my new project-Aquarium keeping part 2

[dontpanicbobby]

Pictures please.

 

[ocnbrze]

Pictures please.

hit the spoiler to see them

 

[ocnbrze]

just got the stand over the weekend. here are the pics:

Spoiler: click to see the stand

as you can see it is a pretty tight spot. so the next purchase are going to be the lights. the reason being is that the lights will need to be installed from the ceiling. it will be a lot easier to do with no tank being in the way.

so i'm looking on light options. i'll keep y'all posted on what i end up doing.

 

[ocnbrze]

ok so the next step for the stand is to get some acrylic sheets cut for the bottom where the sump will be and also for the top. also i will be putting down a foam mat made to be put on top of the stand for tanks. the foam will help to keep the tank level and evening out the stress load from the tank to the stand.

.....probably will be doing that in the next few weeks.

 

[MrJavi]

3 STRIKES AND I"M OUT!!!!!!!

not really. but i have been putting off posting this. but i figured enough time has past that i can talk about it now. so my 180 had been the tank of death. after the initial loss and Butch from SEC sent me his breeding groups of star sapphires, i had more tragedy strike. i ended up losing not only all of the exo's, but also all of the male star saphires. it turns out there was some kind of disease that wiped them all out. still not sure what it was, but it definitely was something. apparently it also effect Butch's fish back east as well. anyways long story short, he was able to give me 10 baby exo's. i'm still waiting for more males to come in, but those will be mine when they do. i have a video i made of how my tank looks now and will post that later......probably over the coming weekend. the algae in the tank has calmed down now and my 3 plecos are doing a great job of keeping it under control. the algae makes the 3D background look more real.......so once i have some male sapphires in the tank the 180 will be done!!!!!

on an other note, i finally drained and removed my old tank. i still need to get rid of the stand and sump. i might try to do that later tonight after i smoke a cigar and have a glass of whiskey to chill out.......so we will see how chilled i get....LOL

i also will be getting a quote from a company that makes aluminum stands, hopefully by tomorrow. once, i get that and if the price is right, i shall proceed with the next part of my project for the reef tank. this last piece of my project will be much slower as i have to accumulate more funds to keep the project going so bare with me on this one. i'm guessing maybe by X-mas, it might be finished, but we shall see.

Tank of death lol. Funny but not Threate your fish "you either procreat or you'll wind up inr the tank of death" JK.

Come on @ocnbrze my friend lets call it the tank of acquired knowledge

Dont give up after 3 strikes, I have to say II find your posts inspiring. In fact, I've learned 99% of everthing I know about fish tanks from you and I thank you for that.

PS: How your mom's arm and is you hand all healed?

 

[dontpanicbobby]

"Just got the stand over the weekend.. "

Is that a tesseract?

 

[ocnbrze]

Tank of death lol. Funny but not Threate your fish "you either procreat or you'll wind up inr the tank of death" JK.

Come on @ocnbrze my friend lets call it the tank of acquired knowledge

Dont give up after 3 strikes, I have to say II find your posts inspiring. In fact, I've learned 99% of everthing I know about fish tanks from you and I thank you for that.

PS: How your mom's arm and is you hand all healed?

LOL have not given up. that tank is doing good. right now though the male star sapphires are turning harder to get then i thought. might go a different route.....but we will see.

right now the focus is the reef tank i am building.

 

[ocnbrze]

ordered and just recieved the yoyo suspension kits

thinking about using the curtain rail that is in the video.

still contemplating on what lights to use.

 

[MrJavi]

I saw this DYI

https://eztube.com/applications/aquarium-lighting-racks/

 

[ocnbrze]

that was something i was looking into, but i want the tank to be as clean as possible. i want very little things attached to the tank as possible. the yoyo suspension will provide a very clean look as it will hang from the ceiling and i can raise or lower the lights as i want. it will also allow me to raise a light that will be above the mangrove trees as they grow.

 

[ocnbrze]

ok so i just purchased the ceiling track from ikea as shown in a previous youtube video i posted earlier. they will arrive in mid october. i have the yo yo light mounts. tomorrow, saturday, i will get some acrylic sheets that i will silicone to the top of the stand and then will place the leveling mats i purchased from marinedepot.com.

https://www.marinedepot.com/innovat...dget-self-leveling-aquarium-mat-36-in-x-24-in

the acrylic sheet will go on top of the stand as well as on the bottom of the stand. it will look super cool and keep everything level and in place. i'll post pics when i'm finished with it.

 

[ocnbrze]

ok so now the stand is finally complete!!!!!!!

next up is the mounting of the lights. i might order another ceailing rack so that i can double up.....that is if i decide to go with two lights for better coverage.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

ordered and just recieved the yoyo suspension kits

thinking about using the curtain rail that is in the video.

still contemplating on what lights to use.

Hanging aquariums? What do you do with the hoses?

 

[ocnbrze]

Hanging aquariums? What do you do with the hoses?

You didn't watch the video, did you? LOL!!!!!!

The full title is "hanging aquarium light from ceiling. "

But I do have an account that actually has a tank that hangs from the ceiling. It's a 60 gallon aquarium that is hanging from two 3" stainless steel rods positioned on either side of the tank. The hoses are hidden within the rods. I'll see if I can a photo of it to show you guys......its super cool looking.

 

[ocnbrze]

On a new note.........

I have started to order my rocks that I will be using for aquascaping. So far I ordered 20lbs of Marco rock shelf savers and 20lbs of reef saver. These are artificial rock and is very popular in reefs. I have about another 40lbs of reef saver rock coming soon.

I find using a phone or tablet annoying to post in my threads so early next week I will get my new laptop. I will then post my theories on rock and aquascaping.

Oh yeah! I forgot to mention that I also ordered the overflow box. If you know what a weir is.....that is what the overflow box is. There are two types of overflows. One is the hang off the back or hob.......and the other is an I internal overflow, which is what I just ordered.

The internal overflow box is a thin box that sits inside the aquarium. You need a whole drilled so that a bulkhead can be inserted and hold and secure the box. The bulkhead also holds and secures a box that sits outside the tank. At the bottom of this box will be 3 draining bulkheads that drains down I to the sump.

I need the overflow box so that my tank manufacturer can drill the hole on the side of the tank for me. I probably can do it myself, but I rather have them do it........I'm too lazy. Plus this tank will not be light and I would have needed helpers to move it for drilling which makes it very inconvenient.

Anyways I'll post more when I get my new laptop in a few days......till then.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

You didn't watch the video, did you? LOL!!!!!!

The full title is "hanging aquarium light from ceiling. "

But I do have an account that actually has a tank that hangs from the ceiling. It's a 60 gallon aquarium that is hanging from two 3" stainless steel rods positioned on either side of the tank. The hoses are hidden within the rods. I'll see if I can a photo of it to show you guys......its super cool looking.

No I didn't. The hoses in the suports make sense. This stuff is way next level to me.
Do you do this for a living @ocnbrze?

 

[ocnbrze]

No I didn't. The hoses in the suports make sense. This stuff is way next level to me.
Do you do this for a living @ocnbrze?

Yep. I am an aquarium service technician. I setup and maintain aquariums......but I have never setup a tank like the one I'm attempting to build for myself.

 

[ocnbrze]

ok some updates. i am slowly piecing the tank together. here is what i have so far:
1.stand
2.filtration, overflow box, and pump
3.sand
4.rocks (60lbs of marco rock reef saver and 4 marco rock medium foundation rocks)
5.lights should be coming in a few weeks

on monday i plan on ordering the tank!!!!!! it should take 3-4 weeks to build. they will need my overflow box which i just received today. it is a Fiji Cube LoPro box that can handle 1600 gallons per hour!!!! it is a bit over kill, but i really like the box. it is super thin which is what you want for an over flow.

if you want to learn what an overflow box is let me know. i'm super tired today and feeling lazy....LOL

 

[MrJavi]

You sure put alot of hard work into it @ocnbrze . I admire you dedication and I'm looking forward to seeing the finished tank (no rush). Im sure it will turn out beautiful.

 

[ocnbrze]

You sure put alot of hard work into it @ocnbrze . I admire you dedication and I'm looking forward to seeing the finished tank (no rush). Im sure it will turn out beautiful.

right now it is mostly thought and money that is doing most of the work. not really hard.....save for the money part......lol

tomorrow i plan on getting all setup for aquascaping my tank. i plan on doing what they call negative space aquascape. basically it means to take all of the rock that i have and break them into smaller chunks. you then glue the smaller rocks to make these cool shapes.

like this:

so tomorrow, i'm gonna cut up some cardboard and tape them together so that i have a template of my tank. it will help me visualize how the rock formation i will be creating will look in the tank.

so now this is where the hard work begins. after i have my template. i will be taking a hammer and chisel and breakup a lot of rock tomorrow.. my issue is that i have a bunch of ideas on the shape of it, but i have not settled on one idea yet. plus it is hard when you do not know what shapes the rocks will break into.

 

[MrJavi]

@ocnbrze , thats bad ass!!! Negative space aquascaping you call it, man thats so cool bro.

How long does it take the glue to set?

 

[dontpanicbobby]

60 pounds? 60 pounds of rock! How long is this tank dude?

 

[ocnbrze]

@ocnbrze , thats bad ass!!! Negative space aquascaping you call it, man thats so cool bro.

How long does it take the glue to set?

its superglue basically that i use. i also use this spray that accelerates the bonding process of the glue. it sets in seconds! the bond is pretty strong, but to be safe, Marco Rocks makes this mortar. so any where i use the glue i will also spread the mortar around the glued joints to make the structure i will build extra strong.

60 pounds? 60 pounds of rock! How long is this tank dude?

the tank dimensions is 36"x30"x18". and 60 lbs of rock is not as much as you think it is. i might not use all 60 lbs of it. since the rocks all comes in various shapes, i do not know exactly which ones i will use. plus they will be broken down into smaller pieces and i do not which ones will look perfect for the shapes i will be building.

if you guys like here is a great video about what i will be doing:

 

[ocnbrze]

so just an fyi......i'm watching the the Dodger's game right now and i plan on getting pretty tipsy.......so we shall see if i have anything left to start the scape......if not i will probably attempt to do it Sunday.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Wait until Sunday. How about a tunnel in a hill like Space Mountain?