Our New Living Room Tank :d

[VickiandKev]

Been thinking and planning this for ages but finally got the fish moved in this morning

After being planted ...

Being filled ...

Then finished with fishies

We still have to do all the finishing touches, rig up some permanent lighting, design a lid and get the 6ft underneath running but I'm chuffed to pieces so far.

I love it - it turned out so much better than I imagined it would. Think the fish like it too

 

[Wills]

If thats a 6 foot underneath how big is that one!! Are those some geophagus I can see? We need more pics :

 

[VickiandKev]

That tank is 8ft x 4ft x 1.5ft high and the tank underneath is 6ft x 2ft x 1ft.
I do have 6 Geophagus abalios, love those fishes and they finally have enough space to grow to their full potential. Will take some more pics of the inhabitants and post up

 

[Wills]

8x4 #71### me I am so jealous of the pair of you Im just about to scrape a 4x2 - seriously though for that amount of tank we need a hell of a lot of pictures

 

[VickiandKev]

LOL! We planned this so that we never have to upgrade again and I can have my dream clown loach tank.
I will try and take some more pics tonight when it's dark out and the lights are on as you'll probably be able to see more then.

I'll be happy once everything is finalised on the tank and we can sit down and enjoy it. It's felt like a hard road to this point as we have built 10 tanks in all and 5 stands and it's really been a long haul lol!

It looks like a little section of river though because it goes so far back, I just love it

 

[Destination Doha]

stunning you guys

 

[Destination Doha]

oh fgot to ask VickiandKev is it all glass then clad whith wood or is is a glass front panel bonded to a wood tank? if the later how do you go about doing it thanks guys. doha

 

[VickiandKev]

It's all 1 inch thick WBP ply with reinforced joints (the 2x1 you can see on the outside) and it's sealed with Technoseal liquid membrane, and the glass window is 10mm thick and bonded to the wood using silicone. To make it extra safe, we cut some 2 x 1 and coated it in Technoseal and then screwed this in over the glass edges when we fitted the window. This holds the glass tight against the wood. We then had to silicone seal over all of the screw heads (and obviously silicone in between everything to make sure water doesn't seep through ..

We were dubious about it but it works a treat, think it's because we were extra safe on everything. The three brace bars are 4 x 2 timber and the edges are all held by further 2 x 1 trim screwed in.

 

[VickiandKev]

It's all 1 inch thick WBP ply with reinforced joints (the 2x1 you can see on the outside) and it's sealed with Technoseal liquid membrane, and the glass window is 10mm thick and bonded to the wood using silicone. To make it extra safe, we cut some 2 x 1 and coated it in Technoseal and then screwed this in over the glass edges when we fitted the window. This holds the glass tight against the wood. We then had to silicone seal over all of the screw heads (and obviously silicone in between everything to make sure water doesn't seep through ..

We were dubious about it but it works a treat, think it's because we were extra safe on everything. The three brace bars are 4 x 2 timber and the edges are all held by further 2 x 1 trim screwed in.

 

[Destination Doha]

thanks you two it looks great done a good job dose it work out more cost effective than all glass .sorry i know more questions

 

[VickiandKev]

Thank you! I realise it's a little rough around the edges but we're going to add 1 inch thick poly insulation in between the timber supports and then add a thin ply face sheet to finish the tank so it looks less clunky.

It has worked out a lot cheaper. The wood for the stand cost us around £40 with hardware makes it £60.
The wood for the tank was around £100, the glass £40 and the Technoseal worked out at £6 (£30 a tin but it's done 4 other tanks and still some left!). The silicone was just about a tenner or less as it only used about 3 tubes. The hardware was probably around £20 for the whole tank.

New including stand for this size is probably unreal and the tank itself would have been upwards of £300 in glass, not to mention the weight of it and heating. This tank holds the heat really well and is great for our more shy fish, I've never seen my clown loaches relax so quickly into new surroundings.

 

[kizno1]

WOW Looks stunning. Bet that was scary filling it and hoping theres no leaks. Love the geos aswell,

 

[Destination Doha]

well thanks for that VickiandKev good luck on your new setup guys

 

[Flagtail]

WOW! Thats a nice tank! We need fish pics...

 

[shroob]

That tank is screaming out for rays!

You said clown loach though, have you got a definitive stock list?