DIY Monster Fish Tank

I tried to add a link to my crap... it dint take!

It was two of LEE brand great big under gravel filters

and four of a name brand (MarineLand) power heads. I'm leery of that no name equipment that only cost ten bucks.
 
Were you pleased with the quality of that brand's equipment? I never tried salt tanks, it was always too intimidating to me. Like ya gotta be a chemist to get that shit figured out! I'm lousy at calculus, I don't even know how to spell it right!

I never heard of this brand until I ran across them at Amazon. I'm pumped! Pun intended!

So I spent another 200+ dollars on more tank equipment today. When I started this thread I mentioned I wanted to track costs and so I'm going to break it down to how much has been spent up to today.

1. Lumber for stand and tank - $300
2. Glass panels on tank - $295
3. Pond Shield epoxy paint - $110, I bought a gallon for $220 and used about 'ave of it.
So the tank and stand together cost about $700, I think that's pretty good.

Now the equipment.

1. Four tempered glass lids - $130
2. Fluval canister filter - $340
3. LED lighting - $250
4. 96" x 18" under gravel filters - $120
5. Four power heads (for the under gravel filters) - $80

And so another $920 in equipment and that number will increase but not too much. All the biggest items have been bought, I still need to get a lot of gravel and I can get nice natural pea gravel from Home Depot.

Here's the guys I ordered today.
Amazon product ASIN B0002APVAWAmazon product ASIN B004IMVMAI
It was good for ours for about 4 years, and we ended up getting rid of the tank. Just a pain in the ass that we didn't want anymore.
 
It was good for ours for about 4 years, and we ended up getting rid of the tank. Just a pain in the ass that we didn't want anymore.
I had a 70 gallon for years.

It's twice the work of a goddamned dog, and dog's are annoying af.


Since having littles, I swear i've cut in half or my hobbies.
 
I had a 70 gallon for years.

It's twice the work of a goddamned dog, and dog's are annoying af.


Since having littles, I swear i've cut in half or my hobbies.
I never wanted the fucking thing. Built a big stand, but did it with the intention of it later becoming a TV stand. Which it did, and I got the wife a DVD of 10 hours of a fish tank.
 
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I had a 70 gallon for years.

It's twice the work of a goddamned dog, and dog's are annoying af.


Since having littles, I swear i've cut in half or my hobbies.
Just don't stop with the food prep and drawing and painting. I would have never guessed you would be a foodie and an artist! It's because I usually associate those things with liberals and not flat earthers.... (hahaha?)
 
Anyway, I don't have enough of that thin 1/4" plywood left to finish the other half of the hood. So what I will do today is I will paint up the one side that is built and then mope around the house/daydream about an exciting adventure to Home Deopt... oh the agony...

The hood that's ready to be painted, it doesn't have a top on it yet either, I thought I'd use the same thin, it's actually 5mm thick, a bit thinner than 1/4", that same plywood but I have another idea to use some lightweight fabric instead.

The hood that's ready for paint, it only weighs about the same as a gallon of milk. Canadian Joey's hood would weigh 4 to 5 times more than mine easily.
one stand, one tank and two hoods.jpg
Also notice the vent from the water heater, it will stop the hood from fully opening but I'm hoping it will still open wide enough otherwise it will be another problem to solve.
 
Anyway, I don't have enough of that thin 1/4" plywood left to finish the other half of the hood. So what I will do today is I will paint up the one side that is built and then mope around the house/daydream about an exciting adventure to Home Deopt... oh the agony...

The hood that's ready to be painted, it doesn't have a top on it yet either, I thought I'd use the same thin, it's actually 5mm thick, a bit thinner than 1/4", that same plywood but I have another idea to use some lightweight fabric instead.

The hood that's ready for paint, it only weighs about the same as a gallon of milk. Canadian Joey's hood would weigh 4 to 5 times more than mine easily.
View attachment 56664
Also notice the vent from the water heater, it will stop the hood from fully opening but I'm hoping it will still open wide enough otherwise it will be another problem to solve.
Now get you a couple shiny new razor blades, and SCRAPE ALL THAT DAMN SILICONE OFF THE GLASS!!!
 
What kind of fish? How long ago?
A couple of Oscars. They got pretty dang big. I originally had em in a cheap ass 20 gallon, but they would jump and smack the fuck outta the cheap plastic lid all goddamned night, and sometimes even would jump out of the damn tank on to the ground. They were cool tho...they'd jump up and "bite" yer finger en sech.

When they finally died, I decided against going another round. They're a lot of work.
 
And I got three of these led grow lights, I think they were 70 bucks each. They are 100 watts each and I'm pretty sure it will be plenty of light for heavy plant growth. So the tank has 4 openings across the top and one section on the end I'm using only an 18 watt light, well that's the plan for now but anyway these led lights are kinda fascinating. It's just a flat plate. I can't have a flat plate going off in my head!
View attachment 56478
Grow some hydroponic weed, breh
 
A couple of Oscars. They got pretty dang big. I originally had em in a cheap ass 20 gallon, but they would jump and smack the fuck outta the cheap plastic lid all goddamned night, and sometimes even would jump out of the damn tank on to the ground. They were cool tho...they'd jump up and "bite" yer finger en sech.

When they finally died, I decided against going another round. They're a lot of work.
Oscars are way cool and smart as a dog too, no shit! Well, maybe as smart as a dumb dog.
 
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