New big tank DIY on a budget...

As I mentioned in another thread we are making a new 2m long tank to replace the 240l one (not allowed to have both..). It will take a while, but some progress has been made on the stand, though its fairly slow as all the wood had to be cut to size and planed first. We already had pine wood from our property stored as planks, this is why we decided to make the stand of wood instead of steel that we would have to buy. It is going to be plenty strong enough. It is upside down in the second picture...

 

Nice project.
That's really going to be something.

 

So the upheaval has started as the new tank is going where the 240l and 180l were. Today I moved the 180l, this involved taking out all the rocks and driftwood and all the plants, the Vallisneria had created quite a jungle in there. I put some of the water in a big container with the heater and an airstone and caught all the fish - 6 Copella and 6 otos. The Copella were surprisingly easy to catch considering how fast they zip about when I want to take photos of them. Managed to get 4 in one netful! Everything was spread all over the floor. Our phone had not been working and of course the guys came to fix it in the midst of all the chaos. The tanks are in the entrance hall so they had to walk through it all. With the tank empty apart from the substrate my husband and son moved it to its new location, then I had to put everything back again. It took most of the day and I feel exhausted now. Tomorrow we have to move the 240l tank. It has bigger rocks and lots of driftwood. And the substrate will have to come out as well. We decided to keep it after all, there is a good place for it in the dining room (we had to move some furniture full of crockery first, that was yesterday...). When its current occupants move to the new tank I will probably get a load of neon or cardinal tetras in there as my husband likes those. Instead of getting rid of that tank I have decommissioned a 175l that had about 25 baby Laetacaras in. The other day I moved them to a much smaller tank just temporarily as they will go to the shop soon. And emptied and cleaned the 175l tank, saving the plants and driftwood...so its been busy! Here are some photos of today's chaos..







The stand for the new tank is ready to be put in place, it looks huge and is very heavy! But first we have to build a cement plinth for it to stand on as out house is old and the floors are not level. We did the same for the other big tank.

 

Whew. Lot of work.

 

Some progress has been made, though I did not take photos of every stage. The concrete plinth is made and is setting. It took ages getting it and the stand level as the floor was higher in the middle and low at the back I think, anyway very unlevel. It involved lifting the stand into place while the cement was still a little bit soft, leveling it, then taking it off again to let the cement dry properly. Regarding the stand, we decided to use plywood for the top (18mm), back and sides (12mm) as this was much quicker and obviously did not use as much of our good pine wood. The doors and drawers at the front will be made of real wood. We were going to use wood for the top frame and braces, but in the end they decided aluminum angle would be quicker, better and longer lasting. So we have had some expenses before ordering the glass. So far $106.74 on 3 sheets of plywood (18mm, 12mm and one very thin one which will be for the insulation system) plus various things like varnish, wood stain, gloves, screws etc. $30 for 6m of aluminum angle 11/4". x 1/8" and $10 for stainless steel screws and nuts. Spent some time yesterday looking into the necessary equipment to weld aluminum, but it was going to cost too much, so it will be screwed together. The top braces will be screwed on so they can be removed to put large pieces of rock and wood in more easily.

Previously I had asked the glass shops for the price per square meter and calculated the approximate cost based on the exact area we would use. However, I don't know how they work it out, but when I gave them the measurements of the pieces we need it was going to cost a lot more than I estimated if we use 12mm glass. So we have decided to use 10mm, with the top frame and braces it should be OK according to my husband and son. That will cost just over $200 plus about $5 to deliver. The lfs has a tank a bit deeper and taller than the one we are making made of 10mm glass, it has a lot of glass braces across the top but no top frame. It does not seem to be bowing at all.

Here is the stand before it had the back and sides on (still in the garage):


We are nearly ready to order the glass, I will post more photos and updates when the actual tank is made...

 

Big day today, the glass (or some of it anyway) is going to be installed. First a temporary structure at the back has been made to help secure the back pane.



A wood frame around the bottom will give extra support and help to get the glass pieces in place. There is a layer of polystyrene (styrofoam?) below the bottom piece of glass.




The messy cement will be sorted out later, there were a few issues with the leveling process....

 

Big day today, the glass (or some of it anyway) is going to be installed. First a temporary structure at the back has been made to help secure the back pane.
View attachment 836204

A wood frame around the bottom will give extra support and help to get the glass pieces in place. There is a layer of polystyrene (styrofoam?) below the bottom piece of glass.

View attachment 836205

The messy cement will be sorted out later, there were a few issues with the leveling process....

I think the whole of Cuenca will need reinforcing when the water goes in!

 

I assume you are not planning on moving any time soon...

 

I assume you are not planning on moving any time soon...

Definitely not!

Here is the tank as of last night, they used the injection method with the nozzle of the silicon tube cut at an angle and toothpicks as pacers. This followed by another bead of silicon round the inside.



This morning they have to do the inside bead along the front edges, this probably involves someone getting inside the tank...Then the tank will have to wait a week or so before testing for leaks. In the meantime work can continue on the frame, braces and plumbing.

These are some of the fish that will be going in the big tank:

I think the whole of Cuenca will need reinforcing when the water goes in!

As long as the whole house doesn't fall into the river below.....
Oh and I forgot to mention, a raw potato cut into a pointed shape was used to push the silicon further in and clean off any excess - it doesn't stick to potato!

 

This is fascinating. How big will the tank be?

 

This is fascinating. How big will the tank be?

200 x 65 x 65cm (78.7 x 25.6 x 25.6"). Volume calculator gives 845 liters, 223 gallons (not taking into account substrate etc.)

 

How thick is the glass?

 

How thick is the glass?

It is 10mm. We were going to do 12mm to start with but it would have cost too much. It should be ok with the top frame and braces.

 

Top frame and braces are in place. Frame is 11/4" aluminum angle, braces are made from a sheet of aluminium we happened to have in our garage. Stainless steel screws used to fix the pieces.

 

Tank has been filled, and was left for several hours. No signs of any leaking or bowing. Filling it took about an hour, draining it more than that. I think I will have to look into a pump for water changes.....

 

I have not posted about this tank for a while, but work has been progressing slowly. Wood frames have been made, the top frame in the photo that I will attach has now been varnished. Inside this frame at the back is the space for two additional filters into which the water from the canisters will return before going back into the tank. This provides room for a tot more filter material, both biological and mechanical, as well as a backup in the case of any of the canisters breaking down - a submergible pump with intake could easily be set up to work these filters in an emergency. At the moment the two plywood filter boxes have been painted with epoxy resin (it took a while to source that, cost $35 for a litre). It takes 72 hours to set and need two coats, the second is setting now. Some work on the plumbing has started but is now held up until the resin has set.







Meanwhile I have been collecting and washing sand. The river is just a few minutes walk from the house, but up hill on the way back and the sand is heavy so I can't bring too much at a time, and a lot of sand is needed! The base of the tank is now covered but I still need more. The last few days it has rained heavily so the river is too high to collect it at the moment. I have quite a few pieces of wood I have collected from the river, but I still want one that is more branched or looks like tree roots. We were going to go for a walk up the river to look for something, but it is still too high.

 

We have continued to make progress slowly. They decided the top filter boxes needed more coats of epoxy so they are still drying. The tank lids have been made out of plywood we had left, and are being stained and varnished now. There are three separate lids, with fittings for the lights. I have bought 3 x 30W led reflectors ($10.50 each). Its going to be an Amazon biotope type look with fish that would prefer subdued lighting and not very heavily planted, so hopefully these will be sufficient. If not there is plenty of room for additional lights.

I have also freed up one of the canister filters. It was running on a 180l tank which currently only has 6 Copella and 6 otos. I only put the canister there originally because I thought I was getting the Guianacaras. I transferred most of the material to another more gentle top filter for that tank. The other canister is on the tank where the severum and festivums are so I presume I should move this filter and the fish at the same time.

Yesterday I went to the lfs and took 27 young Laetacaras, in exchange I got two of the heaters I needed. The shop owner persuaded me to get 3 x 200W heaters rather than 2 x 300W, he said it would cost less electricity. I am not convinced about that, but I do see that it will help the distribution of heat. Actually I am not sure if these three will be enough, if not I do have another 200W heater spare. I also bought some filter material and of course looked at the fish.

They still have just 4 of the Uaru I have been eyeing for a long time. They got them around August last year and they have not grown anywhere near as much as I would have expected in that time. They have changed to adult colouration but are only around 2-3". They are in a large tank with a lot of other quite large cichlids, the owner says they are not very good at competing for food, I guess they have never been given the plant food that they should be getting. Apart from being small for their age they look healthy enough. Well I am tempted to get them for the new tank. I know they get really big and I might not be able to keep all four indefinitely along with the other cichlids I have, but for the moment all the fish except the severum are small and will look lost in that big tank! I would like to have room for some non cichlids as well, some larger tetras and/or Corydoras for example.

 

Just been painting the background/insulation, pieces of 10mm polystyrene stuck with silicon onto 6mm plywood to fit the back and sides of the tank. As it is in quite a cool area. The side pieces will be easily removable.Mixed olive green and black paint. Paint must be acrylic or latex as other paints melt polystyrene.

 

Awesome! Looks like it's coming along well. How long do you think it'll take to complete?

 

Awesome! Looks like it's coming along well. How long do you think it'll take to complete?

Its actually quite close to being finished. Already has some sand in (will probably need more) and I have brought a few promising rocks from the river. Still need to look for the perfect piece(s) of driftwood. The tops are just drying from the final coat of varnish, the top filters are ready. The heaters and lighting need wiring up. I think in the next few days we can scape and fill it, get one canister running, put in some plants (from other tanks) and get the temperature stable. Then I can think about moving the other canister and fish.

 

Wow...just found and read all of this journey..I am very impressed. I could never undertake an effort like this - I'm devoid of any handy type skills.
Amazing job!!

 

Wow...just found and read all of this journey..I am very impressed. I could never undertake an effort like this - I'm devoid of any handy type skills.
Amazing job!!

Thanks, we could only embark on the project because both my husband and son are very practical. I am not. And we had to wait until my son was over here to start as it really needed two practical people especially for the glass part. My son works as a marine engineer on a cruise ship so spends several months at sea but then has a long vacation. Really hoping we can get it all finished before he has to leave on March 25. I am documenting it here to keep a record, but also as it may give ideas to anyone else mad enough to try such a thing! It has certainly been a lot less expensive than buying a tank this size but it has taken a lot of work and time.

 

This came along at a good speed.....if this will be as gorgeous as your other 150gl, this will be absolutely stunning.
With the canister filter, did you ever take an inline heater into consideration? The heat distribution is much more even.

 

This came along at a good speed.....if this will be as gorgeous as your other 150gl, this will be absolutely stunning.
With the canister filter, did you ever take an inline heater into consideration? The heat distribution is much more even.

Thank you, it will be very different to the other big tank, but hopefully good, we will see....

Inline heating would be good I agree. I know some canister filters come with inline heaters, recently I have seen some Oase ones advertised in Quito, but horrendously expensive. My canisters are basic ones and I already have them so I will make do for now.

 

Not sure if you can get ISTA heaters, they are pretty cost effective and I have it on my Fluval canister. With a spray bar the temp is pretty even distributed.

 

Not sure if you can get ISTA heaters, they are pretty cost effective and I have it on my Fluval canister. With a spray bar the temp is pretty even distributed.

Probably not, but I will look into it, thanks.

 

Great thread! How high is your stand? I usually go for around 32” but I’m thinking of 34 this time. And I think it’s time for some pics . Looks great so far!

 

Great thread! How high is your stand? I usually go for around 32” but I’m thinking of 34 this time. And I think it’s time for some pics . Looks great so far!

Thanks, the wooden stand is 29" high but as it is on a concrete plinth that we had to build to level the floor the total height from the ground is 33". I did not want to make it too tall as the tank itself is quite high. I will post some more photos soon.

 

I haven't been able to post any more pictures lately, its been hectic around the tank! A few days ago we went for a walk up the river and found lots of wood and roots (more than I need). Then we spent time arranging things, filling, emptying and refilling the tank - however much I wash the river sand it never comes completely clean so on the first fill it wasn't possible to see anything in the tank even after a night of filtering, and despite filling very slowly into a ceramic bowl. Its better now but still not completely clear, and the lights are not on yet so I can't show any photos of the whole tank yet. But my son is working on the wiring now so by later today everything should be up and running. Last night we filled it with warm (29C) water, it lost a degree quickly, presumably due to cold rocks, sand and wood taking a lot of the heat. But overnight it had only dropped to 25 C with no heater on, so that is encouraging. The room was around 15 degrees C at night.

I can post a photo to show the insulation system on the side of the tank.




Here it is open (dog stepped on it when the paint was drying..)



And here are the tops ready to be fitted and the lights wired up..


Maybe tomorrow a picture of the tank with lights on....
Meanwhile the whole area looks like a workshop.

 

The pawprints remind me of a footprint left in freshly laid cement - guess the dog wanted to play a role in the big build too!

 

Well, this is what it looks like this morning, it is going to take a while to clear! Ignore the various thermometers and temp. probe. Also some Vallisneria that I (optimistically) planted at the back has floated up, will have to try again.

 

Looking great so far!

 

Love it already!

 

Yesterday we moved the fish and their canister filter, it is still not completely clear but looking better and the fish are all fine. The festivums look very small in there!
Sorry this is a terrible photo, we need to do something about the reflections. I will try to get some better ones later on.

 

What a build . That wood is spectacular!

 

Yesterday we moved the fish and their canister filter, it is still not completely clear but looking better and the fish are all fine. The festivums look very small in there!
Sorry this is a terrible photo, we need to do something about the reflections. I will try to get some better ones later on.

View attachment 841126

I'm salivating.

 

Again, lovely. Think I would add some wood- or rootscape, more to the front, somewhere right of the center; obscuring some parts. But that's about it. Hope you keep it understocked with fish, although I imagine one or two additional species of fish in that display. You only have the festivums in there?

 

Again, lovely. Think I would add some wood- or rootscape, more to the front, somewhere right of the center; obscuring some parts. But that's about it. Hope you keep it understocked with fish, although I imagine one or two additional species of fish in that display. You only have the festivums in there?

I have the festivums, one severum and two juvenile Cichlasomas. I was thinking of getting some tetras quite soon, probably either bleeding hearts or H. bentosi. At first I thought the bentosi might be too small, but I have seen various sizes listed from 4, 6 or even 7cm. The bentosi seem to be less aggressive - I watched the bleeding hearts being fed the other day and they all went crazy for the food. The trouble is the festivums are the opposite, they have to look at and study the food from all angles before deciding to take a bite! I have also been considering getting some Uarus, they have 4 at the lfs, I have been eyeing them for months, but I do have some reservations, not sure yet I definitely do not want to overstock the tank. I was thinking maybe a small group of Corydoras for the bottom.

I have plenty more smaller pieces of wood and roots if I need some for the front, will see when it clears a bit more.

What a build . That wood is spectacular!

Thanks, I am very grateful to my son for carrying those two big heavy pieces all the way back to the house from where we found them further up the river.

 

Great looking set up!! Corys would be great and luv the bottom. You could put at least 12 in there and they wouldn’t even be noticed.

 

The severum has spawned on a rock at the back of the tank and just prior to that she dug up all the Vallisneria I had planted at the back. I can't reach to the back at the bottom to plant it again without taking the lids off and that means disconnecting the lights......hmmm I am not sure whether to bother replanting it.