Search the Community

Back in October, I found a 65 gallon tank (36x18x24) for $45 on FB Marketplace...not a bad deal, but it needed some work and I wanted to build my own stand for it. I work from home 4 days a week, so this tank is my zoom backdrop and also just as a stress reducer when I have to deal with annoying people 🙂 Here's the tank after we took the top rim off - it was cracked and there was some dirt between the glass and the frame from the previous owner leaving it outside on its side. It was not a pretty removal, but it made it a lot easier to get all of the silicone off - which took a LONG time...at some point, someone tried to reseal the tank but just went over the old stuff, so it wasn't pretty here's the tank after I removed all of the silicone (forgive the blue...its an old Aqueon light that I threw on there) my stand build - it has since been painted black Heres the "pre-water" look And here's the (almost finished...I might add more H'ra and/or a rock or two from another tank) planted look - forgive the cloudy water, most of the plants have been in other tanks for over a year, so its going through a bit of a bacterial die-off I'm still not 100% sure what I want to put in there, so if anyone has some suggestions, let me know I will be putting in (from other tanks); 6 pepper cories, ~5 Otos (2 existing, plus 3 new at some point), ~10 amano shrimp, (~10 CPDs...not sure on these) My current thought is to add Black Ruby Barbs and Bloodfin Tetras (maybe 9-12 of each), but again...not "married" to this idea Tank is currently sitting right around 73, but will most likely push it up to ~75/76 once I add the second ACO heater (currently in use), sponge filter, FX2, Small Aquasky light just for the sunrise/sunset, ACO 36in light, currently set at 40% (turned up to 100% for pic above), currently running a tetra air pump, but will be swapping with ACO pump so I have the battery backup if needed in the future. Let me know what you think I'm happy with it so far 🙂 *edited to swap last picture for one with fewer glare

I saw these brackets online for building an adjustable firewood rack and was wondering if anyone has attempted something similar for an aquarium stand? Could be a simple way to piece together a diy stand for someone with fewer tools etc. Though I wouldn't want to test it with something larger than a 40 gallon to start with. Or maybe something like the brackets that are used to piece together wooden dock sections 🤔

I'm currently going through the process of setting up a 180 gallon aquarium with the end goal of a planted community tank with a school of Discus, Cardinal Tetras, Rummynose Tetras, Sterbai Corys, and a pleco or two. The project is no light undertaking, so I thought this would be a great place to document the process. Not only do I want to be able to look back years down the road, I hope I can educate and entertain others along the way. I know me, and know I am going to ramble here, but that's what a journal is for, right? For starters, this is all new to me. I've only been keeping fish for a little overr a year. I wanted to keep fish for well over a decade now, but I never got around it. Finally, my father-in-law got my daughter a Betta for her 1st birthday last year, and that kicked off my obsession. That quickly upgraded to a planted 36 gallon community tank and a 6 gallon cube for the Betta. Now, I finally got my wife on board with, or at least not objecting to, setting up a large aquarium in the basement. Bonus points because my now 2-year-old daughter loves the hobby too. Loves feeding the fish and always asks to go to the fishy store. Once that green light was given by my wife, I started browsing Facebook Marketplace for the aquarium. The goal was something between 125-180. After a while, 2 180s popped up at the same time. One was older with wood trim and wasn't drilled. The other (the one I got) had black plastic trim and was predrilled with what I guess is called reef-ready. The seller never had it set up and I think he ended up with it after buying a storage locker at auction. It seemed to be in okay shape from my limited knowledge and was $400 so I rolled with it. I also knew I wanted to run it with a sump, so I set out to find a 75 gallon aquarium for that purpose. Interestingly, I found one right away and after talking to the owner about it, I had his 180 gallon. He let it go after moving and seemed to have gotten out of the hobby. He sold me the 75 gallon for $50. After getting both home and in my garage, I started watching videos on cleaning used aquariums and that sent me down a rabbit hole of resealing them. I decided I was going to tackle that project. The seams looked to be in great shape. No bubbles in the structural part of the silicone whatsoever, but the silicone I would be replacing had seen better days. While it was still pliable, the edges were beginning to dry rot, and peel back. It did hold water though. I filled it, added citric acid to scrub the salt off, and it stayed full for a few hours with no issues. after cleaning it, I quickly drained it though because my garage was not completely level and I didn't want any added stress to one seam over another. I ordered Momentive RTV103 Silicone after reading several reef forums. I also picked up several kinds of razors from Lowes and got down to business. Thanks to my dad, brother-in-law, and best friend, we were able to move it down to my basement so I could work on it in a heated space. Plus that's where it will eventually be set up. Currently, I have both overflow boxes removed, and silicone cleaned out of 2 of the 8 seams. It'll be a long process, but I enjoy these DIY projects. Tonight, I did find a pretty decent chip in one of the side panels below the silicone seal. That has me pretty nervous, but If it was there prior and I make sure its completely covered, I should be okay. At least I hope I'm okay because a new 180 gallon aquarium isn't in the budget currently. For the sump, I plan to only have 3 chambers. The first chamber will house a series of mechanical filtration most likely with sponges and filter floss. This area will be about 6 inches wide. From there I plan to have the water flow up through an 8 inch wide chamber full of bio media. The baffle here will be about 14 inches tall so from my math, could hold about 8 gallons of bio media. After that, the water will fall into a large return chamber (34x18). If I have the water filled up to 14 inches in the sump, the return chamber should have about 37 gallons of water in it. I'll house the heaters, and a few sponge filters here to help with aeration and to have seeded sponges if I need a quarantine tank set up fast. My goal is to run an auto water change system out of the return chamber. I should be able to drain about 20 gallons of water out of that chamber and still allow my return pump to run. In theory, I think as long as the pump speed doesn't vary, changing water from the return chamber should just lower and raise the water level in the return, meanwhile, nothing changes or is noticeable in the display tank. All of that happens with the return pump staying on. I could be totally wrong on this but I couldn't find anyone running a setup like this. Maybe there is a reason for that, but it sounds like a fun idea to me so we'll see! I have about 80% of the materials purchased to finish the build. I went with a Sicce SDC 6.0 pump and Sicce Scuba Contactless heaters. I'm going to build the stand out of 2x4s and 2x6s. I will eventually wrap the stand in a nice plywood and stain it, but I want to get the tank resealed, set up, and running before I worry about the aesthetics. I also find water chemistry super fascinating. I will start out by saying, I don't think you should chase parameters. It's probably best in most situations to let acclimate your fish to your water. With that said, my tap water would supply an amazing African cichlid tank, but isn't ideal for the fish I want to keep. To remedy this, I purchased 4x 30 gallon food-grade drums so I can mix my very hard and alkaline tap water with RO water. This is another element of the DIY process I really like. I'm still working on the logistics of it, but ideally, I can set up the tanks to automatically fill and mix the right amount to get softer water around a PH of 6.8 or so. I manually do this in my Betta's tank now, but with the drums and float valves, I think I can automate the process and consistently have a stable source of water without chasing parameters with additives. More updates to come! Heres the tank how I got it. Taking the old black paint off the back All Cleaned Up! The joints seem to be in great shape 75 Gallon running citric acid through it In the basement, Overflows off, and starting to remove the silicone Defect in glass Box of goodies! 30 Gallon Drums!

None of the floors in my apartment are level but I’ve had tanks here for years without issue. Setting up a new one but I have a snake enclosure under it so I’m a bit more worried. Wood and cinder block stand. I have shims if I need to use them but I’m afraid they would do more harm than good in the long run. Any advice?

So many things to consider! We are moving in the next couple of weeks to a new home. This would be a great time to upgrade the Rosaline Barbs and the Rosy Barbs to a bigger tank. (The 55 is looking to small). I hate spending money on the combo from the box store with the press board stand. The acrylic is a stretch for cost but would be lighter and perhaps stronger. But then the stand would break the budget for sure unless we can diy it and have it look nice in the living room. Any ideas or advice anyone can give? I would appreciate it so much.