Ashurbarnipal's 80 gallon

**Ashurbarnipal** · 03-27-2012, 03:07 AM

So I resiliconed yesterday and am letting it dry. Thinking of using airplane stripper to get the paint off, since mineral spirits did basically nothing to it.

Any advice on that? Definitely don't wanna poison the tank.

**Cliff** · 03-27-2012, 03:11 AM

In the past I have used a razor with great success

**hockeyhead019** · 03-27-2012, 12:31 PM

paint stripper? I personally wouldn't put that stuff anywhere near my tank haha it's so destructive it's insane not something I'd wanna take a chance with

**Ashurbarnipal** · 03-27-2012, 02:41 PM

Well, it hasn't been responding to my attempts to peel it, though I admit I haven't tried the method cliff suggested yet.

**Cliff** · 03-27-2012, 03:22 PM

Just hold the razor at a ~45D and go slow. If you are careful you can take all the paint off without a scratch.

**Ashurbarnipal** · 04-03-2012, 05:54 PM

Well, I've run into a problem with that hole in the back. Even the smallest PVC pipe I've found (1/2 an inch) won't fit. Looking online, I think this was meant for a 3/8ths inches pipe, but I can't find any such things locally.

The problem may be that this aquarium was apparently custom built in Holland and I think uses a metric standard. Is there anything else I could do? Maybe silicone some alternative?

**Ashurbarnipal** · 04-05-2012, 08:23 AM

What about polyethylene or vinyl hose, would silicone bond with that?

**hockeyhead019** · 04-05-2012, 11:54 AM

I wouldn't chance it... the problem is when you try and get silicon to bond to something flexible it just won't seal as well... I'd go ahead and drill the hole out so it's bigger and you can fit whatever size drain pipe you'd like on there

**Ashurbarnipal** · 04-05-2012, 03:11 PM

Thing is I don't know what type of glass it is. Not to mention, it's thicker than normal glass. Like over 3/8 th's of an inch.

**Cliff** · 04-05-2012, 05:09 PM

If all you can put in the tank is a 3/8" bulkhead flange, then I would not even bother using that hole for anything. A 3/8" line would only give you ~400 gph assuming you use it for your return line from your sump. That would be about 1/2 to 1/3 of the total flow you would need (IMO) going through your sump.

I would suggest either seal it, or get it drilled to fit a 1" bulkhead flange.