Minicrazy's FW 55g Build

[minicrazy592]

I got home yesterday night. Here are the measurements,
48in long
13in wide
20in tall

There is only a 3 in of space between it and the edge and 3.75 in on the front. My dad wants to keep that size, so since there's about 2 ft of room under the 1 in plywood on each side, we are going to put 2x4s under the top at a 4 in spacing. That should be plenty. We are also dove tailing the corners of the stand.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[minicrazy592]

Hopefully we are starting tomorrow. I say hopefully because I have till Sunday afternoon, after that, I'm going back down to Corpus.

So tonight I showed him all of the equipment and such that everyone recommended. There's one problem that will be taken care of later, the pump. The cost of it made him open his eyes just a tad, so he said he will stick with the giant HOB filter till he feels like splurging on a canister. He didn't have any qualms about the lighting's price, so good news there, but I'm sure he doesn't like the fact he has to order it if we can't find it locally, so there's the possibility of him settling for something else.

Off topic good news, my 2.5g planted tank will have completed its 3 week cycle tomorrow! Time to add some stuff to it when I get back to CC. I cycled it without plants as I didn't have my old CF light with me, so I have some plans for that and the stocking.
-steal my piece of algae covered driftwood and 2 rocks from the 10g
-grab 2 of my smallest, prettiest male guppies
-get one cherry? shrimp
-dwarf hair grass
I'm debating if I should create another thread or just make it side news in this one........

 

[PEMfish]

Woa, 3" is way to much. We are looking for 0". The tank will not be supported, do not do that. Build the right size stand or a really strong top, like this;

 

[minicrazy592]

I we will do the top like that since he wants the extra space along the sides. Construction starts tomorrow, we were busy all today.

 

[minicrazy592]

Updated model:

Colors are for construction purposes.

 

[minicrazy592]

Drove home yesterday. Restarting construction next week. On a side note, when I was looking in my guppy tank I noticed something, I have a few albinos! I didn't think I even remotely had a strand of that going around.

I'll try to take some pics of them.

 

[minicrazy592]

I was reading this article today about lighting. It gave me the idea of experimenting with SHO lighting, two 105 watt bulbs to be correct.

COMPACT FLOURESCENT LIGHT BULBS; Standard & SHO CFL aquarium bulb, double socket.

 

[StirCrayzy]

Thank God you addressed those stand corners Paul !
Thats the first thing i saw, and because of the date, i was half expecting a disastrous result by the bottom of the page.
I have an Eheim Pro 2 still going strong after 9 years. They have a quality product and the disconnect is genious.
If you are on a budget, and for ease of maintenance, i would also suggest a simple magnum 350 with shutoffs.

 

[minicrazy592]

No we never started on it over Thanksgiving as planned, life got in the way. So we are starting this week since my Dad has it off.

 

[PEMfish]

those bulbs are only 6400k. In my opinion thats too yellow to ever look good.

 

[minicrazy592]

I have one 6500k in my 2.5g and I don't think it looks that yellow.

 

[PEMfish]

I have have 6 10,000k on my 65, ( none of them are in it ) and I dont think they look too blue .

 

[minicrazy592]

So today I cleaned the tank, it was pretty dirty and had years of calcium build up. It looks almost new, minus the scratches the years of cleaning have left, but they aren't too bad. I also went to two local places I had no clue existed and saw some beautiful planted tanks. The last of the two is where I'm going to end up buying the plants and possibly the pump because their stuff was considerably cheaper and they carry what I'm looking for. I'm buying the light fixture from them as well, but their computer that runs the credit card machine was down today, so I'm going to try to go pick it up tomorrow. I'm also going to go get the substrate and the dwarf hair grass too. I'm starting the tank via the dry start method. This will allow about 2 or 3 weeks to finish the stand and the tank won't be too heavy to lift onto it and it will be ready to add water, plants, and a few fish since it's already cycled.

 

[Eric]

Keep us posted with pics, I like the dry start method although I have never done it, I like seeing the progress as the plants grow and the water slowly rises.

Eric

 

[minicrazy592]

Shall do.

Here's a good read:
Preparation and Maintenance of a Planted Aquarium

 

[minicrazy592]

Here's some pics of the only 4 blue strand of my guppies. They live in the 2.5g. I took these back in late November. The two small guppies turned into females and as a result are knocked up now. My black, orange, and albino strands are what will live in the 55g. I'll try to get some pics of them if someone would like to see them.

That tank looks completely different then when I took these pics, so I will be taking some of it tomorrow. These aren't the best pics, but they are something to look at while you read along.

 

[minicrazy592]

BTW these are my favorite guppies.

 

[Eric]

Pics are always a plus looks nice and the fish look happy.

Eric

 

[minicrazy592]

^^^Thanks!

Picked up my light. Unfortunately the 6700k bulb I bought broke on the way home courtesy of some *bleepy bleep* that pulled out in front of me on the way home.

Anyway here's some pics of the 55g, the new light, my 2.5g, and one of my ghost shrimp.

 

[minicrazy592]

Here's the layout I came up with for the aquarium, please excuse my lack of a scanner/art skills.

I'm going to be scaling it out tonight with tape and markers in the tank. Pics to come.

Note: I most likely have more plants than I need on paper.