80 gallon tall build

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COpathfindin

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Jun 3, 2011
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Continental Devide, CO
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Sam
this will be an ongoing thread on my 80 gallon high tech. I am using a dirted substrate capped with a few inches of gravel from an old tank. the stand and canopy will be made by me, I am going with a truaqua 5 stage plus uv filter, and either 4 or 6 t5-ho bulbs. I want to house a group of maybe 6 angels and a small school of something like a neon or maybe rummy nose tetras.The first thing was recovering this tank. I overheard through the grapevine of an old guy with a sweet tank in his garage. well I live at 9000 feet and in February, most old men are not looking to be out in the garage much. it took a bit of persuading, but I got the old man to let me into the garage to have a peek at this tank. it was super dirty, hard to tell what condition the glass was in, but I figured WTH, if it doesnt hold water I will make it a vivarium. I got it home and cleaned it out. wasnt in great shape, but wasnt in terrible shape either. 80 gal 001.JPGI had nothing tht would be able to hold this tank filled up so I decided I would try my hand at building a stand. I live alone, in the mountains, so looks were not too important, I simply wanted something strong and functional. I picked up some lumber and went to town building my stand.yeah 008.JPGI started by building the top and bottom pieces, then I added the guides and added all the supports.yeah 009.JPGyeah 012.JPGyeah 013.JPGyeah 014.JPGI then placed the aquarium on top tof the stand to check my fit and make sure things were how I wanted them to be. Everything looked flush and read to go. yeah 015.JPGI moved the tanks and stand into the living room where it will be, got everything level and flush, filled it up. I let it sit for a day or two, I cleaned it out real good, then drained it out. once drained I filled it with about 3 inches or sunshine #5 organic all natural soil. I capped that soil with about 2 inches of gravel from a tank I no longer have. the tank is now sitting, filled with water, a heater, a small filter which is just pulling particulate out of the water from when my fill up got a little over spunky and I stirred up some work. I also put some duckweed and a cheep T12 light I had laying around. I figure... if nothing else the plants should get the light they need and can help filter the water until my canister shows up. I am about 2 weeks from light and plants, so hoping the canister shows up in the next day.. I would like it on before sunday so it can have 2 weeks to cycle.Thats where I am at right now. I am planning on a group of maybe 6 angels and a small school of a smaller species, something like a neon or a rummy nose. I am open to suggestions, and advice as I continue to build this tank I will continue with more pictures and follow ups.

80 gal 001.JPG yeah 008.JPG yeah 009.JPG yeah 012.JPG yeah 013.JPG yeah 014.JPG yeah 015.JPG
 

Goodcreature

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Sep 9, 2011
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This ought to look pretty good! And by the way, very sturdy stand.;)
 

COpathfindin

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Continental Devide, CO
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Sam
I built the stand sturdy, because I have the intentions of building my own 400 gallon reef pond in the next year, and I wanted to play around with stand construction. once I get the shell on I will take some more pictures of how I have everything mounted. I am going to order plants from aquaticjungles.com once my filter arrives. I am stoked to see what dustin comes up with for my tank.
 

NB_Aquatics

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Jan 17, 2011
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Nick
Good Start!
 

COpathfindin

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Jun 3, 2011
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Continental Devide, CO
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Sam
I dirted my tank this weekend, I used an organic soil, about 3 inches thick, capped that will a few inches of gravel. The filter arrived aand has been set up. I will take some pictures and edit them in a little later tonight. I am fairly happy with the filter. It is silent, was easy to assemble, but it was a pain to prime, and came with no filter media at all. I feel like they could throw in at least 1 compartments worth of bio-media or something.. but then again I did not pay over 150 for the filter so.. I guess it was expected. I do not feel like this filter is meeting its claim of 575 gph. but it does a good job at clearing the water up and it seems to provide a good amount of water circulation.
 

COpathfindin

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Jun 3, 2011
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Continental Devide, CO
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Sam
UPDATE

Finally got the tank in the general area that I want it. My LFS in denver had a plant sale, so I jumped on the opurtunity and picked up some plants. I would say the tank is about 1/2 planted. I still want to pick up some lace plants, some stem plants, and some foreground low plants, maybe baby tears or something similar. I have a breeding pair of rosy barbs, 2 clown loaches, 3 angelfish, 6 penguin tetra, 2 oto's,3 white cloud minnows, a south american bumblebee catfish,[YT][/YT] and 2 neon tetras living in this tank currently. I plan on adding another loach or 2, 3 more otos, and 5 or 6 more neons. holy sweetness 124.JPGholy sweetness 125.JPGholy sweetness 126.JPGholy sweetness 127.JPGholy sweetness 128.JPGholy sweetness 129.JPGholy sweetness 130.JPGholy sweetness 131.JPGholy sweetness 132.JPGthe 7th picture from the top shows the surface and how the bubbles from both co2 and o2 have not been breaking the waters surface. My air pump failed on me after years of faithful service. Because I live in the high rockies i wont be able to get down into the city to buy a new pump for a few days. I lowered my water levels slightly, and adjusted the spray bar so it is slightly above the water facing downwards, creating a peaceful waterfall sound, while airating the water. I am curious if anyone has any input on the lack of gs exchange going on. the fish seem to be all acting as they normally do, so I would not think it is stressing them out.as far as water circulation I have the filter intake in the far right corner of the tank about 3/4 the way down the glass. the spray bar is in the upper left rear corner, spraying downwards, churning up the water, and on the left side glass I have 2 powerheads. 1 is pumping co2 and about 1-2bps. the other is a powersweep, and has a small chamber of cotton and activated carbon. the sweep function is no longer working, or periodically will run the sweep at random, I may be pulling it out to clean the sweep motor.well thats all for now. I hope you all like my progress as much as I do.

holy sweetness 124.JPG holy sweetness 125.JPG holy sweetness 126.JPG holy sweetness 127.JPG holy sweetness 128.JPG holy sweetness 129.JPG holy sweetness 130.JPG holy sweetness 131.JPG holy sweetness 132.JPG
 

COpathfindin

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Jun 3, 2011
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Continental Devide, CO
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Sam
I should also mention that I have not yet built the hot5 light, and am currently running 4-54w t-12 lights. the bulbs I am using are daylight -6500k according to the box. the plants seem to enjoy it, when the lights turn on, they perk up and you can see growth everyday. I am hoping to buy all the parts for the t-5 fixture this weekend when I pick up a new air pump.
 
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