Think I'm ready for tomorrow....

IanB

IanB

Member
Jul 21, 2011
370
0
16
Mid_Suffolk, UK
www.oldschoolmtb.co.uk
Collecting my 750l (5' x 2' x 2 1/2') tank tomorrow.. a gift from an old friend.
Fingers crossed.

Built this for it to stand on



Which is now sporting a hefty polystyrene top and a layer of felt-backed carpet on the bits that meet the floor..

The back seats are removed from my truck, 2 of the kids are offloaded (youngest has to come with), I have plenty of containers for fish, substrate and decor..

Apart from lighting (and stand/lid), it's supposed to be a complete setup.. I have no idea how it's filtered or heated..

Been without fish for.. hmmm.. over 10 years now.. quite looking forward to it :woohoo:
 
bigbird

bigbird

Pleco Profiles Moderator - RIP FRIEND
Sep 9, 2010
6,306
1
36
Sydney, AUSTRALIA
wow excellent news ane well done. Maybe paint the timber, or at least the top in order for it not to go rotten with the moisture. Cant wait for the photo of the tank and fish you have set it up. cheers jk :thumbup:
 
IanB

IanB

Member
Jul 21, 2011
370
0
16
Mid_Suffolk, UK
www.oldschoolmtb.co.uk
Oh yes.. the fish..

Apparently it currently houses a 16" Red Tail Cat, 2 Bumblebee (which are probably Humbug) Cats and a rather large Gibbiceps..

Fortunately me and the other arf both adore RTC's so will enjoy it until such times as we find it a new home..

I will be staining the stand in due course, don't have the time before it gets a big ol' chunk of glass on it though.. and it's getting some external panels to make it look a little less like Ikea on steroids...

It's my first attempt at anything like this (or woodwork in general, actually).. thankfully I had a mitre saw otherwise it'd be a classic Crooked House....
 
IanB

IanB

Member
Jul 21, 2011
370
0
16
Mid_Suffolk, UK
www.oldschoolmtb.co.uk
We had one in my shop nearly 15 years ago, built him a pond inside.. he was close to 3' and the pond was 12' x 6' x 2 1/2'

He used to eat whole trout, boiled eggs, coley fillet and other fishy goodies..

The chap who bought the shop off me killed him by not maintaining the water.

Probably be able to keep this one just long enough for us all to get used to him being around..

But he'll have to go, I don't have the space or money to build him something large enough..
 
Joby

Joby

Retired Staff
Aug 9, 2009
2,068
0
36
59
West Midlands
That stand looks nice and sturdy and at least the dog will have something nice to look at :D Look forward to seeing the tank in place with the fish in :thumbup:
 
IanB

IanB

Member
Jul 21, 2011
370
0
16
Mid_Suffolk, UK
www.oldschoolmtb.co.uk
Ok.. just sat down.. bit of a nightmare day, very tiring..

200 mile round trip, hot day, travelling from Mid-Suffolk to S/East London (and back)..

Had a proper giggle running it down at my chums house, he let his lads do all the work and they are.. ermm.. very amusing..

Fish spent about 5 hours in a grey plastic crate in the truck and then me and the missus couldn't lift the tank out this end..
No problem, set the canister filter up on the grey crate and wait for the cavalry (eta 20:00hrs..)..

In the meantime, make a hideous mess of the truck scraping all the blue paint off the back (great idea, Mrs. IanB...)

Help arrived (20:15), me and him carried it from truck to stand - holy crap that's a hefty lump of glass..
21:00 Sand in, wood in, hose on, Prime in, couple of rocks in and ... coffee ...

22:20, filter is running on the main tank, plants and wood is floating nicely.. employ the colander and sieve.. fish are in (and really, REALLY grumpy)..

Got a couple of murky pics, should be cleared by the morning, will see about planting the plants and getting a prettier pic (I am, however, a bit crap at aquascaping)..

Oh.. good news.. the RTC is only about 10" :woohoo:
 
jessonthenet

jessonthenet

Member
Oct 16, 2010
723
0
16
Newcastle upon Tyne
Hi Ian, have you never thought about trying to make it into a cupboard by placing doors on the front and a shelf inside for all your stuff or you placing a sump/fry tank in there?
 
IanB

IanB

Member
Jul 21, 2011
370
0
16
Mid_Suffolk, UK
www.oldschoolmtb.co.uk
I will be 'cabinetising' it at some point.. reason I didn't go there just now is that I spent all my money on 2x4 (think there's over 20m in that stand) and, what with it being my first venture into woodwork, I didn't want to clad it in lots of fancy gear and have to make alterations after..

Going to be on the look out for some nice architrave/skirting/beading/moulding in the coming weeks..

And I want to slap some gear on it to protect it a bit from the moisture - I'm not prone to loads of water all over the place but accidents happen..

And (there's more??...).. I do have an Amiracle under tank trickle filter wotsit that may be groovy if I can fathom it out..
 
IanB

IanB

Member
Jul 21, 2011
370
0
16
Mid_Suffolk, UK
www.oldschoolmtb.co.uk
Okie dokie.. couldn't see an ideal space for a new thread so I'll stick them here..























All from my phone, the camera is out of batteries (probably stolen for a games controller), will try and do some better ones when the house has calmed down a bit..

Can do commentary a bit later too, my littlun is bugging me to set the Wii up like.. yesterday.. :D

Cheers for all the comments guys.. :yes:
 
IanB

IanB

Member
Jul 21, 2011
370
0
16
Mid_Suffolk, UK
www.oldschoolmtb.co.uk
Found some blue LED strips in my workbox so I've wired them up to a driver, slotted them into a random piece of cover glass track and suspended them over the top..

Will get some pics later, see if they're remotely effective..

Need a doodah to take the muck from the surface of the sand and a roll of lead weight to sink the plants..

Thinking of adding bogwood in order to create a couple of areas of deeper sand for the plants..

It's running on:
2x300W heaters (temperature is stabilising at 23.5 - 24 degrees C)
1 x Superfish Aqua Pro 4SP - never heard of it before but is seems ok from the moment.
1 x Eheim 1048 running a spray bar

There's also have a Rio 3100HD pump and an Amiracle wet/dry trickle filter that I may try to work out and run. The tank (apparently built by Sam Bray) is drilled and I have some of the pipework to connect the Amiracle - a new thread for this methinks..

Inherited occupants are
10" Red Tail Cat
8" Gibbiceps
2 x 4-ish" Humbug Cats
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom