Boom's 180 Gallon Tank Project

[Boom]

It gives a pretty good idea of what the final display will look like.

Keep in mind there will be matching shelving on either side of the tank, and the cabinet doors aren't installed yet.

Hope you like it, as always, questions and comments are welcome!

Boom :boom:

[Parachromis1]

JAW DROPPER!!

That looks sick.

[kimax]

JAW DROPPER!!

That looks sick.

I agree! Its beautiful! Cant wait to see it finished.

[Boom]

Thanks for the compliments guys!

Last night I had my good friends Jon and Curtis come over, as well as my neighbor Terry, and we moved the tank and the stand in from my garage where it's been for a month and a half, and down into my basement where it's home will now be.

With the four of us, the weight was quite manageable, and the aquarium came down the stairs with not too much problem. The stand however, was a different story. The stand is slightly wider and a fair amount taller than the tank, so getting it down the stairs was a real b!tch!! It simply would not come around the corner without hitting the walls and ceiling. The pictures describe it better than I can.

I ended up having to cut away some drywall.

Once it was down the stairs it was much easier to move.

We leveled the stand and then after putting the aquarium on it, we checked the level again. I will check it one more time after it's half full of water. My original plan was to cut the carpet out from underneath the stand. But after some discussion and thoughts about what we would be stuck with if we ever moved the tank, we decided to leave the carpet there.

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[Boom]

So then I spent most of the rest of last night (I'm on night shifts so havn't gone to sleep yet) installing the shelves, the sump, the plumbing, and the cabinet doors.

Here's what it looks like to this point in my basement. The canopy is still being finished so won't be on for a while yet.

I installed the cabinet doors with euro style Blum hinges. As you can see, the doors look as nice on the backside as they do on the front.

Boom :boom:

[snaggle]

Wow looks great one of the pest DYI stands I have ever seen.

[Slough Shark]

That's going to look killer with the canopy on top and shelving on each side. Judging by your other work I'm sure it'll be clean and snug. Great work so far :thumbs:

[Drydock]

Glad I'm not the only one who messed up a stairwell moving a stand down... I have to admit, your mess looks bigger than mine though!

Looks great Boom.

[DaveDude77]

Wow, very nice tank. Make sure you post pics of it with the canopy on it, and the water and fish in it.

Great work Boom. As others have said, this is the best DIY I've seen, and the best post I've ever read.

[Leon71]

Well done, Boom. Great looking setup.

Makes me think that I better get the stand and tank to my basement before I drywall the stairway.

Leon

[devocole]

looks incredible. i like the contrast between the two stains.

Well done

Devon

[Boom]

Thanks very much guys. I appreciate all the compliments.

I did make a pretty big mess of the stairwell. guess I didn't figure on the angles quite right! I would definitely recommend moving the stand down before you drywall if you have that opportunity, Leon.

Alright guys, lets move ahead some more.

Last night I washed the sand. I followed a pretty straightforward process that I've done before. I put a laundry tub sink and faucet in my furnace room a while back, deliberately for the fish stuff / water changes. Here's what I did.

First, put some sand in a 5 gallon pail, I filled it just under half way with sand.

Then I used a hose to fill the bucket. I kept a good water pressure going and plunged the hose into the sand, stirring it up. This makes all the fine particles that float, raise up and overflow out of the bucket. The sand I bought was very very clean to start with, so it only took about 2 or 3 minutes of rinsing each bucket to get it clean.

Here's what it looks like at first.

I rinsed till the water runs clear. This is after (yes this bucket is full of water).

Then I spread the sand out in the tank, to a depth of about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2" all over.

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Edited November 29, 2008 by Boom

[Boom]

My friend Curtis was over last night as well. He was helping me repair the damaged dry wall in the stairway. While he was here I figured I may as well get the big boulders washed and put into the tank also. The two big suckers weight over 100 lbs, maybe close to 150 lbs each!

Then, it was "just add water!"

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[Boom]

Here are some more pics I took last night with the sand, rocks and water in the tank.

The big rock on the left side...

... and the one on the right. It's about 3" from the top of the tank.

I'll take this opportunity to state my opinion about the often debated "how many rocks", "how much weight", and "should I use eggcrate" issues. My opinions are this, "as many as you want", "more than you could put", and "no, unless..." to those topics respectively.

You can put as many rocks in your tank as you want, the glass WILL hold the weight. I look at it this way, I would be very comfortable standing in my aquarium on one foot, wouldn't you? I weigh 175 lbs. My foot is a size 9. Thats 175 lbs pressed on the area about 10" long and 3.5" wide. That is a far greater preassure per square inch than the rocks I used.

Having said that, I carefully and purposely selected rocks that have very flat bottoms. There are no sharp points down into the glass. That would just be stupid, because your then focusing the weight on a sharp point. The rocks are also sitting on sand, which helps buffer the weight evenly. Once placed in the sand, I wiggled them down into the sand so that they are ALMOST on the glass itself, with just a thin layer of sand between (maybe 3/4").

You'll notice that I didn't make any heaping piles of rocks, that could potentially topple over.

So if you have rocks with sharp point bottoms OR your making piles that could topple over, then I would personally recomment the use of eggcrate or styrofoam under the rocks. It DOES NOT help distribute the weight, it DOES help prevent glass damage from sharp or falling rocks.

There, 'nuff said about that!

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[Boom]

OK OK, I was dieing to see it with the canopy back on and the lights on. Probably you are too. So here ya go!

This is gonna look KILLER with the fish in it!!!

And then I said "LET THERE BE LIGHT!!!"

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