one day ill get a tank like that..one day my tank size will overcome my fish obsession size. ha!
My 450g Show Tank
- Thread starter SpeshulEd
- Start date
Thanks everyone, I can't wait to get the stand. I'm hoping to have it completed by the end of the month. Cycling shouldn't be too much of a problem as I have a ton of used filter media that I can seed it with.
Well, for whatever reason the Marine Depot site wasn't working yesterday when I wanted to place my order for my pump, so I ended up finding it elsewhere for $10 cheaper - it's already shipped. I've never heard of this website before, but they seem quite efficient.
http://www.whatafish.com/servlet/the-219/Reeflo-fdsh-Sequence-Hammerhead-Pump-5800/Detail
My stand won't be done this weekend. The guy was a bit too optimistic, but it looks like it'll be done by next weekend. He did send me a photo of his drawing though.
http://www.whatafish.com/servlet/the-219/Reeflo-fdsh-Sequence-Hammerhead-Pump-5800/Detail
My stand won't be done this weekend. The guy was a bit too optimistic, but it looks like it'll be done by next weekend. He did send me a photo of his drawing though.
SpeshulEd;3533796; said:Well, not much to see yet, but I'll keep this updated as I make progress.
I picked this up off of craigslist this weekend. It's a 450g acrylic tank. The acrylic is 1.25" thick. A total beast. The guy actually had two of them setup as salt water swim tanks. Its predrilled on the bottom with 6 holes. I plan on using two for overflows, two for returns, and two for quick water changes.
Loaded on the trailer:
And on dollies where it'll finally end up:
The stand will be made out of 2" steel tubing. It's actually being started today and hopefully I'll have it by the weekend so I can start working on plumbing.
Wow! That little cubby space just under the stairs looks like a perfect spot for your tank. I was wondering where you would place this monster. The stairs wrap around it, perfectly.
I need to apologize for not updating as I went. There was a ton to do and I just didn't get a chance to post pics. I hope you can all can forgive me. Here's how it went down.
While waiting for the stand to be completed, we thought we'd have a little fun with the other animals:
Working on the sump. An old 80g tank. This was my first time using silicone. Luckily, it doesn't really have to look good as long as it works. Also, not all are pictured here, but I have close to 400 pot scrubbies...at 6/$1 = far too many questions like "wow, how dirty is your kitchen?"
Next up we have the pump - Reeflo Hammerhead 5800gph. I got this badboy from www.whatafish.com - they were $10 cheaper than Marine Depot and were a pleasure to do business with. I ordered it on a Friday and it was supposed to be dropped ship from Reeflo. Reeflo had some shipping delays and the guys at whatafish kept me updated on everything. It arrived by the following friday. Can't complain about that - free shipping, constant contact via email, and delivered in 5 days even with delays.
And the stand arrives!
I was up until 2am painting it...5 cans of spray paint later...to be honest its still spotty in some spots, I probably could have used another 2 cans. It will be wrapped in wood though, so I wasn't that concerned.
Now to get the tank on the stand. I called up 3 of my friends to help with the heavy lifting. I should have called about 6 friends. We ended up putting one side on the stand and then sliding the tank on the rest of the way. Then we had to slide the stand back into the cubby. Not too bad though. I also put heavy duty foam weather seal on the bottom of the stand to ease any issues with the floor. I didn't want any scrapes on the floor, nor did I want any cracks. I also had the problem of uneven floor tiles. In the long run, the foam helped a lot, but I still had to shim a corner of the stand. Everything seems to have worked out. I also have a concrete slab below the tile with earthquake ready tension bars so I'm not too worried about the weight.
Next up is drilling a hole in the glass. I borrowed a diamond bit from a buddy and practiced on an empty, cracked tank. I learned not to put weight on the drill when drilling or else you'll crack the glass. Other than that, it was easy. I'm happy I practiced though or else I'd be out an 80g tank. I had a picture of this, but now I can't seem to find it on my phone. Sorry. So here's a photo for the scrubbies in the sump and the sump in place.
Now to figure out the plumbing. I ended up using the three 2" holes for overflows, two 1.75" holes for returns, and one 1.75" hole hooked up to a valve. I keep the valve closed at all times, but I can hook a hose up to it for water changes with a pipe running half way up the tank. Should make life a lot easier. I'd like to thank the guys at Top Of The Reef for helping me out with the plumbing. I would have done things a bit differently had I done it myself, but in the long run, I'm happy I went with their advice. Soft plumbing, although not as cool as pvc pipe, is a lot easier to work with. There are a few things I will probably change in the future, but for right now, everything works and I'm content.
So lets start filling it up...this is where I had issues. Ends up teflon tape does not do the job of plumbers putty. I realized this 10 minutes before home depot closed, so the fill up will have to wait another night. They were just slow leaks, but a leak is still a leak.
So the next morning, I'm up and at Home Depot at 7am buying a few different pieces of plumbing and the all important, plumbers putty. Leak issues solved, now its time to fill the tank. I didn't take pictures of me rinsing the sand and rocks, but I'm sure you get the idea. I used mexican beach pebbles to cover up the the pvc pipes and black s grade 3m color quartz.
I put eggcrate/light diffusers to cover the holes in the top. I also picked up some fake plants from Michaels. My plan is to zip tie them to the light diffusers so there is some green in the tank and cover for the fish. I also bought blue led christmas lights for moon lighting. I'm not sure if I like these or not. I need to rethink my lighting in general. Using old crap lighting from old tanks isn't cutting it. Once the tank is full and the sand had settled a bit, I put all the media I have from about 6 different hob filters in the sump. I had these hanging on all my tanks for about a month so I could seed the media. I also loaded them up with as many pot scrubbies that would fit around the media that came with them. I then waited about an hour. Tested my parameters. Then added a fish. I would wait an hour, test my paramters, then add another fish.
I'm thinking I need to get longer pvc for my overflows as I'm about two inches from the top...I think I need to go one inch. I tested the parameters once again this morning. Everything was spot on. The cycled media worked! The tank still has a haze to it though, however, the sump water is crystal clear. I'm thinking I just need to polish/buff the acrylic a bit to fix that. Better lights would probably help as well.
Hmm, whats that purple bin for? Hey, here comes the UPS guy...what did he bring me?!
My only concern was my high ph. So I left the rays in the bin for about 2.5 hours with a slow drip hooked up so they could acclimate. I slowly sped the drip line up as time went on. It looked as if some of their slime coat came up do to the stress of shipping, but I think they're ok. After about a half hour in the tank, they were cruising around and burying themselves in the sand. The female is much more adventurous than the male. Neither of them have eaten yet, but I figured I'd give them some time to rest before I tried to feed them.
I apologize for the bad photos, the sun hits the tank for about an hour during the day, so there's glare on the tank. I may have to get the windows covered in time, all depends on how bad the algae growth gets.
One last tank shot for now:
I'm not done yet. I still have to have my buddy who does cabinetry make me some cool cabinets to cover up the stand. I plan on having panels made to give it a finished look. Instead of having doors, the panels will be attached with strong magnets, so when I need to access the sump, I can easily take off the panel. He will also be making a canopy for the top to cover up the egg crate, lights, etc. - kind of give it a finished look. I was told this needed to be done by Thanksgiving before we have people over, so I should update this again before then.
While waiting for the stand to be completed, we thought we'd have a little fun with the other animals:
Working on the sump. An old 80g tank. This was my first time using silicone. Luckily, it doesn't really have to look good as long as it works. Also, not all are pictured here, but I have close to 400 pot scrubbies...at 6/$1 = far too many questions like "wow, how dirty is your kitchen?"
Next up we have the pump - Reeflo Hammerhead 5800gph. I got this badboy from www.whatafish.com - they were $10 cheaper than Marine Depot and were a pleasure to do business with. I ordered it on a Friday and it was supposed to be dropped ship from Reeflo. Reeflo had some shipping delays and the guys at whatafish kept me updated on everything. It arrived by the following friday. Can't complain about that - free shipping, constant contact via email, and delivered in 5 days even with delays.
And the stand arrives!
I was up until 2am painting it...5 cans of spray paint later...to be honest its still spotty in some spots, I probably could have used another 2 cans. It will be wrapped in wood though, so I wasn't that concerned.
Now to get the tank on the stand. I called up 3 of my friends to help with the heavy lifting. I should have called about 6 friends. We ended up putting one side on the stand and then sliding the tank on the rest of the way. Then we had to slide the stand back into the cubby. Not too bad though. I also put heavy duty foam weather seal on the bottom of the stand to ease any issues with the floor. I didn't want any scrapes on the floor, nor did I want any cracks. I also had the problem of uneven floor tiles. In the long run, the foam helped a lot, but I still had to shim a corner of the stand. Everything seems to have worked out. I also have a concrete slab below the tile with earthquake ready tension bars so I'm not too worried about the weight.
Next up is drilling a hole in the glass. I borrowed a diamond bit from a buddy and practiced on an empty, cracked tank. I learned not to put weight on the drill when drilling or else you'll crack the glass. Other than that, it was easy. I'm happy I practiced though or else I'd be out an 80g tank. I had a picture of this, but now I can't seem to find it on my phone. Sorry. So here's a photo for the scrubbies in the sump and the sump in place.
Now to figure out the plumbing. I ended up using the three 2" holes for overflows, two 1.75" holes for returns, and one 1.75" hole hooked up to a valve. I keep the valve closed at all times, but I can hook a hose up to it for water changes with a pipe running half way up the tank. Should make life a lot easier. I'd like to thank the guys at Top Of The Reef for helping me out with the plumbing. I would have done things a bit differently had I done it myself, but in the long run, I'm happy I went with their advice. Soft plumbing, although not as cool as pvc pipe, is a lot easier to work with. There are a few things I will probably change in the future, but for right now, everything works and I'm content.
So lets start filling it up...this is where I had issues. Ends up teflon tape does not do the job of plumbers putty. I realized this 10 minutes before home depot closed, so the fill up will have to wait another night. They were just slow leaks, but a leak is still a leak.
So the next morning, I'm up and at Home Depot at 7am buying a few different pieces of plumbing and the all important, plumbers putty. Leak issues solved, now its time to fill the tank. I didn't take pictures of me rinsing the sand and rocks, but I'm sure you get the idea. I used mexican beach pebbles to cover up the the pvc pipes and black s grade 3m color quartz.
I put eggcrate/light diffusers to cover the holes in the top. I also picked up some fake plants from Michaels. My plan is to zip tie them to the light diffusers so there is some green in the tank and cover for the fish. I also bought blue led christmas lights for moon lighting. I'm not sure if I like these or not. I need to rethink my lighting in general. Using old crap lighting from old tanks isn't cutting it. Once the tank is full and the sand had settled a bit, I put all the media I have from about 6 different hob filters in the sump. I had these hanging on all my tanks for about a month so I could seed the media. I also loaded them up with as many pot scrubbies that would fit around the media that came with them. I then waited about an hour. Tested my parameters. Then added a fish. I would wait an hour, test my paramters, then add another fish.
I'm thinking I need to get longer pvc for my overflows as I'm about two inches from the top...I think I need to go one inch. I tested the parameters once again this morning. Everything was spot on. The cycled media worked! The tank still has a haze to it though, however, the sump water is crystal clear. I'm thinking I just need to polish/buff the acrylic a bit to fix that. Better lights would probably help as well.
Hmm, whats that purple bin for? Hey, here comes the UPS guy...what did he bring me?!
My only concern was my high ph. So I left the rays in the bin for about 2.5 hours with a slow drip hooked up so they could acclimate. I slowly sped the drip line up as time went on. It looked as if some of their slime coat came up do to the stress of shipping, but I think they're ok. After about a half hour in the tank, they were cruising around and burying themselves in the sand. The female is much more adventurous than the male. Neither of them have eaten yet, but I figured I'd give them some time to rest before I tried to feed them.
I apologize for the bad photos, the sun hits the tank for about an hour during the day, so there's glare on the tank. I may have to get the windows covered in time, all depends on how bad the algae growth gets.
One last tank shot for now:
I'm not done yet. I still have to have my buddy who does cabinetry make me some cool cabinets to cover up the stand. I plan on having panels made to give it a finished look. Instead of having doors, the panels will be attached with strong magnets, so when I need to access the sump, I can easily take off the panel. He will also be making a canopy for the top to cover up the egg crate, lights, etc. - kind of give it a finished look. I was told this needed to be done by Thanksgiving before we have people over, so I should update this again before then.
Awesome setup. You should get some PVC strainers for your overflows, they'll probably raise your water level and they'll keep strain out the huge particles.
