My first aquariums - 404 display/150 frag

[b09u5]

Over the past couple of days I have had more help. A buddy who is also into fish came over after work yesterday and helped me frame in the bulkheads around my HVAC. He is not responsible for them looking so crappy! It was my idea to have the lower 2x4 below the runners, but it worked out because I was able to use them to level everything out. On the longer HVAC run, I was way off on measuring, so the bottom 2x4s are only part way screwed in, to level it all out! Hopefully the drywall hides it all! If I need a little more surface to anchor drywall to, I may have to double up the long 2x4s... As you can tell, I do not do this for a living!


IMG_2911 by gschaus, on Flickr


IMG_2913 by gschaus, on Flickr


IMG_2912 by gschaus, on Flickr

Tonight, I started putting drywall up on the top half of the room. I didn't get very far, but I am sure I can plug away at this next week.


IMG_2916 by gschaus, on Flickr

I checked on the Starfire glass for the front of my tank, and it is ordered and on its way! I am pumped. I need to get this drywall up, have someone mud and tape, and I need to clean the silicone off the current pieces that I have. The glass should be in and ready in a couple of weeks, so the timing should be just about perfect!

I mentioned earlier that I am using the 8'x27" 3/4" front piece of glass from this tank as the base for a frag/quarantine tank. Does anyone have any suggestions on how deep the quarantine tank/frag tank should be? I was thinking 14". If I do that, I can nearly make the whole thing from the sheet of Starfire that I am bringing in. If I lowered it to 11", I could do the whole thing! I would like it a bit deeper, as I want to get some fish that like to burrow in the sand. It would likely be traumatic for a fish like that to quarantine in a shallow, glass bottomed tank.

Let me know your thoughts! Also, if anyone knows a mud/taping person that wants to get this done, let me know!

[gregzz4]

I QTd wrasses in a bare-bottom by using a take-out tray full of sand - about 2-1/2" deep
Coris literally 'dove' into it when the lights went out

Room is coming along very nicely

[b09u5]

Just a quick update to show that I am still working on this.

Glass just came in a week ago, so I am getting anxious to get it in the house.

I finished dry walling with Brett, then had a guy in to mud and tape. I threw three coats of Kilz Premium on before starting on the counter/frag stand. After that is built and both stands are painted, it'll be finally time to get the tanks built.

While I wait to add water, I will have time to finish the viewing wall and plumb everything together.

Here are some pics from the last couple of weeks:


IMG_2956 by gschaus, on Flickr


IMG_2955 by gschaus, on Flickr


IMG_2954 by gschaus, on Flickr


IMG_2952 by gschaus, on Flickr


IMG_2968 by gschaus, on Flickr


IMG_2969 by gschaus, on Flickr


IMG_2972 by gschaus, on Flickr


IMG_2978 by gschaus, on Flickr


IMG_2979 by gschaus, on Flickr


IMG_2980 by gschaus, on Flickr


IMG_2982 by gschaus, on Flickr


IMG_2989 by gschaus, on Flickr

[Myka]

That's a lot of work! So, where's the water?

Fyi, the top drywall piece is supposed to be installed first. It would have been easier.

[b09u5]

Piece by piece, this build is coming together.

This past week has been pretty productive. I went and watched my glass get cut for the new starfire front and the frag tank. I got a 143"x48" piece of 19mm starfire and had enough to build all but the back pane of the frag tank.

Inspired by that, I came straight home and finished off the back stand/counter top. That only took a day, thankfully and my lovely girlfriend hit them with 3 coats of Kilz Premium while my brother, dad and I scraped silicone from the old glass.

We took Brett's 404 apart months ago and moved it to my place, but as always, I left the cleaning until the last minute. Cleaning the silicone off was a PITA. I will not ever do that again. To those of you that haven't tried, and don't learn well from others mistakes, I strongly suggest using Methyl Hydrate to help soften the silicone once the majority has been scraped off. I also suggest roping everyone in that owes you even the slightest favor. Without the help of my family, I would have been up all night. Instead I was up until 2AM and again at 6AM to get done for the build at 8AM.

Long story short.... Buy new glass.

The hard work of everyone paid off. Here is how things look presently:





























And somewhere amid the chaos of the stand build, glass clean and tank build, Christine and I drove to Wetaskawin and picked out our new puppy!



*Normally when I 'Preview Post' I am able to view my photos. I can't this time. I hope it works.... as the first post on this thread says "This is my first aquarium build and my first thread". Still learning both.

[FishyFishy!]

Pics arnt workin. But glad you are making some progress!

[kien]

Originally Posted by b09u5

*Normally when I 'Preview Post' I am able to view my photos. I can't this time. I hope it works.... as the first post on this thread says "This is my first aquarium build and my first thread". Still learning both.

Looking good :-)

I've never used flickr's BBCode so I don't know much about it, but maybe stick to using the image link in flickr (by copying it) and pasting it into the image code icon to embed images like you did previously.