My 4Ft

[Emissary of Pain]

Hey all ...

Just showing a pic of my complete DIY 4ft cichlid tank.

There is still a need of new fish, more gravel and a bit of decor on the sides, but Rome wasn't built in a day.

The fish in there apart from the pleco and chinese algae eater were all from a 3ft tank so there wasnt many.

Not Sure what else to add but will be looking at adding some soon.

The tank is fully cycled as I transplanted my 3ft into here, filtration at the moment is 1000Lph (264gph) but will be changing it to 1700Lph (449gph)


Current Stock:

1x Convict
1x Yellow Lab
1x Brichardi
1x Labeotropheus Trewavasae (+- 4.7" - 5")
1x Common Plec (+-11")
1x Chinese Algae Eater


The Convict, Yellow Lab and Brichardi don't seem to be growing much, any idea's why ??



Please excuse the strut, I was going to remove it and make it look better but never got around to it.


(Side-ish view - If you look in the back you can see my custom flow bar)



(Top front - You can see the water agitation from my custom flow bar made of plexi pipe)

 

[Hunterprey]

looking nice like the wood setup good job n good luck

 

[Emissary of Pain]

Thanks very much man ... Coming from someone that has won tank of the month means a lot 2 me ...

I am still trying 2 work out wat to add and how to fill the gaps on the sides of the center driftwood piece.


Regards,
Richard.

 

[Ashley1991]

you built this yourself??

do us a favour.....come build me one

looks great

ash

 

[Emissary of Pain]

LMFAO ... I refuse ... the amount of trouble that this thing gave me ... I swear .. I will rather buy a tank .. lol

 

[Ashley1991]

pretty please?

must have been great looking at it and going hell yeah i made that

ash

 

[Emissary of Pain]

Looking at the finished job all I saw were my mistakes ... lmfao! ... but I am still proud as hell ...

The main problem was wen the front panel cracked ... I tried making those hidden supports that act like sliders ... but I obviously did something wrong ... filled the tank half way and left it over night ... then filled it the rest of the way ... was relexing at my pc and heart the crack and saw water everywhere ... couldnt get a piece of glass tha same size so i hade 2 shorten it ... so side of the tank has extra glass at the back ... hahahahaha ...but it must be like half an inch ... so its not 2 bad ... lol ..

regards,
Richard

 

[Ashley1991]

when you heard the crack did you expect a huge turrent of w ater to sweep you off your feet at any moment

ash

 

[Verminator89]

Currently looking into building a custom 4ft myself. How cost effective is compared to buying a tank. Alls i need is a 4ft tank to raise my Dempsey fry in so was looking at building one myself as i can't find even a crappy manky old 4ft anywhere near me for like £50. One of my grandparents made himself a 6"x1"x1.5" tank a few years ago, so i'll have experienced help. Thinking of making a small 2"x1"x1" as a shallow planted tank as a test first.

I love this tank though, the rockscape is is so simple yet intricate. Shall be keeping tabs on this for future updates

 

[Emissary of Pain]

Hey hey ...

It was very cost effective for me as I never paid for the glass as I had it laying around, but in my country it works out cheaper 2 buy a tank.


Thanks for the complimetns on my tank ... They are much appreciated ...


As for when the glass cracked ... there was water but luckily I duct taped the glass and drained water ... If I wasnt home ... well ... what a mess it would ahve been ... lol


Regards,
Richard

 

[PDSimon]

Looks great! well done