Gnaw

Wow! I love the pleco photos, greats shots.

Good for you rudy, take good care of her. Is it a Mbu puffer?

Agreed, defiantly in my top ten favorites.

With Y-Labs, I've always noticed them to be the more docile of tank-mates with either other mbuna and/or peacocks, which is why its suggested to keep them in a small group rather-than themselves. I have to agree with rED 0 with the aggressive attitude. Mbuna think they can take on the world. Even if it is half the size of the peacock they seem to be the instigator in a quarrel.

In cause you couldn't tell I'm green with envy. NJ

Great idea. I'll have to sort plan all this information accordingly.

Well I wasn't able to do any work on it outside due to the weather conditions. I have no idea what a ply-wood sump is. Nope, not too late. Thanks for the video, It gave me some great ideas and redesign considerations. I really like the addition of a 1/3 water change setup. I think I'm going to try and incorporate that into the plans. Also, a question came to mind after watching the video. Is it better to send water to the sump from the near-surface or closer to the bottom from the tank above? Thanks, just when I thought I had everything planned out you stop me in my tracks! Decisions, decisions...

The glass was too thick (3/4") to be scored and tapped-off. I need to cut THOUGH and avoid cracking and chipping. I didn't have any of those fancy glass cutters or blades, BUT i did have one for a circular saw that I used on bricks! :hey: I figured what the hell... Wow that worked really well! Next time I'll use a square so I don't cut so much on an angle. After that, cutting was easy. I'd set my guide for the saw with a 1/8" strip of scrap wood and clamped it down. Ran the water, then proceed to follow it with the saw. No sweat... I still have to silicon the overflow box together, I'll be doing that this week. I went out yesterday and picked up all the plumbing for sump. I had to make some changes in the plans, in the end I went with a 1-1/2" drain and a 1" return with a 3/4" reducer to the spray bar. (Cough, I'm such a hack. Thanks Boom :boom: ) More to come this week stay-tuned!

Alright, with the new panel installed and the silicon complete it was time to move onto the sump system. I decided I was going to begin with the flow box. I checked out the prices of these things and was astounded at the cost! Being the type of person I am I decided to make my own with the old front panel of the aquarium. Excuse my foot; I started out well, and planned out the measurements and used masking tape for the cutting line. At first I wanted to do a practice test by cutting a new edge instead of keeping the old chipped and banged-up one already. So I figured I would use a grinder with a cutting wheel, and some water to score it and then use a hammer to tap it off... well that didn't turn out so bad, the edge was really rough, not exactly flush and I did chip the corner. I felt confident that I could continue and do a better job on the next cut... well I was wrong... Aw just a bad bit of luck, I'll try it again... It was time to change tactics and rethink the process... after-all there was only so much glass left!

Next, I began to prep for the new cocking around the entire inside of the tank. I used masking tape and the methods described in the DIY section on relining your aquarium. I apologize for the quality of this picture. This is a bad shot of the inside of the tank being relined. Using my finger I started to work in the silicon. Afterward pealing off the tape. Turned out pretty good if I say so myself. After 48 hours I did a water-test (not full) to ensure the panel and my sealing job was alright. To my surprise it was!

So The next step was to begin installing the and setting the new front panel. I used a razor blade and some acetone to make sure I stripped all the old cocking on all the sides and panels for the tank. I then began to lay a bead of silicon on the edges where the pane would be placed/sit. After I had the glass in place I used some some box tape to ensure it was as flush against the seems as I could get it. I let it cure for 48 hours . Here is a full shot of the new sheet in place after the time duration.

o yea, this is going to be fun! I cleaned up that green-goodness and proceed on the next phase. The front panel... So after I picked up the new front panel of glass from a place that I will never mention or go again, none of the edges were 'made' safe by being sanded or whatever they do... Having no experience with glass, I felt brave enough to experiment with my long awaited friend... guess what I did? o yes, I'm that crazy. I decided to take a grinding and sanding disc to the sheet myself and make it 'SAFE' Here is the first pass, hopefully my brother in law wont see what I did to his fence. You can see how rough the edges are from the grinding disc. After I carefully did all the edges I switched over to the sanding disc and to tell you the truth it wasn't half bad, but if I where to do it after I would use a source of water and a finer grain.

Sorry, I disappoint everyone. School took over my life, along with exam and final projects ( CNC to be more accurate ) After that I was busy starting my new summer gig, but I have been working on the tank as well. There will be an EXPLOSION of updates in the following weeks, promise! I hated the panels and doors, make all my hard work look awful. SO I took them all off and decided to put it on the back-burner until I could come-up with some freash idea's and maybe afford some quality wood. I've decided to place a layer of insulating styrofoam for the tank to sit on, so that all of its edges and missing chips of glass have something to rest on. The next step was to remove the aging angle iron from the bottom of the tank, nothing a grinder with a cutting disc couldn't fix. and more glass damage. O the sleepless nights of contemplating and asking myself if this project was still worth it? removal of icky bottom.

Finished it for Jan. semester! This was where all my time off-line and free-time in real life went besides my 100gal. project (which is my main focus now). Don't have pics in action, although my presentation at school blew everyone else out of the water! Thinking in the near future I'm doing to redesign some things and build this out of metal...

Alright, I'm back! I've done so many things this summer and I have lots to show you! I've gotten more alum. to melt down. I'm thinking for building a lathe now. Here a length of pipe being melted behind a freshly poured bread pan ingot. I was messing around with some-over from a pour and decided to do one of my hand... my abnormal hand! :smokey:

Such an interesting animal, I could watch it for hours. Does it ever seem to have trouble eating the wafers when they're right in front of the glass panel?

Sorry to hear what happened.

Great work so far. I can't wait to see the size of the tank that will be sitting on top of it.

I think its been there for about two weeks already. I noticed it right away because the spots really catch your eye. A beauty for sure.

Thanks, I may check it out.

Great, can't wait to see the pictures. Maybe I should have hired you to show me how to build a stand . Mine's ... alright but I'm not happy with the chips I've got in the type of cheap surface I used. I also wish I was able to cut and mount the doors properly that swing open.

They look really cool!

It is summer... and the house could use new windows. I wonder....

I've never been there before. I'll have to plan an excursion there during the week. Thanks again.

Wow, I just picked up one of these today and I'm really impressed! This thing is super quiet!