740 Gallon Plywood tank for Discus

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
what kind of plants are you going to put in there ?
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At this moment I'm thinking of some Sword plants (Echinodorus bleheri) and some floating plants on the surface.

There will also be some plants around the tank above the surface. But haven't made a plan for those yet. And perhaps that plan is impossible if the water evaporation is too much and I have to cover the tank with some glass or plexi sheets.

Because the tank is quite high I think it won't be very easy to grow any light demanding plants in there. Especially during the winter months as there is only one 70 Watt HQI light for additional lighting.

So I expect the lighting perhaps to be somewhat too heavy for the summer months and somewhat too little for the winter. I just have to see how it goes.

how many discus are you planning on keeping in there and when do you estimate your first water test to be will be a great project i think.
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The plan is to get the first discus in around the end of august when I return from my holidays. And I was thinking of about 8-10 of them. And at this time of writing the tank already holds water. It passed the test! Pics will follow soon!
 
Tank is looking great!
 
you might have problems with algae is you're planning on exposing the tank to direct sunlight
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That could be a problem. If that happens I have to block the sunlight a bit with aluminium sun shades.
That's all part of the "experiment"

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It took quite a while before the window finally came. It was lost for a while because it was delivered at the wrong place somehow.

It's 2200x850 mm and 19 mm thick. To avoid the greenish glass colour which is quite visible with glass this thick, I opted for low iron glass (Optiwhite). This is very clear and doesn't have that greenish colour.

The window was stored outside for some time, waiting for the epoxying to be done. So it was quite cold. With a hair dryer we warmed it up to room temperature to prevent any condensation of water on the window.

Masking tape on the viewing side of the glass should prevent silicone on the glass when it gets installed. The window was then thoroughly cleaned with acetone to give a good surface for the silicone.

I also borrowed three 3-way suction cups. That was quite handy to manoeuvre the window.

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Then the tank was tipped over to rest on the front frame.
With five people the silicone was quickly applied to the front frame. And then immediately the window was laid in the silicone bed. About 8-9 tubes of silicone were used.

This picture also clearly shows the rubber mats between the tank and the concrete U-shaped blocks

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Martijn my colleague and I then put on some extra silicone around the edges to seal it all off. And then we left the silicone to dry for somewhat more than a week.
 
Are you doing this NOW or was this done in the past - It seems like you are Moving threw this project CRAZY fast!!!!!!!!!!!
 
The building is still underway. But these photo's are from a few months ago. So the project was done at a more leisurely pace than it seems.

At this moment I'm still busy with the plumbing, electrics and there's also some panelling/woodworking to do. I hope to have the project entirely finished around september/october

The silicone is from a German brand called Bison, the package says it is suitable for aquaria.
 
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