[HD Blazingwolf]

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

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

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!!

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

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.

 

[NWA-Planted]

Sub'd!!

About time!!

The stand looks like it came out nicely

Sent from a dark corner in my happy place

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

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 redneck 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!!!

 

[driftwoodhunter]

I really love the contrast between the stain and the paint - the color is great.

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

Why thank you! You won't really see it though. Tonight the stand will be getting doors and corner moulding, the tank should also be getting Aqua Soil Amazonia put in.. No water yet as i have an electrical outlet to put in behind it!

 

[NWA-Planted]

Why thank you! You won't really see it though. Tonight the stand will be getting doors and corner moulding, the tank should also be getting Aqua Soil Amazonia put in.. No water yet as i have an electrical outlet to put in behind it!

Ddoooo iiittttt

I feel like i am in competition and your winning for now.... Haha jk

What kind of plant life you looking at?

Sent from a dark corner in my happy place

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

Ddoooo iiittttt

I feel like i am in competition and your winning for now.... Haha jk

What kind of plant life you looking at?

Sent from a dark corner in my happy place

Technically im cheating, you are building our own tank!
My tank is prebuilt!

As far as plant life, i still love the look of blyxa and will use it avidly.
rotala colorate is a big on the list
persicaria kawa
persicaria sao paulo
hygro... somethign or other. stays low and creepy
ludwigia repens.. classic
ludwigia sp red
ludiwiga cuba
ludwigia glandulosa
notice a trend??
starogyne repens
cryptocorne wendtii brown
cryptocorne unidentified green/brown

i've been realllllllllllllllllyyy considering having an awesome pleco cave in this thing, but ima run bookooo's of light into this thing and co2 and pleco's plus co2 don't seem to be on the high list, they get all weird

i may actually add in some stones but i've never been a huge fan, tis may be because a 29 gallon has no real estate

i will be searching for an awesome piece of wood shorly

 

[NWA-Planted]

Technically im cheating, you are building our own tank!
My tank is prebuilt!

As far as plant life, i still love the look of blyxa and will use it avidly.
rotala colorate is a big on the list
persicaria kawa
persicaria sao paulo
hygro... somethign or other. stays low and creepy
ludwigia repens.. classic
ludwigia sp red
ludiwiga cuba
ludwigia glandulosa
notice a trend??
starogyne repens
cryptocorne wendtii brown
cryptocorne unidentified green/brown

i've been realllllllllllllllllyyy considering having an awesome pleco cave in this thing, but ima run bookooo's of light into this thing and co2 and pleco's plus co2 don't seem to be on the high list, they get all weird

i may actually add in some stones but i've never been a huge fan, tis may be because a 29 gallon has no real estate

i will be searching for an awesome piece of wood shorly

Like your ludwigia huh???

Thats going to give some awesome color though!

Your going to need some stout fish, depending on the amount of co2 your injecting for sure, never noticed any issues with the plecos i had though.

At any rate i will be avidly watching this build :thumbup:

Sent from a dark corner in my happy place

 

[ChadRamsey]

looks nice, i like it. nice job

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

Like your ludwigia huh???

Thats going to give some awesome color though!

Your going to need some stout fish, depending on the amount of co2 your injecting for sure, never noticed any issues with the plecos i had though.

At any rate i will be avidly watching this build :thumbup:

Sent from a dark corner in my happy place

Praecox are pretty tolerant it seems. they handle it better than my ottos

GOOGLE Image Search

beyond that botia striata loaches havedone well in the 29 gallon

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

Welp. I'm sitting at work and a get a phone call that I recieved a big box full of rock. So of course I get all excited because my aquasoil has arrived ad everyone looks at me like im crazy

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

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!

 

[driftwoodhunter]

I don't do co2 myself, but I love those gleaming tanks! lol

 

[NWA-Planted]

Shiny.... O.O

Lol, that stand looks like it came out very nice!!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

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

 

[NWA-Planted]

That is a interesting choice of bulbs the overall color it puts out is nice though!!

What kind of over flow are you using?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

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

 

[NWA-Planted]

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

Have you modified the piping at all in the overflow? Full siphon and a gate/ball valve is the way to go!!!

When will plants be arriving?

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