thanks fishes! the stand is actually something a basic everyday person could build. neither of use have ever built anything like this but turning out pretty nice. we didnt have all the tools that we needed to cut 45's to put the corners together on the larger pices of wood, but we were able to do that on our trim with the mitter saw . so we just didnt 45 the larger pieces. but it still looks just fine
ahhhhh the big questions! i dont know i just know i have a stand and tank now lol.
okay seriously....
lighting... currently i have 48" t5's which will still fit the 120. so for now will probably stick with that. but trying to decide if i want to add additional icecaps for more t5 bulbs or whether i want to add two halides, which ive never used before. so im a lil unsure.
i will be using the same stuff i had on my 90 for now. same sump skiller pump ect. but will be upgrading the sump to a larger one and a skimmer (cause i cracked ours -oops) but that will have to wait for a bit.
the return pump is a mag 12 which should be fine for now also. i have two koralia 3's now but will be adding probably 4 more of those. for more water flow. i have a hanging on side of my 90 now a small 400 pump but prob. wont use that in the new tank. its a pain how it attaches.
well everything went prettty smoothly for never doing this before. just keep in mind just cause a wood putty filler says it will stain doesnt mean it will !!!!!
we ended up with sections that wouldnt stain. so ended up have to use a wood fix it stick to try to blend them in. what a pain!
thanks. went and picked up the doors today (had someone local make them) and just got home from coral corral with all my sand, rocks and water. will be starting on it this afternoon, and should be up and running by tonite. yay !!!!
okay well everything is finally done and up and running here are some pics... rock is just piled in there til i can get working on the aquascaping...
we ended up having to put a 2x4 brace on the ceiling to hang the canopy from. our studs in the ceiling were a few inches off to get the canopy to be even over the tank. adding the brace and screwing it to the studs worked out great. now our canopy is even. we used metal wired to hang it with large eye bolts and s clips to be able to take it down when needed. you can also see in the pic that our camo ratchet straps are up at the time of the pic. we will use those to be able to raise the canopy up higher to be able to work on the tank when needed......
our new lighting now consists of 2- 250 hqi lumex max elite reflectors with pfo ballasts. and 4 ati/current actinic t'5s and 4 lunar lights.
this pic shows most of it inside of the canopy. the only thing that is in the canopy now that i didnt get a pic of is the t5 reflectors in place and the moonlights in place.
taking apart the t5 fixture to use the parts for the canopy...
full shot of everything up and running... just waiting to do the aquascaping...
