My New Tank Journal

[fish-r-fancy]

Hi I just recently bought a 180 gallon bow front fish tank that I'm planning on keeping a teacup stingray, some type of eel and some other cool oddballs in. The tank needs work but we got it for a very good deal. One big problem happened when moving the tank was that it fell out of the truck and the tanks trim cracked. Here's a picture of the damage that happened:

http/i106.photobucket.com/albums/m260/mi.../IMAG0003-4.jpg

It's not that bad so we bought some glue at the home depot and glued it together. We decided that we will be painting the stand so we also painted the trim to match. We painted the trim with a textured paint that feels and looks like sand. It looks really neat! The spray paint was also bought at the home depot. Before painting the trim we painted one side of the stand to see if we like it, so one side of the sand is already painted and now it just needs a second coat. We will be purchasing new handles for that tank that will also be purchased at the home depot. Here are some pictures of the tank before it was spray painted:

http/i106.photobucket.com/albums/m260/mi.../IMAG0008-1.jpg

http/i106.photobucket.com/albums/m260/mi.../IMAG0002-1.jpg

(sorry for the poor quality of the pictures.) I will soon post after pictures of the tank glued and spray painted but the fumes in the garage where the tank is are horrible and we got some paint on the tank that we will need to clean. For heating I will be using 2 300W Rena Cal top light excel heaters. They're the ones with the dial on top that allows you to set the temp. to whatever you want. I will need to make a DIY heater guard by putting the heaters in a PVC pipe and using fish safe glue to glue a piece of screen onto both sides of the PVC pipe, I will make sure to cut an appropriate sized hole in the top screen to fit the heater in. I will then glue these river rocks: http/i106.photobucket.com/albums/m260/mi.../IMAG0004-2.jpg to the PVC pipe using fish safe glue.

For filtration I will be using 2 fluval 405s that are currently on a tank at my lfs that I will pick up when needed.

For lighting I bought a light fixture with 2 lights 1 blue and 1 red. They were sold as glow lights for plants, however I wont be using plants I just wanted the best lighting. I also purchased a timer for the lights. For covers I got 2 glass ones.

We already throughly cleaned the inside of the tank and gravel.


The tank came with these decorations that I wont be using because of my choice of fish:

-blck + blue background (not sure whick side to use)
-black gravel (will use)
-large piece of wood (will use)
-slate rock
-lace rock
-large granite rock
-fake anchor
-rock formations

that's just to name a few. Here's a picture that gives you an idea of what kind of decorations that I have:

http/i106.photobucket.com/albums/m260/mi.../IMAG0005-2.jpg

More pictures are soon to come as are more updates. Let me know what you think and what needs improving. Thank you for reading.

 

[haulmilk]

Hi I just recently bought a 180 gallon bow front fish tank that I'm planning on keeping a teacup stingray, some type of eel and some other cool oddballs in. The tank needs work but we got it for a very good deal. One big problem happened when moving the tank was that it fell out of the truck and the tanks trim cracked. Here's a picture of the damage that happened:

http/i106.photobucket.com/albums/m260/mi.../IMAG0003-4.jpg

It's not that bad so we bought some glue at the home depot and glued it together. We decided that we will be painting the stand so we also painted the trim to match. We painted the trim with a textured paint that feels and looks like sand. It looks really neat! The spray paint was also bought at the home depot. Before painting the trim we painted one side of the stand to see if we like it, so one side of the sand is already painted and now it just needs a second coat. We will be purchasing new handles for that tank that will also be purchased at the home depot. Here are some pictures of the tank before it was spray painted:

http/i106.photobucket.com/albums/m260/mi.../IMAG0008-1.jpg

http/i106.photobucket.com/albums/m260/mi.../IMAG0002-1.jpg

(sorry for the poor quality of the pictures.) I will soon post after pictures of the tank glued and spray painted but the fumes in the garage where the tank is are horrible and we got some paint on the tank that we will need to clean. For heating I will be using 2 300W Rena Cal top light excel heaters. They're the ones with the dial on top that allows you to set the temp. to whatever you want. I will need to make a DIY heater guard by putting the heaters in a PVC pipe and using fish safe glue to glue a piece of screen onto both sides of the PVC pipe, I will make sure to cut an appropriate sized hole in the top screen to fit the heater in. I will then glue these river rocks: http/i106.photobucket.com/albums/m260/mi.../IMAG0004-2.jpg to the PVC pipe using fish safe glue.

For filtration I will be using 2 fluval 405s that are currently on a tank at my lfs that I will pick up when needed.

For lighting I bought a light fixture with 2 lights 1 blue and 1 red. They were sold as glow lights for plants, however I wont be using plants I just wanted the best lighting. I also purchased a timer for the lights. For covers I got 2 glass ones.

We already throughly cleaned the inside of the tank and gravel.


The tank came with these decorations that I wont be using because of my choice of fish:

-blck + blue background (not sure whick side to use)
-black gravel (will use)
-large piece of wood (will use)
-slate rock
-lace rock
-large granite rock
-fake anchor
-rock formations

that's just to name a few. Here's a picture that gives you an idea of what kind of decorations that I have:

http/i106.photobucket.com/albums/m260/mi.../IMAG0005-2.jpg

More pictures are soon to come as are more updates. Let me know what you think and what needs improving. Thank you for reading.

looks good .

 

[fish-r-fancy]

Thanks. Hopefully it will soon be finished so that we can fill it up with water and put fish in it. I'm thinking about cycling the tank with feeder fish (not goldfish I will cycle the tank with minnows or guppies.) so that way by the time I put in the fish I want they can eat the feeders. We will be putting the tank in my parlor and we've yet to find a spot where in the parlor. I will kepp everybody updated.

 

[atmmachine816]

I want that piece of driftwood

Looks good, looking forward to see progress

atm

 

[fish-r-fancy]

I want that piece of driftwood

Looks good, looking forward to see progress

atm

Yes that is really a nice piece of wood. It's like 2 feet long the photo doesn't do the tank or wood any justice, it makes it look small. I bought the wood new for $20! The good thing about this piece of wood is that it has 2 suction cups on the back of it to stick to the back of the tank so that the ray wont be able to move it around to much.