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HD Blazingwolf's 75G Rainbow. New pics page 8

32K views 159 replies 20 participants last post by  newbieplanter 
#1 · (Edited)
I finally got my 75 Gallon Tank. I am totally stoked. That being said this thing is starting with a DIY stand. I hate how small the store bought stands are, and how little room you have to customize them. You'll find later that I also built this stand a wee bit too tall!!

To start we chose 2x4's by hand and immediately went home to build before they warp and change shape.
The end result was a decently built frame by two white guys who definitely are NOT woodworkers. We are simply Weekend Warriors!!
This project was started Saturday 1/05/13
 

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#2 ·
The second part of the build started with primer and painting the framework a medium base grey color. We wanted the stand to be resistant to water and this was the first step. 2 coats of zinser primer and 4 coats of grey later and it has a nice clean look. (the second 2 coats were done with covering on)

The next step was to cover with Wayne's coating. I also left out the little detail the stand was built around a 20 lb co2 tank. It was built tall for easy removal and installation. Door frames are 29 inches with a total inner height of 33 inches. Total stand height is 35-1/4 inches tall.


I chose a Red Chestnut stain to stain this piece of furniture after much deliberation. I LIKE BLACK. The ruling through to stain because you can stain and then paint, but you cannot paint then stain.

Included is a picture of first coat of stain after a good sanding!!
 

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#3 ·
The next and almost final part of the stand build was a total of 3 coats of stain and then polyurethane. After the second coat of stain, the stand was gently wiped with mineral spirits then stain applied again. This process was mimicked while doing the doors which will be added later.

Polyurethane was added lightly, cured for 24 hours, sanded gently, and the re-coated with a medium coat. I used Minwax oil base Satin Clear.

I forgot to add, we also installed 4 outlet boxes for timers and what not. Boxes are in the top left corner and will be the main power supply for the tank.
 

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#5 ·
Sunday Sunday Sunday!!!

Today was a BUSY DAY!!!
(RIP tetra) I lost a neon tetra this morning which was of course sad and I thought was going to be the general mood for the day but I was way wrong!!

So tonight we put the last coat of Urethane on the doors, painted the corner moulding and sprayed the back of the tank Black with Krylon Fusion. (awesome stuff)

Everything was moved from parents garage to my house 2 blocks away in a very ******* fashion.
We moved the 29 gallon into my bedroom, set it level, and filled it up with water.
Moved the 75 gallon tank and stand in. It is placed in the same place in my house as the 29 was. It's total height is 55 inches which is just shy of my arm pit. Here's the shot!!


Now i just gotta get all my stuff in so i can cycle the aqua soil and hang my new light!!!
 

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#14 ·
It's been too long!!! i've had the doors on and the corner moulding which is black. very exciting

aquasoil is leaching ammonia of course. i have a whole house filteri n the tank circulating water, it has a 10 micron filter to pick up dust from the aquasoil

so far i've done 1 60% water change to cut back ammonia. I'm dosing NiteOut II to speed up the cycle. im doing light dosages as im soon to put plants in the tank and i'll let them do the rest

20lb co2 tank was polished today.. that thing was a beast, it took about 4 hours to polish. it had dings and scuffs in it, and the aluminum is of poorer quality than my 5lb tank. the machining process also went deeper than the 5 lb.
it came out nice and shiny of course

sump will be here tomorrow, and light bulbs on tuesday!!!
Tek 6 bulb 48 inch fixture is already here!
 

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#17 ·
On Tuesday, I ran through the setup of the sump, overflow, and return line plumbing. I also hung the light but have no run the cables through wall moulding yet.
Hopefully within the next few days I'll have the cords neat and tidy, and my plumbing the way I want it. As of right now I'm having extreme difficulty getting the overflow quite. On my 29 gallon I have tons of connectors and adapters, but that thing is super quite. This is a noisy son of a gun!! I used as few connections as possible to cut down turbulence and for ease of maintenance. Something isn't jiving though.
Plants should be moved over within the next day or two as well. Fish are soon to follow!!!

Bulb choices are:
3 geisemann midday
ATI Purple Plus
ATI AquaBlue
UVL Red
 

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#48 ·
Bulb choices are:
3 geisemann midday
ATI Purple Plus
ATI AquaBlue
UVL Red
You might try the Zoomed Flora sun, they are better/cheaper than the Giesemann IME, redder, will offer more color, a little less par, but perhaps a bit more PUR. the Giesemann aquafloras are nice though and a different color than the red wave or the Flora sun.

Wood was shipped too.
 
#19 ·
the output is beyond awesome... im getting a sun tan working on my tank
color is phenominal. everything looks VIVID

im using a CPR overflow, same setup as the 29 gallon, just a bigger version. the 29 has a cs 50 (300 gph rate)
this tank has a cs90 (600 gph) it actually gets quite around the 800 gph range but has lots of splashing
 
#23 ·
Looking good.... I'm still battling diatoms in mine.... Been set up for over 4 weeks...that's what I get for being cheap and using good ole safety sorb... Love the stand by the way
thanks!! it was a lot of fun building and staining. the color is amazing in person. it fits very well with the decor of the house.

i started moving plants and straightening out wiring and plumbing.
i started co2 up as well. i tried running it trough a smaller pump first but the rio HF17 actually does a better job chopping things up on its own

here's a few plants i go moved last night. with co2 blasting.
picture is also shot with 2 bulbs only on. the other 4 were left off :)
 

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#24 ·
Mostly planted!!!!

got 90% of my plants moved out of the 29 gallon into this thing, and 80% of the plants out of the 10 gallon into the 29.
This was cool, i pull 3 feet worth of crypto wendtii red out of the ten gallon. 1.5 feet of plant, and 1.5 feet of root... there were probably 3 crpts like that. the rest were still pretty big

I also took a shot of my 114 inch wide window from 40+ feet away at night so you can see what my neighbors see and what passerby's see when they drive by my house!!
 

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#30 ·
Its coming along nicely!! Any plans on hardscae??

Oh and even the wife said your stand is very nice looking!!
Tell her I said THANKS!

i do actually have major hardscape plans. there was never enough room in the 29 gallon to fit my taste
so AS soon as Mr. Barr responds, saying he has the wood im looking for.
I shall probably be loading up some branches into this thing and ill be trying for the very first time to add some rocks

we shall see!!
 
#32 ·
when you go to buy your parts for the durso make sure you dont get schedule 40... its diameter is just slightly to large for the bulkhead cpr sends you... also get the 90 that one side slips into the T... some people call them street Ls... theres not quite enough room for using a regular 90 and connecting it to the T
 
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