The Aquarium project

[mikechell 0]

I am truly and eagerly awaiting. I don't have quite as much patience as you ... but I'll wait.

 

Is it done, yet?

[Steeldrifter 0]

Well guys after almost exactly 1 full year (took a few months off from working on it during the summer) it is not all done except for a couple minor things and should have water in it and cycling by the weekend then fish in it soon as it is cycled. I am extremely happy with it because the end result is EXACTLY what I had pictured in my head when I first started this build. Here are some pics of it all done ...all that is left is to clean the filter hoses, get some filter hose clips, fill the filters with the media (Matrix media and pads/floss) and fill her with water. So next time you see it will be with fish in it.

 

Lots of pictures with different stages of the lighting system on since it's a pretty in depth lighting system I designed for this. The lighting system I did on it entails the following....

4- 20" Cold Cathod light bars

2- 12" Cold Cathode light bars

48" T5 Dual lights 1-10000k and 1-Actinic bulb

2- 24" LEd blue Moonlight strip lights

2-LED Hydor H2show Blue LED Spotlights

5-LED Hydor H2show White LED Spotlights

20" under cabinet light inside the lower stand

 

 

You'll also notice I made some wood angle strips and stained them to match the stand then siliconed them onto the leading front edges of the tank to give it a more finished look.

 

 

With all these lights there is a TON of wiring so I made sure to spend a good deal of time routing, sleeving and making all the wiring neat for looks as well as being safe.

 

 

Inline Hydor heater on one of the Rena Xp filters

 

 

 

 

 

With all the lights including the T5's on....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

looks great bro you did an awesome job guess that OCD isn't a hinderance at all

[Piker20 0]

Will look soooo great with the fish.

[mikechell 0]

Very interesting. I will reserve further comment until completely finished.

[Steeldrifter 0]

lol...not your taste Mike? You can't hurt my feelings man no worries

 

Steve

[netabrookie 0]

You took the word "Aquarium" to a whole new level. That is very nice

[mikechell 0]

I am just waiting for the fish. I am really into ... color ... and your design, although interesting, is just too (as I noted earlier) monochromatic at the moment.

Since I've never put such effort into an aquarium, I am assuming you know MUCH more about what you are doing, and aiming for, than I.

 

So ... I am still eagerly awaiting the completed project, hoping the color will be provided.

 

Truly, it IS an interesting project. And truly, I AM eager to see where it ends.

[Laxi 0]

Wow, this is awesome!

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

Steve this looks absolutely wonderful, so neat and tidy. Used to have aquariums and a great big fish pond in the yard.

 

Questions, how will you start the nitrogen cycle? I heard there are some bacterial additives you can add to the water or filter these days. I remember grabbing some koi from the pond and putting them in the tank for a month to kick things off before evicting them. Let the tank just get completely skanky before it settles into it's cycle. Then this 'siporax' medium i used could keep the tank maintenance free for months.

 

I remember starting the tank i used a small amount of activated carbon in a little bag ontop of the bio in the filter to suck up the bad chemicals, like excess glues, toxins and stuff like that.

 

Oh how will you keep the pH levels alkaline? Those cichlids like the hard water i think.

 

Look forward to seeing the fish, congrats on a great job!

[Steeldrifter 0]

Well I just finished filling with water this evening. I have to say.....there sure is something to be said for spending the extra time washing your sand. I spent about 5-6 hours washing my sand so I knew I had it washed pretty well, but I still expected at least a day or two of cloudiness before the tank was clear. To my surprise though, with the exception of some of the "new tank air bubbles" blowing around the tank, it's actually exceptionally clear.

During filling ....

 

 

And not even 1 minute after getting filled and turning both the filters on...

 

 

Dosed it with pure ammonia and have that at about 3ppm right now so the cycle has started. Will be daily Ammonia/PH/KH checks while it is cycling over the next few week till it is cycled and all parameters are ideal for fish but it's now holdin water and on its way to housing fish.

 

And no, I never sleep

 

Questions, how will you start the nitrogen cycle? I heard there are some bacterial additives you can add to the water or filter these days.

 

FFJ to start the fishless cycle you fill the tank and declor it. Then you use pure clear Ammonia and you dose the tank with 2 drops per gallon of Ammonia to get it to about 2PPM (parts per million) of ammonia. This starts the bacteria to colonize. After checking for ammonia daily you will see a drop to zero after about 2 weeks. After that then you start checking or nitrites. There's other steps in involving daily water changes, dosing every other day with ammonia, etc etc. But in the end you end up with a fully cycled tank that can be fully stocked all at once and no gradual stocking.

 

There are some bacterial additives out there but the majprity of people have never seen them work too well. Mainly because the bacteria has a VERY short life when it is starved of O2 and food, so even a few days shipping in a truck can render it useless, not to mention sitting on a store shelf for how ever long. So I steered away from trying it for that reason.

 

Oh how will you keep the pH levels alkaline? Those cichlids like the hard water i think.

 

Yep I will need a PH of about 7.8 to 8.2 and a KH of about 11 for the fish I plan to keep. From the tap (after 24hrs of off gassing) my tap water is 7.5PH and 6KH. So I will be buffering the tank with sodium bicarbonate(baking soda) at the rate of 1 tsp per 5 gallons of water. So when I do that each weekly water change that should raise my water parameters to about 8.0 PH and 11 KH.

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[mikechell 0]

I don't want to wait ... go to the store, Steve ... and buy some of those floating plastic fish. Weight them with rocks and put them in the tank so I can see what it'll look like with color !!!

 

You are WAY TOO FAR into aquarium knowledge, my friend. I watch this thread, and read your information and I think, "Geez, I am WAY TOO lazy to do all that !!!"

[Piker20 0]

glad im not the only one, laziness is what cost me my aquarium. wife got fed up with water changes turning into carpet washes. It will look great with fish in. The fish colours will really show.

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

well atleast you are going with fresh water just imagine adding protien skimmers salt coral and the rest of the hassle to get a few angelfish to live

[Steeldrifter 0]

A quick video of it as it's cycling. The true colors of it don't come through well on video, but you can see the nice shimmering light effect in it with the way I have my spraybars & LED spot lights set up.