Mirror on backglass

[linda lee]

Although I've read this and know this now, I didn't know it @ the time I set up my tank: mirrored glass stresses out the fish.

For 6 weeks I've had damsels in the tank, and they're completely oblivious, but the royal gramma, bi-colored blenny and 6-line wrasse newly added to the tank are obsessed with the mirror. The wrasse spends almost all his time there, back and forth, the gramma bites at the mirror frequently and the blenny attacks it every now and then.

Does anyone know if this behavior will lessen and the fish will *learn* to ignore the mirror? Or will these actions escalate until the fish have literally stressed themselves to death?

Short of completely taking this set-up down and restarting in another tank, Ive considered:

~ having a piece of glass cut and painted black, then sliding it down along the back glass and expoxy into place.

~ having a piece of black acrylic cut and expoxy into place.

~ some other more flexible/pliable material that could slide behind tank equipment (like black plastic canvas) expoxied onto the back glass.

Any ideas?

(I've turned the lights out on my tank until I either get the fish out of there or come up with a solution so they can live in there without stress.

~Linda

[LESSON OF THE DAY: "while mirrors are great for the ceiling, they're very very bad for the backs of salt-water aquariums.........]

 

[schwaggs]

Is the actual back glass the mirror or is it attached to the back of the regualar tank glass?

A mirror is a regular piece of glass with the mirror coating on the back. If you have access to the back of the mirror, maybe you can remove the coating? I saw somewhere on the internet that paint stripper will take the coating off. I have not tried it but maybe a glass shop may have some ideas for you...

 

[victor626nj]

here you go it says that you can actually take it off with paint remover but waite until tomorrow i work in a caar shop and we usee ppg paint which is also a glass company so i will ask them tomorrow for you

 

[linda lee]

Well, here's what I did as a fix (at least a temporary one).

Materials (pricey stuff):

4 sheets of black canvas (39 cents/each @ Michaels)
4 small suction cups (about 5 cents/each
nylon filament thread (a/k/a fishing line)

Procedure:

1. suction-cupped each sheet of plastic canvas to the outside/front of the tank to get the right measurement

2. trimmed excess canvas from 4th sheet

3. marked and cut holes for heater suction cups near bottom of plastic canvas

4. whip-stitched each plastic canvas sheet together with nylon line

5. inserted entire piece against inside back of tank with the bottom tucked into the sandbed and the top secured with the 4 suction cups.

6. inserted heater suction cups and reattached heater.

It actually gives the tank an interesting effect and the fish have finally relaxed.

Hoping suction cups will work out (rather than epoxy) to make it non-permanent and easily removed for cleaning the back glass. If it needs to be completely flush, will try expoxy later.

Ta-da!!

Necessity is again the Mother-Of-Invention.

 

[dakota9]

Hmmmmm........ Paint stripper applied to the back of a reef tank? ..... I'm thinking no....! I used paint stripper to take 80 years of paint off all my house trim, thats some toxic stuff!

Linda, I'm not truly grasping how the mirror is attached? Does the tank it'self have the mirrored back? Is this "peel & stick" applied to the back of the tank? Is the tank up against a mirrored wall in your house. Do you have mirrors on your ceiling (ok, none of my business). Does applying canas to the back of the tank make the mirror not show or become opaque?

If you left it alone wouldn't coraline and other tank crap eventually cover it up?

Oh , and do you guys have any use for a 36" stand? As I have an extra one.

 

[linda lee]

Dakota9;61899 wrote: Hmmmmm........ Paint stripper applied to the back of a reef tank? ..... I'm thinking no....! I used paint stripper to take 80 years of paint off all my house trim, thats some toxic stuff!

<span style="color: darkred;">Paint stripper: Although I appreciate those who offered this suggestion, this was not an option as the tank is against the wall and I didn't want to go this route with the mess and fumes of such a caustic material.</em></span>

Dakota9;61899 wrote: Linda, I'm not truly grasping how the mirror is attached? Does the tank it'self have the mirrored back?

<span style="color: darkred;">Bingo! The back glass itself is a mirror. What really sucks is that when we bought this Oceanic tank (20+ years ago), we paid extra for the mirror. Fresh water fish, or at least the ones we had, didn't seem affected in the least.</em></span>

Dakota9;61899 wrote: Is this "peel & stick" applied to the back of the tank?

<span style="color: darkred;">I wish. Then the simple solution would have been to peel it off.</em></span>

Dakota9;61899 wrote: Is the tank up against a mirrored wall in your house.

<span style="color: darkred;">Nope.</em></span>

Dakota9;61899 wrote: Do you have mirrors on your ceiling.

<span style="color: darkred;">Not anymore....</em></span>

Dakota9;61899 wrote: Does applying canvas to the back of the tank make the mirror not show or become opaque?

<span style="color: darkred;">Can still see <u>some</u> reflection of the tank, but the reflection is broken into a grid to distort the images of the fish enough to keep them from being stressed by their reflections. I'll take a picture when the camera comes back home after vacationing in Texas.</em></span>

Dakota9;61899 wrote: If you left it alone wouldn't coraline and other tank crap eventually cover it up?

<span style="color: darkred;">Well, I <u>really</u> want to keep the tank as pristine as yours.... </em></span><span style="color: darkred;">although it would be a nice *out* to say I let the back of the tank get cruddy on purpose to protect my fishies from themselves...</em></span>

Dakota9;61899 wrote: Oh , and do you guys have any use for a 36" stand? As I have an extra one.

<span style="color: darkred;">Show it to Loren when he's over there tomorrow and see what he thinks. I like having my tank up at eye-level though. If it's a short stand, then nah.</em></span>

 

[dakota9]

Well, If its up against a wall, it will get difficult to scrub the back, I say keep the canvas in place until the coraline grows to cover the reflection.

 

[seedless reefer]

It looks very cool and would be a nice place to mount GSP's or other things.

 

[dakota9]

Thats a great idea, maybe place some macros between the rock and back glass for now.

 

[cameron]

If you want to keep the suction cups stuck, use a little 100% silicon (make sure it isn't the Bio stuff from GE though). You can put a tad between the suction cup and glass. It will pop right off when you are ready.

Another thing I might consider is to talk to Dawgdude and have him cut you a peice of acrylic that is the proper size then paint it black. You can drop that down right along the back.

 

[linda lee]

Cameron;62025 wrote: Another thing I might consider is to talk to Dawgdude and have him cut you a peice of acrylic that is the proper size then paint it black. You can drop that down right along the back.

This is probably what I'll end up doing. Just needed a very quick fix to keep the fish from stressing. Would you bond the acrylic to the back glas somehow? Epoxy? (Using silicone sealant would mean taking the tank down and drying it to run seams, I believe.)

~L

 

[cameron]

Gold Label makes a silicon like bonder that is completely reef safe. It is a polymer that hardens. You can also use a variety of reef epoxies.