DiscusnAfricans
Past President
I've been looking for a new acrylic tank to replace the glass 180 I sold recently, and finally found what I'd been looking for. It's not actually new, but it's new to me.
Big thanks to Matt
FishEggs
for helping me pick up the tank, transport it to my house, and bring it in. A 180 acrylic was manageable for the two of us with a furniture dolly to make it easier getting it in through my basement stairwell. Alternatively, four people had a tough time getting a glass 180 out without damaging it.
It took me a while to get it set up and going, I've actually had it for a few weeks, but have been taking my time setting it up properly and doing some light rehab work. I finally have everything going, just letting the filter adequately cycle while I wait for a new temperature probe for the heater controller.
I gave the interior and exterior of the tank a good scrubbing, and wanted to polish the tank as well. The tank has some light scratches on the interior and exterior, nothing terrible, but enough I wanted to see how much work was involved with polishing. The scratches weren't overly noticeable when the tank was filled with water, but they were evident on an empty tank, fairly standard for a used acrylic tank at this price point. I bought an acrylic polishing kit and did some light polishing on the exterior, but quickly realized it would take a lot of work to get everything perfect, and polishing the interior of the tank wouldn't be easy without laying the tank on the floor and spending some time on it. I decided I didn't want to commit the time needed, and I wasn't confident in my polishing skills since this was my first acrylic setup.
I decided to replace all of the plumbing below the tank, as it was flexible rubber tubing, but was fairly old, and had been originally used for saltwater, even though it had been running as freshwater for a few years. The plumbing had been partially removed to transport the tank, so work was required to reassemble it, so I figure it was just worth replacing at that point. It ended up being a lot tougher than I expected, the tubing wasn't easily removed from the bulkhead drains and returns, and one of the bulkhead attachments actually broke when trying to attach a new hose. I was glad it broke while everything was dry though, so it wasn't an emergency to fix it ASAP. After a failed attempt to super glue the connection, I decided to replace the entire bulkhead, which required another trip to Home Depot. Disassembling the plumbing in the overflow reservoir helped me learn the mechanics, and I decided to replace all of the return plumbing inside the reservoir as well. This is my first drilled/plumbed tank, so it was a good learning opportunity, and I learned quite a bit.
Once I replace all of the upper return plumbing, all of the lower plumbing, attached the sump drains and return pump, I was ready to test fill the tank and ensure everything worked properly. Everything worked well, so after running for a few days to confirm no leaks or other surprises, I drained the tank, mounted the included power strips, moved the stand to it's final position and started the process to get sand in the tank. Thanks to
jonclark96
and
Rasta Fish
for the pool filter sand, I had plenty of available sand since I had already purchased 100 pounds, I actually only ended up using one bag of the new stuff.
Rinsed the sand, added about 80 gallons of RO water (big thanks to
Tangcollector
for the RO/DI unit), about 30 gallons of water from the holding tank my South American fish are currently living in, then filled the rest with tap water. Added filter media from a box filter in the SA tank to the sump to start seeding beneficial bacteria, added some filter bags of Tannin Aquatics botanicals to the sump interior and restarted everything. I currently have some driftwood in the tank, and a FX6 running on the SA holding tank to build up some more bacteria, so I can transfer those contents to the new tank and be sure the filter has an adequate bacteria colony. One I have the temp properly set and add the new filter media for a few days I'll be ready to add fish.
Below is a pic of the tank as it was advertised and set up by the previous owner. I'll add some pics once I have the scaping complete, before and after I add the fish. I was fortunate to find a what could've been a plug and play setup, along with tons of extra materials. The previous owner was moving, so they were glad to give me anything fish related, including some stuff I need to pass on to someone that can make use of materials I won't use. Below are specs of most everything included with the tank setup.
Tenecor ~180 acrylic bowfront tank with acrylic covers for 2 openings and overflow, black acrylic stand and canopy, with integrated LED lights and fans
Aqueon Pro Flex 4 Sump with Wet/Dry Modification chamber and Mag Drive 18 return pump
JBJ 800 watt Titanium heater with controller
Eshopps 10 gallon Auto Top Off Reservoir with float valve attachment (Might add a controller for this, currently designed as a gravity fed system)
Advantage Ultraviolet Sterilizer (I think its a 15 watt, need to confirm and order new bulb, though it currently works) with Mag Drive 5 pump
Fluval FX6 canister filter with tons of carbon media that I'm passing on to someone who will make use of it
3 Circulation Pumps (2 Hydor Koralia and 1 Marineland)
Bulk Reef Supply 75GPD RO/DI Deluxe Unit with replacement filters and membrane
2 Brute Trash Cans with wheels and lids
Mag Drive 9 pump with extra tubing for water changes
Whisper AP300 Air pump with tubing
Miscellaneous supplies including algae scraper, nets and poly-fil
Synthetic rock decoration and tons of plastic plants
Overall I'm very happy with my purchase, just looking forward to moving the fish into their new home. Stocking will be Satanoperca Mapiritensis, Biotodoma Cupido, Geophagus sp. 'Sveni', a couple of L333 'King Tiger' plecos and a bristlenose pleco. I also have fish from the original 180 setup I might add, some might be combined with other tanks. Those fish include Cencelichthys pearsei, pictus catfish (4-line?), filament barbs, red-tail blue loaches, and yo-yo loaches. I might add the pictus cats as they're still South American, the others would be compatible, just have to decide how I want to distribute them. The pearsei are technically from different water conditions, but have been raised in similar water, minus the RO and without the heat. Other fish I'd consider adding in the future would be tetras or other characins, festivum, hatchets and maybe some other eartheaters, but want to see how the current group 'fills' out the tank to determine how much more should be added if any.
I'll post updated pictures once I have the scaping in better order.
Big thanks to Matt
FishEggs
for helping me pick up the tank, transport it to my house, and bring it in. A 180 acrylic was manageable for the two of us with a furniture dolly to make it easier getting it in through my basement stairwell. Alternatively, four people had a tough time getting a glass 180 out without damaging it.It took me a while to get it set up and going, I've actually had it for a few weeks, but have been taking my time setting it up properly and doing some light rehab work. I finally have everything going, just letting the filter adequately cycle while I wait for a new temperature probe for the heater controller.
I gave the interior and exterior of the tank a good scrubbing, and wanted to polish the tank as well. The tank has some light scratches on the interior and exterior, nothing terrible, but enough I wanted to see how much work was involved with polishing. The scratches weren't overly noticeable when the tank was filled with water, but they were evident on an empty tank, fairly standard for a used acrylic tank at this price point. I bought an acrylic polishing kit and did some light polishing on the exterior, but quickly realized it would take a lot of work to get everything perfect, and polishing the interior of the tank wouldn't be easy without laying the tank on the floor and spending some time on it. I decided I didn't want to commit the time needed, and I wasn't confident in my polishing skills since this was my first acrylic setup.
I decided to replace all of the plumbing below the tank, as it was flexible rubber tubing, but was fairly old, and had been originally used for saltwater, even though it had been running as freshwater for a few years. The plumbing had been partially removed to transport the tank, so work was required to reassemble it, so I figure it was just worth replacing at that point. It ended up being a lot tougher than I expected, the tubing wasn't easily removed from the bulkhead drains and returns, and one of the bulkhead attachments actually broke when trying to attach a new hose. I was glad it broke while everything was dry though, so it wasn't an emergency to fix it ASAP. After a failed attempt to super glue the connection, I decided to replace the entire bulkhead, which required another trip to Home Depot. Disassembling the plumbing in the overflow reservoir helped me learn the mechanics, and I decided to replace all of the return plumbing inside the reservoir as well. This is my first drilled/plumbed tank, so it was a good learning opportunity, and I learned quite a bit.
Once I replace all of the upper return plumbing, all of the lower plumbing, attached the sump drains and return pump, I was ready to test fill the tank and ensure everything worked properly. Everything worked well, so after running for a few days to confirm no leaks or other surprises, I drained the tank, mounted the included power strips, moved the stand to it's final position and started the process to get sand in the tank. Thanks to
jonclark96
and
Rasta Fish
for the pool filter sand, I had plenty of available sand since I had already purchased 100 pounds, I actually only ended up using one bag of the new stuff.Rinsed the sand, added about 80 gallons of RO water (big thanks to
Tangcollector
for the RO/DI unit), about 30 gallons of water from the holding tank my South American fish are currently living in, then filled the rest with tap water. Added filter media from a box filter in the SA tank to the sump to start seeding beneficial bacteria, added some filter bags of Tannin Aquatics botanicals to the sump interior and restarted everything. I currently have some driftwood in the tank, and a FX6 running on the SA holding tank to build up some more bacteria, so I can transfer those contents to the new tank and be sure the filter has an adequate bacteria colony. One I have the temp properly set and add the new filter media for a few days I'll be ready to add fish.Below is a pic of the tank as it was advertised and set up by the previous owner. I'll add some pics once I have the scaping complete, before and after I add the fish. I was fortunate to find a what could've been a plug and play setup, along with tons of extra materials. The previous owner was moving, so they were glad to give me anything fish related, including some stuff I need to pass on to someone that can make use of materials I won't use. Below are specs of most everything included with the tank setup.
Tenecor ~180 acrylic bowfront tank with acrylic covers for 2 openings and overflow, black acrylic stand and canopy, with integrated LED lights and fans
Aqueon Pro Flex 4 Sump with Wet/Dry Modification chamber and Mag Drive 18 return pump
JBJ 800 watt Titanium heater with controller
Eshopps 10 gallon Auto Top Off Reservoir with float valve attachment (Might add a controller for this, currently designed as a gravity fed system)
Advantage Ultraviolet Sterilizer (I think its a 15 watt, need to confirm and order new bulb, though it currently works) with Mag Drive 5 pump
Fluval FX6 canister filter with tons of carbon media that I'm passing on to someone who will make use of it
3 Circulation Pumps (2 Hydor Koralia and 1 Marineland)
Bulk Reef Supply 75GPD RO/DI Deluxe Unit with replacement filters and membrane
2 Brute Trash Cans with wheels and lids
Mag Drive 9 pump with extra tubing for water changes
Whisper AP300 Air pump with tubing
Miscellaneous supplies including algae scraper, nets and poly-fil
Synthetic rock decoration and tons of plastic plants
Overall I'm very happy with my purchase, just looking forward to moving the fish into their new home. Stocking will be Satanoperca Mapiritensis, Biotodoma Cupido, Geophagus sp. 'Sveni', a couple of L333 'King Tiger' plecos and a bristlenose pleco. I also have fish from the original 180 setup I might add, some might be combined with other tanks. Those fish include Cencelichthys pearsei, pictus catfish (4-line?), filament barbs, red-tail blue loaches, and yo-yo loaches. I might add the pictus cats as they're still South American, the others would be compatible, just have to decide how I want to distribute them. The pearsei are technically from different water conditions, but have been raised in similar water, minus the RO and without the heat. Other fish I'd consider adding in the future would be tetras or other characins, festivum, hatchets and maybe some other eartheaters, but want to see how the current group 'fills' out the tank to determine how much more should be added if any.
I'll post updated pictures once I have the scaping in better order.
