The insanity has begun... My 345 SA/CA Build thread

PDRed302

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Aug 4, 2011
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Fort Worth Texas
Sorry if I missed it, What are the rocks made of?
I believe they are made of polyurethane foam with a polyurea skin (vs. traditional fiberglass) very similar to a 3-D background. As far as I can tell (not 100% sure) the rocks currently in my display were made by a company named Universal Rocks. I am super happy I was able to get the shop to include them with the purchase of the tank; I honestly didn't realize how expensive it would have been to include them other wise. If I were to have bought them from the distributor, just the one rock that I ended up cutting down in my garage to build my waterfall would have cost me more than the tank, stand, included accessories and props I got with the original purchase.


edit: Just noticed DAS aquariums sells faux stones as well, they could very well be made by them. In which case I'm not 100% sure on their material.

...thanks again for looking :D
 

swifty

Feeder Fish
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Jun 13, 2013
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Minion, I recently removed his mate/buddy Large Marge, because I was actually having some aggression issues with her.
How in the hell do you net a fish out of that thing?! Walk in there and go survival style?
 

PDRed302

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Aug 4, 2011
1,521
90
66
Fort Worth Texas
WOW! Beautiful! Fantabulous! Magisterial!
Thank you for the kind words :)

How in the hell do you net a fish out of that thing?! Walk in there and go survival style?
Lol, this got me thinking about throwing on my bcd and hoping in.

Honestly though, its a bit of a pain; takes a large water change, 2 guys, 4 nets and some patience.


... as always, thanks for looking/comments :)
 

bonesb66

Bronze Tier VIP
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Feb 1, 2010
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Just read the whole thread, i love the attention to detail, i'd love to implement some of your ideas in the future so it was certainly a good project to share!
What are the plans going forward? any changes to be made?
 

PDRed302

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Aug 4, 2011
1,521
90
66
Fort Worth Texas
Just read the whole thread, i love the attention to detail, i'd love to implement some of your ideas in the future so it was certainly a good project to share!
What are the plans going forward? any changes to be made?
Thanks for the compliments; as far as changes and future plans I don't have a whole lot in the works:

I would like to eventually finish the stand, lol, it's not high on my to do list but I know I should do it. :)

Within a year or so, I'm going to add a large piece of square tubing across the entire length of the top (left to right in the center) as over time it has started to show signs of sagging (not much but I know in a few years it will be warped). At the same time I will have to add an extra layer of liquid rubber to the whole thing; after a few years of leaning into the tank cleaning, etc. I have caused a few nicks and surface imperfections exposing some of the wood frame; when I do that I may add some plastic edging as well to avoid future blemishes.

Adding more room for plants to grow from the top is on the list as well; I've already bought more aquaponic baskets, I just need to trim some more light defuser panel so that I can add them. Its a 2 hour project tops but my procrastination skills have kept me from doing it for months now, so we'll see how that goes!

Thanks again to everyone for looking and posting comments and questions. :D
 

PDRed302

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Aug 4, 2011
1,521
90
66
Fort Worth Texas
Any update to this?!
Yes actually...

My family and I moved to a new house just a few months ago. Since we had the house renovated, it is currently being built into our game room/second living area. I'm hoping to have it up and running and about 95% complete in the next few weeks; as soon as I get a chance, I will be uploading photos (I've been cataloging) and posting a build thread.

I'm super excited about this build... re-doing all of the favorite things I've done over the years setup wise and plumbed in my first auto drip as well!

I unfortunately had to give up a significant portion of my stock, as we sold our house before we moved into our new home but I was lucky enough to have my parents let me setup a 135 in their guest room, while my family and I were in between homes. So I was able to keep a hold of a few of my favorite pets!

Update and build link A.S.A.P.

...along with a million questions :)
 
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