144G Half Circle Mixed Reef

[Carmen]

Originally Posted by fishytime

Aw... sorry to hear about your bad day .....When I said to dip your brain I didnt mean dip it garlic extreme and and NLS pellets!..... that sucks about the flame Girly...now you know why it wasnt looking too good......do I need to babysit your brain too?

Ha ha! Now I know what you really think of me....... you know I'm smarter than that... I did dip it (not in garlic!) and the "melting" has ceased but it certainly isn't looking too hot. "Angelina" was paying "alot" of attention to it for the 2 days after dipping...I am hoping she was just desliming.... since she seems to be leaving it alone today.... I can be optimistic...can't I?

Today is better...but of all the epoxy work I did...only one remains stuck...and I'm sure it's just cuz a snail hasn't wandered by yet.

I changed one of the bulbs in the T5 to a Geissmann Actinic+ (thanks Josh) just to see if I could get some better color (a little less blue maybe that brings out the colors more)...I will have to take a couple pics mabe tonight to see if it made any difference.

[Delphinus]

You may already know this but I'm compelled to share this tidbit. Underwater epoxy is a putty and not an adhesive. Ie., if you use it to "stick" one thing to another, you're going to be frustrated because it will fail 19 times out of 20.

Instead you have to use it as a filler and fill in gaps and then let it harden. So to make two rocks stick together, you have to set them in such a way that they sit together naturally, and use the epoxy simply for stability support.

If the rocks don't fit together naturally then the epoxy will fail since it has no rigidity during the cure process. Instead, you'll have to shunt and shim with rubble, or take the rocks out, drill them and insert rods (acrylic, fibreglass, pvc, whatever) to form the structural base.

Hope this info helps!

[Carmen]

Thanks Tony! I did know that actually but this particular brand just SUCKS! I have used the two part putty with pretty good success but this stuff I used is a single one part something or other kind and I hate it! It either sets too quickly or it just doesn't "adhere" to anything...even after jamming it in the cracks!
My rocks are actually fairly stable with out anything at all...sorta like a puzzle. I have a few ontop that could use some stabilizing but the base structure is pretty stable...I am comfortable with it anyway. I was using the epoxy last night to place some corals that keep getting knocked down...rock on rock and a couple frags needing positioning...have to run to RC to pick up the good epoxy!

[Carmen]

New Bulb...Any color difference?
and a couple pics...fish were all posing tonight!
before...

after...new bulb