Some math house fishtank setup

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

“Should I pick up a belt-sander?”

My brother: “Random Orbital will be fine”



haha. yeah. Lots of hours to get it to 220

Look like popeye when you get to 220! haha

 

[Jon Fishman]

Decided black-boxes were the way to go for me. With a shallow front-to-back, three 32” 300w Mars Aqua will get me nice edge-to-edge coverage on my lights. Will probably go with my same adjustable heavy-duty wire hanging system unless I can come up with a better method

 

[Jon Fishman]

One new addition and sorry about the clutter..... boxes of new toys for the tank are showing up all the time.

The tank build has officially begun!!! No idea how long it takes them, but it is underway.

]

 

[Jon Fishman]

I really have nothing to add at this point, except that my tank may or may not be a rectangle at this point. No idea how long the build is going to take. I put down the deposit 40 days ago........



My BTA split.... Awful looking little spawn! Free to good home.

The “better half” looks to be doing fine

Also.... I found my first nuisance hitchhiker in the old tank. Any tips for hopefully not transferring any over to the new tank?

 

[Jon Fishman]

I did a “dry run” on the lighting.

I need to cut extra wire off etc but these are fully adjustable up/down.


I need suggestions for power cables though I can’t use back-wall (have plans) so attach power strips under soffit and use channels/ties/tubing to pretty-up all the cables?

I need it all run to timer/apex or whatever I will use too.

I really need suggestions!!!!

Terrible pictures. sorry

 

[Jon Fishman]

Just painting and propping up different wall panels to see what I like best. I figured doing the wall behind the tank with a nice 3-dimensional panelling would provide a pretty cool look when the lights are on.


This is an unpainted example of a finished product from an Amazon review




Edit. guess it won’t work

 

[Jon Fishman]

There is a third light..... just using it right now!


Still working on this. Lots of little details to fill in, but going up nicely

 

[Jon Fishman]

Starting a Red Sea Max Nano while I await the other tank build:

 

[Jon Fishman]

This is what’s going on the bottom of the tank, since I am going bare-bottom.

This is my Polish “self-leveling mat”. My stand is pretty level (gotta check once it has a tank on it of course) but figured this wouldn’t hurt

 

[Jobsafish]

Can’t wait to see the Drag Tank. Following along.

 

[Jon Fishman]

Can’t wait to see the Drag Tank. Following along.

Thanks. I just can’t wait to see it either. I have ZERO clue what I’m doing regarding plumbing, setting up an Apex, etc. So it will be a bumpy process I’m sure.

I have a house built on a crawl, so basement fish-room wasn’t an option.

 

[Jobsafish]

Thanks. I just can’t wait to see it either. I have ZERO clue what I’m doing regarding plumbing, setting up an Apex, etc. So it will be a bumpy process I’m sure.

I have a house built on a crawl, so basement fish-room wasn’t an option.

Being in the UK, we don’t generally have basements either, so it’s in-stand sumps for me too.

 

[gmneil]

what is the name of the material you chose for the bottom of the tank?

 

[Jon Fishman]

what is the name of the material you chose for the bottom of the tank?

The mat for under it, or the sheet on the inside?

Under is some jankety rubber mat. inside I am going with RFP board "Reinforced Fiberglass Plastic" reef-safe from everything I can find.... same as PVC basically, but apparently entire custom tanks are made from RFP (formed obviously, not the thin little sheet kind I am getting)

It comes in 8' x 4' sheets.

 

[Jon Fishman]

The Nano is in use....

 

[Jon Fishman]

Tank details updated:

Should (yeah.... we will see) be done next week!

All clear,
Black Reef-Savvy Ghost overflow
96" x 20" x 16" (Yep! squeezed an extra 4" out of it..... only pretty much destroyed my budget!)

Working on supports for the ends of the tank..... I'm told that with the top (2" thick Black Walnut, and 1" thick plywood under that) I won't be able to have a 6" over-hang on each side..... Basically the stand is 7' long and the top of it is 10' long, so 6 inches of the tank would need to hang over the main stand. I was thinking 6" overhang on 3" thick top would be fine..... I'm told it's not. so back to the drawing board.

I was thinking 4x4's put in deck-supports, and dressed up (painted!) but I don't know. If the 3" thick top isn't enough, then I doubt a metal "L" bracket or two on each end would do any good either.

 

[Jon Fishman]

Unless I can figure out a more aesthetically pleasing way to do it, I plan to run one of these on both ends, 6” out..... Really wish there was another way. steel L brackets used under granite countertops etc won’t do?!?!!

 

[Jon Fishman]

Changed my mind on how I wanted to hang the lights..... added a “shelf” and will put all the electrical up there and out of sight. Also added a towel holder to the stand, because I always find myself in need of a towel when I drip water from moving stuff, spot feeding, etc


I still need to paint the light assembly (on coat is done) and trim down the steel cables

 

[Jon Fishman]

Painted. Need to run some electrical today. Happy Father’s day....

 

[Millopolis]

Great looking build! Are you going to have the lights plugged into the apex? I would on mine but the CBB cord is too short so I have to use one of those ugly white outlet timers for it. You could put two dressed up pillars under the over hangs. What are you thinking for a stock list? You could potentially section off parts of the tank since it’s so long, or go for some real swimmers! Lots of potential. And how are you going to handle the flow situation? Gyres on each end? Bare bottom, so you probably want a lot of flow and SPS but your gonna have to figure that out with a 10’ tank. I am a bit further than you in starting a tank up. I’m doing the WWC/BRS hybrid method, you should check out the YouTube videos on it. Ep20 does a full recap. Right now I’m waiting on coralline algae to start growing so I can add corals