Not Ready Yet, But.......

[Shelly_Otterkin]

OK lets say I scored a great old tank at a yard sale that is built in to a bambo "house" Like a Tiki hut. I think its about 10 gal. Anyways the roof of the house has plenty of room in it to add lighting but its a closed space with only a "chimmny" to vent out of. I am not really wanting to grow any high end corals, maybe just some soft stuff. Should I go with just strip lighting or go better.
I will try to get a shot of the tank. It got put into my shed until I figured out what I wanted to do with it.

 

[Chac]

If you are looking to keep Inverts then you need to make sure the tank has NEVER been treated with Copper

 

[Shelly_Otterkin]

Is there any way to find that out? This was a yard sale buy.

 

[SkiFletch]

Yup, look at the silicone seals. If they are tinted blue-green kind of like the statue of liberty color then its been treated with copper. If they're a very very light translucent color with perhaps a hint of really light sky blue, thats OK. Most silicone seals look just a little blue, but if its been treated with copper, you'll see them really really blue

 

[Shelly_Otterkin]

Thank you. I will look at it when I pull it out this week end. If it has been treated can I scrape off the old and reseal it?

 

[Aquascaper]

Not without completely dismantling the tank down to it's 5 sheets of glass and removing all of the silicone.

 

[SkiFletch]

Not without completely dismantling the tank down to it's 5 sheets of glass and removing all of the silicone.

What he said. If you do decide to do that and re-build it, use a strong alcohol solution to help loosen the seals. If you can find some 95% ethanol that'd be best sicne standard 70% isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol isn't the best solvent for silicone. It'll work, just not as good as ethanol

 

[Aquascaper]

If you use a dedicated silicone remover then make sure that you thoroughly clean the area with alcohol as well before applying the new silicone othewise the seals could give after time.