Ismart120

Yep, Bunnings cut to size, apparently they're supposed to charge per cut but every time I've been in its been free so far. I told them what it was for and they tried to get as straight a cut as possible; I just sanded down the rest and it seems to have come out ok. What wood are you looking at using? I went for h3 treated 3x2 for a 900mm stand, for a 600, you'd get away with 2x2 easy. Design wise, I actually half copied si sphinx, with a little more bracing between the legs - making sure you spread the weight out over as big an area as possible is key. And nope, not a builder, just a uni student doing ecology, thanks for the compliment though

Yeah, its fast turning into one of those projects, I'll have a look around I think then. Finished sanding and filling now, first coat of primer will hopefully be on later today.

Dressed ply, like the porta panels at bunnings? They were my more expensive first choice.

Yeah, I'll have to seal it, theres not much else to use though? Ply isn't straight...

Yeah, there is a beam that connects the three back legs, a little hard to see in the photo but it is there. The wood isn't coming up quite as well as I was hoping so at this point I might go with painting. Means I can go with mdf for the shell which should be a bit easier too.

New tank build thread Carrying on from this thread, http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=55547, I've now started the build process. Not many photos as most of the work so far has been done at night and the photos haven't come out yet. Using 3x2 so far, will use either ply or mdf for the doors and panels, depending on how I dress it. Day one: Day two: Day three: Hoping to get it sanded and the panels and doors done soon/ the tank itself started too. Votes om staining the wood and varnishing or painting it black?

Just quietly, I had an oil repair done on my engine at one point, found out they didn't replace the oil so went back to complain and they miraculously found another $600 worth of oil repairs to do. It didn't exist to a point where it needed anything done so I'd be slightly sceptical, unless you've noticed a change in the way it drives/oil light etc?

Arh that sucks, I know someone who forgot to do that here when thy first started with chlorine in the water down here, lost the whole tank, you're def not the only one

Looks good hey, should be able to take excess silicone off the glass using a razor blade flat, taking care not to scratch the glass, as for cleaning up silicone, while it was wet I used my finger to smooth it out, with a little turps? Not sure about now its dry...

Yeah, if its only 10cm then a three hundred will be fine, forget what I said before, unless you plan on putting this on a bigger tank at some point? The pumps just lose a lot of flow if they have to push the water up much; ie my one had to go nearly a metre up

Ah, like from the top of the canister filter to the tank - how far above the filter the water has to be pushed up. Or are you going to have them right next to each other, the same height?

What head height are you looking at? That'll effect the turn over rate, if it were me, I'd look at something slightly more powerful that I could turn down if needed, say even 600lph.

Thanks, that helps, I think a 150w jager heater will round off the set. Just waiting for the cheque and exams to be over now.... Anyone want a four foot juwel tank + stand? Slight earthquake and water damage...

Oh, power glo lights the way to go or are they over kill for planting mainly crypts, java ferns and anubias? Would also like to get some short carpeting plants, like zealandia micro sword if they'd work. Happy to add ferts and plan on having either aqua basic under sand or flouritefor substrate too.

I'm sure that I know/knew someone with betta pugnax, I just cant for the life of me remember who it was. If I remember I'll let you know... It was a while ago though

Ok, 900mm long in 10mm glass with bracing. Sounds good. Thats the tank done mostly then, just need a quote for it and I'll be underway. With the stand made out of either 2xx2 or 2x4 we should be getting somewhere. Thank you for all your help hey. I'll post some photos when I get it going and hopefully through the build too

Ok, sure. Unfortunately being a student getting a structural engineer to have a look but I'll see if some of friends doing engineering at uni would have a look. As for the tank size, I'm flicking between 800 and 900 long still, haven't really seen any arguments either way as to which one works best yet. I'll try to go for 10mm glass at any rate though, even if just for putting that little bit extra down at the start for peace of mind later on. I've been looking through the glass thickness calculators online, not many of them seem to state whether they take into account bracing on the tank and what sort? Do you think a simple front to back brace on the ends and in the middle would work for 10mm or do I need to go the full euro style? At the very least, thank you for your help Warren and Spoon, been awesome to hear from people who have looked at this sort of thing before

Ok, sweet, good to know. Can you get 8mm glass?

Awesome, thank you for the info, just what I was looking for. A couple of questions, how did you work out the loading capacity of the stand? And how did you work out the strength over two diagonal points? I've got two options for a tank, the second being more expensive and therefore less appealing overall but if its worth it I'll look into it: 800x45x40 tank made in 6mm glass, euro bracing style or made in 10mm glass with a back to front brace over the middle, both of which will have bracing underneath, any thoughts, opinions?

Paying for flies? I used to just catch them in a butterfly net outside on the vege garden, free!

yeah, that'd be fine for two or three even. I had eight in a 240 litre and have two in a 60 litre now? They're fine with each other, never had a problem with them fighting or being stressed. Thats for both dwarf gourami and the larger pearl and opaline gouramis.

I know this is a bit late, but 11 days uncovered, no food or water etc for a tank full of cichlids (couldn't get to it as it was in the red zone) and no deaths, another tank lost a few but the fighter survived for 12 days too. Depends on the fish and how consistent you can keep the water temperature really and do everything slowly (even if its cold)

Ok, we just had a problem with introducing frogs into our amphibian tanks for a bit, killed all of them off due to something that was being pasted around, not sure how good that'd be for the arowanas is all.

Haha that bottom picture looks like some of the aquarium backing sheets you can buy, 'the idealised perfect planted tank'

Are you breeding/growing the frogs yourself or wild caught? I'd be cautious about wild ones as they may be carrying something/have worms etc