Just finished looking through this thread and I have to say wow some of your tanks are awesome
Lets see what's in your stand! mechanical photo's
- Thread starter tcarswell
- Start date
This is my third sump and my biggest cichlid, a 10" Oscar named Felix. I built that stand with a custom 90 gal tank in mind but currently it just holds a standard 55 from PetSmart.
The stand is built from two ordinary oak-finished kitchen cabinets from Lowe's, glued together with hidden Oak reinforcements and a 2in thick bartop.
The sump is just a 10 gallon tank with a big plastic canister as a filter column, plus lots of of lava rock & Aquarium gravel and a bag of bio media in the pump chamber.
The pump chamber is just a plastic coffee canister with slots. There are a couple layers of pot scrubbers in the trickle filter butt frankly I don't have that much faith in the plastic pot scrubbers. I think the Lava Rock and the bio media does the Lion's Share of the work.
I built the lamp fixture on this one and the next one, and for my smallest tank as well. I don't like to use sockets. I solder the wires right to the LED bulbs and switches, and cover connections in silicone. If something burns out I'll take it out with a razor blade and solder a new one in.
My 55 rescue tank houses a mixture of African and American cichlids that I inherited from another fishkeeper who had to move in a hurry.
I built this stand as well, but no sump here. This was built from leftovers from our kitchen remodel. The thing is just an empty box beam which sits on my hearth, and all the mechanical equipment is hidden behind. The biggest of these fish is less than 6 in. I call this the PetSmart Fish Rescue Biotope.
I can put a 24"×60"x30" High on that Stone Hearth and after I rip out the sheet metal fireplace I can put a 50g Sump there and access it through a new door on the outside of the house. I can then change water and wash the sump out on my back patio instead of on the living room carpet!
This 10g under my 17 y.o. 30 tall is the second sump that I created, and I built this stand to match the stand under the Oscar. No monster fish in this one, but this tank used to house my 14-year old silver dollars and a big Pleco.
I scraped the silicone out of it and resealed the entire tank last year.
Below is my first-ever 7.5g sump, all made of plastic bins. A 30 tall houses a 10" Sailfin Pleco and some female bettas. The sump feeds the tank through a Reverse undergravel filter.
I bought that stand unfinished and did it myself 30 years ago. It was one of the first presents I ever bought for my wife.
You can see most of my other tanks in this pic as well, comprising a five and a 16 bowfront to the left of the sump, with a 20 and a 10 to the right.
The 20 with a 10 below it is intended to have the 10 run as a display sump, so you can see fish living in the sump.
But right now it just houses some big mystery snails and live plants.
I built that stand from some one inch laminated Pine panels and my wife's old microwave cart, fitted with hidden internal reinforcements and redwood feet.
I built this stand from remnants of our old kitchen and leftovers from the new one. It currently holds the 30-gallon standard that I got free with those rescue fish. I constructed it to hold a sump. Currently I am just running sponge filters on this tank and the stand is empty. It currently houses a 9" Sailfin plecostomus and a blue Malawi peacock.
The stand is built from two ordinary oak-finished kitchen cabinets from Lowe's, glued together with hidden Oak reinforcements and a 2in thick bartop.
The sump is just a 10 gallon tank with a big plastic canister as a filter column, plus lots of of lava rock & Aquarium gravel and a bag of bio media in the pump chamber.
The pump chamber is just a plastic coffee canister with slots. There are a couple layers of pot scrubbers in the trickle filter butt frankly I don't have that much faith in the plastic pot scrubbers. I think the Lava Rock and the bio media does the Lion's Share of the work.
I built the lamp fixture on this one and the next one, and for my smallest tank as well. I don't like to use sockets. I solder the wires right to the LED bulbs and switches, and cover connections in silicone. If something burns out I'll take it out with a razor blade and solder a new one in.
My 55 rescue tank houses a mixture of African and American cichlids that I inherited from another fishkeeper who had to move in a hurry.
I built this stand as well, but no sump here. This was built from leftovers from our kitchen remodel. The thing is just an empty box beam which sits on my hearth, and all the mechanical equipment is hidden behind. The biggest of these fish is less than 6 in. I call this the PetSmart Fish Rescue Biotope.
I can put a 24"×60"x30" High on that Stone Hearth and after I rip out the sheet metal fireplace I can put a 50g Sump there and access it through a new door on the outside of the house. I can then change water and wash the sump out on my back patio instead of on the living room carpet!
This 10g under my 17 y.o. 30 tall is the second sump that I created, and I built this stand to match the stand under the Oscar. No monster fish in this one, but this tank used to house my 14-year old silver dollars and a big Pleco.
I scraped the silicone out of it and resealed the entire tank last year.
Below is my first-ever 7.5g sump, all made of plastic bins. A 30 tall houses a 10" Sailfin Pleco and some female bettas. The sump feeds the tank through a Reverse undergravel filter.
I bought that stand unfinished and did it myself 30 years ago. It was one of the first presents I ever bought for my wife.
You can see most of my other tanks in this pic as well, comprising a five and a 16 bowfront to the left of the sump, with a 20 and a 10 to the right.
The 20 with a 10 below it is intended to have the 10 run as a display sump, so you can see fish living in the sump.
But right now it just houses some big mystery snails and live plants.
I built that stand from some one inch laminated Pine panels and my wife's old microwave cart, fitted with hidden internal reinforcements and redwood feet.
I built this stand from remnants of our old kitchen and leftovers from the new one. It currently holds the 30-gallon standard that I got free with those rescue fish. I constructed it to hold a sump. Currently I am just running sponge filters on this tank and the stand is empty. It currently houses a 9" Sailfin plecostomus and a blue Malawi peacock.
Thank you but they are 100% amateur experiments, mostly based on low cost and ease of assembly. Every one needs serious improvement.
Thank you Joe, but please don't be too impressed with my junk.
There is so much I am doing wrong, or could do better.
One of the reasons I run 10 tanks is because I had to divide up my "mistakes." My goal is to have a 120 African tank, a 90 oscar tank, one 30 and a 10. I have to buy 2 new tanks and sell off 7, keeping 3 as sumps.
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BTW, like many folks I have the Black Diamond Blasting Sand, but I did not rinse it or put it right in the tank. I first sifted it through a window screen to remove the dust and fine grains. I wound up with a much nicer coarse sand, but tossed about 1/2 in the garden as too fine.
I found that by sifting it instead of rinsing it, I removed nearly all of the oil, which is mainly attached to the dust, and didn't get the oil scum so many folks report.
What remained was easily wicked off with paper towel.
I found that by sifting it instead of rinsing it, I removed nearly all of the oil, which is mainly attached to the dust, and didn't get the oil scum so many folks report.
What remained was easily wicked off with paper towel.
Well my water filter took me several upgrades to create and it doesn't fit into a stand but here it is.
A couple of pics of some of the tanks
A couple of pics of some of the tanks
Wow, wish I had that kind of engineering skill -- did you like work for NASA or Lockheed? -- your set-up looks like something from the Space Shuttle.
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