Black Insert Help for my 65?

john rambo

john rambo

Member
Hello all,

I've recently purchased a non-drilled 65 gallon Aqueon aquarium. This setup will sound a bit odd, but essentially I'm looking to conceal my equipment without using a sump. I currently have a 46 gallon bow front with a canister filter. I've ran it for 3 years with zero issues - all corals are fine. I contacted Marineland looking for a black insert off one of their drilled tanks, but they don't sell them separate.

Has anyone had luck finding just the black insert piece through a manufacture or just from a store that sells plastic sheeting?

I'm framing my 65 gallon in a wall, so I'm really looking to make the tank professional. I don't want any heaters, digital temp probes, etc. exposed.

Thanks!
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
If the tank is glass and your insert is acrylic, silicone won't stick to acrylic, so you won't be able to make an in-tank sump.

You could get a piece of glass and have a notch cut in one corner for the overflow and then silicone it in with black silicone and paint the inside of the glass with black acrylic or spray paint it with non-toxic Rust-Oleum paint.

An in-tank sump is easy to create and it would give you more options for hiding equipment.
 
silverado61

silverado61

Well-Known Member
snakeblitz33 said:
If the tank is glass and your insert is acrylic, silicone won't stick to acrylic, so you won't be able to make an in-tank sump.
.
Click to expand...
Sorry Seth but that's not entirely true. I used silicone to assemble my acrylic DIY algae scrubber and attach it to my acrylic sump on my last tank setup. All you need to do is ruff up a 1/2in edge on all contact surfaces with a 60 grit sand paper before assembling. I had to pry the damned thing off the sump wall before I sold the sump.

John Rambo, that being said, if the tanks going to be "in wall" you could easily do an exterior sump below the tank using an HOB overflow on the tank with an HOB return. It would be so much easier to do maintenance on an exterior sump than on an ******** sump. More room to work.

Were you planning on putting the ******** sump on the back wall of the tank or off to one side?

Just a thought
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
You can use acrylic in glass tanks the silicone actually holds fairly well for baffles or overflows. I just removed the acrylic overflows from my tank and it took a fair amount of effort to free them from the glass.

Try a internet search for "acrylic overflows" there are lots of pre made ones available.
 
lmforbis

lmforbis

Well-Known Member
Agreed I have siliconed acrylic to glass in multiple sumps. In my reef ready tank th3 plastic overflows are siliconed to the glass tank.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Hmm. Every time I have DIY siliconed acrylic to glass I had seal failure. But it's ok, if it's all in-tank, then there isn't anything to really worry about.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top