After several months of being empty, and a daily reminder of how much I miss having fish, the 500-gallon is being revived. Although I intend to do a lot of modifications for the next inhabitants, I will be racing against the birth of my first child since they must become an MFKer as well!
I must confess that the first inhabitants were approximately 150 African Cichlids, because they are fairly simple to keep, colorful and have a lot of variety. However, after 1 year I started wanting to go with bigger fish, and I have settled on doing a Peacock Bass tank. The aquarium is 1.5 in thick acrylic approximately 7 ft long x 2.5 ft wide x 4 feet tall, and hopefully a transition to a better wider footprint in several years.
While the list of items to be done is lengthy, my timeline to completion is roughly 2 months from now. The major modifications will include:
- revising metal stand design
- new stand skin
- new canopy design
- buffing out acrylic
- revising filtration and electrical system setups
Although I am on a deadline, I cut a lot of corners with my previous system that makes maintenance take longer than necessary. I hope to remedy all the previous issues in this revision! I really want to focus on getting everything right, not just getting it finished this time. These include:
- hard plumbing of filtration
- incorporating gravel vacuum with filtration system for no water loss vacuuming
- labeling of electrical plug-ins and making a central control area
- better cabinet organization
Based on your experience, I would love to know what you wish you had done with your system originally to make your fish healthier and your life simpler! Below are a couple of pictures of the previous setup that I hope to surpass.
I must confess that the first inhabitants were approximately 150 African Cichlids, because they are fairly simple to keep, colorful and have a lot of variety. However, after 1 year I started wanting to go with bigger fish, and I have settled on doing a Peacock Bass tank. The aquarium is 1.5 in thick acrylic approximately 7 ft long x 2.5 ft wide x 4 feet tall, and hopefully a transition to a better wider footprint in several years.
While the list of items to be done is lengthy, my timeline to completion is roughly 2 months from now. The major modifications will include:
- revising metal stand design
- new stand skin
- new canopy design
- buffing out acrylic
- revising filtration and electrical system setups
Although I am on a deadline, I cut a lot of corners with my previous system that makes maintenance take longer than necessary. I hope to remedy all the previous issues in this revision! I really want to focus on getting everything right, not just getting it finished this time. These include:
- hard plumbing of filtration
- incorporating gravel vacuum with filtration system for no water loss vacuuming
- labeling of electrical plug-ins and making a central control area
- better cabinet organization
Based on your experience, I would love to know what you wish you had done with your system originally to make your fish healthier and your life simpler! Below are a couple of pictures of the previous setup that I hope to surpass.
