# New 240g project



## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Will be starting 2017 off the right way, with a new huge tank project for the office/shop. Just got this 240g Acrylic tank tonight which will be a new home for my big haps which are outgrowing their 75g tank. Plans include knocking down the wall between the office & shop to make it one large room where all my tanks can be seen from anywhere in the room. Continuing the ceiling and floor so it all matching, repainting walls to match etc etc. Will be doing a stand and canopy build, 3D background and custom backlighting like I did on one of my other tanks years ago. Plus lots of little projects to it. Tank is in really good shape but since it is going to be a few month project I may just go ahead an buff the whole thing out so it is 100% scratch free.


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## Pdxmonkeyboy (Oct 17, 2016)

sounds like a great preject. I had to sand and buff the **** out of the used acrylic tank I built. one thing I learned the hard way... WASH between different sandpaper grades


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

This one shouldn't take too much work to get scratch free. There's only a few light ones here and there. Probably my biggest issue is someone wrote on the side panel with a paint pen which seems to be on there pretty good so that might take some buffing to get off but that's probably the worst thing so far that I see.


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## Aaron S (Apr 4, 2015)

I saw the paint pen and thought "why the heck would someone do that?" I am now really curious what they thought they should write on their aquarium.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

No clue why someone felt the need to write the species of fish and plants on the side. I have seen fish shops do it before with a dry erase marker, but some bozo did it with a paint pen, they must have been a smart'un!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Here's a quick sketch of what I am thinking about doing. I want to build it so I have two smaller tanks on both sides (thinking 29g's) with no fish in the 29g tanks, but a mountain 3d background in each, with plants and then each one having a white sand waterfall with an air powered sandfall going off the center of the mountain in each. So the main tank is flanked by dual waterfalls on each side. Then the main tank will have a full 3d background with some cold cathode cave lights like I did on that other tank I had years ago.

As of now this is the plan. Probably start right after Christmas.


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## Pdxmonkeyboy (Oct 17, 2016)

sounds pretty cool. excited to see the finished product!


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Knock on wood, I sure hope it works out better for you than the last big tank! Look forward to your build..


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

LOL I still have nightmares about that 265g tank Jim  Nothing felt better than the day I took a sledge hammer to that sucker!

This acrylic one was purchased from a friend and fellow club member I'm a part of so no worries about leaks on this one thankfully. With that said I will still do a leak test just to be safe


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

Sounds like a very cool plan. Looking forward to seeing the end result!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Well it is officially after Christmas so not being one to rest on my laurels I started work on the big 240g tank build project. First thing was to tear down the wall that divides the office from the shop. 6 hours later....bye bye wall.


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## wryan (Dec 6, 2015)

Boom ... 

:thumb:


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Well got a bit more done over the past day or two. Now that the wall is down I was faced with the ugly perforated board ceiling that was left in the one section of the shop. So got all that ripped down and started staining the boards to continue the wood ceiling so it is all uniform from one end of the room to the other. Still have more of that to do but got a start on it now. Also started on painting the back wall to match the rest of the walls. Still a ton to do but go a decent start on it at least.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Another full day of work in the books. I must be getting old because these projects wear me out more than they use too that's for sure. Most of the walls painted and some things moved around just to see a basic idea of where I want everything. With my OCD I must have moved every bit of furniture 10 times tonight. It'll all have to be moved out again soon when I start working on the floor. Originally I had planned to do the dual 20g xtra high side tanks with waterfall(sandfalls) in them on each side of the main tank (you can see the one tank on the left of the main one in the pic below). Now I am thinking I may decide to do them built into the stand itself under the main tank to save a little room. Last thing I want is for the room to look cramped, I want it to be open and free flowing so gonna have to play around with the idea of where I plan to put those two tanks still.


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## wryan (Dec 6, 2015)

Steve C said:


> Another full day of work in the books.


Progress ... :thumb:



Steve C said:


> I must be getting old because these projects wear me out more than they use too that's for sure. Most of the walls painted and some things moved around just to see a basic idea of where I want everything.


Just wait ... in another 10 years it will be even better ... :lol:



Steve C said:


> With my OCD I must have moved every bit of furniture 10 times tonight. It'll all have to be moved out again soon when I start working on the floor.


I can sympathize ... I re-arranged our living room about a year ago to set up a 55g and have decided that I really don't like the arrangement ... so back to the drawing board.



Steve C said:


> Originally I had planned to do the dual 20g xtra high side tanks with waterfall(sandfalls) in them on each side of the main tank (you can see the one tank on the left of the main one in the pic below). Now I am thinking I may decide to do them built into the stand itself under the main tank to save a little room. Last thing I want is for the room to look cramped, I want it to be open and free flowing so gonna have to play around with the idea of where I plan to put those two tanks still.


Looking forward to seeing what you end up doing ... :thumb:


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Little more progress on the 240g tank/remodel project. Put a Lowes gift card I got few weeks ago for B-day to use and got some more flooring with it today. Getting there slow but surely.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Burning some midnight oil.


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## wryan (Dec 6, 2015)

Progress ... :thumb:


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Still a lot to do such as more painting, finish the ceiling, finish the trout wall border between the two colors on the wall, trim work, new light for the troph tank, and not even to mention the actual work on the 240g tank like building the stand and 3d background and all that. With that said though, definite PROGRESS over the past few days of burning the midnight oil. The basement shop/office has been an ever evolving thing over the past 12 yrs, but I think I like this version and the openness of it now that I torn the wall down the best.
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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Well got about 6 hours into the stand build for the 240g tonight. Still have a lot to do to it such as add center uprights and then doubling up 2x4's in between the upper & lowers sections etc etc. Building it so the vertical posts are supporting the weight and no weight on fasteners and such. About halfway there so far with it. 
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## wryan (Dec 6, 2015)

Progress ... looking good ... :thumb:


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## wryan (Dec 6, 2015)

BTW ... I recently scoped out your 55G mbuna tank build ... that's just sick ... 

:thumb:


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Stand is all done. Could park a full size truck on it without issue lol.Just have to put the piece of sanded plywood on top now and still have to skin it with nice furniture grade 1/4" sheeting but that and the finish work will come later.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)




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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Some before, during & after pics of buffing out the acrylic today using Novus 1/2/3 buffing compounds. Will probably buff it out again but looking pretty darn good even after just the first round of buffing.
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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Nice job on the buffing!! The view of the book before and after really shows a difference.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Thanks Deeda. The Novus kit works pretty good. There's a couple scratches I found that I plan to go back and wet sand to get rid of, then I think I'll buff it out completely one more time and I think I should be good. I started buffing it by hand but being 45yrs old with a bum shoulder, that lasted all of about 15 mins till I went and bought a $17 palm polisher


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## wryan (Dec 6, 2015)

Definitely turned out nice ... :thumb:

It will be interesting to see what it looks like after the next go round ...

And well done on fulfilling the _never-waste-an-opportunity-to-acquire-another-power-tool_ paradigm ... 

BTW - like how the frame for the stand turned out as well ... looks very sturdy.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Well even though I buffed it all out last week and was "happy" with it, there were still a few small spots that were bugging me. So I decided to go ahead and wet sand the entire tank down with 1000/2000 grit and then rebuff it all out again. Just finished it up and couldn't be happier with the results because I know if I didn't do it now I would always regret not doing it when I had the chance.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Well came home today after dropping off some stuff at the local fish club auction and started right onto working on the background for the 240g build. I can say for sure that this background project will in fact be the death of me! lol. I'm doing it a bit different than any of the others I have done before. Making the rocks stick out anywhere from 1-2" all the way out to some full 6" thick rocks to really give it some nice 3d feel to the background. Adding some caves which I plan to backlite with blue cold cathode lights the way I did one of my tanks a few years ago. Also plan to do a full stalactite probably over to the left side. Having to carve the really thick 6" foam sections is much more time consuming than than any of the other background I have done before. I have a solid 10hrs of work into just what you see here today. And that's maybe what 15% done? uhg. I'm thinking I'll have around 100 hours into this one by the time it's all carved painted and sealed. Should be worth it though when done


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## Aaron S (Apr 4, 2015)

Just that section is 10 hrs?!? I have a new renewed confidence in my selection of a random black sheet of plastic taped to the back of the tank.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

lol yep. Normally on a section this size that's done I'd only have maybe an hour or so. But just the way I am doing this with the extra thickness and then trimming flat angles on the back so the rocks stick out at angles and such is adding a really exorbitant amount of time to this one.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Another full day of work on it today. Still a VERY long way to go but starting to take shape a bit now.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Another full day of work done on it today. Mucho progresseo'! 

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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

You might be an aquarium/fish nerd when the answer to the question of "what are you doing tonight" is...."Oh not much, just building a stalactite/stalagmite for my tank"..lol


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## Aaron S (Apr 4, 2015)

AND watching breaking bad...

It looks pretty good. I assume the direction we are looking at is the back of the mite.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Going to be more of the front/side. The bottom part isn't carved yet it's still setting up. Once it dries I'll be carving all that out like the rest of it.

And yep re-watching the entire series of Breaking Bad while I work. Just as good this go round' as it was watching it originally :thumb:


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

I like the looks of it, but I know I'm just causing myself headaches down the road when I have to net a sick fish lol


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

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.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

It looks fantastic as always. Can't wait to see it finished.


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## xgtphalex (Jan 30, 2017)

Just wow


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

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


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

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.


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

I like it! So what are you thinking stock wise?  Never mind looks like Haps I see, should go well in that tank. :thumb:


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Thanks Jim. Yep all the haps (and few mbuna) from my 75g are going into it. I'll also be able to add some more haps as well with all the extra room. Probably get a nice group of either syno multi or petro to go in it as well.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Been taking a break for the past week from it. Not by choice though. Was moving a 20g tank last week and didn't see an edge chip that was on it. As I sat it down I somewhat let it slide through my hands and the chip sliced my hand open pretty badly. Took a few hours to get it to stop bleeding. Defiantly could have used some stitches but with my self employed business I'm still without insurance coverage for stuff like this so I just taped it up and let time heal it. Seems to be much better the past couple days though so should be able to get back to working on this again sometime this week.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

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 timne 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


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Background is now all permanently siliconed into place and drying. Also got some large all plastic bolts and mounting the stalactites.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Been busy the past few days bouncing between customer backgrounds, rod orders, and trying to fit in some progress on my own 240g project. 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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## wryan (Dec 6, 2015)

Sorry to hear about your injury ... it seems you are recovered/healed up and once again making good progress ... background looks great !

:thumb:


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Had a stroke of genius tonight  spent a bit of time trying to figure out how to best hide the 300w Jaguar heaters and was getting frustrated that I was not going to be able to hide them very well because of the length when I sat down at it hit me. The Stalagmite makes the perfect place to mount it to the backside of so it will be completely out of view, plus being right in front of the intake and return it will distribute the heat more evenly.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Thanks for all the updates, another fantastic background and nice job on hiding the heater!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Thanks Dee. Well I said it was gonna be a couple weeks till I was back at it but I just can't stay away from it. Trying to work a few minutes here & there on it between "real work" stuff. Managed to get the 2nd of the two 300w heaters ready today. Mounted it rigidly to the backside of a half round piece of sinking wood so it is hidden completely from view. Also bought some cheap impact resistant lexan and made some nice tight fitting covers for the top so I wouldn't have to deal with evaporation.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

The ultimate man cave has become even more amazing!

The amount of work you've put in already is truly crazy. New background looks fantastic and I'd say your best so far. The darker paint job sets it off.

No super glue on hand Steve? Works awesome on cuts that should get stitches.

Whenever I get into fly fishing I'm hitting you up for a rod...

Looking forward to the end result of this project


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## xgtphalex (Jan 30, 2017)

Why not a sump to hide the heaters.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

I'm very OCD and the sound of water trickling over an overflow drives me nuts. Drilled tanks stop the noise issue but then you still have all the stuff directly under the main tank for sump set ups and in this build I have another display tank that will be under this tank in the center of the stand, so a sump would be in the way of that too. I've always liked a pair of quality canisters on tanks up to 300g for my own tastes for numerous reason. Sumps are great, but I'm more of a canister guy myself.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

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=VDrdkag ... e=youtu.be


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

I've been following since the beginning of the thread and just wanted to say it came out great! Well done and thanks for updating along the way.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Decided on maple for the stand facing. I've done oak before on others and I wanted one this time that was more of an open grain to give it more of a furniture grade look to it. Stained with with special walnut stain and now have 2 coats of poly applied. Originally I planned to do a sand waterfall in the 20g tall tank in the center of the stand, but now I am kind of thinking of changing that and covering the whole front with this one piece since it looks so good and then add the doors on the ends of the stand for filter access. Might do some accents or something else on the front, not sure we'll see as I get more into it.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

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


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Incredible job Steve!

I like the mural and fish carving. A nice touch indeed.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Thanks Iggy. The carved fish is something my Sister bought me at a local art fair for Christmas back in 2012 so I thought that was a neat way to display it.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

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.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Frickin awesome Steve. Love the mural and carving. Tank looks incredible!


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Looks great, came together really well! :thumb:


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Figured I'd post an update on the 240g since it has been awhile that it has been running. All if going really well. both FX5's handle the stock nicely so I can go easily 3 weeks between WC's without issue. Have added a few pieces of equipment such as powerhead and a programable wavemaker which the fish really seem to like. Added a bit to the lighting in the form of some LED spotlights to go along with the LED fixtures so the tank has a real nice shimmer water effect to it. Been picking up more predator haps and adding to the tank. Still have a few species I am on the hunt for but the current stock makes for a really active enjoyable tank that seems to all get along pretty well with each other.I also sold off the 55g with the group of trophs that were next to it and moved my 75g bleekeri, Oscar & spotted silver dollar tank next to it in the 55g's place. Club auction next weekend so we'll see what happens to follow me home from the auction


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

The fish are maturing nicely, thanks for the update!!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Well I am never one to leave well enough alone, not sure if it's the ocd in me or that fact that I get bored when it's been too long between projects but starting in about 3 weeks there will be some changes to the setup. I will be buying a pair of 120g tanks 4'x2'x2' from a friend/fellow club member and I have some pretty cool plans for them. Short version is I plan to move the 75g tank back under the 125g frontosa tank and use that for over wintering my koi. Then I will be building an 8ft stand so I can put both 4x2x2 tanks butted right up against each other and have those so they are sitting right up next to the far corner of the 240g tank. So basically it will look like an L-shape of tanks with 8ft of tanks against the back wall and the 6ft tank against the other wall.

The two new tanks will get exact copies of the 3d baclground that I did in my 240g so they are all uniform in look. One of the 120g's will be the new home for my oscar/bleekeri/spotted silver dollars, and the other I am thinking a group of electric blue jack dempsys and some gold&red severums. Will probably be updating some new build pics in a few weeks once I take possession of those tanks and get to work.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

The new project sounds very cool and I like the idea of copying the background on the 240G for some continuity!

Will you build the stand and do canopies with the same look as the 240G? What about matching the height of the 240G tank with the new 120G tanks?


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Yep I plan to skin the new 8ft stand section with the exact same maple I used on the 240. I'll build the stand to the same height as the 240 one is. The height of the two 120's will not be the 30" of the 240, but the current 75g tank only has a 19" height so the new tanks will be a full 5" taller so they will look better in height next to the 240 than the current 75 does which will be nice because the current height difference bothers me a bit.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I'm only using racks for 40B tanks and one of the used tanks I got is a bit shorter than the rest and I really hate the way that shorter tank looks as compared to the rest of them. For some reason I like having the top of the tanks be even all the way across.

I know you are very particular on how things look so I'm looking forward to seeing how you 'match' the new tanks to the existing one. What is the overall height of the 240G stand, tank and canopy as it sits now?


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Haven't measured it but I'm 6'4" and it is a about 1-2" taller than me so I'd estimate the OAH to the top of the 240 canopy to be about 6'6" or there abouts.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Well the fun just never ends does it. One thing I have been meaning to do is fix one small spot where the background pulled away from the back side of the tank a bit not long after setting this up. There was a small opening created because a 30" tall acrylic tank bows slightly, so the made for a little spot where smaller fish sometimes could get behind the BG a bit. Yesterday when I turned the lights on a fish spooked which in turn spooked other fish and my 8" red fin borleyi stuck his head in the opening almost getting behind it. So after getting him free I decided to fix the problem so I would not have to worry about it any longer.

Trying to net 30 fish in a 6x2x30 tank with two small openings in the top is not as fund as it sounds lol. Even with two good size nets (one in each hand) and a divider to corner fish it still ended up taking me close to two hours just to net all the fish.

Everyone shoved into a small holding tank.









Then came the real fun stuff. Getting everything out of the tank. Sounds easier than it is, but not very enjoyable to have to be on top of a step ladder reaching down into a tank trying to get all the decor out without hitting the front panel or damaging anything. Slow but steady and it was cleared out.










All in all it took about a good six hours of work. Started about 7pm and finished up just before 1am. Thankfully it is done and now I don't have to worry about anyone getting back behind the background anymore. And as a bonus everything is now extremely clean


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Short vid of my 240g tank after recently doing some more work on it. Added some new accent lighting today with a couple of 850lum LED spotlights which give it that nice shimmering water effect (vid doesn't show that very well). Recently added some new fish- Moorii, Taiwan reef, Pheno, Fosso, Venustus, some Ob's and a trip of Bucco's.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Wow on the background fix and the trouble it took to get it done! I can't even imagine having to work through the small openings on an acrylic tank and one that's 30" high, I have enough trouble on my 220G glass tank that is 30" high. What did you do to fix the small gap issue?

Nice video update and those Bucco's look awesome.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Yeah that is the hardest part of a tall tank (reaching into it) I am a huge fan of taller tanks mainly because I am very tall myself so I always feel like I have to bend down to get eye level with a normal height tank, but they definitely are much more of a pain when it comes to working inside them :x

The openings that the smaller fish were getting through and behind the BG were right inside the cave openings. So what I did was I pulled the BG away from the back of the tank a bit and then took some clear hose and worked it between the cave openings and the back of the tank then pushed the BG back into place. That way the hose is pushed up enough so it is not visible when looking at the tank, yet blocks off so no one can get past it.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Update time, have added a good number of new fish lately thanks in part to some of the people in my local cichlid club which I am a member in, plus a couple of the auctions from a week or two ago. Finally got a species I have wanted for a year now (Modka White Lips) and added some other really nice fish from some of the auctions. Stock in the tank is really looking good now. Have had to weed out a couple troublemakers, but now everyone seems to be getting along pretty well for the most part.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Some of the latest pick ups from my club I am an active member in (Michigan Cichlid Association). We had our annual winter auction over the weekend and as always I am on the look out for some new species to add to my hap/peacock 240g tank. At this auction I picked up some species I have been looking to add to the tank for some time now.


















































Not all in order but they are...

White knight 4"
Protomelas spilontus Tanzania 4"
Placidochromis vC-10 4"
Livingstonii 3"
Aulonocara jacobfreibergi Swallowtail 4"
Cyrtocara moorii 6"


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## NewkeeperRico (Feb 5, 2018)

Awesome setup and beautiful fish you have there!


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Time for an update on the 240g tank. Been awhile since I updated this tank and have made some minor changes here and there with some things and decor, also have changed some stocking over the year. Lost my big eyebiter back in the spring which sucked but it was such a big old fish it was just his time. Took out most the peacocks and trying to stay strictly haps and mbuna now, still have a couple peacocks in with them but they have been doing fine for the past 6 months so they will stay in for now.

Got three canisters running on it now to handle the bio load. Pair of fx5's and a big eheim. Just scored some really nice fish from the club auction and pretty much have the stocking finished now. Wont be adding anything else to the tank as it is heavily stocked now. Makes for a very active and enjoyable tank to sit and watch with a cup of coffee though, great way to start the morning each day.

Short video here---


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## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

Looks good Steve. How's the polleni behaving? I moved mine into my hap and peacock tank awhile ago, but isn't as big as yours. I'm also slowing weeding out smaller species to end up with mostly predators.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

She's a bit of a jerk lol. That's actually why she's in this tank. I had her in the 120g with the bichirs/dat/geos but she was constantly chasing the geos so I ended up moving her to this tank back about 6-8 months ago just because I figured the aggression level would fit more in line with this tank. For the most part she's actually working out well in this tank. The only one she really chases more than the rest is the frontosa. The frontosa in this tank is one I had to pull out of my frontosa colony tank basically for the same reason (she's hyper-aggressive for a frontosa) she actually killed one of the male frontosa when she was in the colony and beat up a 2nd male. So the polleni has actually tamed the frontosa down a bit.

The polleni didn't really show much aggression until it reached about 5"+ range, not sure if yours is there yet but once it starts getting close to that range just keep an eye on it.


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## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

Mines probably 6"-7". It did grab a silver dollar by the head the other day, I think it realized it couldn't do anything with a fish with such a wide shape, so it let it go.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

> It did grab a silver dollar by the head the other day


 :lol: :lol: :lol: couldn't help but chuckle at that, just sounded funny when I read it lol. Do you know if your polleni is male or female? Females are usually a bit more relaxed than the males of the species.


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## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

Steve C said:


> > It did grab a silver dollar by the head the other day
> 
> 
> :lol: :lol: :lol: couldn't help but chuckle at that, just sounded funny when I read it lol. Do you know if your polleni is male or female? Females are usually a bit more relaxed than the males of the species.


I laughed too when I saw it, this is the same fish that I had to surgically remove a Cory from it's 
mouth when it was smaller. I really dont know if it's male or female.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Post up a pic and I can probably tell ya. With polleni you can usually tell without venting. The males will normally have more of a humped head and the fins will be longer and more pointed. Females like mine have more of a smaller tapered head and they wont have the pointed trailing fins that the males tend to get.


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## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

Here's a few pics, its hard getting near the tank for pictures cause everyone thinks it's feeding time and crowd right under the surface. The one without flash is an older pic. Also, how many fish do you think you have in there right now?


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Yours very well may be a male, looks like it has a big more of a thicker head raise to him than mine and looks like he's got some pretty decent length fins in that one picture. Can't say with 100% certainty but I would lean towards yours being male. Nice looking polli BTW 

I don't know how many exactly I have in my 240g now, because I have had a number of spawns in the tank from some of my labs and kenyi and some of them have actually survived and are now 1"-3" range. If I had to guess though I would say total fish number of somewhere around 55-60 fish.


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## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

Thanks, it's one of my favorite fish. His growing slowed down a bit when I moved him to a tank that actually had competition for food. Growing out in the 55 he ate everything that hit the water. That's alot of fish, I'm alittle on the heavy side too with stocking, I want to moved some stuff, but haven't yet. Along with the polleni, I've also added a few spotted silver dollars and was supposed to get about an 8" polypterus, but it got sold before I got back to the store.


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## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Well I am starting to feel like an addict lol. Everytime I say "thats it no more I am done" I end up going back out and getting more  A just couldn't past this up though. Brought home five new fish for the 240g today. A fellow club member had some fish that were just such great quality bloodlines I could not walk out of his fish room without them. I got two 5" White Knights, two 5" Deep Water haps, and a 5" male Livingstonii.

The stock in the 240 is just unreal now, I couldn't be happier with it and as some of them guys are aready big like the champ which is close to 12" now, some of them still have lots of growing to do so I have to stop adding fish now. Thats it, I'm done, no really I meant it this time lol


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## Thalas_shaya (Mar 10, 2014)

Beauties! And good photos, too!


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