Slick's Tank Journal(s)

[Slick Fork]

Hi there,

The wife and I were sitting around yacking, we've been in the house just over a year now and that means that the 1 year anniversary for the tank is coming up in a few weeks. So I got looking at some shots as the tank progressed and decided to share. Mostly out of a desire for suggestions and constructive criticsm... but if you see something you like feel free to comment on that as well!

This tank has been a bit of a struggle for me, mostly because I tend to learn best the hard way, partly because of changing priorities! Progress has been fairly slow since the funds haven't been available to add everything at once, it's spend a little and wait, spend a little and wait... Some ups and downs but overall I'm fairly happy with the tank today.

My Sw experience began in June of 06 as a reward to myself for quitting smoking (of course, now the expenses are just barely keeping under a pack a day habit!) I started out with a little 10 gallon tank a DIY light fixture and a seio 620. Throw in a couple of clowns and a toadstool and away I went



During that summer we happened to come across a used 100gallon and the 55 gallon. The original plan was to mothball the 100 (The place we were in didn't inspire enough confidence to put 100gallons of water on the floor!) and use the 55 as a new home for the SW guys.

With that plan in mind, I started accumulating parts for the new set-up. I grabbed a 4x39watt teklight, another Seio pump and started building a nice stand. Seems like no sooner had I got the stand built when our luck changed and we bought an acreage. Once we settled in a little, we decided the best place for the 100 gallon was in the basement, of course than we had to decide what to put in it. The original plan was to use the 100gallon as a fw tank but it turns out we have iron bacteria in the water here which made us decide to limit those guys to the existing 33 (It's not dangerous or harmful, just coats everything in a black slime, thrives in light or darkness... only massive amounts of chlorine seem to kill it). That being said, we'd already purchased a 36" t5 and neither of us were real keen on having 3 tanks up and running and we didn't have the cash for another light fixture, so we made do and put the 36"light on a 60" tank.

Here are some of the construction shots... taken about mid-november 06



How about that lovely green shade the previous owners had...



Tank in place



The tank is running on its own 15amp breaker, all nearby outlets have been converted to GFCI for safety. RO water is plumbed into the Kitchen above and slightly to the side so it was a simple matter to just bring a line through the furnace room beside the tank.