Well for 4 days last week, about 10 hours a day, i was setting up my uncles 300 gallon acrylic tank. The thing was a mess when we picked it up a month or two ago. It has been quite an adventure getting it up and running.
The tank was a complete mess when we got to the guys house to see it. it had about 10 inches of gravel in it, over 300 pounds of rocks that were dragged from the hudson river (gross), about 200 gallons of brown/black water in it, and about 20 fish, including 2 huge pacu. The guy wanted $900, which for the condition was steep, but we saw the potential in it and we bought it. The stand it was on was garbage and literally fell apart when we moved it a little. The reason why we decided it was worth it was because it came with (2) beautiful (expensive) 4 ft lights, a nice W/D, and 3 fluval Fx5s.
The trouble started right away, as we soon realized what a b***h it was going to be to empty, semi-clean, and move this tank with just the scrawny guy who had it, me and mikeyy (my friend Mike, Mikeyy on MFK), who are not big guys, and my uncle, who is a f**king beast, but had back surgery and cant lift. 4 hours later, after the 3 of us lost about 4 pints of blood, and a large portion of our collective sanity, every thing was in the truck and we were on our way home.
Upon getting it home, we eventually got around to constructing a sturdy stand out of 2x6s between me and mikeyys finals and other school crap, and moved the tank inside a week ago. The plumbing and bulkheads were destroyed, and had to be totally replaced. Mikeyy came over and helped to buff out as many scratches as possible, and it turned out great. During this time i was repairing a few cracks in the acrylic W/D. Then i started the plumbing, and that's where the real fun started.
Inside the overflows was the first problem. The hole that let water out of the overflow to the sump wasn't raised off the bottom, so with no pump running, all 15 or so gallons in each overflow would empty to the sump, which prompted the first water cleanup later before i realized this. i fixed that issue, then moved on. Now i was on to the line to get water from the sump back to the tank. We purchased a pondmaster Mag-18, and 10 trips to home depot later, i had the return lines all set. I started up the pump, and it worked! I was happy, so i turned off the pump, and moved on to something else. When i returned to the room the tank is in 2 minutes later, i watched in horror as whatever water could fit through 1 inch vinyl tubing was spilling on to the floor very rapidly. I then realized my fatal error, as the return line to the tank started a siphon backwards to the sump.
Back to home depot i went for a set of sump pump check valves, and with that issue solved, i could finally move on, although a bit scarred from the 50 gallon water cleanup. at least it wasn't worse. Finally with the tank filled, and about an inch and a half of black sand on the bottom, no leaks, and no fatal plumbing errors, the W/D system was running smoothly, and i moved on to the installation of the 2 Fx5s that would be on the tank.
I finished with the canisters, and got the ehiem jager heaters in the tank, and now the water has cleared and the temp has risen to 80 degrees. With the help of some tank water from my 125, and both Fx5s being used on that tank before hand and a few days time, i was comfortable enough to put in 2 pacu to "test" it, before our planned stocking with a few cichla temensis, and my RTC/TSN hybrid.
The finished product was a result of me, mikeyy's, and at times my uncle's blood, sweat, and i even think a few tears (mostly from my uncle, who i swear i saw chocking back tears when he realized he just spent about 2,500 dollars on a fish tank). It was the most frustrating thing I've ever done, and i hated it, and i cant wait until i get to do it again
!
I'm gonna have pics up soon, maybe tomorrow. The tank looks fantastic and I'm so happy with it. Thanks for reading. I was just so damn excited that it was over, i had to put up a post about this.
The tank was a complete mess when we got to the guys house to see it. it had about 10 inches of gravel in it, over 300 pounds of rocks that were dragged from the hudson river (gross), about 200 gallons of brown/black water in it, and about 20 fish, including 2 huge pacu. The guy wanted $900, which for the condition was steep, but we saw the potential in it and we bought it. The stand it was on was garbage and literally fell apart when we moved it a little. The reason why we decided it was worth it was because it came with (2) beautiful (expensive) 4 ft lights, a nice W/D, and 3 fluval Fx5s.
The trouble started right away, as we soon realized what a b***h it was going to be to empty, semi-clean, and move this tank with just the scrawny guy who had it, me and mikeyy (my friend Mike, Mikeyy on MFK), who are not big guys, and my uncle, who is a f**king beast, but had back surgery and cant lift. 4 hours later, after the 3 of us lost about 4 pints of blood, and a large portion of our collective sanity, every thing was in the truck and we were on our way home.
Upon getting it home, we eventually got around to constructing a sturdy stand out of 2x6s between me and mikeyys finals and other school crap, and moved the tank inside a week ago. The plumbing and bulkheads were destroyed, and had to be totally replaced. Mikeyy came over and helped to buff out as many scratches as possible, and it turned out great. During this time i was repairing a few cracks in the acrylic W/D. Then i started the plumbing, and that's where the real fun started.
Inside the overflows was the first problem. The hole that let water out of the overflow to the sump wasn't raised off the bottom, so with no pump running, all 15 or so gallons in each overflow would empty to the sump, which prompted the first water cleanup later before i realized this. i fixed that issue, then moved on. Now i was on to the line to get water from the sump back to the tank. We purchased a pondmaster Mag-18, and 10 trips to home depot later, i had the return lines all set. I started up the pump, and it worked! I was happy, so i turned off the pump, and moved on to something else. When i returned to the room the tank is in 2 minutes later, i watched in horror as whatever water could fit through 1 inch vinyl tubing was spilling on to the floor very rapidly. I then realized my fatal error, as the return line to the tank started a siphon backwards to the sump.
Back to home depot i went for a set of sump pump check valves, and with that issue solved, i could finally move on, although a bit scarred from the 50 gallon water cleanup. at least it wasn't worse. Finally with the tank filled, and about an inch and a half of black sand on the bottom, no leaks, and no fatal plumbing errors, the W/D system was running smoothly, and i moved on to the installation of the 2 Fx5s that would be on the tank.
I finished with the canisters, and got the ehiem jager heaters in the tank, and now the water has cleared and the temp has risen to 80 degrees. With the help of some tank water from my 125, and both Fx5s being used on that tank before hand and a few days time, i was comfortable enough to put in 2 pacu to "test" it, before our planned stocking with a few cichla temensis, and my RTC/TSN hybrid.
The finished product was a result of me, mikeyy's, and at times my uncle's blood, sweat, and i even think a few tears (mostly from my uncle, who i swear i saw chocking back tears when he realized he just spent about 2,500 dollars on a fish tank). It was the most frustrating thing I've ever done, and i hated it, and i cant wait until i get to do it again
!I'm gonna have pics up soon, maybe tomorrow. The tank looks fantastic and I'm so happy with it. Thanks for reading. I was just so damn excited that it was over, i had to put up a post about this.
