# 225 Gallon build thread.....



## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

Just bought my "dream tank" off of Craigslist this weekend, but will be a lot of work to get up and running. I plan on keeping a diary with pics and details here - including some acrylic repairs, diy stand, diy plumbing, etc.

To start with, as I was getting the tank, the previous owner was helping me load, and DROPPED his end of the 225 gallon acrylic tank. I was ready to blow a gasket, but kept cool. There is a small crack in the back bottom corner of the tank. We put in a few gallons of water, and nothing came out, but did not put any pressure on it with much water to see if it will hold. Everything looks intact on the inside, but there are two obvious (albeit tiny - maybe 1/4") hairline cracks on the exterior. So, last night I ordered some Weld-On 3 and will be using a syringe to inject into the cracks and hopefully seal them. Not real confident of that fix, so I also got some Weld-On 16 and ordered a 1/2" square acrylic rod, which I will be taking about 2 inches of and using the Weld-On to put into the rear corner where the crack is. Fortunately, it was the rear corner, and welding the square rod on all 3 sides should be very strong. Reading up on acrylic repair, I am hoping that will hold. Since it is the back corner, the square rod should not be noticable as it will be under the sand substrate when all is done.

The Wet-Dry filter that came with (also acrylic) does have some cracks that have gone all the way through around one bulkhead hole at the "outflow" end of the box. Ordered two 1/8" sheets to size that I will Weld-On to cover both the inside and outside, then redrill for the bulkheads. May be overkill, but since it is the sump, appearance doesn't matter - NOT leaking does.

The tank came with 2 Gorman-Rupp 1500 gph external pumps that I will be using for the Wet Dry, and a 400 gph Iwaki that I am thinking of using with an external red sea filter (also included with the tank) for water polishing and a little more water flow to make up for head loss.

The tank has 6 bulkhead holes in the bottom, in a back wall, center overflow that is supposed to give 3000 gph flow. Also is another hole drilled in the overflow for a dry chase to run electrical lines down from the canopy. I am getting all new bulkheads (previous owner said he had a couple leak) and all completely new plumbing. Plan on putting in ball valves to be able to disconnect any piping and replace whenever needed.

Hope to do a continuous, automatic water change system, modeled on fmuellers (from his website - a fantastic resource, by the way). Will be doing standpipes in the overflow based on durso's design.

Still considering a DIY background, but may just go with a preformed 3D, as they seem to be getting cheaper, and can get one for around $200. We'll see.

Stand will be primarily 2x4 construction, with a 2x8 upper rails, based on this: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1169964&pp=25

My son (18) will be doing a lot of the stand building, as I will be spending a lot of my time doing the acrylic, then doing all the plumbing work. Will post pics tomorrow of what it looks like now. When completed, I am planning on stocking as a Tang. community tank.


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## quentin8 (Sep 30, 2011)

opcorn: this is gonna be a great thread, keep us updated and take tons of pics. :thumb:


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## Potus (Dec 11, 2009)

Any idea what Tangs you will put in?


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

Took some pics tonight....all the work I got completed tonight was to scrape and use goof off to remove all sorts of tape residue, caulking and other assorted **** that the previous owner had all over the top of the tank and the acrylic tank covers. Took about 1 hour. Waiting to get the weld-on and the acrylic repair pieces by mail order, those things are my first order of business for the tank. A couple of pics (clicking will take you to larger pictures - sorry for the quality, the whole thing is stuffed into one side of our garage until complete - wife rules!  )

The tank itself:


Couple shots of the crack in the lower back corner - this crack does not go through to the inside, but I think it will over time unless I fix now:
 

Couple shots of the sump - the left hole has the cracks radiating from it - I will be attaching one or two sheets directly over this entire area that appears glazed, and redrilling the holes:

 

Probably no work on this tomorrow night, hope to get the acrylic repair stuff by Wednesday and start that evening......


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

Potus - the plan right now is E. Kilesa, a group of featherfins (undecided what kind), cyp leptosoma utinta (around 25), juli ornatus (around 20), a group of probably 6 leleupi, and several bn plecos. May also do some black calvus and gold occies, depending on how everyone is getting along 8)

Of course, this build is looking more and more like it is going to take a while and I am sure I will change my mind several times about what I want to stock with in the next few weeks.....


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## madmort0 (Oct 29, 2011)

opcorn:


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

:x :x :x

Well, this is going to be more difficult than I thought. I have been posting on the forum at Reef Central with the acrylic crack issue (some guys over there with a LOT of acrylic building experience). I will definitely have to do more work on this corner crack than I originally thought before I can move forward with the rest. My idea of using 1/2" square rod will probably not be sufficient, as this crack is worse than originally appeared, and is at the highest "stress" point of the entire tank. If I don't get it fixed right, it could just blow out at any time. Did not realize that acrylic was so much different than glass in a situation like this..... have posted some high res pictures of the crack over there and see if putting a 12" x 12" plate of acrylic along with some of the 1/2" rod bracing will give it sufficient strength.

I had ordered some Novus and did some polishing last night - that stuff is amazing, hope I get to actually put it to use on the tank!


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## oo3 (Apr 18, 2012)

Could you post a link to that thread? I would like to read it.


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1056956&page=107

I also asked the question at wetwebmedia - the pics, question and response are at the bottom of the page (as of right now...they will move, but could be found in the future by searching the site for acrylic crack repair.)

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/daily_faqs3.htm

I will be doing the crack seal with Weld-On 3 and square doweling for the repair. Will post pics when done....


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

Going slower than I hoped. My dear wife decided that backsplash needed to be installed for our new countertops that we put in a couple of months ago. Spent most of the weekend doing that...but did find a few minutes to work on the tank.

My son and a good friend took a day off on Friday for "Senior Skip Day", and, for fun, decided to work on the aquarium stand (weird, right?). Pretty cool for them to do this - here they are on top of the almost finished "bones" of the stand.

 (That is my son on the right, with the Purdue t-shirt - he is going there in the fall).

They did a nice job on it - I think it will hold a truck.....I did have them add a couple of more 2X4s as support (2 in front, 1 in back) along the length after these pictures, probably overkill - but oh, well. They went nuts on using screws to hold this thing together.  Asked them why the used SO many screws - answer "Because we could, and it was fun!" Oh well, no complaints from me.



Started the corner crack repair - turned the tank on its face, and used the Weld-On 3 - amazing stuff, I basically dripped it where the crack is on the exterior, and watched it just get sucked into the crack itself - that capillary action is really cool. Will set the tank back up and do one more drip on the outside crack and install the interior "braces" in the next day or so.

While the tank was on its face, I checked out the holes drilled on the bottom of the tank - all full of caulk. I am ready to just refer to the person I purchased this from as "the idiot". Seems like whenever a bulkhead started leaking, he would loosen it up, the caulk the #$#$%#@ out of it and screw it back on. Spent about 2 hours last night using caulk softener and goof off - finally got it all cleaned off. While I was doing that, started wondering why he had so much leaking there. Was thinking that the put the rubber washer on the inside rather than out, but no way of knowing for sure. Decided to stick one of the bulkheads he had with the tank in the hole, and the hole was definitely much larger than needed for the bulkhead, but also not big enough to go up a size. Did some measuring and checking, and I am 99% sure the holes were drilled for Schedule 80 bulkheads, and he was using schedule 40 - NO WONDER IT LEAKED!!! Unfortunately, I just assumed he knew what he was doing, and had ordered a half-dozen schedule 40 bulkheads on line last week, and will need to return those and get the 80's.

Will be working on the acrylic repair for the sump tonight, unless something else comes up. Once that repair is done and I finish the corner repair, I will be able to set the aquarium on the stand and start designing the plumbing.........


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Nice build going there, I hope the leak fix job works for you. Just a heads up but pretty sure the bulkhead gasket does go inside the tank. Least it does when I was repairing hot tubs.


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

You are right......i meant he may have put them on the outside instead of the inside......will post some pics tomorrow of the work tonight.


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

Basically worked on more acrylic repair, and started writing out the plumbing plan for the tank. Also took the 3 pumps that came with and plugged them all in to ensure they actually worked. I did not test them with water, but they all at least started. Took apart the impeller assembly on all of them and cleaned them up. Also had to remount the thermal protector on one of the pumps that had snapped off the bolt it was on.

Drilled the outside sheet that is going on the sump with holes to match what is currently on the sump and then "welded" it on the to the outside of the sump with lots of Weld-On 16:

 Remnants from drilling the holes.....

 Repair sheet clamped and weighted down on the outside of the sump - the clamps are going through the holes drilled.

Tonight is "date night" with the dear wife, so probably will not be doing much (if any) work tonight. Up next is putting the 3 braces in the interior of the tank where the corner is cracked, and installing the other repair sheet on the inside of the sump, so the bad acrylic is sandwiched and I don't have to worry about the cracks on there spreading or leaking......


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

No pictures today, but did a little bit more work last night. I finished the interior brace in the corner of the aquarium, and finished cleaning the caulk off of various areas of the sump. I also had to chisel out some wood in the cutout area of the stand for the overflow holes. The schedule 80 bulkheads are thick, and needed to make some room for them to fit when the tank is on the stand. Will be getting a 4' x 8' sheet of styrofoam and putting the tank on the stand and setting up all the plumbing for the sump/filter. I think I have pretty much all the unions/bulkheads/connections/valves that I need, it is amazing how much plumbing I have had to get for this. So, will be laying it all out and doing a dry fitting of everything, then filling the tank up and doing a full test of the filter and pumps. If that all works, then I will tear it down to do all the finish work on the stand, clean the tank real good and buff out scratches on there, decide on a background and hopefully have it ready to go in a couple of weeks.....


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

Getting frustrated.....spent a lot of time this weekend on running the plumbing. Put in the overflow standpipes, hooked the pumps to the sump, ran the pipes from the standpipes to the sump, and, finally, last night, everything seemed to be ready to go. First lesson learned last night: If you think there might be a problem area, test THAT out first. So, two areas I was most concerned with for leak - the overflow area, especially where there is one large 2" hole that was a "dry chase", the previous owner gave me a threaded 2" pipe to screw into that. It seemed kind of hinky, so I figured that might be a problem. Second area was the sump - I thought my repair would hold, but wasn't sure. So, instead of testing those areas, I filled up the main tank - everything goes along great, until the water starts going through the overflow-----almost immediately get a very fast drip around the dry chase - nothing too serious. Put a bucket under there that catches maybe 50%....
Sump starts filling up, things are looking good. Start up the pumps, and they actually start working. The two big pumps (1500 gph) really push some water!! Other than the leak around the chase, things are looking good. All of a sudden, my son tells me I have a problem - I look up and the sump is pouring water out all along one of the bottom seams. Probably 6-10" of the seam has let go and water is POURING out. Quickly, I take one of the returns out of the tank, and start pumping it outside, until the sump is almost empty. 
So, now I have a standpipe hole that I can simply block off and not use, not too much of a problem. Also have a sump seam that has given way. Fortunately, I still have 3 to 4 feet of 1/2" square acrylic rod that I can weld into that seam and should take care of that. 
Next lesson learned - don't get frustrated and do too much..... So now I have water all over the garage - the pumps (all exterior pumps, by the way) are sitting in water, slipping and sliding because a wet garage floor is like an ice rink to walk on. Even though I had gotten the water level in the tank low enough so the that overflows were no longer taking water, I decided I needed to empty the tank NOW! So I grabbed on the big pumps, yank off the tubing, move some plumbing around on it quickly so I can run a hose into the tank and pump it out, and set the pump very precariously on top of a garbage can...and plug it in, forgetting that the power is on, which starts the pump right away. I did not have the line in the tank yet and was startled, so I quickly unplug it, leave the pump and go over to the power strip to turn it off, the pump falls OFF the garbage can and crashes to the floor. When I have everything ready to go, I plug it back in.....nothing. try it again, nothing. Bang on the pump, wiggle the wires, nothing. So, I may have blown something on the electric motor on the pump because I "had" to empty the tank right away because I was pi&%#$*. I am hoping it was not working from being wet, and sitting overnight and during the day today will bring it back to life.

Good news is that all the plumbing I did held up just fine, as did the acrylic repairs I had made. Learned that I will definitely need valves on the return line to slow down the flow somewhat going to the tank. Had over 3000 gph going back to the tank, and the standpipes just could not bring down that much water.

Sorry, no pictures today....was going to take some last night when it was up and running, but that got waylaid by the leaks....


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## Dart032 (Dec 9, 2011)

id put in bigger overflows to keep up with the pumps...just my 2 cents


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

rous said:


> Getting frustrated.....spent a lot of time this weekend on running the plumbing. Put in the overflow standpipes, hooked the pumps to the sump, ran the pipes from the standpipes to the sump, and, finally, last night, everything seemed to be ready to go. First lesson learned last night: If you think there might be a problem area, test THAT out first. So, two areas I was most concerned with for leak - the overflow area, especially where there is one large 2" hole that was a "dry chase", the previous owner gave me a threaded 2" pipe to screw into that. It seemed kind of hinky, so I figured that might be a problem. Second area was the sump - I thought my repair would hold, but wasn't sure. So, instead of testing those areas, I filled up the main tank - everything goes along great, until the water starts going through the overflow-----almost immediately get a very fast drip around the dry chase - nothing too serious. Put a bucket under there that catches maybe 50%....
> Sump starts filling up, things are looking good. Start up the pumps, and they actually start working. The two big pumps (1500 gph) really push some water!! Other than the leak around the chase, things are looking good. All of a sudden, my son tells me I have a problem - I look up and the sump is pouring water out all along one of the bottom seams. Probably 6-10" of the seam has let go and water is POURING out. Quickly, I take one of the returns out of the tank, and start pumping it outside, until the sump is almost empty.
> So, now I have a standpipe hole that I can simply block off and not use, not too much of a problem. Also have a sump seam that has given way. Fortunately, I still have 3 to 4 feet of 1/2" square acrylic rod that I can weld into that seam and should take care of that.
> Next lesson learned - don't get frustrated and do too much..... So now I have water all over the garage - the pumps (all exterior pumps, by the way) are sitting in water, slipping and sliding because a wet garage floor is like an ice rink to walk on. Even though I had gotten the water level in the tank low enough so the that overflows were no longer taking water, I decided I needed to empty the tank NOW! So I grabbed on the big pumps, yank off the tubing, move some plumbing around on it quickly so I can run a hose into the tank and pump it out, and set the pump very precariously on top of a garbage can...and plug it in, forgetting that the power is on, which starts the pump right away. I did not have the line in the tank yet and was startled, so I quickly unplug it, leave the pump and go over to the power strip to turn it off, the pump falls OFF the garbage can and crashes to the floor. When I have everything ready to go, I plug it back in.....nothing. try it again, nothing. Bang on the pump, wiggle the wires, nothing. So, I may have blown something on the electric motor on the pump because I "had" to empty the tank right away because I was pi&%#$*. I am hoping it was not working from being wet, and sitting overnight and during the day today will bring it back to life.
> ...


Do you know what size pipe is in the overflow hole? A 1" drain will flow @ approx 750 GPH..FYI.

Sounds like you will need 1.5" drains to stand any chance of keeping up with those pumps. That or throttlling the output of the pumps with gate valves...


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

I have 3 one inch drain lines, which should be enough, I do already have the valves to throttle back the pumps. One of the 1500 gph pumps is shot, so looking for a used one right now to replace it. Covered the dry chase hole with an acrylic piece, working on the sump-shoring up all the seams and any areas where it looks like it might be weak.


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

rous said:


> I have 3 one inch drain lines, which should be enough, I do already have the valves to throttle back the pumps. One of the 1500 gph pumps is shot, so looking for a used one right now to replace it. Covered the dry chase hole with an acrylic piece, working on the sump-shoring up all the seams and any areas where it looks like it might be weak.


Ok... So when you mentioned two big pumps (1500 GPH), I assumed you were saying the sum of the two or 3000 GPH..

No problem...


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

Wow, this thing is really becoming difficult. The sump that came with the tank is shot. I have repaired 3 leaks so far, and when I filled and tested it last night, 2 more small leaks have shown up. Given up on repairing it, and will be replacing it. So, the idea now is to do a Sterilite/rubbermaid tub and modify it for the sump. Plan on following the design of the DIY article here, and using a drawer to hold bioballs on the inlet side for a wet/dry, then using Poret filter foam as mechanical filtration. Good news is that the tank has been holding water for the last 2 weeks, and the corner repair is holding fine. Also, the "dry run" patch in the overflow is good. Will have to change some of the under tank plumbing with a different sump container, but hopefully I am getting closer to having it up and running. Feeling some real time pressure also as I have to move my office 75 gallon tank next Friday for a move, and wanted to put all the fish from there into this tank before the move. And I will be out of town at a conference from Monday - Thursday.

Moving forward, but slowly.


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

Took my lunch and went to the big box hardware store. Found a 30 gallon very rugged tote that I will be using as a sump, and also found a 10 gallon tote that actually fits very tightly inside without reaching the bottom, which should work perfectly for a bio ball container. (FYI, I am using bioballs rather than something cheaper just because I have about 50 gallons worth that came with the tank.). See what the family is up to this evening, but will be trying to get the system back up and running tonight and see if the third time is the charm.....first try was horrendous leaks, second try a couple of small leaks, third time...?????????


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

Yes! Up and running today. Things are working good, but the pumps are VERY LOUD!! I am hoping it is because they have been sitting for a couple of years and they will get quieter as they go along. Been running for about 3 hours now, and a few very small leaks in the bottom of the bulkheads. I had bought bulkheads with threaded outputs, and I think 4 of the 6 are leaking (not the bulkhead itself, the threaded outlet from it), despite my best efforts to tighten them down. Think I will replace those with slip bulkheads, I don't want to crank on those babies and crack the tank.....

Otherwise, finally feeling really good about the tank and build. I may need to cut short some of the work - background, finished stand, etc - in order to get this up and running quickly so I can move my office tank...


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

rous said:


> Yes! Up and running today. Things are working good, but the pumps are VERY LOUD!! I am hoping it is because they have been sitting for a couple of years and they will get quieter as they go along. Been running for about 3 hours now, and a few very small leaks in the bottom of the bulkheads. I had bought bulkheads with threaded outputs, and I think 4 of the 6 are leaking (not the bulkhead itself, the threaded outlet from it), despite my best efforts to tighten them down. Think I will replace those with slip bulkheads, I don't want to crank on those babies and crack the tank.....
> 
> Otherwise, finally feeling really good about the tank and build. I may need to cut short some of the work - background, finished stand, etc - in order to get this up and running quickly so I can move my office tank...


Probably a dumb question on my part but I assume you used thread tape, etc..?


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

Yep, used thread tape, and tightened everything is as tight as I can get by hand.


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Ok... I just know that i can forget the simplest of steps at times...


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

Thought I would post some pics of the wet/dry sump that I made:

 Here it is in place below the aquarium. The wet/dry portion is the bin to the left where you can see the drain lines feeding into...

 Larger shot of the whole thing

 Wet dry bin nested in the sump bin. Fit perfectly where the upper rim of the smaller bin fit perfectly in the large one - no support needed at all. The large bin is very heavy duty - I filled it completely with water (30 gallons) and no bowing at all. Still plan on doing 2 x 4's around it for support just in case....

 Cover and one layer of filter sponge foam off the top of the wet dry. This sheet was in the old sump, a little bit of cutting and it fit perfectly in here.

 Here is the wet dry filter full of bio balls - holds about 10 gallons.

 Holes drilled in the bottom of the wet dry portion for water to flow through. About the bottom 2-3 inches of this bin is actually undewater, but the majority of it is above the water line.

Will also be adding a wall of 4" Poret filter foam sheet for the water that goes through the wet dry to flow through before hitting the return pumps for addition mechanical and biological filtration. Things seem to finally be working out.

I have emptied the tank and taking everything apart to prepare to move the whole thing to the basement. Will be out of town all week for a seminar, so possibly next weekend will be setting it up to run for good. I have had to put more money into this than I thought with the problems I have come across, so I may not be finishing the stand at this point.....


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

Will you have room in the 30g to handle power outage? 30g seems a little small for a tank that size.


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

My plan is to have an overflow in the sump and have a drip continuous automatic water change. I will be testing out the overflow capacity if I start running it before that is ready to go. I did test the capacity when I had it set up and it held enough.


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

A little more progress through the holiday weekend. Installed a sheet of plywood on the bottom of the stand, then used a stain blocker/sealer on the plywood, and all along the 2x4s on the bottom of the stand. Followed that up with another coat of paint, and caulked all around the bottom of the 2x4s where they meet the plywood. Then painted the whole thing with Drylok. My intent is to have a somewhat waterproof base, so any minor leaks in the plumbing will not rot the wood or stain the carpet. Also spent quite a bit of time scrubbing and polishing the acrylic where it is scratched on the interior. Fortunately, no serious scratches anywhere, just want it as clean as possible for when I get it running. Decided the sell the 2 pumps I have for returns right now, as they are too noisy for my wife, and get some new magdrives. Found out I had a nice amount of bonus money on my work credit card that I traded in for Amazon gift cards, so I can get the new pumps. 
Will be starting the work on the styrofoam background this week sometime, which is really about all that is left before actually setting the tank up.


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## rous (Apr 10, 2006)

Slow progress still being made. Moved the stand and tank to the basement, to open up the garage a little bit. Tank is ready to go, and will be setting up for now with just the frame of the stand until some more $$ come in to skin and finish it.

Been working on the background, and ran across two things that have made it very difficult to get the background the way I want:
1. The tank has a center overflow, with angled sides on the overflow. That means I have to cut the angles correctly on the styrofoam so they fit together well, and also I have to make the background in 5 separate pieces (back right corner, right overflow angle, center of overflow, left overflow angle, and back left corner). I also am covering two return lines to the ugj system on either end of the tank. The overflow itself is 6+ inches deep, so I definitely cannot run one big sheet of styrofoam across the back of the tank.
2. I have the artistic abilities of a hedgehog, and the patience of a gerbil on speed when it comes to trying to "create" something.

Anyways, I forged ahead, and here are a few pics:

 Here is how I added the final color coats after 3 base coats of grey and black are already down. 3 cups of drylok colored to various shades of grey with liquid cement coloring, and 1 cup uncolored.

 Pieces laid out next to each other.....

 Very Bad picture of the background in the tank.....

I still have some trimming and adjusting to do before it is in exactly how I want it. Once I do a little cutting here and there and actually silicone them in place, it should fit pretty tight, and some of the gaps between the pieces will disappear.

So, I am not really excited about how it turned out, but not too disappointed, either. Once I actually put in sand, some rocks and plants and fill the tank up, i think it will look better. I decided I want the background to look more like a topography rather than a bunch of rocks piled to create a wall. I think I have done that somewhat, but I would need to start all over again and probably hire someone to get it to look the way I really want.

Will post updates when I get further along.


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