Here's a close up. I got the specialty valves along with the bulkheads and return pieces at Savko. They were very helpful.
Craigslist 340 Gallon-Planted Tank with Basement Sump
- Thread starter jandb
- Start date
A picture of the floor jacks ready to be installed. A friend of mine is a civil engineer and he figured out where I should put them. That stuff is above me but it all seemed to work out.
Rough finish of the shelf the sump will go on. I wanted it to be sturdy enough to hold a half filled 75 gallon glass tank. I added more reinforcements after this picture was taken. I also used wire rated for 800lbs. and afixed one to the I-beam and two to the 2x12 floor joists on each side so the shelf wouldn't tip if anyone ever tried to climb up it or anything.
Here's the tank in place with the first layer of substrate completed. My neighbor has a great planted, discus tank and helped me get the substrate mixed and installed. I initially was going to buy several hundred pounds of Flourite but this was much cheaper and his plants really thrive. The first layer consists of topsoil (not potting soil) mixed with vermiculite with a teaspoon of Osmacote per square foot. This layer is sealed by about a half inch of sand. The middle layer is laterite (I bought the cheapest unscented cat litter I could find) sealed by another half inch of sand. The top layer is 4 bags of Flourite mixed with 150 pounds of pea gravel I bought at Home Depot. I figure I have about $80 in it opposed to the several hundred if I just used Flourite.
A little out of order here but this is the test fill with the manzanita floating. I got 4 large pieces from Manzman10 and was very happy with the price and product.
Here's the 90 and 75 along with several 10 gallon quarantine tanks that are going into the 340. I had these set up in the basement since we moved into the house almost 3 years ago. It's been the first time I haven't had a display tank upstairs so I'm excited to get the fish in a room I spend a lot of time around. The 90 has been established for over 10 years and is stocked with mostly Rainbows and Rummynose along with several random fish and bottom dwellers. I have two very old Clown loaches in the 75 along with a school of Rummynose.
Stand skin and canopy. I used a combination of 1x2, 1x4, 1x6 and 1x10 for these parts. I joined them using a Kreg jig (best woodworking invention ever). I found the info for the cabinet place that made the trim for the house and bought the crown molding (for the canopy) along with the other trim pieces from them so the stand matched the room.
