because my vho's are kinda closs to the water maybe 6-7 inches. i might be kinda picky here, all thought the eggcrate is thin, does it block any of the light out or make a checker board type effect? maybe a dumb question sorry.

[ShirleyM]

No such thing as a "dumb question"

We have eggcrate on all our tanks: 120 w/ MH and VHO lights - theirs nothing between the lights and the water, but there are strips of eggcrate on either side of the light fixture...and the lights are about 7 in max from the water...the plexiglass that came with the light unit cracked a long long time ago.

The 125- PC light..., eggcrate covers the entire top, and the light fixture sits on top of the eggcate and ends of the tank. If you want pics to visualize...just let me know.

NOW...about the watchman in a tank that size...he'll love it, but your rockwork will collapse as the pistol shrimp digs the tunnels for the watchman (you are getting both, right? they live symbiotically together)

We had the watchman and pistol in a 30 reef originally....but they wreaked havoc with the rock...so they got their very own tank and could tear it up as much as they wanted to.

I'd sure hate to have to tear a 60-gal tank apart to catch a pistol or watchman.

~ Shirley

[bent240LV]

ShirleyM, i have a off topic question on your sailfin tang, what breed is that and how does it compare to the sailfin in my avatar? i realy like sailfins and am looking for another one, is that a red-sea SF tang? thanks

[bent240LV]

thanks for the info, lets say i get just the goby, will it be a problem? Do they prefer DSB, becasue i only have about a 2 inch bed and the rocks that are on the base are pretty much almost on the glass and are big pieces, i could not see the shrimp/goby moving them, but then again weird things happen in aquariums. I have a maroon clown and i know they prefer to have an anenome but mine does just fine without one, are the relationships of the two similar? i will go to home depot to get some eggcrate, i just have heard before its not good to have the light directly above exposed water thats why i wanted to get the glass top back on. I wipe my lights off at least once a week so it should not be a problem. thanks

[ShirleyM]

Yep, it's a Red Sea Sailfin Tang --- I love that fish! RS Sailfins are at the top of my list of favorite fish. We've had him a long time.

I'm not sure if the one in the avatar you have is a juvenile, or the other species of Sailfin...

Here's one of my favorite pics of the Red Sea Sailfin:



And here's a link to a bunch of reef shots from last December:

http://shirleymorgan.com/misc/TOTM-120/

The 10-gal folder is from 1986 or so...

~ Shirley

[ShirleyM]

Originally Posted by bent240LV

thanks for the info, lets say i get just the goby, will it be a problem? i have a maroon clown and i know they prefers to have an anenome but mine does just fine without one. Are the relationships of the two similar? i will go to home depot to get some eggcrate, i just have heard before its not good to have the light directly above exposed water, but i clean my lights often, atleast once a week i wipe them off. thanks for the quick replies

We have a huge gold-banded maroon clown...he has nothing to call home but rocks and other fish...fish-only tank. He's very agressive...wouldn't work in our reef with the small fish we have in there.

If the watchman has a pistol shrimp to dig his tunnels, and the maroon is real small now...it might work.

I'm sure we should clean our lights....but we never do.

The maroon will do fine w/o an anemone, but the Watchman pretty much needs his pistol shrimp....imho. When our pistol died during a molt, our watchman was miserable -- we replaced him within the week, though.

~ Shirley

[ShirleyM]

After looking again at your avatar...I don't believe that's a red sea at all. Even the juveniles look more like the red sea adult, just more brilliant and more yellow, but not like that.

[bent240LV]

i realy liked my SF he was my favorite, i went on vacation and had a good friendw atching the tank but the SF managed to get sucked into the overflow, i was so sad when i found him in the filter floss. so i put the screen back in and now im looking to get another one. I recall the LFS i got the Sf from saying it was some zebra specias or soemthing like that. Are the RS juvi's also colorfull like the one i had?? they are so hard to find that small here

[ShirleyM]

The real small ones are quite colorful. I wouldn't get one too small...rather risky. The "average" size ones I see for sale here are around $62.00 and up.

Overflow...do you have a sump? Is your tank drilled or is it a hang-on-back unit? I would be careful about screens...you don't want them to clog up and then have your tank overflow onto the floor... I'm not sure what your setup is, though, so may not be a problem.

Oh, you said filter floss...what do you have that has filter floss? I never used filter floss with our 10-gal... Do you have plenty live rock and a skimmer running? I'm not familiar with a s/w system that uses filter floss....

~ Shirley

[bent240LV]

in my setup i have 60lbs LR a hans ong overflow box, a sump w/bioballs and the filter floss i have above the bio balls to catch debris and no i dont have a skimmer.

[ShirleyM]

If it were me, I'd get rid of the bio balls and the filter floss, and invest in a good skimmer. Just use the sump as a sump, not a wet/dry unit. That will cut your nitrates down, etc.

I just saw the beginning of a post above that somehow I missed...about the goby and the sandbed...

We had about 2 inches in our 10-gal with lots of LR. He's got to have a pistol shrimp to live happily and securely. And a pistol would need him...as the goby feeds the pistol and the pistol engineers amazing tunnels and caves for the watchman.

They will move rock...amazingly capable of digging under and causing rock to move.

I gotta ask...why are you reluctant to buy a pistol shrimp for a Watchman goby?

~ Shirley

[bent240LV]

no, im not reluctant, i was just wondering if they could do without thats all. as far as my nitrates and everything i have not had a problem, i like to think that i have very good husbandry practices, i'm constantly cleaning the bottom of the sump, the filter floss gets cleaned couple time a week and changed about every two weeksand also change about 10-20 % water every week with Ro/DI that i make at home. I have a red sea test kit and i usually test once a week everything has been zero so far and PH around 8.0 - 8.2. I know there is always an argument about the bio balls, i do not have a reef tank yet, the tank i am talking about is fowlr. Since i have had good luck so an will keep things the way they are since it has worked for me. i appreciate all the help!!!!

[ShirleyM]

How old is your tank?