Adventure into Wonderland: Refurbishing 65g Tank and Stand

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aliceinwonderland

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 18, 2013
8
0
0
Maryland
Hi everyone! I'm relatively new to the world of fish keeping and what an exciting world it is! I currently have a 20 gallon with neon tetra, bronze cories, and a male betta along with a 46 gallon with gourami, rams, a grey bichir, and a small school of 1" - 1 1/2" clown loaches that I'm growing out. But how could I stop there?!

I acquired an old 65 gallon stand and tank that someone had been storing in a stable for a few years. The tank has a small burn on the back side of the rim and the stand was in desperate need of a repaint but I just love fixing up old junk to make it something new and beautiful. So the artist in me has taken over! My intention is to make a big heavily planted tank with an artsy Wonderland touch to it.

This is what the stand looked like after being brought home and scrubbed free of dirt:
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It had some mold growing on the underside so I scrubbed that off and painted over the treated areas with Kilz to make sure it doesn't come back. I painted the stand green and purple and it came out quite nice. Here's a picture of it without the doors attached:
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Today I'm painting rose bushes on the doors before I put them back up and later I'll be putting the Chesire cat's face on the front of the stand. I can hardly wait until I get paid on Wednesday though, that's when the fun really begins! I'll be getting a black backdrop and putting down a half and half mix of FloraMax and play sand for a substrate then adding some rocks and wood that I've collected for decorations(all properly treated). Then I get to decide what plants to put in! I haven't decided what I'm going to stock the tank with for sure yet but I'm heavily leaning towards axolotls.

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Welcome. Hope to see the updates of that planted tank as you progress. When you figure out what plants you want, you may want to try www.aquabid.com for some good deals.
 
Thank you for the welcome and I'll be happy to show the updates as I make them. I'm about to start working on the doors now. I've been tentatively browsing aquabid because it does look like they have a lot of stuff for good prices but I think it'll be easier to decide what I want once I have the larger decorations in place. I also want to sculpt some Wonderland themed decor to put in the tank. One item in particular that I have a vision of is a sculpture with the branches and blooms of a rosebush that has some sort of live plant replacing the foliage, maybe attached via a mesh frame.
 
It looks good so far. I never seen a wonderland themed tank. So that's pretty cool. Terra cotta clay and paint it with fish safe paint to make your rose bushes.


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Terra cotta clay sounds like the perfect medium. Could you recommend any brands of paint that are fish safe or suggest where I might find fish safe paint? Alternatively I suppose I could just use my regular paints and paint over it all with a clear protective coating but if I can avoid an extra step it would definitely be useful.

Ha! I hadn't even thought of that Mount_Prion. Do the cory catfish count? I named one of my male betta fish Cheshire and the other one is Absolem. With the exception of Dino, my grey Bichir, I plan to give all the fish names of Wonderland characters. I finally gave in after years of Alice in Wonderland references when I told people my name and embraced the theme!
 
Kylon fusion spray paint is fish safe. Other then that idk. Maybe lol into the chemicals in the fusion paint then try to find some other paint exactly the same.


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I see, I see. I did think of another issue though. Don't you need a kiln to bake terra cotta clay? Or are you familiar with any oven bake brands that are safe? I'm doing a bit of research on it myself but for now I need to get back to painting. Thank you for the suggestions though! It's really helpful to know what options I have to work with.
 
I never molded terra cotta clay before but from what I found on google it does need a kiln or atleast a baking temp 1,800 degrees.

Idk if you can do this but it's worth a shot if you don't have access to a kiln.

TerryWal01
01-20-2009, 05:25 PM
If you cannot find a place to fire the terra cotta pieces, you can make your own kiln out of a metal trash can. Since terra cotta is a low fire clay, often the right temps can be achieved. Just get a metal trash can....put a small amount of either saw dust or cedar pet bedding wood shavings in the bottom....place the terra cotta pieces in...cover with more saw dust or wood shavings and fill to the top. Place a couple of pieces of BBQ charcoal briquets on top and light it on fire. Once the saw dust gets started burning, put the lid on....oh yea...drill several holes around the sides of the trash can and in the lid. It will burn for about 12 to 15 hours. Once cooled, they should be OK. Let me know of any questions...I'd be glad to help. The kids and I use this method lots during the winter especially!!!



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Oh, I can totally reconstruct that! I need to pick up a metal trashcan from home depot for boiling my larger pieces of driftwood anyway, so I'll just get two. Then I'll have my own mini kiln for future projects as well. Doomie, you're awesome. <3
 
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