Sushi Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 After many months of listening to the trials and triumphs of Horizon's many patrons, I've come up with a plan for my own personal tank. Calling this project a tank is a bit of an understatement, it more like... a tank system. Let me explain for those of you who don't already know what I'm talking about. Almost all of my favorite creatures cannot co-exist. You can't keep seahorses with lion fish, or tangs with any sort of macro algae that you want to survive, etc. Most people just keep them in separate tanks in different areas of their home. Sadly there isn't enough room in my little town home for that many tanks.... so instead of having an entire house full of tanks, I'm going to have one stand on one wall with three piped together. Just imagine only one water change, only one top off, and only one supplement dose. I don't have to run around like a nut spilling water all over my house , plus all of the animals get the added benefit of all that extra water! yay! My main reef tank is currently a 45 gallon, but I plan to leave room in my design to up grade to a 75 gallon later. It is going to be at eye level when standing (I'm 6 ft. tall and tired of having to bend over to see my fish), and in addition to coral is going to house most of my predators. The bottom two tanks will be at eye level while sitting on the couch. One of them (29 gallon) is going to house a pair of seahorses and operate has my refugium. The other tank is an odd size acrylic, 20 inches by 20 inches by 12 inches high, and is going to house a peacock mantis shrimp with some extra live rock. I might add a sump onto this system later, or I might not... I'm not really sure yet. So far the only thing I've done to move forward in this is purchasing the wood (a little over $50.00 on the wood and a little under $20.00 on screws )... To Be continued (plus pictures ) -Kat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sushi Posted October 18, 2007 Author Share Posted October 18, 2007 What no comments for the shop girl? ^_~ I feel so unloved... j/k --- So I started building my tank... lol wow. I know so very little about cabinet carpentry. I had a friend come by and help me... it was like the deaf leading the blind. Mistake number one: We built the boxes that create the shelves first (on their sides). Mistake number two: We left them on their sides and screwed them into the 7 1/2 foot long legs (or is 'poles' more appropriate? I really know nothing about the terminology of carpentry either ) So of course, when we stood the whole thing upright... it teater-tottered and wobbled like crazy... *shutter* ... Feeling frustrated, I decided to leave it alone for a few days. Then one night another friend of mine came by and (after laughing his a$ off ... seriously, he was on the floor in tears) gave me a few good pointers. He told me that I needed to design this monster to fit the space its going in. Use the floor has a guide, and go from there. See that level in your tool box... use it. After all, if a place like say San Fransisco can build whole houses on a slant, I should be able to handle a tank stand, right? So later the next day, I made the necessary repairs based on the advice of my second friend, and val la! A stable base is born! Everything after that has been relatively simple. I'm still not finished (I have a small window between when I get off around 8 o'clock and 10 o'clock to work on it... my neighbors go to sleep about then) ... wish me luck! Pictures still coming soon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GKarshens Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 Interested to see pics of what you are describing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 Keep it coming. I love blogs. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sushi Posted October 21, 2007 Author Share Posted October 21, 2007 Awww. Thanks guys, I'm working on the pictures... just need to find an operational camera! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sushi Posted October 24, 2007 Author Share Posted October 24, 2007 I finished construction of the stand on Monday (my Saturday ^_~), and I'm pretty pleased with the results. On the LAST HOLE my drill bit broke *grumble* ... not sure what happened with that one, but its all worked out in the end. I still want to go back and re-enforce the second level a little more (what I'm thinking can be done after the fact without to much trouble), but its not really necessary. The base is super strong, with a total of 12 vertical 2x4's holding all of the weight. Plus everything is screwed and glued for the extra strength. The stand is purely utilitarian right now... still haven't decided on how I want exterior to look. Something relatively simple and sleek would be nice, my town house is decorated in a contemporary Asian style, so it needs to go with that. I've been thinking about going a little more bohemian with my home's decor, but thats another subject all together ^_~ ... I'm also not sure how I want to plumb this thing... I currently have an overflow box, but its been suggested that I plump the whole thing together with PVC... I'd like to do that, but I don't have the first clue about drilling a tank, let alone the pipe work. Does anyone have any ideas or can spare the time to help? I've got a really limited budget, so I can't go professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 Pics please. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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