Cadd’s First Community Tank

[cadd]

Sold the 20 gal (brown) tank for $20 bux on CL. Some kid picked it up for his garden snakes.

I also decided to attempt to DIY the stand for the 55 gal tank. Was able to spend some time on it.

Measure once, cut twice? Or is it the other way around?

Test fitting

After 1 coat. Will allow the paint to cure for 24 hours. But who am I kidding? I’ll probably be too lazy to work on it until next weekend.

Sold 20 gal tank (-$20 Craigslist)
2x4s and screws ($17 Home Depot)
1 quart of BEHR Premium Plus Ultra Paint & Primer in One. Black. Semi gloss ($18 Home Depot)

Running Total: $378
Remaining Budget: $122

 

[cadd]

So I have a little confession….because it’s one of the first 90 degree days this year, I decided to skip work and go driftwood hunting with a good friend. Although she told me she’s not too familiar with driftwood, she did say she has been around tree branches all her life. So, I thought it would be a good idea to have her along.

First, we can’t limit our search to only where the lake meets the shore. If we’re doing to do this, we’re going to go big. I want 100% water access. No limitations!

As you can see, my good friend is patiently awaiting as I prep our high tech watercraft.

We decided to go right in the middle of the lake just because we wanted to relax a bit before we start working the shorelines. But I asked her to keep an eye out for any wood or branches in the water that we can reach with our pole and cut with our miniature hacksaw. Look how diligently she’s taking this task.

Next we decided to row by the lily pads to see how they were doing.

After a few hours in the middle of the lake, we finally rowed towards the shoreline. Unfortunately, we didn’t find anything we liked.

Five hours wasted. If I had known we’d come back empty handed, I would’ve just went to work instead….

 

[cadd]

After doing a little research on the forums with regards to lighting and seeing what other members used in their tank, I decided to with the Beams Work DA FSpec light. It felt like a good bang for the buck light. I didn’t want to spend $150 for a light. At the same time, I didn’t want to cheap out and purchase a really inexpensive light in fear of needing a second light in the future if it isn’t adequate.

Beamswork DA FSPEC 48” ($70 Amazon)

I’m really happy with the light. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it to be this bright. One thing I noticed that concerned me. The power supply was extremely hot after just an hour of having the light on. Is this normal?

The sad news is: it appears I’ll be blowing through my initial $500 budget pretty soon. I still need to get more substrate, driftwood, rocks, plants and most importantly…fish! I’m sure I’m missing other stuff as well. Let me know if you caught something I’ve missed.


Running Total: $448
Remaining Budget: $52 (sigh…)

 

[myswtsins]

First of all, I love your story telling, it's a lot like mine.

-Stand looks great, black is always a winner in my book.
-Sorry you "wasted" a whole day on the lake looking for wood but at least you were in good company. What is your friend's name? She's a cutie!
-Good choice on the light. I have 3 of them and I like them. I didn't use them on my bigger tanks though cause I was worried about penetration, hope that's not a issue for you.
-I don't know if it is normal but all my power supply boxes get hot quickly too. Light itself stays cool though.
-Bye Bye budget! Good effort though, impressive!

I feel like we may have covered this already but where are you located?

 

[fishorama]

You & your friend need to go searching for rocks & wood again...but not too far from the car unless she's quite strong. We went wood hunting & found a 4-5 ft piece we liked. On the way back a young man said "I hope that's for a fish tank" & a new friend was made, lol. It's hard to tell what kind of wood you find. Mine was cherry I think by grain & smell but not all are tank safe.

 

[myswtsins]

You & your friend need to go searching for rocks & wood again...but not too far from the car unless she's quite strong. We went wood hunting & found a 4-5 ft piece we liked. On the way back a young man said "I hope that's for a fish tank" & a new friend was made, lol. It's hard to tell what kind of wood you find. Mine was cherry I think by grain & smell but not all are tank safe.

Awesome! What are the chances that the person who sees you in crazy fish mode IS a crazy fish person AND spoke up about it. I never meet people like that. Everyone just thinks I'm crazy lol.

 

[fishorama]

Well, we did meet at a "safe location" the first time, lol, I'm not a total idiot. But it was good & he's on here at AC sometimes & all was cool...but we're a long way away now I've moved to the "far coast".

 

[cadd]

First of all, I love your story telling, it's a lot like mine.

-Stand looks great, black is always a winner in my book.
-Sorry you "wasted" a whole day on the lake looking for wood but at least you were in good company. What is your friend's name? She's a cutie!
-Good choice on the light. I have 3 of them and I like them. I didn't use them on my bigger tanks though cause I was worried about penetration, hope that's not a issue for you.
-I don't know if it is normal but all my power supply boxes get hot quickly too. Light itself stays cool though.
-Bye Bye budget! Good effort though, impressive!

I feel like we may have covered this already but where are you located?

Thanks! I just ramble in my story telling. Glad you like it. I'm pretty happy with the stand myself. I surprise myself sometimes as I often do half-assed jobs just to rush and finish it. I'm from northern NJ. Morris county. I see you're from Jersey as well, mind me asking which part? Also, do you know a good location for driftwood/rock gathering?

You & your friend need to go searching for rocks & wood again...but not too far from the car unless she's quite strong. We went wood hunting & found a 4-5 ft piece we liked.

Oh, she's much stronger than I am. She's my buddy's dog that I get to dog sit weeks at a time when he goes on business travel. She's known me her whole life ever since she was adopted from a shelter as a nervous/timid/scared little 3 month old puppy. Her owner is a marathon runner. She runs about 3 miles a day on average. She did a half marathon training run with him a few months ago. But she's a riot to be around.

Everyone just thinks I'm crazy lol.

My friends are beginning to think that way of me when I tell them about this new hobby I'm getting into! Lol.

 

[myswtsins]

I'm in monmouth county. No suggestions for wood or rock gathering sorry. I used to gather wood from some old cranberry bogs and waterways behind my house but they built retirement houses on them, yeah on bogland smh. But the nearby rivers are good spots to check, got a couple pieces for the pond from the Manasquan river. Rocks I just get from stone yards cause everything is sand near me, not much natural rock to be found. Or I order online for special stuff, well one time I did that.

That's good that your buddy has a friend like you that can take her for long periods of time AND even brings her on adventures. I am that person to 4 dogs. 2 are show bull terriers, 1 is a 120lb cane corso (I am the only person other than her family that is allowed to walk into the house when no one is home) and 1 is an offspring of 2 of my dogs so they get to visit with family.

The crazy will only intensify from here!

 

[cadd]

I’ve been monitoring the Beamswork light and don’t know if I should be concerned or not. After about 1 hour, the power supply gets unreasonably hot. Holding it in my palm for more than 30 seconds gets pretty uncomfortable.

Can I ask you guys to do me a favor and feel the power supply of your light (Beamswork or not) and let me know how hot it is?

This photo shows 121 degrees. However, I’ve seen it as high as 128 degrees.