Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Is it plastic?

I used beverage tube fitted with a "nut & tail" on one end.
On the outlet from the sump pump I used a hose clamp to secure the beverage tube and on the other end, the nut & tail were attached to my PVC threaded bit to return water to the FT.

The bath is a fibreglass. The crack extends about 7cm from the top down into the bath. I lost about 80L overnight on a 30min on 45 min off cycle. IF the silicon does not hold I think I will get myself a fibreglass repair kit. The kit is likely to cost me more than the bath ($20). Actually might be able to get some stuff from work as we do some fibreglass work there.

repair kits are like $7
Firbreglass has little structural integrity when loaded with material 1.3 times the density of water.
You should check your supports. is it possible to box in the support properly and fill with dirt to give even support? Or sand if you have too much money :-)
The silicon will not last.
The fibreglass patch kit will be a bandaid measure - you'll be fighting fires forever.
See what you can do about giving even support.

Does anybody else have fibreglass baths? Has it ever been mentioned? I certainly would never use fibreglass, only plastic or metal, but then I am known to over-engineer things :-)

Yep. 12 of them! (6 in use)

I'm not worried at all about the structural integrity of my fibreglass baths - they are "solid as" (technical term). Each bath sits on its base on 4 besser blocks - I can't see how a 1.3x weight factor will stress them. (or a 2x factor for that matter)

I suppose there are different quality fibreglass baths though ...

skygazer, do you still have the protective film/lining on your bathtub!?

OK, statement retracted. I had thought that were usually boxed in with sand...

i belive the aqarium silcone sugests a week before adding fish to an aquarium so id leave it at least that, it should be on the tube though

I use sellys roof and gutter silicone on every thing let dry for 1 day i have beeen running over 12 months with no leaks

Good news is silicon patch has survived 12 hours so far. I will monitor and see how it goes. If it starts to leak again I will do a fibreglass patch.

When I think about it, the tub had a slight twist to it before I loaded the gravel. I suspect the gravel put torsional pressure against the twist to create the crack.


I only realised that when I was looking at the leak. Now its hard to get it off without removing most of the gravel and I am concerned that the stresses on the tub will change and make the crack open up again. Do you think I should remove the plastic??


The tub is supported by soil from the sump and base dugout of the IBC, it may have sunk a little when gravel was loaded but should be steady now. The timber frame is not intended to provide support, just sits around for looks, but if the soil compressed under pressure the edges of the tub may have put pressure on the timber 2x2 ends causing the crack also.

anyway fish (5 comet goldies) seem happy and are constantly looking for food.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

Not sure what will happen with the Ammonia-Nitrite-Nitrate cycling because the tank was heavily seeded with gravel and water from my cichlid tank. Will let things settle for a couple of weeks and asses from there as to when to get the silvers.
Am

If you look at the instructions with fiberglass baths and shower bases [ always support base on a morter or slurry mixture when i worked for the builder 2 kg of bedding glue went out with every bath]

ITs been a couple of days now and repairs are holding up, so things are looking good for now.

Trying to work out when/how I am going to get the plastic couting off the bath without changing the stresses on the tub.

Do you really need to???

Not sure. Might leave it until I get a second tub going, then I can move 50% of gravel to new tub. Will make things easier without disrupting the NH4-NO2-NO3 cycling process

Why do you need to remove the plastic at all?

Water Test:
PH 7.5 (7 out of tap, something in gravel?)
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5

Five goldy comets about 2" each been in there nearly 1 week.
I expect most of the nitrates are coming from the water and gunk from my cichlid tank filter that I sqeezed in a couple of days ago ?

IBC is filled to 500L for now (will allow me to add/remove water in smaller qty if needed).