rsanz
monster tank newbie
Well, it's been 6 years in the planning (ever since we moved into our house 6 years ago). We moved in with just a lowly 20g long. I upgraded to a 40g long right away, but it still looked tiny on that wall... We need a monster tank.
Fast forward 5 years later. I trolled craigslist for about a year trying to find a show-quality tank and furniture. I did buy a very nice 135g acrylic setup with stand, but it had an integral blue background which, while nice, did not match my vision for the tank. I tried building a 3D background to cover the blue, but I didn't size it right and I got frustrated and quit on it. I eventually gave up after another purchase and flip.
2 months after I had given up hope, my parents told me that they were going to get rid of an old antique chest that they had had in their house since before I was born. It ugly, but it was big enough for fit a 6 foot tank, and it was so hideous that I kind of loved it (in a bulldog is so ugly that they're cute kind of a way...a face only a mother/father could love). I had an attachment to this antique chest, and had fond memories of driving my matchbox cars over the curvy lines of the front carving. I couldn't let them throw it away/give it away.
I knew the antique was made in the 1600s...so I didn't trust it holding a 1,000+ lbs tank. I decided to build a skeleton frame out of 2x lumber to fit inside of the chest so that it was not visible and we could still enjoy the furniture under the tank, but strong enough to support the weight without worry. The frame can be seen fitted inside the chest here:
I also built a platform out of pink foam and oriented strand board to give the tank a nice flat and level base to sit on, since the antique top had a lot of dips and divots in it from its 400 years of life prior to its latest calling as an aquarium stand. I just did a quick hardwood trim and a brown spray paint job around the ply/foam and called the platform good. Tee idea was for it to disappear under the tank, and I'm pleased with the way it turned out.
I've never had a tank this huge. How the heck would I fill it? I've always used the "bucket brigade" technique from our kitchen sink to fill and do water changes on the 40 gallon. This thing was too huge and too tall to do buckets. Time to bring in the hose from outside!
It took an entire day to wash the sand, scrub the rocks (boulders?!) from our yard, fill the tank (it took about 20 minutes to fill from the hose), and bring the water up to temperature with 2-250 watt Jager heaters (78 degrees from 56 tap temperature). After that, it took about half an hour to set up the FX-6 filter, set up the 6 foot light, and transfer over the flora and fauna from the 40g long river tank. What a day!
Here's a photo of the tank all set up with everything from the 40g (rocks, driftwood, plants, fish). Everything looks so tiny...I'll definitely need some more driftwood and possibly a few more rocks to fill out the aquascape while waiting for the plants to grow in. You can see Bubba the adolescent oscar in the bottom center of the photo, for whom all of this effort was for:
I'm thinking up a stock list to fill out the tank. I'm thinking of a small school of 3-4 Rotkeil severums, and probably 5 or 6 more farlowellas to join the current lonely farlowella that I have in there now. I was also considering getting a true parrot cichlid (hoplarchus psittacus) instead of the Rotkeils. I was also considering a school of clown loaches, but I'd like to keep this as a South American biotope tank I think. Maybe a school of geophagus? Any opinions/suggestions?
Thanks for looking! It was a labor of love, and my wife, baby, and I are thrilled with the way it turned out, and can't wait to see how the plants fill in!
Fast forward 5 years later. I trolled craigslist for about a year trying to find a show-quality tank and furniture. I did buy a very nice 135g acrylic setup with stand, but it had an integral blue background which, while nice, did not match my vision for the tank. I tried building a 3D background to cover the blue, but I didn't size it right and I got frustrated and quit on it. I eventually gave up after another purchase and flip.
2 months after I had given up hope, my parents told me that they were going to get rid of an old antique chest that they had had in their house since before I was born. It ugly, but it was big enough for fit a 6 foot tank, and it was so hideous that I kind of loved it (in a bulldog is so ugly that they're cute kind of a way...a face only a mother/father could love). I had an attachment to this antique chest, and had fond memories of driving my matchbox cars over the curvy lines of the front carving. I couldn't let them throw it away/give it away.
I knew the antique was made in the 1600s...so I didn't trust it holding a 1,000+ lbs tank. I decided to build a skeleton frame out of 2x lumber to fit inside of the chest so that it was not visible and we could still enjoy the furniture under the tank, but strong enough to support the weight without worry. The frame can be seen fitted inside the chest here:
I also built a platform out of pink foam and oriented strand board to give the tank a nice flat and level base to sit on, since the antique top had a lot of dips and divots in it from its 400 years of life prior to its latest calling as an aquarium stand. I just did a quick hardwood trim and a brown spray paint job around the ply/foam and called the platform good. Tee idea was for it to disappear under the tank, and I'm pleased with the way it turned out.
I've never had a tank this huge. How the heck would I fill it? I've always used the "bucket brigade" technique from our kitchen sink to fill and do water changes on the 40 gallon. This thing was too huge and too tall to do buckets. Time to bring in the hose from outside!
It took an entire day to wash the sand, scrub the rocks (boulders?!) from our yard, fill the tank (it took about 20 minutes to fill from the hose), and bring the water up to temperature with 2-250 watt Jager heaters (78 degrees from 56 tap temperature). After that, it took about half an hour to set up the FX-6 filter, set up the 6 foot light, and transfer over the flora and fauna from the 40g long river tank. What a day!
Here's a photo of the tank all set up with everything from the 40g (rocks, driftwood, plants, fish). Everything looks so tiny...I'll definitely need some more driftwood and possibly a few more rocks to fill out the aquascape while waiting for the plants to grow in. You can see Bubba the adolescent oscar in the bottom center of the photo, for whom all of this effort was for:
I'm thinking up a stock list to fill out the tank. I'm thinking of a small school of 3-4 Rotkeil severums, and probably 5 or 6 more farlowellas to join the current lonely farlowella that I have in there now. I was also considering getting a true parrot cichlid (hoplarchus psittacus) instead of the Rotkeils. I was also considering a school of clown loaches, but I'd like to keep this as a South American biotope tank I think. Maybe a school of geophagus? Any opinions/suggestions?
Thanks for looking! It was a labor of love, and my wife, baby, and I are thrilled with the way it turned out, and can't wait to see how the plants fill in!
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