600l Tank - Finally Built - Day Three Pics And Update

[RipSlider]

total cost so far is £1,231.99

I was hoping to bring the lot in at under £1000 but as I went along, I kept realising that I needed to super-size something, or that I needed an extra gizmo to support those that I am already using.

trivial example:

The Pro 3 has two inlets for water from the tank, and one return.

So I need two intake strainers.

Having a 29" deep tank means that the standard strainers aren't going to be anywhere near the bottom of the tank, so I have to get a special intake. That's not long enough either, so I need to get three extension pieces.

Then I realise that with such a deep tank, there is a real possibility that I simply won't end up fully filtering the water in the upper layers. So then I have to get a surface skimming strainer for the other intake. However, that needs 12mm tubing, and the pro3 uses 16mm tubing, so I have to get a step down connection.

That's the longest example of a single issue leading to lots of additional purchases, but it gives an idea about how the budget can be broken.

Steve

 

[RipSlider]

Hurrah!!

Tank is finally here. We've worked flat out for pretty much 48 hours and now it's and and (roughly ) plumbed together.

Friday saw us pic the tank up. I measured the car, and reckoned it would just fit. It's a damn big tank to get into a Vauxhall Astra salon.

It JUST managed to get in, but was so heavy that the suspension virtually bottomed out at the back. The tank can barely be lifted by four people.

Tank weights 114Kg's. The hood another 18kg.

End of friday saw us finally get home. My friend Steve came round to help me lift it into the garage.

With the hood on it looked massive! To give an idea, the bottle inside is a 2 litire coke bottle.

Then I painted the back black over the next few hours. 4 coats in total of blackboard paint as it's really matt and is designed to stick to shiny sufaces. Totally stinks though.

Sat morning, my overly tidy other half was packed off to her friends house for the weekend, and the work started.

First job was to reinforce the floor. We opened up an "inspection hatch" and discovered that we were in luck. three full joists and a bearing wall all sit below the place where the tank was going, so no need to reinfoce the floor!! Yay!!

Sadly Storm, my cat, decided that the hole looked REALLY instresting, so all work had to stop for almost an hour while she was tempted out:

running away:

Finally out and looking mucky and cross:

Then we had to reinfoce the base unit. It started out as a really heavy duty pine cabinet, that held my old tank. All of it is made out of 1" thick seasoned pine.

We got some big sheets of one inch thick marine ply from B+Q, and they did me proud by making every cut I asked for to the nearest mm, which saved a huge amount of effort.

We added a new base, new back, new middle and new load bearing struts to carry the weight through the top, down the body of the tank and out into the solid base, where the load will be spread. LOTS of screws and no nails, and extremely close cuts on everything leads to an immensly strong unit. We went to the LFS today and had a look at the units that carry their 7 foot tanks, and we have a lot more strength in ours, which makes me happy.

Then it was time to drill out the walls. The wall behind the tank is the garage, and that's where the filtration sits.

There are four holes. Three ( the ones with the pipes in this photo ) are for the filter, are for the Eheim Pro 3 which needs 2 inlets and one return to the tank. The fourth hole is for a tank that will be mounted high on the garage wall, which will be my fresh water tank that will feed into the main tank via a syphon and a tap. I'll be removing the water from the main tank with a python, so water changes will be a doddle.

Next was lights fitted into the hood. Only one is shown here, but there are 4x55w t5's in the hood, each with reflectors. There are also two squares cut out and two 80mm ultra silent fans and fans gaurds monted into the hood flush. Air gets pulled into the hood from both sides, and then vents out of the open back. Pics of this to follow tommorrow when it's all tidied up and the wiring sorted.

Then it was time for the plumbing

The main filter is an eheiom pro 3, which is frankly enormous, of which all the flow is then sent to a 30w Vectron I UV filter.

Beforte it gets there, there is a tap in the pipe directing a percentage of the flow into a deltyec FR 509 fuild bed filter, which then feeds back into the main flow. I need to play with this slightly, it may need a pump and ball valve to stop wash back.

The plumbing is all done very loosely at the moment. I will be building a great big set of sleving units around the filtration over the next couple of days to carry the top up tank, to hide the filtration and to provide some much needed shelving in the garage, so that's why it currently looks so messy.

Finally, we could shift the tank into position, which took three of us.

Steve is standing next to the tank to give it a sense of scale. He's 6' 1" !!!!!!

While it looks big, pictures don't do it justice. It's almost silly how big it is.

That's where it's left as of tonight.

I have 2 days off work, so 1 will be doing the substrate, bogwood, sand, planting and filling it tommorrow.

Tuesday is building all the shelves.

more pictures to follow over the next couple of days.

Steve

 

[Bryan]

I like the way you set up your old tank, you've got great taste. I can tell this is going to be a something to be proud of. I can't wait to see the finished project, but in the meantime I'm enjoying watching the progress.

 

[mj32]

Great tank you got going there! Look forward to reading the rest of this thread as it goes along - good luck with it.

Somehow I don't think my wife would allow such major mod's to be made to our house for that

 

[RipSlider]

I discovered that bribery with shoes is the best way.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

that looks great! good work

keep the pics coming

and yes I can imagine shoes would work.... I'm discussing with my fella how many tanks he's allowed to bring when he moves in at the moment..... I think more shoes would help me say yes to more tanks!

 

[Dr Bob]

Subscribed to this thread, can't wait to see updates!

 

[linda1503]

Just one word sums it up. WOW!!!

 

[RipSlider]

Right, firefox just crashed following a very long post, so this one is going to be shorter.


So, what's happened recently?

First, I got the hood sorted out:

Inside it there are:

2x dual electronic arcadia t5 ballasts
3x plants grow tubes
1x atanic marine white tube
all 55 w

2x 80mm PC case fans, silent type
1x power controller
2x fan grills.

The lights went in without a problem. The fans were a pain in the backside, making really neat holes in 1" thick seasoned

pine is just not any fun at all. 5 hours of work in total.

There are reflectors to go in as soon as I find some 48" ones.

You'll see that the back two lights are off centre. This is on purpose. In my 3 foot tank, the lights are dead centre,

leaving two slightly darker area's at the sides. This time, I've tried to combat this.

Then the aqua scaping.

First in was the substate. This is a mix of 10kg's of tetra plant compost, 40kg's of aquarium sand, which is supposedly

"pre-washed" playsand ( was it f*** ! ), and 15 kg's of fine gravel.

The gravel and compost got mixed together, then added to the left hand side of the tank. Then I added the sand to the right,

and added so to the left. Then a good mix with a big stick, and we have a pretend stream bed. ( I don't want a lot of plants

on the right hand side of the tank )

Then I added the bogwood. I worked out, on dry land, how I wanted it all to fit together, and then drilled it out. I chopped

one piece into long slivers ( I had to use an axe and hammer, it's that tough ). Then I added it to the tank in the same way,

hammering the slivers down the holes so that essentially it is held together with dowels.

In total, I used 27kg of wood, mostly proper bogwood, but three big pieces of mopani wood.

This left me with a sort of tree stump with lots of roots and empty section. I then added the plants.

So far I've added anubis, amazon sword and water whisteria. I'm not going to keep the whisteria in, it's just there to have

something to look at while I research exactly what I DO want in there.

Then I added the other half of the water, and robert's your mothers brother!

This left me with this:

I left it to settle for 24 hours, and purposefully didn't pay it any attention. Then I had another look.

I thought that the stump was not right, and the water was deeply murky. ( that damn sand.... )

So, I added another 9kg of bogwood, which had made it look a lot better. For the water murkiness, I think there are a number

of reasons:

1) there a lot of rubbish ( dust and such ) on the surface. I added an eheim surface skimmer to clear this up onto one of the

water intakes.

http/www.aquatics-online.co.uk/Z296125.asp#product258

2) I also swapped out all the bioballs in the filter, and filled it all back up with filter floss. This was brought as "Pond

Matting", but it's exactly the same stuff, just lots more for a LOT less money. 2 mins with a pair of scissors and the

filters full again

3) I think some of it is tannins still leaching out of the wood, so it may eventually get better.

After a week, it's still not any better, which is annoying, becuase it's incredibly murky.

This is the tank now after being set up a week:

The quality of the pictures is dreadful, the water is so murky that it's just not possible to take a decent photo. When it

does, I will be adding lots more.

So what now?

I've decided that it needs fish quickly, so will be adding some in the near future and doing a fish-based cycle. Not sure

what to use. My LFS is now reccommending corys, so I might add some of these. Cherry barbs are the other option (I'm really

not a fan of danio's or platys), but I really don't want barbs in the tank. For now, I've added my WCMM's, which are

absolutely bomb proof, the same 4 fish having cycled all my tanks so far with no ill effects observed ( they reallt are the

biggest WCMM's that I or any of my friends have ever seen, so it's obviously not TOO stressful for them ) but these may be

going to a new home sone, so not sure what to do in the future.


More to follow soon

Steve

 

[Nick Sw]

Very Nice project , I`ve been following and will continue.

BTW - Love your cat. I used to have a Russian Blue.

 

[lisa_perry75]

Can't wait to see this set up!!!! I'd love to have a tank this size.... amazering I suppose the wall you drilled wasn't load bearing

 

[RipSlider]

I thought that I would right up some of my thoughts so far on the project in a seperate post, and thank you for all your comments, which I've taken a lot of heart from.

<before I start : To Nick SW, Sadly, she's not a real british blue, both of her parents hqad at least some moggie in them, and she's a bit of a genetic freak, in that she's turned out looking just like a skinny british blue. If you want, you can have her. All the thing does is eat, sleep and go where it's not meant to!! >

What's good?:

1) Aquatics Online truely outstanding service. Jackie there has been fantastic in letting me chop and change my orders and getting them to arrive on specific dates. Truely great customer service, not something that you get on the internet now.

2) Andy and his dad at AC Aquatics: The tank is fantastic and I got a lot of help and advice when it came to specifying it. They also gave me a lot of help getting the think actually into my car, which was not an easy feat!

3) Neil at MNS designs. Sounds a bit scarey on the phone, but a genuinely nice bloke and the producer of excellent and very reasonably priced craftmanship.

4) Eheim filters: I got the Eheim Pro 3, and it's fantastic. Almost totally silent, and simply swallows filter media

5) My bog wood tree: This turned out just like I wanted it when I imagined it in my head.

6) Andy talked me into getting 12mm glass, rather than 10. At the time, I went with it, but thought he was playing on the safe side. Now I'm glad he did, the thing is impossibly strong, which is good as we're thinking about kids I'm glad I went with the over-engineered solution, rather than having any future worries about kiddies leaning on it or bumping into it.


What's not so good:

1) BusinessPost, who deliver most of Aquatics Online's deliverys. I've had nothing but a pain in the backisde in all but one of my dealings with these people.

2) Deltec flid bed filter. Firstly it started to leak, then one of the nozzles simply fell off the top of the unit. Managed to fix it with lashing of PTFE tape and some aquarium sealent, but I really shouldn't have to do anything to kit which comes from a comany with the reputation of Deltec.

3) Black background. In my head, it looked better than it does in real life, it helps increase the murk and seems to suck in light. Next time, I'll do it in a lightish blue

4) Pre-washed aquarium sand: what a load of rubbish. Why did I believe the packet?? I NEVER normally believe the packet!!

5) My plumbing: I think I'll probably do it all again. I need to tighten everything up a lot and properly plumb in the FBF, once it's finished being repaired, using an external pump.

6) The depth of the tank. If I did this agfain, I would have a wider, but shallower tank. The same volume, but easier to get to the bottom. I have had to buy a pair of platic steps, like they use in supermarkets, in order to actually get to the bottom.

As for where I'm going to take the tank next, I have no real idea.

I've pretty much finalised my stocking plans:

8 xCongo Tetra
8 x Lemon Tetra
6-8 x Coolie Loach
8 x Black Widow Tetra
8-12 Corydoras ( mixed types - jullii - sterba - bronze - pygmy )
Shrimp ( lots of them, and lots of different types )
2 x Bolivian Ram
Maybe some Altum Angelfish or maybe another calm cichlid set.
I've also given in to Mrs Steves demands and will be getting a bristlenose catfish.

I have no idea really what I want to do with the plants and plants. Not sure it's right at the moment, so I need to have another think about that.

Lisa, Yes, the wall IS loadbearing, but it can take a few holes. There is one in the middle of each brick, and each is only 22mm in diameter, so it's not a problem. I guess the only real issue is what a surveyor and/or buyer will think if we ever come to move.

More pics as new stuff happens.

Steve

 

[Rust]

I thought that I would right up some of my thoughts so far on the project in a seperate post, and thank you for all your comments, which I've taken a lot of heart from.

<before I start : To Nick SW, Sadly, she's not a real british blue, both of her parents hqad at least some moggie in them, and she's a bit of a genetic freak, in that she's turned out looking just like a skinny british blue. If you want, you can have her. All the thing does is eat, sleep and go where it's not meant to!! >

What's good?:

1) Aquatics Online truely outstanding service. Jackie there has been fantastic in letting me chop and change my orders and getting them to arrive on specific dates. Truely great customer service, not something that you get on the internet now.

2) Andy and his dad at AC Aquatics: The tank is fantastic and I got a lot of help and advice when it came to specifying it. They also gave me a lot of help getting the think actually into my car, which was not an easy feat!

3) Neil at MNS designs. Sounds a bit scarey on the phone, but a genuinely nice bloke and the producer of excellent and very reasonably priced craftmanship.

4) Eheim filters: I got the Eheim Pro 3, and it's fantastic. Almost totally silent, and simply swallows filter media

5) My bog wood tree: This turned out just like I wanted it when I imagined it in my head.

6) Andy talked me into getting 12mm glass, rather than 10. At the time, I went with it, but thought he was playing on the safe side. Now I'm glad he did, the thing is impossibly strong, which is good as we're thinking about kids I'm glad I went with the over-engineered solution, rather than having any future worries about kiddies leaning on it or bumping into it.


What's not so good:

1) BusinessPost, who deliver most of Aquatics Online's deliverys. I've had nothing but a pain in the backisde in all but one of my dealings with these people.

2) Deltec flid bed filter. Firstly it started to leak, then one of the nozzles simply fell off the top of the unit. Managed to fix it with lashing of PTFE tape and some aquarium sealent, but I really shouldn't have to do anything to kit which comes from a comany with the reputation of Deltec.

3) Black background. In my head, it looked better than it does in real life, it helps increase the murk and seems to suck in light. Next time, I'll do it in a lightish blue

4) Pre-washed aquarium sand: what a load of rubbish. Why did I believe the packet?? I NEVER normally believe the packet!!

5) My plumbing: I think I'll probably do it all again. I need to tighten everything up a lot and properly plumb in the FBF, once it's finished being repaired, using an external pump.

6) The depth of the tank. If I did this agfain, I would have a wider, but shallower tank. The same volume, but easier to get to the bottom. I have had to buy a pair of platic steps, like they use in supermarkets, in order to actually get to the bottom.

As for where I'm going to take the tank next, I have no real idea.

I've pretty much finalised my stocking plans:

8 xCongo Tetra
8 x Lemon Tetra
6-8 x Coolie Loach
8 x Black Widow Tetra
8-12 Corydoras ( mixed types - jullii - sterba - bronze - pygmy )
Shrimp ( lots of them, and lots of different types )
2 x Bolivian Ram
Maybe some Altum Angelfish or maybe another calm cichlid set.
I've also given in to Mrs Steves demands and will be getting a bristlenose catfish.

I have no idea really what I want to do with the plants and plants. Not sure it's right at the moment, so I need to have another think about that.

Lisa, Yes, the wall IS loadbearing, but it can take a few holes. There is one in the middle of each brick, and each is only 22mm in diameter, so it's not a problem. I guess the only real issue is what a surveyor and/or buyer will think if we ever come to move.

More pics as new stuff happens.

Steve

Dude all i have to say is thats a big tank so go for some MONSTER fish, like cichlids (oscars severums, green terrors etc) or even try some stingray and arowanas (if u fell confident enough) good luck

 

[samyboy]

WOOOOOOW you could take a bath in that tank nice work, looking forward to the updates

 

[Nospherith]

Cool tank, nice aquascape too.