DIY 72g Build w/custom canopy, UGJ & lots of extras (picture heavy)

:dance: I can't wait to see it all finished! I do not know what I will do with my free time after this is done though. :) You are almost close enough to come borrow my router!

I have not added up costs yet, I'm a little scared. I will probably do that one night soon when I do not have anything I can work on.

I will be planting some java ferns & anubias at some point, maybe some onion plants too. I am going to try a mix of a 55 watt 50/50 & a 55 watt GE 9325k. Hopefully get some nice blues & reds.
 
looking at your garage and equipment you must be very lucky to have a man in the house whos actually into having tools lol
I got all the tools i need except that darn router lol watch me do the alternative and sand the edges down :silly:
Ill have to check homedepot if they rent out routers, so if i do decide to tackle on the project i will have a source to get it

what kit did you get from ah? 2x55?
 
Yeah we have 3 garages full of tools! We have more than any person needs but it is what we all love doing. I mean what man actually needs 3 welder!? And one of them is even commercial grade! Guess who is the hardest person to buy for at christmas? :)

I had enough sanding with the stand alone I would have died if I had to sand the edges of all those little boards too!! I wonder how much it would cost to ship you a router?? :)

Yes I got the 2 x 55 kit.
 
myswtsins said:
Yeah we have 3 garages full of tools! We have more than any person needs but it is what we all love doing. I mean what man actually needs 3 welder!? And one of them is even commercial grade! Guess who is the hardest person to buy for at christmas? :)

I had enough sanding with the stand alone I would have died if I had to sand the edges of all those little boards too!! I wonder how much it would cost to ship you a router?? :)

Yes I got the 2 x 55 kit.
Click to expand...

lol probably as much as it would be to rent one out :grinyes:

How are you going to place the bulbs?? side by side?? if so i wonder how the 2 different bulbs will look like over the tank
 
I would like to do them side by side but after some needed adjustments I don't think I will be able to.

Didn't get much done today. Did a little more fiddling with the canopy, it doesn't sit quite right yet. Because of the bow & the fact that it is 2 separate pieces until the hinge is install leaves lots of room for gaps & such.


I put a second coat of varnish on the stand. Going to do at least one more coat.


A shot of the UGJ system. Won't be final until I have the other powerhead to test out the jet positions. I am going to try cutting slits in pvc caps for the actual jets. The 1/2 inch PVC is too difficult to shape into jets even after being boiled.


Another angle


Just another canopy shot not much difference here. I was too lazy to get other angles. :)

I did finally rearrange my living room to accommodate the new tank though, just had to get rid of the recliner! Now I need to re-home my couple community fish cause that tank has to go too. Although I may just move them into a smaller tank but shhh! :)

The hunt for materials for the moonlights has not been very good so they may have to wait.

On a side note, someone offered me a 50 gallon chrome framed tank with iron stand, a eheim 2013 (working!), a heater and an air pump (my choice from many he has) for $50. Where will I put it? I just don't know but I must have it! :grinyes: If anyone in the central/northern NJ area needs tanks, stands, filters, pumps etc., let me know. He also has a pair of breeding convicts with full tank setup for sale. I have pictures too, if anyone is interested PM me.
 
Thanks. I think it needs one more coat and it should be good.

Everything was going so well till you jinxd me! :silly:

I plan on doing cold cathode moonlights (found on this website). Problem is I can not find any cold cathode lights locally and the main guy selling them (cheap) on Ebay has not returned any of my emails. The cheapest I could find a power supply was $18 & I need 2 of them. So I am gonna wait till I find everything for a reasonable price so it is still cheap moonlights! :) I don't expect it to be a big delay though. Besides that will give me another mini project in the future!
 
I have been a bad updater lately! But that just means I have been busy working right? Yea we will go with that answer. :) Mostly I have been doing a lot of tweaking so there wasn't much to update on, till today.


Yeah same angle again! One piece on the end was giving us some trouble so we glued and strapped it down.


Another angle, yay! It is not perfect but it will do & it "should line up better once the hinge is attached.


Finished stand, Woo Hoo!!! Ok not quite, it needed to be leveled but lets not talk about that. :)


No talking just a photo (I have a thread about it too if anyone wants to hear about it)


Rocks! Very dirty, expensive rocks but pretty. This is just a small start. I am hoping to find lace rock at a rockyard or something cause at $3 per lb I won't have enough money left to buy the fish!!


The back of the canopy (upside down) Large opening for Emperor 400, 2 small openings for the 2 eheim canister hoses & all other wires & the circle for the lighting wires.


Inside of the back of the canopy (yes still upside down) The paint is just to seal the wood really.


The bottom edge of the back of the canopy. The rim of the tank will sit between the 2 pieces of wood to keep it from sliding.


Inside of the "hatch" of the canopy. All the cracks were caulked prior to painting to stop the paint & light from going through. A lot of sanding was done too!


So I redesigned my UGJ because I was not happy about the space I had for the rocks. I brought it out into the bow more. The jets were made by cutting slits in PVC caps with a cutoff disk. It was painted with Krylon Fusion spray paint for plastic & no glue was used.


While I waited for the UGF to dry I decided to rinse my colorquartz. Started by using a hose and this was what it did to my bucket. Tried something else....


I made a sifter for my sink out of an old sheet and a simple wood frame. I tried to find something that would "breathe" a lot to allow water flow.


Simply stapled the scrap wood together (both sides though) but not with office staples of course. :)


100lbs of clean colorquartz!! :thud:


I also painted my green Eheim tubes.


So the paint is dry, the sand is clean & the stand is level, time to put it together! This is the first time the tank has even entered the house.


Gives a decent idea of how the UGJ is working. I am quite pleased with it so far.


BUBBLES!


MORE BUBBLES!!


Ok after some bubble popping & the tripod. I find it impossible to take a non-blurry photo when the flash is off without the aid of my tripod. The sponge on the eheim filter is temporary, so it is there in case of sand floating up. Notice in this picture that you can kinda tell that the left side has a red spectrum bulb & the right side has a blue spectrum bulb & it is a lot more noticeable IRL. :lol2: These lights are just temporary too though.


Up close left side


Up close right side. I will most likely add some more sand later. I can't believe how clear the water is! That really surprised me. I really wish the silicone was black though. :(

So for right now I just have the UGJ & the eheim 2013 running to clear up any oils from the gravel. The 2013 has some eheim mech, a blue sponge & a decent amount of carbon in it. I will let that run for a day or so. Once I add the other filter and start dosing with ammonia I will add the substat(sp?) pro.

Tomorrow I will probably stain the canopy but I really need to transfer my fish from the 36g BF asap. Let me know what you guys think. I still cannot picture it with the canopy on yet. :)
 
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