BigJim
Aquarium Advice Addict
I took advantage of a day off work finally got around to setting up my 40B that's been sitting empty in my basement for the last few months. Petco dangled the tank in front of me with their $1 per gallon sale and I took it, hook, line, and sinker.
I painted the back of the tank using Rustoleum Gloss Black spray paint. I wiped the tank down with a wet rag, but I really should have used paint thinner. There was something on the back of the tank that caused the paint to crinkle and look really terrible. It took me an hour with some very fine steel wool and a lot of elbow grease to remove the bad paint, but it was worth it. The back of the tank looks nice and smooth now.
I built the stand myself. I had a few extra 2x4s lying around, so I got a box of screws and spent some time in the garage. It's painted with the same Rustoleum gloss black that I used for the back of the tank. It may be a little crude, but it's effective. There's also room on the bottom for another tank(s) for some time in the future when my wife decides we should breed some more fish.
Here's a shot of the empty tank on the stand. You can see the AC110 I'm going to use. I picked it up off Craigslist for $40. It came with a pretty fresh sponge and some loose ceramic biomedia. I put the biomedia in media bags and put them in my other tanks. One has been seeding for about a month, the other for about two weeks.
Petsmart was clearing out their Hydor Theo heaters a few months ago, so I picked up as many as I could find. I'm going to use a 300W heater in this tank. It's a little big, but I got it for about $10 new.
Here's the most controversial part of the build. I've been interested in doing a tank with black substrate for a while, but I can't bring myself the pay $1.50 a pound for sand. I was wandering through Menards on my weekly trip there and I found some blasting media called "Black Blast" back by the concrete. Here's some more information:
Blackblast (an aluminum silicate blast cleaning abrasive) is a blast cleaning abrasive made from coal slag from coal fired power plants. This abrasive is generally considered to be the safest of the non-recyclable industrial blasting media and is most commonly used for blasting coated or uncoated metal or concrete surfaces. Blackblast is commonly used as a blast media on painted steel bridges and for ship restoration projects.
Advantages of Blackblast - Coal Slag
* Non-reactant – will not interfere with your coatings
* Easy cleanup
* No detectable crystalline silica
* No heavy metals
Available Sizes and Profiles:
Size Profile Use
Utility #8-4 3.5 - 5.5 Mil For the tough blasting job
Medium #12-40 2.5 - 4.0 Mil For the tough blasting job
Medium Fine #20-40 2.0 - 3.5 Mil General blast cleaning
Fine #30-60 1.0 - 2.5 Mil General blast cleaning on delicate substrates when a smooth finish is required
Extra Fine #50-150 0.5 - 1.5 Mil When a very smooth finish is required
Technical Specifications
Symbol Name Percentage
SiO2 (Silicon Dioxide, Total) 46.5%
Al2O2 (Aluminum Oxide) 22.5%
Fe2O3 (Iron Oxide) 19.0%
CaO (Calcium Oxide) 5.5%
LOI (Loss on Ignition) 3.0%
MgO (Magnesium Oxide) 1.0%
K2O (Potassium Oxide) 1.0%
TiO2 (Titanium Oxide) 1.0%
SiO2 (Crystalline Silica) < 1.0%
Characteristics
Colour: Black
Bulk Density: 90 lbs/ft3
Grain Shape: Angular
Solubility: Insoluble
Hardness: > 7 Mohs
I've read a lot of differing opinions on using the stuff in aquariums. Some people say it'll leach a lot of stuff into the water, others say it'll tear up the fish, still others say they've used it with no ill effects.
I love the "Safe to Use" statement on the bag.
What I've gathered from reading about the coal slag is that it's mostly quartz and it's pretty insoluble. Before I bought it, I made sure it wasn't really sharp. There was an open bag at the store, so I took some of it and really ground it in between my palms. It's slightly rougher than PFS, but really no sharper than play sand.
It really looks awesome. Black Blast is black, but it's shiny at the same time.
These pictures do a pretty good job of catching the shininess.
The stuff is pretty clean out of the bag too. I washed a bucket of it, but I really didn't see much dust come out, so I just poured the other bags into the tank. There is a little dust, but not much. Here's what floated to the top out of about 80lb of Black Blast:
I painted the back of the tank using Rustoleum Gloss Black spray paint. I wiped the tank down with a wet rag, but I really should have used paint thinner. There was something on the back of the tank that caused the paint to crinkle and look really terrible. It took me an hour with some very fine steel wool and a lot of elbow grease to remove the bad paint, but it was worth it. The back of the tank looks nice and smooth now.
I built the stand myself. I had a few extra 2x4s lying around, so I got a box of screws and spent some time in the garage. It's painted with the same Rustoleum gloss black that I used for the back of the tank. It may be a little crude, but it's effective. There's also room on the bottom for another tank(s) for some time in the future when my wife decides we should breed some more fish.
Here's a shot of the empty tank on the stand. You can see the AC110 I'm going to use. I picked it up off Craigslist for $40. It came with a pretty fresh sponge and some loose ceramic biomedia. I put the biomedia in media bags and put them in my other tanks. One has been seeding for about a month, the other for about two weeks.
Petsmart was clearing out their Hydor Theo heaters a few months ago, so I picked up as many as I could find. I'm going to use a 300W heater in this tank. It's a little big, but I got it for about $10 new.
Here's the most controversial part of the build. I've been interested in doing a tank with black substrate for a while, but I can't bring myself the pay $1.50 a pound for sand. I was wandering through Menards on my weekly trip there and I found some blasting media called "Black Blast" back by the concrete. Here's some more information:
Blackblast (an aluminum silicate blast cleaning abrasive) is a blast cleaning abrasive made from coal slag from coal fired power plants. This abrasive is generally considered to be the safest of the non-recyclable industrial blasting media and is most commonly used for blasting coated or uncoated metal or concrete surfaces. Blackblast is commonly used as a blast media on painted steel bridges and for ship restoration projects.
Advantages of Blackblast - Coal Slag
* Non-reactant – will not interfere with your coatings
* Easy cleanup
* No detectable crystalline silica
* No heavy metals
Available Sizes and Profiles:
Size Profile Use
Utility #8-4 3.5 - 5.5 Mil For the tough blasting job
Medium #12-40 2.5 - 4.0 Mil For the tough blasting job
Medium Fine #20-40 2.0 - 3.5 Mil General blast cleaning
Fine #30-60 1.0 - 2.5 Mil General blast cleaning on delicate substrates when a smooth finish is required
Extra Fine #50-150 0.5 - 1.5 Mil When a very smooth finish is required
Technical Specifications
Symbol Name Percentage
SiO2 (Silicon Dioxide, Total) 46.5%
Al2O2 (Aluminum Oxide) 22.5%
Fe2O3 (Iron Oxide) 19.0%
CaO (Calcium Oxide) 5.5%
LOI (Loss on Ignition) 3.0%
MgO (Magnesium Oxide) 1.0%
K2O (Potassium Oxide) 1.0%
TiO2 (Titanium Oxide) 1.0%
SiO2 (Crystalline Silica) < 1.0%
Characteristics
Colour: Black
Bulk Density: 90 lbs/ft3
Grain Shape: Angular
Solubility: Insoluble
Hardness: > 7 Mohs
I've read a lot of differing opinions on using the stuff in aquariums. Some people say it'll leach a lot of stuff into the water, others say it'll tear up the fish, still others say they've used it with no ill effects.
I love the "Safe to Use" statement on the bag.
What I've gathered from reading about the coal slag is that it's mostly quartz and it's pretty insoluble. Before I bought it, I made sure it wasn't really sharp. There was an open bag at the store, so I took some of it and really ground it in between my palms. It's slightly rougher than PFS, but really no sharper than play sand.
It really looks awesome. Black Blast is black, but it's shiny at the same time.
These pictures do a pretty good job of catching the shininess.
The stuff is pretty clean out of the bag too. I washed a bucket of it, but I really didn't see much dust come out, so I just poured the other bags into the tank. There is a little dust, but not much. Here's what floated to the top out of about 80lb of Black Blast: