New setup is underway!

[YamNato]

Hey everyone, so I picked up my new tank (new to me anyway) on Saturday and what happened is, actually, a pretty cool story. I originally just bought the tank from this guy on Trademe (his son bred Africans and had 18 tanks), when I went to pick it up I said to him, I remembered he had said he had some rocks and if he wants to sell them, I'll buy them. He gave me rocks, corals substrate, a box full of heaters including a Jager, thermometers, food, chemicals and then he gave me a Eheim 2213. I was stunned and gave him all the money I had. He then showed me a shed filled with equipment and he had some bigger filters he was going to be selling, so I got on the phone to the Mrs who gave me the go ahead to get two more filters. When I got back and said to him I'll take another two filters he gave me more stuff, a power head, lights for the tank, a bag of spare parts for the filters and a ton of piping/connectors. I chose a Aqua one CF-100 and a Via Aqua 750 professional. Basically I got all that for $200. Such a kind man and so generous, I was blown away driving home. Great karma and I'm so grateful!!

So the tank on the TM ad measured 1200 L x 390 H x 560 D but ended up 1180 L x 380 H x 480D (interior dimensions) so a 55 gal which is a bit smaller (50 liters). On one corner, the seal looks a bit dodgy so I've contacted a tank builder and his quoted me $70 to reseal the tank and make some lids.I'm  NOT complaining after the deal I got, I was planning on several months to get everything I needed for the tank and, well, I now basically have everything. 

Well, now that's over I can start talking about my plans. I've attached some Sketchup drawings of the stand I plan to build. Sorry I only started using Sketchup last night, I assure you my wood working skills are better than my sketchup skills. Let me know if you think the stand is a bit overkill for a 55gal. I've made the stand longer to spread the weight over a greater area of the floor. I've shown the frame, the frame covered in plywood with two doors, and where the tank will stand compared to the joists and piles (in a corner of two exterior walls. I will finish the stand of real nice and paint it, will look great. I might add some extra floor bracing but I'll wait and see.  

I plan to just run the Jager in the tank as it's inside a warm room and should have enough heating power, the heater looks really old and I'm just curious, are there any seals inside that could have gone brittle and could possibly let water in? I would rather buy a new heater than have something go wrong and I wake up to a tank of dead fish. 

So I'll post pictures on this thread as I go.

Plan is:

1. Build stand
2. Get tank resealed
3. Paint the back of the tank black 
4. Get new seals and media for filters
5. Get some more substrate
6. Get a UV sterilizer
7. Put it all together
8. Cycle
9. Get fish
10. Enjoy

I've probably missed a ton of steps but that's the rough idea anyway. 

Cheers  

 

 

[bigfishhead]

Congrats! Thats an awesome experience there!

Your tank setup looks pretty cool. Good idea on making the stand bigger than tank.

It gives you chance to upgrade the tank to 6ft later on. Trust me you only go bigger and bigger on tanks

Good luck on your project. Keep us posted on photos.

[Adrienne]

Looks great.  Just one suggestion - put some diagonal bracing along the back.  You have plenty of bracing back - front but not a lot to stop sideways movement.

[YamNato]

Looks great.  Just one suggestion - put some diagonal bracing along the back.  You have plenty of bracing back - front but not a lot to stop sideways movement.

My thinking was to use 16 or 22mm plywood to cover the entire frame and that would be for lateral bracing, kind of like the new Gib bracing system. What are your thoughts? If I added diagonal bracing, should I do it like this |\|/| or like this |/|\| . Haha if that makes sense.