Got The Ok For Another Tank

[Defiance]

Hiya's,

Around about two weeks time hopefully i'll have the 6x2x2 tank delivered (unless a delay develops)

A month of waiting has passed pretty quick considering i hate to wait for things he he

Anyways, the state of play so far .............

Making a 2 piece tank stand/hood, initially i will build the stand with a shelf for a later to be added sump, then once the stand shell is done and tank is setup i'll move onto phase two (DIY T5 light setup) aka the hood

I will be making stand/hood frame out of 1.5 x 1.5 inch box section (welded of course) then clad in either nice pine and stained/danish oiled or if i can via a friend some nice hardwood (fingers crossed)

Yet again i find i'm having to wait on ordering the metal, i have no storage space for 6m lengths but could store them at my mothers but that may annoy a busybody sister of mine If i were to guess cuts without no tank to get exact measures knowing my luck the tank will be 73x22x22 or somert lol

So asap the tank gets delivered i can measure to the nearest thou and send of the metal order, according to the site the delivery should be next day

Welding etc stand only i should do it in a day taking my time, then some coats of red oxide/finish (hmm got plenty of 2k /etch primer/primers/black finish over the farm i could use, #40## stuff's brilliant, hmm my mind's awash with some ideas)

Have now got 2 external filters, combined manufacturers flowrate @ 2x1200L So filtering's taken care of for now

Heaters, i've found a way to use the rena smartheaters inline like the hydor external, 3x rena's = 2x hydors so it's decissions decissions

The lighting to start with will be 2xdouble T5 80w giving me 320w, will take things from there as i've never really messed with aquarium lighting (don't panic i won't electrocute myself or anything else )

So just hoping the tank is done on time so i can get cracking, got an old digi cam but my new mobile aint that bad and it's got a decent vid recorder on it too, will see which is best to snap work-in-progress pics

So for now, here goes a fortnight of waiting he he

Tony

 

[Defiance]

Hiya's,

My metal for the base stand was delivered yesterday, had it sent to my mothers as most of my tools are there, anyways .....................

Got almost all the metal cut to size this afternoon

Took my old trusy camera to snap some pics, but what did i do !!! charged 1 set of batteries lastnight, got up early as usual, noticed the charger had done its job, went to work, called in at mothers and sorted camera, alas it seems either this set of batteries had discharged during the small hours while in the charger (think this can happen as the charger can be used to discharge batteries)

So no pics of todays cutting, but have charged my 2nd set of batteries to snap some pics tomorrow before i end up welding

Gonna start another thread to follow the build, it will be a drawn out affair as project time might be limited for a while, but obviously i'll post pics and info as n when

Cheers

Tony

ps: my plants had been delivered today so i'm well chuffed, might get them in a tank late tomorrow and let them root then transfer to new tank when it's ready

 

[Dan-CR4]

cant wait to see this come along, i got 180 litre tank 4 weeks ago and already want a bigger tank, dont think i got a chance of getting one though. Maybe a few months of being mr nice guy with the missus i might get a bigger tank.

look forward to seeing pics.

 

[Defiance]

Hiya,

Ahh good ole gals, stand up and be a man !!! and beg/plead/grovel lol worth a try aint it

Anyways, first off where do i do a build post ?? DIY section ? or just make a new thread here in new tank section ??

Well i had a bit of noise coming from my ns front brake on the car, had to go get some pads after realising new ones were needed, in the trade so no biggie but i'll have to do the brakes tomorrow after shopping so it's gonna be tight getting last few pieces of cut metal tidied up grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Anyways, hopefully someone can post where i best do this build thread, don't want to upset the mods lol

Will get some pics of cut metal tomorrow, camera is now working initial batteries are fubar and have been chucked in a recycle tin in aldi

Cheers

Def

 

[Defiance]

Hiya's,
Since ordering the tank on the 18th of feb times passed fast

Guessed the tank wouldn't be dead on 6wks to delivery, so called AC up earlier

I am the proud owner of five large pieces of glass that's about to be made into a tank roflmao

Nice guy checked the order and i should get a call for delivery either this week or early next week

Started a topic in the DIY forum

Got a bit more to do on my stand so the tank delay has worked out fine

Cheers

Tony

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Tony,

This sounds like a best choice, to do your "build thread" in the DIY section but to periodically pop over here and perhaps give us a "beginners" update or a link to the thread over there or a picture or something. I'm sure a lot of us beginners will be interested in it!
Good luck and I plan to take a look at it over there when I get a chance.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Defiance]

Hiya's,

Woohoo, tank was delivered earlier today

Many weeks late, but what can you do lol

No scratches that i can see, extremely well made, also as heavy as i'd imagined but took only 2 of us to carry it 120ft to where it will stay until i hire a van (then two flights of stairs to tackle )

We now have aching hands and feel like we've had a few hours at the gym he he, with hindsight we could of took it slower and in stages, but we had to cross a one-way street so went for the move in one go

So now i'm a happy chappy, now to schedule a van and 2 more fools err i mean 2 kind strong guys for the final push

Cheers

Tony

 

[waterdrop]

Wow, a shot from the past, a month later! Sounds good - keep us up on it! WD

 

[Defiance]

Hiya's,

Got some helpers (poor sods lol) to hike the tank up the sets of stairs

I made a metal base that i was going to clad with wood at a later date, but i had a change of plan

My moms gateway framework along the side of her house had rotted bad, with my dead brothers motorbike being in plain view and likely to get pinched if not secure i decided to swap the metal/wooden clad plan

So today i've almost completed an all timber stand frame (got a slide chop saw from lidl in the week, made short work of cutting all the wood to length )

I have just got to cut and fix in all the strut centre supports, 8 main ones (2 front 2 top 2 rear 2 bottom) and if needed i can do inbetween these but i think it'll just be overkill

So to give moms gateway a secure and lasting life i decided to use the metal stand i'd made save having to go through the hastle of getting more steel

Dug out the stain and danish oil i used in the living room for all the woodwork, so the tank stand and eventually the hood will all be coordinated

Hopefully i can get some board cut tomorrow for the top/bottom and all being well the stand/tank will be in place wednesday

Can't wait now he he

Cheers

Tony

 

[OldMan47]

If you have decided to go with a wooden stand, I have a link to my own thread on building one. The link in my signature is called My Stand Thread.

 

[Defiance]

Hiya OM47,

Could only make time and hire a van for tomorrow thursday

But on the bright side, i now have three strapping helpers for the hike up all in all 24 stairs, so 4 strapping guys to get it safely installed

Did take some carcas shots of the stand, but as my mom and i are smokers (and i make stuff there as she has more room lol) the shots included ashtrays which isn't very appealing so i'll get better pics tomorrow as the stand/tank gets loaded in the van

Have found a scratch on one end/side of the tank, maybe 1" long, darn annoyed about that as in no way did we do it when taking the tank off the delivery lorry grrrrrrrrrrrrr (have polished scratches out from a windscreen yrs ago with some funky rolls-royce scratch kit, but bet i can't find another kit like it)

Anyways things are on order for the lighting system, annoyed again as most darn parts seem to be showing in stock then after ordering i get a sorry we waiting for stock delivery but hey asap we get em we'll post em (don't ya just hate sites that do that he he)

I did check your stand posts, came in handy

I swear this stand i've made is heavier than the tank lmao, so tank loaded and up the stairs first then stand after

Cheers

Tony

 

[Defiance]

Hiya's,

Well our 6x2x2 tank is in the flat on its bare carcas base

The hot weather made it horrendous but we managed it, really can't say enough good things about the guys that helped, they used to work together delivering for MFI and they sure did earn some beer money today

Two flights of 12 steps never seemed so daunting until today

Four of us, tank upside down as such so we had something to grab hold of, actually it went a million times better than i expected, not a single scrape/scratch/mark on the cover i wrapped around the tank

We only had one way to move the stand and tank in, i relented and we took the stand up first, kind of a trial run as my helpers said and wanted

From getting the tank through the main downstairs door time went fast, seemed only like 5mins and we were standing the tank up in the living room looking at a large glass object he he

Bunged my three helpers 20 notes each so they were happy and also did two of them a favour by using the hired van to dump a settee and move another helpers triangular shaped 50gallon corner tank from his place to his garage (don't ask me why he wanted it stored in a garage lol)

Things i would do different .................

Not use power tools to cut wood near a large aquarium without first covering the whole lot to stop what seems to be pounds of darn sawdust settling all over it

Never try to move a large aquarium the 'right' way up, it's just to slippy to hold and darn dangerous even when i insist on toe-tectors

Never ever try to skimp on helpers (poor guys were tuckered out bless em lol, ohh i'm cream crackered too now)

Never forget (which i never have) how wonderful a mother is, she's put up with my work mess at her home and encouraged me in this escapade, and i think she is as chuffed as we are (me good ole fiancee and me ) at how things turned out today

And never underestimate the stupidity of other drivers when driving a hired vehicle

Well for me it's a smoke n quick forum read then really needed sleep without the worry/stress of getting something fragile from A to B via 24 stairs

Busy day tomorrow but asap as i can i'll get some pics uploaded

Cheers

Tony

 

[waterdrop]

Congrats Tony! WD

 

[Defiance]

Hiya's,

Few pics, as cellphone cam isn't that good lol

And also, the clear pipe look you can see is purely for me lowering the water and will be gone once all my drain/intake/refill pipework is completed

Ohh and i had some deliveries today, one was the water resistant end caps (these were fine) and other i was hoping for the T5 ballasts but was actually 6 T5 tubes, alas all 6 tubes were broken in transit so a phonecall sorted another delivery of hopefully non broken tubes !!

As said previously, until i have all parts for the lighting it's a case of make-do lol

The base will be clad in a nice wood and stained to match the dado/skirting etc etc

Well here's some pretty poor pics but you get the idea (bro in law does photography, gonna get him to do some pics later in the project )

Ohh, we have both fell in love with clown loaches lol, they are playing hide and seek during the day, but come teatime and evening they are full of energy and cause the whole community to start swimming in the currents he he

Cheers

Tony

 

[OldMan47]

The stand is looking good Defiance. Now all you need is some nice stained doors to cover the structural aspects of the stand. You have built things much stronger than I would these days, more like I would have done 10 to 20 years ago. A pair of nice hinged doors that are stained to match your decor would go a long way to making the stand a real asset in your livingroom.