My 185gal build in progress (lots of pics)
- Thread starter cvermeulen
- Start date
I finally got ahold of some gravel yesterday afternoon. It's a mishmash of colors that comes out dark grey when viewed at any distance. #6-14 mesh forestry sand it's called... the little stones are 1/8" or so sub-rounded particles - exactly what I was looking for. $3.35/55lb (!) so I bought 375lbs of it.
I also sanded and put one last coat on the back of the tank so it's nice and purty glossy black. I re-coated the inside of the sump as well. The next major move is to get the thing into the house... which is going to require some co-ordination of manpower. I dunno when it's going to happen, but I'm pretty pumped about getting it into the house. Once it's there, I need to set up the plumbing, get the sump in (after finishing it), finish staining the stand, touch up the moving damage, wash the gravel and dump the it in, install the background (after I finish it) and top, get lids made, (holy crap still lots to do), install the lighting, fix the moonlights, fill with water then stop for a while and leave it to make sure there are still no leaks.
While I'm waiting I'll attempt to find some bio spira, and if I can, I'll dump in the spira with a few fishies and see how things go!
I also sanded and put one last coat on the back of the tank so it's nice and purty glossy black. I re-coated the inside of the sump as well. The next major move is to get the thing into the house... which is going to require some co-ordination of manpower. I dunno when it's going to happen, but I'm pretty pumped about getting it into the house. Once it's there, I need to set up the plumbing, get the sump in (after finishing it), finish staining the stand, touch up the moving damage, wash the gravel and dump the it in, install the background (after I finish it) and top, get lids made, (holy crap still lots to do), install the lighting, fix the moonlights, fill with water then stop for a while and leave it to make sure there are still no leaks.
While I'm waiting I'll attempt to find some bio spira, and if I can, I'll dump in the spira with a few fishies and see how things go!
Aight... rinsing 350 odd pounds of gravel is a bit of work! I am going to get the worst of it using the "hose in a bin with occasional stirring" method, and the let the RUGF take care of any remaining dust with a 25 micron bag.
Here you can actually see the color a bit better. It looks a bit more brown in this photo than it does in person. I may spring for one or two bags of colorquartz to darken it a bit.
The re-coated back of the tank... shiny!
I made a plexiglas mounting bracket/holder for my industrial filter bags from mcmaster:
and I guess that's it. I did some on the background as well. Link:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113166
Here you can actually see the color a bit better. It looks a bit more brown in this photo than it does in person. I may spring for one or two bags of colorquartz to darken it a bit.
The re-coated back of the tank... shiny!
I made a plexiglas mounting bracket/holder for my industrial filter bags from mcmaster:
and I guess that's it. I did some on the background as well. Link:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113166
I got it from a local(ish) aggregate/concrete supply plant. (targetproducts.com) They make all different kinds of sands, gravels, grouts, and cement products. I had to do a bit of phoning around and playing telephone tag to get someone who could help me, because they don't typically do retail stuff. The gravel is called "forestry sand". I don't know what it's used for, I think maybe they use it making soil mix for nurseries.
