Big tank on a small budget

You can do 10% daily water changes to help with water paramaters.

 

@Firefly thanks for the info on the lights. Eventually I will love to try my hand at a planted. But will start small...:bigsmile: maybe a 2ft? That and my current stock and plants is a nono. (Fish 1 plants 0 type of game! Hehe) And as far as water change is concerned it was a big problem. Did not want to do a 200l water change with 10l hth buckets....haha. Well problem solved. Found a very nice 200l water container at Plastic warehouse for R260. It looks like the metal oil drums of old but just in plastic. So I'm planning a tap open water out tap open water in type of design.... Will post some pics tomorrow aswell. Long story short. My first water change will be on Thursday for the 720l.

 

Yes we do... And I also hope the canopy plan works out.

 

@a3aan - Ok, so I eventually got through the entire thread. Dude, this is a freakin cool setup and some nice DIY. Keep updating and good luck :congrats:

 

Would be interested to see where your budget is sitting at the moment. *Hint hint

 

@MarcHawke thanks for following. The tank is taking shape just wish I had more time to work on it.... But I guess that's what everyone here would like to do....

@Zoom I will do. I'm not entirely sure myself at this point. Things has a way of getting out of hand it one does not keep tabs on them....

 

So there was a request on some budget updates. Which is overdue so I apologize. In the breakdown you will see there are 2 amounts. The one is what the amount was in Rand out of my pocket and the second is with the value of the things I already had or favors I cashed in… The only thing that was not considered is the stand as the tank actually came with one I just did not like it but as someone on page one mentioned the value should be around R1000 if you had it build by a pro? But that’s a guess.


Anyway here is a breakdown. (If I missed something please let me know.)

1 x 200cm x 60cm x 60cm tank
2 x 1100lph power heads
1 x 200cm x 60cm x 70cm stand (25mm square tubing and not in use)
R1500 – R500 (Sale of fish that came with tank)
= R 1000
1 x 4ft tank
2 x 4000lph return pumps
2 x Lifetech 300w heaters
1 x 300w old Jager heater
R800 in courier cost and old Blackberry ( est. value R1500)
2 x 300w Eheim Jager heaters
R 400
PVC Overflow parts
R 150
236l plastic water container (for water changes)
R260
Plastic veggie tray for Bio media
R70
5kg of ceramic rings (had 2kg already)
R200
Stand
R free
Atlantis air pump
R220
6mm glass to convert 4ft tank to sump and new top brace
R 180
PVC fittings ( 90, T’s, ball valves, bulkheads)
R 150
2 x Opple T5 38watt light fittings ( the long one)
R 360
Materials for canopy ( I had everything from previous jobs but est. Value)
R 450
Total……
R 3790 = I spent
R 4940 = + the value of Blackberry and materials for canopy

Hope this helps @Zoom


So what do you guys think? Is my thread title correct or must I change it to big tank on big budget? haha

 

And for those that don't like to read here is the water container that will become part of a semi auto water change system.
I also did my first wterchange totay. A day early but had my water tested by our local water purification guys and my stupid test kit was not up to the job. Will have to invest in a better kit..... So thanks @Firefly for getting me all paranoid on water parameters and getting a second opinion. My Readhead cichlid is his old self once again. I thought it was stress from the move but no it was the water. So thanks again.

 

Heehee.. thanks. When I first started keeping fish i ran a spreadsheet on the costs for about a year or so. I eventually realized that doing this would kill the passion for me, because every time I look at the tank I would be wondering where the Rxx,xxx.xx value is. So I stopped adding at about R16k

 

I meant to mention to you that the socks could also be made out of Geofabric (Bidim) which is used for wellpoints/subsoil drainage to allow water to pass and trap sand/silt. It comes in various thicknesses. The company we use for this product is Kaytech in case you have problems with your chosen material.

 

@Zoom That is very true...... Passion and budget don't go well together. But just a last budget matter i need to confess. The deal with my wife was I can start my new tank if she gets a Kenwood Chef... Soooo budget out the window.... :embarrest:Anything for a new tank....


@MarcHawke Thanks allot. They are still going good but will save that name if mine fail. That and the socks was not in the budget speech.... Add another R90 for 6.

 

Okay I got the last coat of resin on.... Thank goodness. I used 5l in 3 coats inside and out but you can use the canopy as a boat now if you wanted. haha... Do not want to make the same mistakes I did with the 350l canopy. So if all goes to plan I will paint tomorrow.

On another matter i'm struggling to get the flow right in the tank. I removed the spray bar today for 2 reasons. Its above water for surface agitation but that creates allot of micro bubbles all over the tank and i'm not happy with the flow. I need to get the flow to carry waste to the overflow with the least dead spots possible. Need to mention that i have 2 powerheads in there aswell to help direct flow but its a trial and error mission....
So now my inflow is a straight 20mm pipe into the tank. Will see tomorrow if it works better??????

So some pics at night of the hood so far. Will take some propper pics in day time aswell..

 

this tank is going to be amazing when its finished especially after all this hard work!

 

Just read through some of the posts on the tread and I just wanted to thank everyone for the kind words of encouragement the faith in a inexperienced fish keeper and all the complements… It really means allot to me. So thanks again everybody…….arty:

 

@KennyG Thanks allot...... I hope so too......

 

The hood is looking good a3iaan what type of wood is that looks like pressed wood or chip board?

What type of resin did you use.

I need all the tips I can get when I build mine.

Tank is going to look sweet with the hood and lights.

Are you lights going to lie on top of your middle brace as I cannot see where you got space to mount your lights?

 

How big are those door sections. ie what is the longest length?

 

Morning @hviviers75 The canopy is made of chip board. There are some pro's and cons to this. Pro's: Its much much lighter than supa wood and soaks up resin extremely well in my experience that helps the bonding between the wood and resin. But before the resin I filled all the cracks and edges straight and routerd with a combo of bodyfiller (works excellent on wood and bonds very strong) and resin to a 4 part bodyfiller 1 part resin mix. That's with activator already mixed separately into both and then mixed together.... That gives a super strong bond that's waterproof and sands very smooth as clipboard is as the name says always chipped somewhere..Cons: very prone to water damage if not sealed properly. Like Zoom said in an earlier post. And like I said above with clipboard you have to put in extra effort to all the joints and edges to look nice and smooth. I also left space for four light fixtures at the back of the hinged doors. Doors only open 45cm of the 61cm depth.@MarcHawke the 2 doors together is 142cm long with each door being 71cm wide and stretch back 46 cm. They look heavy but in truth they are very easy to handle. Was thinking of doing some sort of gas lifter inside but that's just something to rust.... Haha And they can rest against the wall if you want them fully open.

 

Sorry forgot to mention @hviviers75 the resin is a generic cheap one and the bodyfiller is the ultra light veriaty and you will be able to find both at any good paint shop or if you want to get ripped off I know Builders also stock both items... Oh and if you do go down this road. Invest in a bunch of cheap brushes so you don't have to clean them and a box of dockters cloves also available at paint stores. To protect your hands. Resin don't come off easily. And get some acitone also... Removes resin.....

 

Cool man. The reason I asked is because my canopy lid warped due to the heat from my T5's. I am going to have to add steel "L" section to remove this problem. My canopy lid warped across the short length.

Regarding the gas struts, I have used them on my cabinet and I'm seriously considering adding them to my canopy lid. I don't think they will rust as they are made from stainless steel.

I'm not sure if you have seen my DIY thread but if you get a chance take a look:
http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?13593-Old-desk-to-new-cabinet