# New 6ft frontosa tank build



## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Well as of today I have a new home for my frontosa here now. Currently sitting in the utility room till I get the spot in the office cleared and ready for it. First off a pic of the tank...

6ft x 18 x 23 (125-130g'ish)










Here's the plans for where it will be going....










Basically that back wall is a fake wall that is about 12" out in front of the actual back wall. The back wall behind it has 12" deep shelves built into it. So plans are to remove the fake front wall, tear out the shelves, then that will make it so the tank will fit back into the wall and will only stick out from the wall by about 6". Then I'll be rebuilding the wall around it so it is built in and have the top part of the wall hinged for tank work. Like all my builds this one will have a 3d background in it. Looking forward to doing this 6ft background. Lots of area to play with.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Being one to not let grass grow under my feet, I decided to start tonight on tearing down the fake wall. All the bonsai trees are moved and already got the fake wall ripped out. Now I have a huge amount of stuff that has been on those shelves in storage and not seen the light of day in years to be carried from the basement up two levels to the attic so I can knock the shelves out to make room for the tank. These old knees will be sore from that soon.

Should be pretty cool once the tank is in place. Already looks a lot bigger back there with that fake wall gone now.


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## smitty (May 7, 2004)

Make sure you post once it is all set up. Good luck!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Tons of work done today. Everything is moved out of the way and got the shelves ripped out. Managed to get the tank and stand wiggled out of the utility room and into place by myself (that was fun) and found I had about 1" too little room in the recessed opening. So had to do a little "modification" to the wall to fit it back against the wall. Long ways to go still but got more done in 24hrs than I expected to have done.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

I think I really should see a doctor because I dunno what's wrong with me. I don't know why I can't just put a tank on a stand and be happy with it. Now after sitting and starring at this for a bit tonight I think I have a bit of a change in plans.

I think I may end up taking out the lower braces on the wood stand (red wavy line) and then rebuild the brace as more of a base under the legs and attach with metal L brackets. (new base would be red straight lines). That way it would raise the whole tank 4" higher as well as give me 26" of room under the 130g tank, which would be enough room to fit the 75g bleekeri tank in there (blue lines).


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Got a lot of work done today. Raising and modifying the stand was a brutal job because of the way it was built plus not being able to take the tank off the stand while I was working on it, but 8 hrs later it's done.

Stand is modified and braced, new base for lower 75g tank built, foam under both tanks, leveled and filled with water for a 2nd leak test. Next will be building the wall in front and the 6ft 3d background for the main tank, but wont be able to start doing those till later next week once I get some other jobs done.


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## Cichlid Debby (Mar 21, 2014)

Steve,

:thumb: opcorn:  Can't wait to see the finished product!

How are you planning the filtration for this set up?

Deb


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Thanks Deb. When I move the fronts out of the 75g they are currently in I'll be moving the FX5 that is on that tank over to this one. Then on the lower tank that will house a single 7" bleekeri I have so I'll be putting a fluval 304 that I have on that tank for him. Should be enough room to the right of the 75g tank for both filters which will then have an access door in the wall once it's built.


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## Ivan Molina (Jan 8, 2016)

I'm looking forward to see this build completed, admiring and being jealous of your work from the Caribbean... NICELY done man....


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Lots of wall building hinged door making and paint slingin' going on today


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Well 1am and about 12 hrs worth of work done on it today so time to throw in the towel for the night I guess. Still have a lot to do but it's finally starting to take shape now and actually look like I envisioned. Can't wait to finish all the paint and trim work so I can get started on the 6ft 3D background for it. Got some cool plans for that.


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## wryan (Dec 6, 2015)

Lookin good :thumb:


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## somebody (May 13, 2014)

opcorn:


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Got a little spare time today before I start a 3d background for a customer tomorrow so decided to get the lower 75g Bleekeri tank up and running. He now has his own tank but does have a roommate. The big red zebra who is as much of a troublemaker as the Bleekeri is in there with him. They were both in the same tank with my other fish for the past year so they get along together just fine, also put the big 7" Rhino pleco in with them as well.

Hopefully will be able to get to working on the background for the upper frontosa tank with in the next couple weeks. The wood in the upper tank is a piece I picked up at my local club auction yesterday for it, gonna be a nice fit for that tank.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Finally got caught up enough with customer work that I have time this week to get back on my own tank. Was able to get the background laid out and roughed in today. Now onto the carving stage next. Hopefully will have this tank up and running with in the next two weeks is the plan.


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## Off_register (Feb 5, 2015)

Looks awesome so far! You are seriously addicted to diy projects for your tanks! Always fun to see what you come up with.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Sleep is overrated  burned the midnight oil and spent the past 7 hrs carving away on this. Actually got all the carving done now tonight. Will be dryloking and painting in the morning so way ahead of schedule now. I really wanted this background to have some impact so I did some pretty massive rocks in some area that are as much as 5" thick so it is really going to have a lot of depth/3D look to it. I'm very pleased with how this one is looking.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Moving along really well now. Have all the painting and shading done so all that's left on the background is to seal it tomorrow and then it will be ready to install permanently into the tank.


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## Off_register (Feb 5, 2015)

Awesome textures and shading! Where are you going to place your filter intake and return nozzle?


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Thanks. Intake will mounted on the right side panel and hidden with some wood & rock work, then I'll be building a spraybar that will tuck up against the top trim out of sight.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

All sealed with Pond Armor and silicon'd into place in the tank and curing. Probably go pick up the sand today. Originally planned on black sand but think I have changed my mind and will be going with a tan color sand. I think that will look good with the background color and really bring out the colors of the Frontosa.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Picked up some slate today from Lowes. I wanted the rock work in the tank to match the background I made perfectly so bought some white'ish color slate and just got done painting/shading it in the same colors at the background. Just have to seal it and they will be ready for the tank.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

More work done today. It is pretty much for the most part done new. All that's left is to do a few details things and route the cords better, then fill with water and move the group of frontosa and FX5 over and it'll be done. Really excited to get the fronts moved into it soon. This one has become probably my favorite tank I have owned to date.


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## Off_register (Feb 5, 2015)

Looks awesome! Came together nicely! Did you rinse the sand or are you just going to let the filter clear up the tank before you add the Frontosa's?


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Thanks, should have the fronts moved into it probably with in the next week most likely. I use the playsand from Lowes which is pre-washed, I never do any extra rising of it. Here's a pic above from last night taken just 5 mins after filling with water, nice and clear.


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## Off_register (Feb 5, 2015)

That's super clear! Now that I see everything together, good choice on the sand. Fits the background perfectly! Thanks for clearing up my thoughts about that btw. I'm about to do a shell dweller tank so now I know what to expect with the play sand. Is there a specific brand to look for or is all Play Sand usually a pretty safe substrate?


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Thanks, I had black sand in mind for this build the entire way through right up till the last minute then changed my mind to the tan. Now I'm glad I did, I like black in the current frontosa tank I have, but I think the blues and black of the fronts will look really nice in this set up now. The brand I use for the sand is Quikrete and it's the Premium Play sand which is pre-washed. That one doesn't require any washing at all. About 2 years ago I used another brand play sand (can't remember now what it was) and it was really cloudy even after a few days. So long as you go with the Quikrete pre-washed you'll be fine. I paid about $2.50 per 50lb bag at Lowes.


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## hose91 (Mar 5, 2014)

Man, that is a good looking tank! You have mad DIY skillz. I love the custom painted slate to match the bg. This is your best background to date, imo. I was never totally sold on the ones you did with the cold fusion lights, so I like that you have similar holes in this one, but they stay dark (or at least have so far in the pics). Gives the whole tank some nice depth of field. Really well done. Looking forward to seeing the Fronts in it.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

3 months of work building the 6ft tank for the Frontosa finally comes to a rewarding end tonight, now I can enjoy it. Just finished filling with water, moving the FX5 over, bringing up to temp and moving my fronts over into it. I'm happy with how this tank build turned out, and think my fronts seem pretty happy now as well!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Brief vid of the tank


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Added some DIY moonlighting to the frontosa tank so now all the tanks have moonlights. Nice way to sit back and watch the fish after a long day working on.


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## Machismo (Feb 24, 2016)

Very well done! That's just ******* right there!!


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## Machismo (Feb 24, 2016)

Man, I meant Bad A**! Not bad boy LOL!!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Added some more branches and couple more rocks to the frontosa tank today. Think I have it pretty much how I want it now.


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## somebody (May 13, 2014)

Any updates? Would love to see some beautiful algae growth on them rocks


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Sorry it took awhile to reply, I don't get on this site quite as much as I use too. Here's some updated pics. No major algae growth yet because I like to keep it pretty clean with weekly WC's and such, but there's some small amount growing here & there. Fronts are all doing very good and healthy. I've added a few other fish to the tank as well over the past couple months. A really nice clean Lelupi, a nice goldface comp, a king tiger pleco and a male albin bnp. Also added a couple blue CFL spot lights to highlight the blues in the fronts a bit more.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Been close to a year since this tank has been up and running so figured I'd do a bit of an update on this one. Seems my group of 5 male fronts ended up actually being 4 males and 1 female, because they ended up spawning and I now have five 3 month old 2" frontosa in the tank. Also just goes to show that you can't always go by the "rules" of fish keeping because most people (myself included) would say 4 males would kill a single female, but that's not the case with this tank. The 12" Alpha male spawned with the single female and the other males leave him & her alone. All the fronts leave the smaller juvies and smaller fish in the tank alone as well.

I have been growing out some other Tanganyika species as well for this tank. Have around 12 Leelupi that I have been growing out as well as a half dozen yellow face comps. As of now 3 of the comps are big enough and in the tank, and five of the Leleupi are big enough and in the tank as well.

Overall for the past year everything has gone extremely well on this tank. Able to stick with 50% wc every 3 weeks with the FX5 filtering the tank. Fish have all been happy & healthy, now have about half doze smaller fronts in there growing up with them so will end up with around 10-11 fronts once full grown and will probably keep a few so I have a total of about 8 in this tank once full grown.

Some latest pics...


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## xgtphalex (Jan 30, 2017)

Awesome tank, next tank will be fronts.


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## TheFishGuy1 (Oct 4, 2018)

Awesome, good job on this project!


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## JimSparks (Apr 7, 2020)

Came across this post looking for background and Frontosa info. What do you seal your backgrounds with?


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