New Tank Build

[Leebtattoos]

It looks great. You should really be proud.

Since I know leaks now haha, fans and a shop vac is good advice.

But I have faith. We are all routing for ya

 

[Steve_C]

Yep exactly what I was gonna say (wet dry shop vac) that would be a good idea just in case, but hope it all goes well. Tank looks really nice you did a good job from the looks of it. Hope to see it full of water and ready to go next week

 

[Thomas18]

This is awsome, i cant wait to see it finished.

 

[Aquadog]

Water is flowing.......testing overnight.

 

[Aquadog]

So the water test went well. No leaks and when full there wasn't so much as a 1/16" of flex on the front and back panels. At the last minute before filling, I put a 1/2" thick piece of foam underneath, just because it couldnt hurt and with the steel bracing there was an 1/8" gap under the PVC bottom. Figured it would correct any imperfections in the plywood top and the steel bracing.

Now I can switch gears and work on overflow, plumbing and sump system.

I'm picking up about 100lbs of dead rock today to work on scaping the overlow and tank. I have some ideas for the scaping so excited to see how it turns out. Need to make a bunch if hiding places, but still make the fish visible.

I also ordered almost 50' each of both blue and white LED strip lights for a DIY light project. Hope it turns out as well as the tank did.

 

[Leebtattoos]

Great news

 

[Aquadog]

Started the overflow box today. Instead of using the 5g bucket idea, I used a piece of 12" round PVC I scored for a reasonable price of FREE!!!!. Once cut to size, I made a 1.5" deep weir at top using a circular saw and angle grinder to widen the cuts.

Used "hot glue" to glue my rock rubble to the PVC. Pond foam is perfect for this type of project. Not only does it help secure the rocks in place, you can carve shapes and texture by removing or adding more foam.

I added two 1" PVC couplers on opposing sides to help give me a solid mounting point for two rock arms to extend off of the overflow. Doing this will allow me to remove them for cleaning ect.

Once the foam cures I'll cut more out to reveal my gaps and shapes of the rocks. I'll brush on epoxy and spread more rock and various size sand grains for s more solid rock look.

 

[Steve_C]

Good to hear I'm glad it went off without a hitch for ya. The first fill up is always nerve wracking. Now that it's out of the way you can start the fun stuff now like decor

 

[Aquadog]

Finished the lights today. Turned out nice and less than $160.

I made each of the 6 strips (1 strip has two rows of lights) removeable so that I can move the blues and whites around if needed, or add more strips of another color. 2 strips are hooked into one timer so I get dusk, mid day, evening, and moon lighting.

 

[Aquadog]

So my creative daughter made me an awesome overflow box. The rock covered overflow was very round and had a shape I couldn't change even though I added more and more rocks. This idea definately works better on flat walls.

So I cut another piece of 12" round PVC and sought a new idea. Then came the idea of a pier pylon. I used ideas from the net to score the wood grain designs into the PVC (angle grinder, file, 40 grit paper). Each made different lines for variety. My daughter painted it using acrylic paint and it was sealed with epoxy. We attached epoxy covered starfish and ordered some barnacls to also attach later. Came out pretty nice and matches the round shape of the PVC.