Hi all,
So i had a 360 gallon up for sale due to spacial and maintenance issues, but after giving it a lot of thought, i have made the decision to keep this monster give it a shot! the tank is 8'x2'x3' made of 1/2" thick tempered glass and has a stand and canopy made of maple wood. Since the setup is double sided, i have decided to use it to divide my dining room. The tank is big and needs some aesthetic, and technical work..... this is where you guys come in..... i need help setting it up. (if any of you are located in the orange county area and can assist me with anything i mention below, please let me know. i think it will be a fun project and i can make it worth your while!)
Here we go!
First of all,
The stand's external structure is made of maple and is fortified with some particle board on the inside which is painted with a water resistant coat. Due to some years of wear and tear, the wood is in need of some refinishing. I took a trip today to home depot and bought some scuff remover and wood finish restorer, but realized that its gonna take more than that to bring the wood back to life. As you can see in the pictures below, the wood is going to need some possible stripping of its laquer, sanding, and refinishing. If any of you has had any first hand experience with refinishing wood, please advise me on how to proceed with this. I do have limited access to a power sander, but i do not know where to start. This goes for the canopy as well.
Here is the picture of the stand. I have already taken out the doors to replace the hinges, grills on the circular vents, locks, and tried to remove as many of the scuffs as i could:
Here is an example of section a the wood (stand and canopy) that is suffering from some laquer damage and aged stains. Do you think i should strip the whole stand and canopy and refinish it? or would some sanding and re-laquering do the trick?
secondly,
The tank came with a built in glass overflow with a pipe sticking out of the bulkhead. but the glass overflow does not have a surface skimmer. I did, however, recieve a large black acrylic internal overflow box with this tank, which i thought was supposed to be installed directly over the glass overflow), but it is a tad bit bigger than the glass overflow. I was initially thinking that if i installed the acrylic overflow over the already installed glass overflow, it would do the job, but i dont want to make any permanent installations before i get some advise from the various members on MFK. what would you guys do?
The already built-in glass overflow:
A close-up of the glass overflow
The acrylic overflow that came with the tank
Laying the acrylic overflow directly over the already built-in glass overflow:
And, the acrylic overflow positioned directly over the glass overflow (notice the size difference. if i were to install this directly over the glass overflow,would it do the job?) :
Thirdly,
There are two holes drilled into the bottom one on each side of the tank, each measuring a little over an inch in diameter. im guessing the return pipes are supposed to be installed into these holes. The problem with that is, im not too crazy about having two pipes sticking out of both sides of the tank especially because i already have a huge built-in overflow in the center of the tank. any suggestions?
Here a picture of one of the two holes drilled at the bottom of the tank:
and lastly,
I there was a HUGE PVC pipe configuration in the shape of a rectangle that was included in this system. it has a bunch of slits along the inside of the configuration. I'm guessing this is a DIY rectangular spraybar. Any suggestions on how i should go about installing this?
The PVC rectangular spray bar:
The Spray bar close up:
Close-up of the slits cut into the spraybar:
The Wet/Dry filter:
Another shot of the wet/dry filter:
a few other questions i had were:
How big of a external pump do i need to provide this tank with adequate filtration?
If you notice, the top of the tank is open, how should i remedy this? (i was thinking about cutting out some oak or maple boards and creating hinged doors?
So, i guess that is it for now. what do you guys think? i will be working on this tank all week so if you guys have any suggestions, comments, or questions at all, they are greatly appreciated. I would love to get some pictures of this thing up as soon as i get it up and running.
What are my plans for this tank? a fully stocked pygo tank perhaps? im not sure, but we'll have to see! thanks in advance for all of your help! i look forward to hearing from all of you soon!
best,
sun
So i had a 360 gallon up for sale due to spacial and maintenance issues, but after giving it a lot of thought, i have made the decision to keep this monster give it a shot! the tank is 8'x2'x3' made of 1/2" thick tempered glass and has a stand and canopy made of maple wood. Since the setup is double sided, i have decided to use it to divide my dining room. The tank is big and needs some aesthetic, and technical work..... this is where you guys come in..... i need help setting it up. (if any of you are located in the orange county area and can assist me with anything i mention below, please let me know. i think it will be a fun project and i can make it worth your while!)
Here we go!
First of all,
The stand's external structure is made of maple and is fortified with some particle board on the inside which is painted with a water resistant coat. Due to some years of wear and tear, the wood is in need of some refinishing. I took a trip today to home depot and bought some scuff remover and wood finish restorer, but realized that its gonna take more than that to bring the wood back to life. As you can see in the pictures below, the wood is going to need some possible stripping of its laquer, sanding, and refinishing. If any of you has had any first hand experience with refinishing wood, please advise me on how to proceed with this. I do have limited access to a power sander, but i do not know where to start. This goes for the canopy as well.
Here is the picture of the stand. I have already taken out the doors to replace the hinges, grills on the circular vents, locks, and tried to remove as many of the scuffs as i could:
Here is an example of section a the wood (stand and canopy) that is suffering from some laquer damage and aged stains. Do you think i should strip the whole stand and canopy and refinish it? or would some sanding and re-laquering do the trick?
secondly,
The tank came with a built in glass overflow with a pipe sticking out of the bulkhead. but the glass overflow does not have a surface skimmer. I did, however, recieve a large black acrylic internal overflow box with this tank, which i thought was supposed to be installed directly over the glass overflow), but it is a tad bit bigger than the glass overflow. I was initially thinking that if i installed the acrylic overflow over the already installed glass overflow, it would do the job, but i dont want to make any permanent installations before i get some advise from the various members on MFK. what would you guys do?
The already built-in glass overflow:
A close-up of the glass overflow
The acrylic overflow that came with the tank
Laying the acrylic overflow directly over the already built-in glass overflow:
And, the acrylic overflow positioned directly over the glass overflow (notice the size difference. if i were to install this directly over the glass overflow,would it do the job?) :
Thirdly,
There are two holes drilled into the bottom one on each side of the tank, each measuring a little over an inch in diameter. im guessing the return pipes are supposed to be installed into these holes. The problem with that is, im not too crazy about having two pipes sticking out of both sides of the tank especially because i already have a huge built-in overflow in the center of the tank. any suggestions?
Here a picture of one of the two holes drilled at the bottom of the tank:
and lastly,
I there was a HUGE PVC pipe configuration in the shape of a rectangle that was included in this system. it has a bunch of slits along the inside of the configuration. I'm guessing this is a DIY rectangular spraybar. Any suggestions on how i should go about installing this?
The PVC rectangular spray bar:
The Spray bar close up:
Close-up of the slits cut into the spraybar:
The Wet/Dry filter:
Another shot of the wet/dry filter:
a few other questions i had were:
How big of a external pump do i need to provide this tank with adequate filtration?
If you notice, the top of the tank is open, how should i remedy this? (i was thinking about cutting out some oak or maple boards and creating hinged doors?
So, i guess that is it for now. what do you guys think? i will be working on this tank all week so if you guys have any suggestions, comments, or questions at all, they are greatly appreciated. I would love to get some pictures of this thing up as soon as i get it up and running.
What are my plans for this tank? a fully stocked pygo tank perhaps? im not sure, but we'll have to see! thanks in advance for all of your help! i look forward to hearing from all of you soon!
best,
sun
