New 240g tank build

[Drifter 851]

Took just a tick under 50hrs of carving but finally all the carving and texturing is thankfully done. Next step I get to look forward to is probably another 20 hours of dryloking/painting/sealing. Probably take a break from it for a few days at least though before starting that stage.

[GazzaGarratt 11,066]

Looking fab Steve. What lighting you thinking of using?

[Drifter 851]

Going to be using a pair of 6ft full spectrum LED fixtures for it. Should show fish colors really well and not kill the electric bill too much since they are LED.

[GazzaGarratt 11,066]

On 13/02/2017 at 5:17 PM, Drifter said:

Going to be using a pair of 6ft full spectrum LED fixtures for it. Should show fish colors really well and not kill the electric bill too much since they are LED.

Love LEDs, it must make some of your fish really shine in certain places. Loving the creativity Steve. Keep the progress and pics coming.

[Drifter 851]

Very slow going since it is so large of a background but spent the weekend getting the first of the 5 panels of the new tanks background painted. Decided to go with a bit darker of a look on this one than some of the ones in the past and really like the way it is turning out. Fish colors should really pop against it once done. One section done and four more to go

[Drifter 851]

Up to about 80 hours into the background now but I do see the end in sight, at least far as the background goes. Finished up another full day of painting and now have all the paint work done. All that is left to do on the background now is to pull it back out and seal it with pond shield and then install it permanently and work on installing the blue cave lights. Then I can start on finishing the stand. Few pics of it currently. First pic is with just the camera flash then the rest are with the full spectrum LED tank lights on.

 
 
 
 

[GazzaGarratt 11,066]

Looking fantastic Steve. Can't wait to see it with the lights off.

[Drifter 851]

After cutting my hand about a month ago I had to take a break from working on this project while it healed. The hand has been back to pretty much good as new now for about the past 2 weeks but during that downtime for some reason I just kind of lost a bit of the enthusiasm for working on this. I think stepping away from it plus this time of year with spring just around the corner and rod orders starting to flood in I've been thinking more of fishing trips & outdoors than working on this.

The good news is since I started back on three other customer backgrounds about a week ago that finally rejuvenated my desire to get back onto this big tank again. So last night after stopping work on customer backgrounds for the night I pulled the background out of my tank and spent a while sealing it with Pond Shield Pond Armor. Later tonight I will be mounting it permanently into the tank now.

All sealed with Pond Shield and ready to install

[GazzaGarratt 11,066]

Sometimes a good break can give you a renewed boost so great to see you pick it up again.

What were the other customer ones like?

[Drifter 851]

On 3/20/2017 at 6:08 PM, GazzaGarratt said:

Sometimes a good break can give you a renewed boost so great to see you pick it up again.

What were the other customer ones like?

One was a small odd shaped one that was only 8" wide by 23" tall. Guy had a pie shaped corner tank he wanted it for. The other is a 6ft one I'm still working on for the customer. I'll snap a pic of it when it is done.

Here is where it is at today. Buffed the front panel for a 3rd time, background & stalactites all sealed and installed for good now, mounted various silk plants for some greenery, cave lighting all set up and substrate is in. Probably be all the work for a while as I have rods and other backgrounds to finish but I hope to be back on it again in a couple weeks. Satisfied with the progress for now.
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[Drifter 851]

I still have to do all the finish work on the stand and build the canopy yet, plus finish the 20g x-tall tank with the sandfall that goes in the center of the stand under this tank. So still lots to be done, but as of last night it's filled, up to temp, and fish are in and happy. Water still has to clear up a bit more, but this morning I was able to sit and have my morning coffee enjoying the fruits of over 100 plus hours of work

Short video of the tank running with fish in it now...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDrdkagiJWg&feature=youtu.be

[Drifter 851]

 
 
 
 
 
 

Almost 4 months of work finally comes to an end tonight. Just finished doing all the finish work on the stand and canopy and am now I'm finally done with the 240g tank build. Was a long and tiring project with well over 200+hrs into building the background/stand/canopy and all the other little details but now I can finally sit down in front of it with a cup of coffee and enjoy my fish

[GazzaGarratt 11,066]

I missed replying on this Steve. This is truly amazing. The background looks fantastic and the blue/yellow fish you've chosen suit it.

 

You should go into business with these. Great job.

[Drifter 851]

Been doing some work on the big tank tonight. Added some manzanita style branches which I took from a different tank I recently took down. Cut the ends flat and mounted them to the underside of the acrylic top so that they hang down into the tank to look like roots hanging down. Been up and running for about 2 months now and I added the 2nd fx5 filter about a month ago which has fully seeded now so even after almost 2 weeks nitrates barely even read 20ppm. By far my most enjoyable tank I have built. I enjoy my morning coffee in front of it just about every day.