# My new tank...



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

(Scroll for unfilled tank shots, will update as progress is made.)

Well I don't know the for sure size, but eh I just had fun picking this beast up. He said it was all working well, though with the move you never know, plus it has been sitting dry for a while.

To pick it up it was a pain... I actually left a 150 gallon rubber maid since I don't have room, and a bunch of other stuff. (IE skimmer that had seen better days and other salt water stuff I couldn't see using.)

Of course this tank stand, canopy and everything else was pilled into an old gmc truck. Not made for that weight at all... But it worked. (~40 mile drive, 1 trip.) The stand actually wouldn't fit fully in, and it was a pain getting it out of his house. (5 guys, but steps, and for some reason we didn't have a fun time with it, plus I had to wait ~1 hour for his friends to show up to help get it in the truck.) Anyways when I got home I didn't have to change levels and 4 of us guys easily lifted it a whole 2 feet onto a cart that I picked up from the lab. Then it was easy as pie. (IE we only had to move it a good 2 feet again and only down about 3 inches.)

Now this was a salt tank, so I am trying to decide what to do. I have an Fx5 that I might pull off a tank and move around filters, and then I could cap off the drilled holes for now. (I grabbed his huge ass pumps, but I really don't want that loud thing running in my place. He had it pumping from the ground floor up to the 1st floor. It was a nice setup, just not right for fresh.)

And just so you know I am planning on moving my African Cichlids from my 130 into this tank, and then my Discus into the 135. But I want to do this right so it will take a while.... (Plus I don't even know if I dare fill it fully for now...)


Oh and if you are in the Atlanta area and needs bio balls, and a nice drip system, send me a pm. (I don't know about the pumps I might just keep them.) 



























































(PS I can't reach the dang bottom of the tank. Ugh this is going to be fun cleaning and setting up.) Dimensions are ~72x24x36... I was told the width was 36, but well I was told wrong.


----------



## a/m (Oct 1, 2006)

Hey Kevin, hope you’ve been doing ok.
The new setup looks like a nice find. Skip the FX5 and go with the sump, that’s too much tank for canister filters. I have an extra pump around if you need to borrow it. Does the lighting work? 
Al


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Yah lighting works, though I need a new battery for the control unit. IT is crazy. So then I am slowly cleaning this thing out. I have a few pumps I may use. He had some smaller ones so we will see... IE everything must be tried out before I trust it. If I go sump that means I have to fill full, but as you said the Fx5 likely wont be enough alone for this tank. (Now I am having fun getting all those extra bio balls out of the tank.) I really don't know if I want to make my own sump or not, but eh we will see.

Oh and the lighting again... wow this thing has the craziest control unit imaginable. It is more complicated then some of the stuff I run in the lab. Of course I don't even plan on putting any live plants in the tank... (And I wish I could steal some of the lights for my 130, but no go.)


----------



## a/m (Oct 1, 2006)

Man, you have bio-balls everywhere, :lol: Used saltwater tanks are always fun to cleanup, but it actually doesn’t look too bad. Make a sump out of a 55. Oh, BTW when we come over, do we need to bring our own chairs?


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

heh, funny you mention chairs... I ended up having to move my love couch into the bedroom... But there is still the 3 person couch and the table chairs. The things I do for more tank space.

Anyways yah I was pleasantly surprised about how little salt there was. A good vacuuming cleaned it all up. (And seeing as I will put African cichlids in any salt I missed wont hurt them.)

And it ended up there were a good 100 more balls in that drain area. Now I just need to stop off at say home depot get some new drain stuff and then figure out how I want to do for filtering.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

So tell me if people think this will work. The pump I have that I trust and doesn't appear to be too loud is the wet/dry aq-6000. It seems to have plenty of power. (Up to 900 gph).

Now the problem with the sump... I sort of can't get anything under that thank that is larger than 12x20x30inches. which means I can't do a 55. I was thinking of the following.

Basically since there are 4 drilled holes, and I don't want dead water I will drain out of two holes. Each will run into its own in essence strong garbage can with sponges. Then those will have two holes (low and high)... piped into another garbage basket full of bio balls (I have some any might as well use them...) From there I will pipe midway and high to a 4th can that will only hold the pump which will return through either 1 or 2 holes. (I don't know what would be better split the pump exit on the top or the bottom? My physics mind says that each turn will cause a large loss in water flow so the later the better, hence me thinking only 1 hole.)

Oh and I think I will add another can right before the pump for the heaters and I will likely put an air-stone with some more bio-material. And this one again will have a middle and high level for piping.

I will draw some quick sketches tomorrow seeing as it is ~2:30 am I think I need some sleep.

My only real concern is that the more holes the larger the probability for leaks at joints. So if anyone else has a better idea suggest away. (And no this tank isn't moving at all so that I can fit stuff in through the back of the stand.)


----------



## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Now you need a truck full of rock. It looks really good, though. I guess the floor is still holding. 'night


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

heh, I think I am going to play it safe and put hardly any rocks in this tank. I do need to get sand for it, and does anyone know of a good place where I can get say cheap pillars of granite (or similar good looking rocks with nothing to leach)? (Like 2 feet tall...) I will likely put in my lace rock that is in the 135 somehow, but man I can't get even close to reaching the bottom normally. (IE no stacking will be done, and I likely will just lower it down with a rope type set-up.)

Anyways I guess I am not the only insane person who stays up late. goodnight all.


----------



## Guest (Dec 9, 2007)

269.3 gallons  
Awesome find...how much did you pay for it?...you dog doesn't look too happy to have another tank in the house...lol


----------



## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I got my river rock at Pike and they have a lot of brick sized rocks for edging ponds and pools and building decorative walls. I didn't see anything really big, but I wasn't looking.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

fishbguy said:


> 269.3 gallons
> Awesome find...how much did you pay for it?...you dog doesn't look too happy to have another tank in the house...lol



For everything I payed 800, with everything and the quality of the tank I quite a steal. I mean the glass alone would have cost me that much. (1 inch...)


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

Friggin nice!! That's like a 265g right? Where is that tower supposed to go??? How much did you give for it? 

I see you don't want that pump. Anything else you don't want? Prices?


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

That big pump and that tower of bio balls wont be used , but I am going to use some of the bio balls so I don't really want to sell for a little while. I will likely put them on craigslist, but I want to also make sure that the pump outlet didn't get too messed up when it got knocked over. (IE PVC broke I just hope it wasn't sealed on.) (He used the tower in his sump setup with a 150 rubbermaid... I can't do that here.)

This whole thing cost me 800, though redoing the sump is costing me more then I expected. (I ended up going to home depot buying some stuff, now I might have to get even more stuff...)

I actually might want the pump now since I realized the one I have while rated for 900 gph it only does ~350 when set up with what I want it to do.


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

That's a sweet setup for $800. Was it from craigslist?? Let me know on the pump and tower/balls you've got left over before you put it on CL. 

I would go with only 1 return. In my 450g I have two 3600gph pumps. One with 4 returns and one with 2. The one with 4 is WEAK. I should have gone with only two. Plus the returns are 6feet high. You need to think through EASY to clean mechanical filtration it sounds like. I'd like to see the sketches.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Well the current plan is to use home depot buckets. I bought the following last night and had fun using my new dremel... (dog hated it though.)










I actually have a picture of the pump in action but not connected to the tank. (IE when I was trying to calculate the gph.) And my bucket plan is nice for cleaning since the filtering material will be in waistbaskets that can easily be pulled out. But my biggest problem is that I only have what ~30 inches of height max. And I was planning on doing 3 stages for each pump. So basically it would run off into 1 bucket of sponges, then to 1 bucket of bio-material then the final bucket would be the pump. And of course the max amount of water the tank could take would be when the pump bucket was full. (The pump bucket is ~17 inches tall, so then all the other buckets and pipes would be full up to the 17 inch mark.)

Now the only big problem is that I put in some water and the overflow isn't fully water tight on the bottom. Which means that if I ever lose power I could have a slight leak to worry about. (And living where I live... means I have to buy a battery back up.)

Anyways I will have a few more shots on how things are looking tonight. Though I am trying to figure out a good easy way to give these buckets some height for the stages. (Worse comes to worse I have to nail some 2x4 together.)


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

I would fix that leak. 

How tall will the stand pipes in the overflow box be?

Are you saying you're going to use buckets for filter material compartments and then another bucket for the "sump" part of it? I can't imagine trying to do that. What happened to using a 55g? Having a 5g sump is going to be VERY hard to work with.


----------



## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Fix the leak with aquarium sealant, you can alway cut it off if you need to move the overflow. I think there is an epoxy you can use underwater, but it might be impossible to remove.


----------



## a/m (Oct 1, 2006)

would a 20 long fit ?
http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=9727

Set it up to have both lines drop into a small tower in the 20, do whatever you want in the rest of the 20.. drill one end. Have the 20 flow into a drilled 10 long. Have your pump and heater in the 10. Let me know if you want pics of my sump, overflow and stand pipes. I have on in-line heater that i've never used, we've have to test it.


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

Yeah.. even a 10g and definitely a 20g are better than using the bucket as a sump. What I have learned, but not yet put in to place is to use a nicely sized settling tank BEFORE and of your bio media. this tank has little movement and is used for mechanical. Clean it often and you'll reduce the water changes needed!!


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Some more. I decided I needed another pump after my test. Also I have been having fun cutting plastic. (PVC, and stools.) I decided to stop since I don't want to cut myself anymore than I already have...

Anyways I will be having a water flow through 3 buckets. (6 total.) First will be through sponges, second bio-material, third pumped back to the tank. Obviously everything will have cut off valves, and note the bucket with the bio balls is actually where the pump will be.

Ok pictures:


































I am going to stick with what I am doing right now. And the leak is so small it isn't even funny. (Plus I can't get to it...) As for the sump well there will be a total of about 35 gallons worth of "sump" if you must call it that. I would actually more think of them as canister filters if anything. I actually don't plan on putting a perminant heater in this tank, I have 2 that came with it but I just never use them unless I have to treat the tanks for say ich.

I have read up on sumps and I really do like my idea. I mean ideally there really wont be water even sitting through the sponges much but it will all be filtered. As for water just sitting so that I don't need to clean as much. Well it will all be caught by the sponges... Trust me.

Oh here is something sort of close to what I am doing:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a124/jjstraz/DCP_3845.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a124/jjstraz/DCP_3617.jpg

(All from TheFishGuy's ~800 tank, http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=103294&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0)

Anyways the problem isn't going to be bio media, heck if I feel I don't have enough I will take my spare xp3 and fill it just with more biomedia and stick that in.) The only concern I have is that I don't want leaking, or problems if somehow water gets slowed down in that first filtering bucket... I have a ton of ideas so let me run with them, and you can judge when all is said and done. Remember I don't have a huge amount of room to work with, max height is like 24 inches. But I can only fit things that are *less * then what can fit through a 12 inches by 20 hole...


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

I'm not trying to judge dude. I'm trying to help you out and maybe save you some heart ache. I don't doubt that the sponges will catch debris, but it will stay there. I'm just saying that a settling tank where debris can settle and easily and quickly be siphoned out would be much easier than removing your sponges to clean them.. You may not normally want to clean sponges, but you'll have to if they're catching the debris for you. 

Are all of those buckets going to be full/nearly full of water when it gets running? 

Like I said, I'm just trying to help out. I've built sumps for my 75g, 90g, 180g and 450g. I pretty much need to remove the fish from my 180g in order to service and modify the sump I made for it to work the way I'd like it to work now. That is after seeing it run for a year now. My bio media is catching a lot of debris and is therefor causing my nitrates to sky rocket because I can't really get it out. I've got plenty of bio, so I don't have any ammonia, but there's so much waste caught in the media that just sits there and completely breaks down.. Where as if I could get it out quickly, then I would stop tons of ammonia from ever hitting the water in the first place.

I need several more pumps and a some more engineering on my 450g to make it work like I want it to. It's fairly easy to clean, but it would be so much easier just to remove a couple of filter socks and rinse them out. Something I could easily do DAILY to remove the waste before it breaks down and creates nitrates... therefore cutting down water changes.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Cool I understand you are trying to help, and infact I have change a little around.  I do plan on basically giving the sponges a weekly cleaning, but other people with this type of setup don't even touch theres for over a month. I have actually decided that the bio material and the pump will be in about 9 gallon containers. I just want to make sure they don't leak when I make piping since the tubes will be on the side and that could bend with water pressure.

As for will the water stay in the buckets. Well I plan on having the buckets up 8 inches off the floor and then the bio media and the pump containers will be on the floor. The water level will over course be above the pump, but depending on how powerful the pumps the water level will have to be higher or lower considering. But honestly I plan on only about 12 inches of sitting water in each of the bio and pump baskets and about 4 inches in the sponges. When off there can be up to ~ 22 inches of water in the bio and pumping containers and the bucket is 14 inches. So that will be about 22 gallons of water running and 46 if power gets cut.


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

I have gone over a month without changing or rinsing my meger mechanical on my 180g and 450g.. But with very good mechanical I could maintain LOW nitrates... like lower than 20 MUUUUCH more easily. Which is what I will be going for when I make changes and additions.


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

So the holes in the buckets are connected at the BOTTOM? Or are they overflows like the other guys? If they are connected at the bottom, I don't see how they are circulating through media. If they are overflows, then I would think you wouldn't be able to hand enough water in your pump bucket to raise the water level (by turning the pump on) in #1 the tank, but also in every other bucket. 

I guess I can't visualize the big picture with the pics I've got to go on.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

So that was one of the reasons why I changed over to the new containers for the bio-media. The only concern is that they will be more prone to leak since the connection will be on the side. But I will use silicon and self sealing joints so it should work out. (OF course testing will be done.)

Anyways here is what I plan to do.


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

As long as you've got sufficient space to hold the extra water needed to fill the tank up from below the overflows to the point where the overflow matches the pump, then you're fine as far as that goes. I think you mentioned that. 

The picture with the egg crate foam is the first bucket, right? So is the second bucket going to be filled with media like lava rock or bio stars and what not? Is the pump one going to have anything?


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Yep that is something I am well aware I need to watch. And yes to the foam, and yes to the media. Though at the moment it will likley be using some of my old stuff that is basically very very porous rock. I can't remember what it is called, white stuff that 1 container is said to be good for 100 gallons. Oh and I haven't decided if I want to put anything with the pump. I figure for now I will leave it, and that will be the area where I may stick my uv set up. (IE put another pump to go and do that and maybe heaters for when I need them.)


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

An extra idea:

Put a T in the return before it goes into the tank. Go through a ball valve, then back down into the return bucket or even the bio bucket. This can run your UV without an extra pump, You can then fill up the bio bucket with more media AND you can control the water level in the tank. You could also then fill the media bucket up with bio balls and make a wet/dry out of it too.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Yah, but I would need an stronger pump. On the second line I may do that. (I already have a powerhead that works well for the uv filter). But I do like the idea of being able to control how much water gets sent up with the larger pump I am going to buy.

Oh and every single inlet/outlet will have an ball valve on it so that if I want I can just close them and not fill up the whole system. (Plus that way I can control how fast the draining goes.)

I am liking how it is looking, I even have an idea for an emergency bucket that will fill if the power goes off. (I was feeling that it would get close, but now I am at ~50 gallons for possible holding.) I just need to figure out how to make the last bucket fit without getting in the way.

Oh I had fun last night till like 12 dremeling lot of holes. (Dremeled plastic is fun to watch, but very hot to the touch... ) I actually think that come tomorrow things might be ready for a leak test. (Well with one pump.)


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

An emergency bucket is a good idea.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Well I did some testing today. It worked but I got annoyed with the spray setup that gave the tank. Then I realized that I could put in a 1 inch pvc in the same whole... So I did and low and behold a pump that was going ~350 gph suddenly was doing at least 800... And then with that power it was too much for my filters to keep up with, so now I am going to combine 4 containers for this one pump and see what happens. (IE two drains coming in one pump going out.) Wish me luck...

Quick update... Well that pump is crazy fast. I must have miscalculated since I can't keep it full if I am sending water back to it through 2" pvc (though it was the water pumped by the pump not the inlets of the tank). Of course it really just means that 20 gallons of water wasn't enough for it, but I will get it fixed. The only problem is that now since I have to use only 2" piping and no smaller stuff I can't put in bendable tubes... Which means that I can't move things very easily once everything is assembled... 

Anyways at the moment I will be using mainly 2 inlets from the tank to keep this pump happy, and I will have the third set up to give water strait to the pumping chamber if I need it. The back up buckets will fit, but since I am using only 2" connections that means the back ups will have smaller tubing with a siphon so they wont fill up as fast as I would have liked. I think I have an idea for that though... Ah the joy of ideas. (IE I need to stop at home depot tomorrow to buy some 2" tees and then I can send the water to the buckets for the just in case method.)


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

Pond stores have 2" flex hose. It's expensive though!


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Well I am going to have to go with 2" tubing (PVC wont fit right so I need to be able to bend one pipe.) Do you know where I can find a good pond store? I looked for Atlanta Water Gardens Inc, but I couldn't find them. (There was a laundry mat at 2165...)

Edit, well they are there, I called them. They are behind some restaurant. Well back to find some tubing. (They are having a sale at least.) ~3 bucks a foot.


----------



## Ron the handyman (Jan 18, 2005)

Coastal pond and fountain on Tucker Industrial way in Tucker. R.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

I picked some up. It is great material. I got it for ~2.7 a foot but then they gave me an extra 2 feet for free. (Since they had a precut piece and I only wanted ~10 ft.) Anyways it will likely save me money in the long run if my joints turn out to work well. (I siliconed one today to see.)

Oh question does anyone know a local place that sells aquarium safe silicon? The petco/petsmarts only sell the little sealer tubes. I want like 2 things for a caulking gun. (I have some left over that I am using right now but I doubt it will last for the whole setup.)

Well I just read that GE silicon 1 is safe for tanks. I asked the guy at home depot and he started laughing at me saying it would kill them as quickly as the the mildew resistant stuff. But I have to go back anyways to return stuff. (IE don't need the 2" corners and lots of other stuff now that I got this tubing.)


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

That is the stuff that I would use. Or try to use. Maybe you can test it first? Put some in a bucket, let it dry for a few days. Put some water in and put a couple of fish in it for a few hours?


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Yah I will be. Since I am leaving for MN next friday I hope to have everything set up so that when I come back I can start filling the tank.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Quick update... I have light... and filtration will be tested tomorrow for leaks. I wont be filling it since I don't want to fill it then leave for a week... I figure I want to be around if a problem is going to happen...


















All total now I have it set that there will be at least 20 gallons for normal filtering, and then easily another 25 in case of power loss. In fact because I couldn't make things fit right I am going to have a bucket/rubbermaid setup outside the tank that will be able to hold a lot of extra water just in case.


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

I thought you were going out of town. I figured that's why you hadn't posted here in a while... But you've posted elsewhere. How is this tank looking now??


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Well I was out of town... Just checking too. I got back in Atlanta yesterday at 1:45am... (flight was delayed 5 hours) then waited till Marta started again so I didn't get home till ~5:15. I must say that the first train on Marta is um interesting. (I am a poor grad student, so I wasn't willing to pay 30 bucks more to take a cab since it took till ~2:30 till our baggage was back.)

Anyways I still have to patch the two leaks, but I am cleaning tanks and getting things back in order first. Though I hope to have patched tonight so will find out say Tue if I really did fix them... and didn't make new ones somewhere else.


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

Good luck. The filtration looks interesting. I hope it works well. You night want to get some hose clamps for those hoses. That's what I used with my flex tubing on my 90g. Even the return line is held with just hose clamps.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Yah if it starts to leak I am going to have to try something with hose clamps. But at the moment the 2" flex tubbing is the exact same size as 2" pvc. Hence clamping would be difficult. But if I still have a leak I am going to switch to using the 2" pvc in the drain part and then figuring out how to get some other hard pvc to fit inside the flex tub. I have ideas, just want to spend the least amount of money. (IE if this works I only had to pay ~4 bucks for the silicon caulking). If it doesn't I will likely have to pay ~25 bucks more though I think I know what would work well. (I had enough time to think about it while in MN.)


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Nope new leak formed... After about 50 minutes. So I get to go buy a few other pieces and pull of caulking.


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

That sucks.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Well I picked up some things only cost ~10 and I think it will work well... assuming I didn't mess up my rubber on the seals since it has caulking that I can't get off of the rubber. (I will put more caulking in with the 2" pvc and I think it will be fine.)

Anyways today things are sealing, tomorrow I will be gluing some stuff, then Thursday sealing with caulking. So hopefully next water test is Fri, or Sat.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

So I have switched the method that I am connecting my hoses. Now I have a 2" pvc in the drains, and then a 2" join is used to silicon the flexible tubing. I hope there are no leaks but by using the extra piping I was able to seal everything at eye level, so hopefully everything is fully sealed. I still have 2 more things to join and if I am lucky I will get them done tomorrow... But We have the meeting tomorrow so who knows on time. (Hope to see everyone there.)

SO in other words if all goes well I will be doing a fill on Sat, maybe Sunday.
Leak test:









New connections


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

So I am going to call it as no leaks... BWAHAHAHAHA (IT only took 3 versions... 2.5 things of silicon caulking, and almost a month.)

Now I just need to get a few easy piping things finalalized. (IE no drilling just pipe placement.)

Anyways the dry photos...



























And since so far these have been semi boring pictures here is a little guy I just picked up at the last Atlanta meeting and just prof that yes whey I buy shrimp it doesn't mean they are food.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Ugh about 2 hours later... a very small leak... So now I am finishing up everything just need to buy some filter pading... and then I am going to just caulk like heck and hope it is stopped.


----------



## Eric (Jul 28, 2005)

Did you get that Aphyosemion from Roger?

And what happened with those Triple Red Cacs?

Good luck on that leak... I'm currently working on repairing a leak on a 40g... :chair:


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Oh the tripple reds are in a 30g. They are doing well, just camera shy still. I don't know who brought the Aphyosemion, but I think it is roger that bags it that way. (IE 1 big bag, 2 smaller long ones with the male and female.)

Anyways the room with the door wide open smells of a full thing of caulking... if this doesn't fix it well I will have to switch everything again. But I am so close to being ready it isn't funny.


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

It it's really just a tiny leak, just put something to catch it. I had a tiny leak on the return line of my 90g. I just put a couple of paper towels under it and after a few days it stopped. Two years later it's still perfectly fine.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Yah it just might come down to that.

Well I finished everything else today... I used so much caulking on that one piece that it still isn't fully dry... (See picture) So I am going to hold off at least another day or two till I test it. The cool thing is that the tank can now hold water without worries since I have all that piping done. I don't quite like the blue flexible tubing I am using since it can't hold its shape. (IE it kinks) But it works for now. (I basically need tubing that is fairly flexible, and easy to attach to a 1 1/4 pvc piping.) Right now I just put in some more pvc inside the blue stuff so it doesn't kink at the sharp corners but then that causes another sharp corner to be created. Anyways it is something I will figure out and it wont be much of a problem.


























*/edit/*
So I am putting some gravel that a/m gave me a few months back... Well I end up using a old pillow case since I can't reach very well as you can see. Anyways the last photo is everything that will got into the this tank. (Well plus some other fish from other tanks.)

It will still stay an all male Malawi tank.


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

Aside from the gobs of silicone, it looks very clean. Nice job. Are you going to waste that large tank on Africans???


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Danh said:


> waste that large tank on Africans???


Oh I don't feel it is a waste. The think is that by doing this I free up my 135, and some 55's. Then the 135 will become a planted discus tank, and the 55's will be breeder tanks for my africans. (I really do like my africans.)

I do have a mixed 120 of SA, but I personally am not that big on say dats/arowanas type tanks. (Not to say I don't enjoy seeing them I just well don't at the moment want to give a large tank over to them.)


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

I know man.. I was kidding. I am the opposite... and to each his own!

HONESTLY though... you need a prochilodus in that African tank for the brown algae. I have a 90g in a bay window that gets 4-5 hours of direct sunlight in the mornings. It had(and still has) a 10" gibbiceps that did nothing for the green algae. I got 4 4-6" prochilods and in one month they had it ALL GONE. I mean every speck of it. I know it would be out of theme, but I could do some good! 

And.. I've got one for you! LOL


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

Oh... and I had one on my 180g about a year ago.. It desimated the ba by itself.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

I do like the look of a prochilodus. But I don't know. (I just haven't cleaned the algea out on that tank since I am going to be changing it so much.) I used to have bristle nose guys in there but well they just "disappeared". I just don't know if I want to stick in a fish that would look so out of place.

Anyways I have a good 80 gallons of water in the tank now. It is looking good. (Except that I could only run half the filtering if I wanted to right now because of that drying caulking.)

Oh does anyone know of a good place that would sell foam... (I figure some fabric store or some other big chain type thing... should have some decent stuff at a good price.)


----------



## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

JoAnn has lots of foam choices but it's expensive. Get the 50% off one item coupon from the paper. Some wholesale fabric place might be cheaper, but I don't know of one offhand.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

IT WORKS!!!!

Anyways ~3 hours... No leaks. Tank is only 1/2 full. Though to test the filters I have been pumping water into the overflow box. IE the sump system is running 100% all but one filter pad is in, and still have a thing of biofilter (seachem) to put in. But I figure I should take some existing stuff from the 135, and then start some fresh in one of my xp3 on the 135. (I have a good 3 cubic feet of bio ball, and then so far 3 containers of bio material, water is flowing through socks then foam filter padding then bio material with bublers, then off to either more bio material or the pump.)

Anyways water is being heated. I can't decide if I should just move all at once or what, but I was planning on taking most of the water from the 135 and putting it in this new tank since the discus need different water.

SO the pictures.


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

saweet! I'm glad it's working. I can't tell you how much of a hassle it is to replace or clean the pads you just sit in your bio balls. Hopefully your socks with catch most of it.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Yep. I am hopping the bio balls work well, and well I assume the socks will quickly clog but I have it set up to be easily pulled off. (IE rubber bands are holding them.) I also have it set that the pads I have are easily pulled out with rope, but well that still will be semi annoying.

Though I woke up today and found a very small puddle next to where the leak was before... So I just put a old cool whip container under it and I will likely just leave it assuming it doesn't get worse. I can't even find where the drip is.

Anyways the heater I put in it has made the water if anything too warm so I plan to put in a yellow lab tonight to see if things are ok.


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

So it's completely full?


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Nah, only about 120 in there right now. But the fitlering is going, just have to have 2 power heads bringing water up... I will likely fill tomorrow.


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

Can I ask how you got the bulkheads to seal on the buckets? I am trying to do it with a rectangular trash can and it seems like the plastic is just too think to be able to tighten the nut enough?


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

The plastic of both the buckets and the trash cans (about the same thinkness) was more than thick enough. Though I ended up needing a crazy size plumbing wretch to tighten it. (I figure 13 bucks for a 4+ inch wrench was ok).

The only problem I ever had with water was to do with the flexable tubing. All pvc and the caulking free bulkheads worked great. (I still put a little silicon on when I was putting the pvc in though.)



OK so the real update....



It is fully up and running. With lots of fish...

Anyways I wasn't patient enough to try with a few fish first, so I tossed in all my old bio media from the 135, put in most of the water from that tank and most of the fish. (Minus ~10 yellow labs... now this tank only have male yellow labs.)

Ok photos Note I chose to let them be blurry since I wanted to show the color of the tank... I like it but I might be tempted to bring in more red light eventually:

Final pump setup. Since it isn't enough in case I loose power I have a power backup for the pump. Though I likely will figure something out just in case say the pump dies. 

Anyways 2 photos of that.

(There are 3 containers that filter, 2 with socks then filters, then biomedia. 1 with just bio media. All 3 have pumps. The final (4th container) is just a pump for now though I might put my UV pump setup in there too.)


















It is pretty cool since if I hear water I know something has to be done. IE either add more water if water falling in the tank, or clean filters if water in the sump setup. But when running fully the loudest sound is from my bubblers. (The pump is isolated so it is very quite.)

Ok tank filling up... not pretty but I added rocks and such.










First fish:









My all time favorite fish... you can't tell me that Africans aren't monsters... He is over 10 inches now, and as you can see has some nice teeth.









Just more filling shots. (I think I put about 30 fish in there... I got tired counting how many times I was walking from room to room with a fish.)

























Two other guys that I like a lot and took snaps of...

















Almost full...

















The 135 all the good water taken out... only yellow labs left in.









Some fish that may go in the big tank.









The guys that are getting the 135.









The big tank up and running, not was cloudy at the beginning but even as I was taking pictures you can see how it clears up.










































(Ugh can't post more than 20 photos...)


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

So last 4 photos:



































Ok that is enough photos for now...


----------



## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Nice, we should add your apartment to the ACA aquarium tour.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

emc7 said:


> Nice, we should add your apartment to the ACA aquarium tour.


heh... I think it would likely be a bad idea to draw attention to people that I have so many tanks in my apartment. But thanks for the compliment.


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

Looks good. I'm glad the overflow and sump is working for you! 

I have a huge monkey wrench, but when I try to turn the nut, the whole thing turns now!


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

So one last update... (All is good.)

First off the little leak that was is so slow that I can't even tell if the washcloth is damp... 

Second because I was scared about a potential problem if somehow my pump died I got to thinking.... So if you didn't see I originally was drawing all my water strait from the bottom of the tank. But I recalled that people often had tubing going up to the top of there tank and complained about gurguling noises from it... And I realized I could put in stuff like that and the water wouldn't be able to get in past where I cut the tub. Or at least it would only slowly leak in. So I did it. (Of course I cut notches to make it so there would be little to no gurgling.)

And after cutting power to the pump it looks like I will have hit the jackpot. IE I have at least ~6 gallons of space left for any slow leaks that get around the tubing, and there wont suddenly be 270 gallons of water on the floor. 

The only down side is that feces will likely build up down in the overflow box but I can clean that out easily.

Anyways some quick shots. (First the piping that I stuck in, then showing what my flow rate is. I would say at least 3-4 times more than I see in my fx5, though I don't have it spraying all over so it might actually be more. Then 2 more tank shots. From the front you can't tell that the water is a little cloudy, for the side you can see through the tank now but still can see cloudiness.)


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

Looks good. How do they like it?


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Good, I didn't see any real problems from stress. I am actually a little surprised how good it is going. (knocking on wood...)


----------



## Danh (Feb 19, 2007)

That's always good.


----------



## Guest (Jan 10, 2008)

Wow...very nice...

Are those blueish fish with yellow stripes on their heads sulfer head pea****************s? I've been thinking about getting a few of those.


----------



## Guest (Jan 10, 2008)

Great looking tank! I'd love to have something that big in my house. Your Peac0cks are really stunning.


----------



## a/m (Oct 1, 2006)

*Great Job*

Kevin, your new tank looks great.
I know how big your fish are, so this tank must be a monster.
You’ve put a lot of time and hard work into this and it’s really paid off.
Great job !!
Al


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Thanks all for the compliments. I was surprised at how much time it took. (And now I am cleaning filter pool sand for the 135... at least I took 1 day off to enjoy.)

Anyways I put in the rest that I planned on. It looks full now. (I will likley post a vid or two in a few hours.)

Ok to fishbguy. First off I have many of the uncommon fish in my tank identified here: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92763

But I think the one you are talking about is called an Otopharynx lithobates (Zimbawe). (Sulfur Heads are very cool fish but I don't have one right now.) 

The only problem is that with both of these types of fish they tend to be hit or miss. Mine is a decent one... but I have seen real real stunners and eyesores for Otopharynx lithobates. And the Sulfur Heads (Protomelas spilonotus (Mara Rocks)) take a long time to color up... again are hit or miss.

Now as for the Aulonocara maylandi (Peac0ck Sulfur heads) I know next to nothing about them. Those don't look that cool so I am assuming you mean hap sulfur heads.

(Oh if you want some pictures with names of fish click here)

Ok back to cleaning sand.


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Well after a little too much worrying about how easily just my ~20 lb dog could make the tank shake. (And the whole floor) just by walking by it, I took out about 1/4th the water.

The only hard part is to filter it I have to pump water into the overflow... which then messes up the normal methods keeping water from getting all over the place. (IE normally when there is more water in the sump there is less water to go into the overflow... but now there is always a full overflow.)

So that means I have to use the valves to figure out the sweet spot which isn't that easy. IE if I am a little off the pump will just keep on slowly filling up or emptying. (The first being the really bad thing...)

And the sad fact is that even after taking out so much water the dog can still manage to sometimes make the thing shake. *But not always at least, ie it is much better now*


----------



## Guest (Jan 15, 2008)

nope...I meant the pea****************s...A. maylandi :lol:


----------



## ikevi (Jul 28, 2006)

Ah well the one that is closest to the one you are likely thinking of is then actually an Aulonocara kandeensis. Close looking, but well he really isn't showing much color yet. (The very first fish I put in.)


----------



## Aquaman_95 (Sep 13, 2007)

Very nice tank!


----------

