Picked up a piece of eggcrate, 150 lbs of pool filter sand and some river rocks to get everything started. Bulkheads arriving on Friday, so trying to get ready to plumb and filter as soon as they arrive. Hopefully pictures tonight or tomorrow.
My first "big" aquarium
- Thread starter jtalley
- Start date
Got the eggcrate in and washed 1 bag of the Pavestone pool filter sand, just enough to get a little bit over the 3/8" thick eggcrate. Plan is to get at least 1 more bag in tomorrow, which I think right now I may need all three bags for the final setup. Going to slope is from back to front and do 3 sets of rock work like suggested earlier, 2 near the overflows and then one near the center of the tank to give it depth. Also need to boil some polished river rocks that I am going to use in the tank. Also going to a local landscaping place tomorrow during lunch to look at possible driftwood, as well as the larger rocks that I want to put in, only using river rocks to mix in to make look a little more natural.
This is a glass tank, and since I am going to be doing rock work for Cichlids, the eggcrate is used to distribute the weight more evenly over the glass so it doesn't crack under the rocks. Especially since glass tanks usually rest on the plastic rim, and the bottom of the tank isn't actually in contact with the stand.
Got the 2nd bag of sand in, I think it might be enough. Filling the tank back up right now. During lunch I picked up 50 lbs of larger "river jacks" which I need to wash off while boiling a smaller set of polished river stones as accents. I also hooked up an older HOB filter with just some floss to try and get rid of any smaller sand particles that didn't get washed out before I hook up the FX5. Will post pictures later tonight if it has cleared up some.
Here is a quick picture after getting it filled, washing the larger rocks, still a lot of smaller bubbles. At least the HOB is creating some movement to make then go to the surface. I basically just put the rocks in quickly because my cold tap water is about 56 degrees according to the thermometer, so that is why the stealth is in there to warm it up so I can arrange them like I want. I may actually need to go back and buy more of the larger rocks, but I got all these for about $5, so that won't be bad.
I got the PVC parts in the mail yesterday, but spent most of the day driving to and from Pittsburgh. I thought I bought 3/4" NPT x 1" barb, but I got 1" NPT x 3/4" barb, maybe Lowe's carries a 3/4" NPT x 3/4" NPT and I can make that work...either way I can get the suction side setup. I also need to clean out and spray paint the return lines that came with the tank to make them look better. Water is also up to temperature, so I can do some rock work today too hopefully. Everyone that is coming to my house is asking me if I am doing salt water...I need to get this setup before they change my mind.
