How can I straighten the appearance of silicone on a used Marineland 75 gallon tank

[Dork Fish]

@nabokovfan87 That is definitely a detailed explanation. Yeah I have noticed people complain about the surface skimmer, lack of ability for easy prefilter, and the bypass. Those are really the exact reasons that I was on the fence about the tidals, especially if going with shrimp or breeding lol. 

Looks like reviews are a bit unfair to the marineland. Most people complain about it being built for cartridges (which you can get around as mentioned) and about the biowheels not spinning properly (Which I wouldn't think would matter with the biomedia in place of the cartridges) LOL

My other idea was just to use the top fin filter for now, while I save for a canister filter. I have read that those are great for filtering and surface agitation. I am on the fence because some people, like prime time aquatics, mentioned that they can be a pain to clean (I'll be it, less often). Curious to get your opinion on this as well @Pepere🙂

I did not know about having a spray bar across the back for even flow, that would definitely be very nice. Can the canister filters have a proper prefilter at the intake for fish safety, or would that impact the performance?

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/18/2023 at 1:00 PM, Dork Fish said:

My other idea was just to use the top fin filter for now, while I save for a canister filter. I have read that those are great for filtering and surface agitation. I am on the fence because some people, like prime time aquatics, mentioned that they can be a pain to clean (I'll be it, less often). Curious to get your opinion on this as well @Pepere🙂

I did not know about having a spray bar across the back for even flow, that would definitely be very nice. Can the canister filters have a proper prefilter at the intake for fish safety, or would that impact the performance?

Pretty much any input can have a prefilter. Even a tidal 35. 😂

I don't mind canisters at all. Stuff like the fluval x07 series has a section that is all foam filtration. Other canisters are doing this as well not.

The problem with canisters is that people try to outdo one another and run them for years without cleaning.  Pepere had a post this past week talking about his setup and how easy it was to manage. Ultimately, every filter works as well or as difficulty as you want it to.

It took me years before I finally got fed up enough to fix the tidal issues for myself. Took me years before I found the video when someone else had the idea to do the same thing.  I kept looking for a follow-up but never found one. Eventually you just stop procrastinating and get it done or replaced.

[Dork Fish]

@Pepere Wow that is a relief, yeah the vids I saw made it sounds like a big chore to maintain and others made it sound like you never needed to touch them. Didn't know who was right LOL

@nabokovfan87 I may just skip the HoB then and go straight to a canister, save myself some money in the long run. I would prefer have at least 6 times the GPH filtration even though most people say 4-5 times. Just need to keep looking around at price versus performance LOL

[Dork Fish]

@Pepere Good to know actually. Yeah I do plan on running lots of plants. Probably easier plants without CO2 though. so maybe 7-8 times for me then. so around 600 GPH on the high end. So probably a Fluval FX4 are equivalent canister filter.

Does the replacement of that media every month also mean that running the canister filter is an increased cost over an HoB?

[Dork Fish]

@Pepere LOL indeed plans always have a way of changing.

I am sure keeping nice plants will be harder without CO2 but a nice planted 75 gallon looks so good 🙂

Hard to resist the plants LOL

[Dork Fish]

UPDATE: I was able to successfully straighten out the silicon seal, looks better than it did from the factory even. This is of course a cosmetic only fix. If your seal is leaking, DO NOT add silicon to the tank without removing the old silicone. Thrilled with how the seals turned out though.

On to fixing other fires LOL