Daily log of my new 55 gallon South American Tank.

gsk177 said:
Im enjoying reading your progress and will take much interest once the pics start flowing in.
Unfortunately I can't cut a straight line with a pair of scissors so there is no hope in me ever building my own stand.
Perhaps one day, seeing as a recently moved into a new house with a 600 sq ft garage, I will get a set of plans and try my hand at it. I've always wanted to build a rack stand that would house about 6 20g tanks and have them all share the same water source (something similar to a fish store) and try my hand at breeding misc fish.

I'm looking forward to getting me a 100g or larger set up sometime in the next year or so and would like to custom build the stand for it....just need some "Fish Tank Stand Building for Dummies" style plans to follow.

With access to the internet and some price shopping, and building the stand and canopy yourself, fish keeping can be fairly inexpensive. The biggest costs bar far are the tank itself, the stand and canopy, and, of course, the fish. The other stuff can be had fairly cheap.
Click to expand...

I think that the tank is the cheapest thing of all!!! The price of wood, filtration and proper gravel/lighting for plants is what adds up! All in all freshwater set-ups are cheap when compared to salt
 
tank set up finished!

here is what the tank and stand and light looks like. The stand still needs doors and sides but it gives you a good idea. I was going to build an enclosure for my old light strip that was white. Went to lowes to cut the wood and afterwards i went shopping for odds and ends. I needed to get another strip light for the refugium when i came across lights of america stainless steel electronic ballast strip light. this thing looks sweet on the tank. supposedly it gives 30% more light with electronic ballast. So basically i wasted 48.5" by 16.5" of 3/4" plywood (thats expensive) So look around before you start cutting or you will waste money!!!! here is the new parts i got:
2x4 egg crate (lighting cover used in offices) $11
4' SS strip light $15
Surge protector strip $10
Another pint of black paint $11
2 brass handles for the doors $8

total price for this trip$55

let me know what you think about the strip light on the all black tank. egg crate is used to support the roots of the plants for the refugium

light close up 2.jpg finished tank stand and light.jpg
 
Thanks for the compliments guys. Right now I am froze because I have no cash. I will start the project up early next month. On the bright side my Rams spawned again today!
 
Spawned...again ? ! lol...I have 3 german blue rams...2 females and 1 male and all they do is bicker and chase each other around. I have them in a 29G along with 2 neon dwarf gourami and 6 long finned danios...who I am considering taking out seeing as how they really prefer cooler temps to the 80F that the rams and gourami like.

I look forward to reading more about your setup LB...I really know what you mean about the cashflow...lol...same problem here..
 
Lets hope so....As long as the stand doesnt self destruct while i fill the tank we will be ok!!!! This project will take a long time, but hopefully I will do it right! Can't wait for my tax return.....
 
OK, here is where I stand: Stand is almost done, the only thing left is to put the sides and back on. I need to construct the worlds greatest overflow which will be done in pvc or cpvc. I am going to order the following from bigalsonline:
mag 5 pump for the sump
ebo jager heater
some driftwood
2 bags of ecocomplete
digital thermometer
floating algae scrapper

i am still hunting for a pet store that stocks red flint gravel

here are my considered inhabitants
4 rams
20 cards
5 pencil fish
3-4 cories
and maybe 4 pearl gouramis (doubt it)

do you think that this will be an ok stocking level???
 
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