alum. ebn n flow

[midwestnug]

Custom made this Ebb & Flow Tub to fit my room, but now ive heard people dont use aluminum in salt water aquariums cause aluminum suposedly reacts weird with salt... does anyone no anything about this subject? Am i gonna run into problems here?
MidwestNug....

 

[BlindDate]

Yes...You will have problems as the aluminum corrodes from the salts. Also the diamond plate will make it difficult to clean. It's a shame since so much effort went into the tray. Should have used stainless steel (no diamond) if you like metal. The only thing to do now is use pond liner. Sorry.

 

[00420]

yep pond liner should be good......

nice work btw but as blind said the salts will make it corrode and put off unwanted chem's to your plants.... in reef tank its said not to use any kind of metal. if the salts dont mess with it, it will rust and add more toxic chems.... i was going to use sprinkler valves for my overflow for my saltwater tank tell i found out that there made with metal inside and it would take out my tank........

 

[midwestnug]

what if i poly coated it with top clear coat, real thick? think that would work?

 

[BlindDate]

Probably will work until you scratch the coating

 

[yamaha_1fan]

form over function

or

function over form?


Cover it up with some pond liner. Looks nice though

 

[midwestnug]

testing

testing

Ive been running a test for the last week on some aluminum... i got another little peice from work and put it in a glass of salt water. the glass has about 5 inches of water in it and 2inches of salt on the bottom of the glass. the aluminum is totally baried in the salt and has been for 1 week. so far the ph hasnt changed and theres no sign of any corrosion on the aluminum... remeber also this is an ebb n flow system so water wont be just sitting in the tub for days at a time its just gonna flow thru there for a bit a few times a day. im going to continue to run the test untill somethin happens or im satisfied that nothing is goin to happen. but is it possible that the aluminum that is refered to as hurting the plants is an unrefined type of aluminum and is easier to corrode, than a refined aluminum thats been formed and polished..
I dont want to have to cover the tub with a liner i wont be able to seal it properly with the inlet welded in place. so im thinkin im just gonna run with it and see what happens.

 

[OgreSeeker]

I don't understand why you can't get pond liner to work? Just lay it down, cut hole for your inlet and use waterproof glue to glue it down around the inlet. Maybe I'm missing something.

 

[midwestnug]

well

well

well the main reason is i made it out of shiny aluminum for the reflective light its gonna put off. and if i line it with pond liner i may as well just use a plastic tote and scratch the aluminum all together. but heres the thing im getting two conflicting reports... aluminum is not supposed to rust at all, they even make boats out of aluminum, then ive got other people saying it will carrode. im trying to find out the correct answer two conflicting reports doesnt satisfy my curiousity, i want some proof. im looking for someone that knows for sure what it will do, not just another mans opinion...

 

[gregor_mendel]

paint it with epoxy

paint it with epoxy

http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/3048/Epoxy-Paint-1-Gallon/epoxy/0

Much simpler than pond liner.
You are learning why flood tables are not really overpriced.

 

[who me]

electrolysis is not rust

 

[yamaha_1fan]

heres my experience with saltwater.

In my jetskiing days, I have and my buddies have sunk numerous jet skis. I mean when you pull the spark plugs, and crank it, water shoots up out of the cylinder. I have heard that the oxygen is what causes rust. So it was always said it was better to leave the engine full of water until it could be started, otherwise everything would start rusting.

So your sample sitting in a cup of salt water may not be such a good example. Take it out.

No scientific proof, just experience.

I have heard so many times that using metal in hydro is a bad idea.


What happens when your plants get sick or you cant stabilize PH. There will always be that issue of the aluminum.

 

[fumancu]

Looks like drain is above bottom will it drain all the way?

 

[OgreSeeker]

I'm not sure about corroding but I've heard from the beginning of my hydro days back in the 90's not to use any metal in construction of a hydro system (res, buckets, fittings etc.) because it can "react" and cause problems. Now I don't know what "they" mean by "react" and I have no scientific proof but I've heard this from many of the oldtimers and that's good enough for me.
I wouldn't worry to much about the light reflection from the metal.
1. You really won't be getting many lumens back from the reflection and
2. When your canopy gets a bit larger then your light will not penetrate to the metal to be reflected anyway.

That epoxy paint seems like it would work pretty good. I feel bad for you. I can't even count the number of times that I've built grow stuff only to find out that I did it wrong or that it just would not work in my application. Live and learn is the lesson here...oh yeah and READ READ READ before you build.

 

[HairlessCaveApe]

Im sory but all I can give you on this is an oppinion. Run it. Its beautyfull! What an excelent job. If I was you Id run it and just keep an eye on it. I remember a while ago at OG someone said I shouldnt use copper in a piece of my equipment but I do and I suffer no ill effects. Run it and check it between runs,if anything dont look rite youl know whats goin on. It aint like its gonna corode and fall apart on the first run. Youl be able to see whats goin on between runs.

 

[midwestnug]

Its runnin

Its runnin

I got the new room up and runnin last night, im using the tub and well see what happens... if it starts messin with me then i can always switch back to the plastic one ive got storin away... the clones just got roots so i threw them in, it holds 12 real nice and i could possibly even do 14. i guess i just like it cause it looks cool more than anything and if it works i can build them suckers to fit any size room for alot cheaper than u can buy a plastic one for... i just buy up all the scrap from work at scrap price and i build them right there at work, the boss buys from me so he dont give a crap, its awsome. ill have some new pics up of the new room soon, i was havin a slight problem with the download from the camera. thanks to everyone who posted and ill keep yall posted on what happens...

 

[midwestnug]

heres pics

 

[imnotcrazy]

I can only imagine you'll have leaks/holes rotted into the tray within a month, depending on the thickness of the alum. I've seen people use alum. baking pans for RW cube runoff and they rot in a week or less. Yours will begin to rot @ the welds and continue from there IME.

 

[ZenBanana]

Any updates?

 

[Pseudo]

if you are filling it w hydroton why do you care about reflectivity?
it WILL corrode fo sho, paint it with a zinc chromate primer and then
some silver rustoleum