# 120 gallon build - Stand, canopy, drilled tank & Malawi



## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

*Stand & tank from the craigslist ad*









*Stand*
I wanted the stand to match my existing furniture so I dressed the edges & covered the paneled sides & front with 1/4" ply. Raised panel doors have been purchased

















*Canopy*
There is a 6" hinged door that goes in the front (shown clamped after gluing below.) I will finish it tomorrow along with finishing the cabinet doors & mounting them.

























*Drilling the back glass & fitting the 1500 GPH glass-holes.com overflow.* 
Prior to this the top rim had & the mega-flow weirs had to be removed to accomadate the Malawi Rock background. I will use the original return line holes in the floor. The 1" drain holes are plugged.

























*Overflow installed & beginning the return lines. There will be three return points total running from two Rio powerheads, approx 1200 GPH.*









*Installing the Malawi Rock background*
Will take pictures tomorrow showing the return lines & supply. Siliconing it down was a pain. The contour of the sides makes it very difficult to access with a caulking gun, even on a 24" deep tank.
*Fitting the egg crate.*








*The background. Cut to fit. Disregard the red portion - something weird happened with the camera*









More later. :thumb:


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## Teggy (Nov 5, 2010)

I love the attention to detail, everything looks very clean. Nice work so far, I can't wait to see how it turns out opcorn:


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## Stellaluna (May 8, 2006)

Nice job!

It is so nice to have the pics from start to finish, and people can see exactly what you did. The end result is so much more satisfying when you take your time and do things right. :thumb:


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## Kerricko (May 26, 2010)

Looks good. Can't wait to see it finished and full of fish.


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Me either Kerricko, me either.

The plan is for the fish to arrive 12/24 so I gotta get some water in this baby soon.

Thanks for the compliments. Correcting alot of the mistakes I made on my last tank.. Live & lean, trial & error.


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## Lindsey Dindsey (Jul 14, 2004)

Very nice! :thumb:


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

*Spraying the edges to conceal the cross section of the background*


















*Masking removed*


















*Return lines *










Power Head dropped behind in front of the intake vent - circulating from the bottom of the tank to the top.
(Had to find somewhere to put that sticker! Would look weird on the car)










*Drain plumbing rough - in & checking for leaks. (Of course there were!)*


























*Quarter full. Decided to add a refugium at the last minute - 10 gallon. I put a "T" on one of the 1.5" lines, reduced to 1/2" with a ball valve to regulate flow. Power head return to the tank. Will probably silicone a baffle wall to isolate the power head.*










Still running behind but atleast the tank is in the house now... I will probably dial everything in & fill it up over Thanksgiving. Dr Tim's will be here Wednesday. Corkscrew Val Thursday.

Still need to finish the cabinet doors & canopy but all of that can be done after water is in.


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## Glaneon (Sep 27, 2010)

You can come do mine next. Will trade computer work


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

I will certainly keep that in mind...

In truth, the "build" is probably the most fun - certainly stimulates the mind...

Can't wait to get the fish in there. My 10 year old is driving me nuts about it.. !! LOL


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## kriskm (Dec 1, 2009)

This has been a fun one to follow. Can't wait to see the fish in it. Keep us updated!


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Will do. Water goes in tonight.

Using Dr Tims One & Only & his ammonia solution. If things go well - may be ready to add fish in a couple of weeks. They are already purchased - just need the go ahead on shipping..

Here is the list - I know it is ambitious. Hopefully, I can make it work but may eventually have to remove a species.

* Demasoni (17 juvies)
* Msobo (8 juvies)
* Flavus (8 juvies)
* Albino Socofoli (8 juvies)
* Red Top Trewavasae (8 juvies)
* Syno Multipunct - (3 - for now)


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

*Putting in substrate (Seachem aragonite under PFS), plants (anubia) & rocks*


























*Filling it up.*










*Filled with canopy on top. Finishing it & the two cabinet doors tomorrow. Then I wait - Cyle - Fish*


















*Prime & painting the underside of the canopy.*


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## Glaneon (Sep 27, 2010)

Lookin' good.

Thanks for the update


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

*Now I wait.. Geez... Kinda hard to see. Will try to get some better pics duing the day *


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## benny71 (Sep 30, 2010)

Absolutely beautiful.

I love the BG and can't wait to see it stocked. :thumb:


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Me either. Thanks!


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Images aren't the best. Really difficult to get great shots with all of the flash glare.. Anyway, here it is. Demasoni arrive tomorrow...


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

Stunning! I just found this thread now. Amazing process getting to the final result. Really nicely done. =D>

The fish look great too!


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

The cycling was a royal PITA!

Still debating those albino zebra's.. I am afraid they could be a problem down the road.

Thanks for the kind words...


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

cantrell00 said:


> The cycling was a royal PITA!


I saw some of your posts as you went through your struggle. I'm still going through it (22 days and counting). Seeing your photos though is inspiring. They show that there can be a reward for the patience.


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

I learned that I will never do it without stealing a filter off of an existing tank fist.. Talk about watching grass grow... Ugh...

Yeah - it is worth it in the end... :thumb:

What are your paramaters? Surely you have seen a nitrite spike, right?


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

My nitrites have been at 5.0 ppm for over two weeks. I keep doing water changes to bring them down and then add ammonia every 2-3 days to bring the ammonia back up to 1-2 ppm. I'm sure the nitrites will drop on their own one of these days...in the meantime I'm trying to figure out what kind of fish I'm going to put in the tank when it's ready. Having all this time just adds to the indecision :lol:


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Mbuna? what size is your tank?

Yeah - you need to keep the nitrites under 5 if possible.. May want to only dose @ 50% of what you have been doing too. Only dose every other day until you see the nitrites dropping. Once they get down to close to zero - redose @ the same ratio...

My last week was doing what I just described.. You may be overwhelming things right now with the ammonia dosage & the dosage frequency..


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## benny71 (Sep 30, 2010)

cantrell00 said:


> I learned that I will never do it without stealing a filter off of an existing tank first.


I will NEVER start another tank without established filter media...I'm just too impatient.


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Me either.. I still had a nitrite spike the next day after I added the fish (30 total).. It jumped to .50, dropped to .25 - went back up to 1.0 and then gradually came back down to 0... About 72 hours from start to finish.

Once it got to zero - it has stayed there. 3 days in a row now. I have added 10 more fish since then.

If you ever get them stable, you are good to go (within reason) But man - they are a pain to establish. The more you monitor - the more you wait it seems.

Now I keep two powerheads with foam intakes running in my sump just so I can establish a new one as needed. Plug & play..


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

cantrell00 said:


> Mbuna? what size is your tank?
> 
> Yeah - you need to keep the nitrites under 5 if possible.. May want to only dose @ 50% of what you have been doing too. Only dose every other day until you see the nitrites dropping. Once they get down to close to zero - redose @ the same ratio...
> 
> My last week was doing what I just described.. You may be overwhelming things right now with the ammonia dosage & the dosage frequency..


The tank I'm going to be stocking is a 110 g (72" x 19"). I haven't decided if it's going to be mbuna or a mix of mbuna and haps/peacocks (or which ones)...all part of the fun, I guess.

I've actually only been dosing once every two or three days and the amount I've added has only been enough to bring the ppm to just over 1.0. In the last week, I've also done water changes to bring the nitrites well below 5.0 before dosing. You think I should be going even less frequent and even smaller doses with the ammonia?


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

I dropped all the way down to .50 PPM ammonia until I saw the nitrites drop, then raised in small incremental steps back up to 1.0 to complete the cycle. .50 , .75, 1.0.

I would do a series of small water changes (15-20%) over 3-4 days to get the nitrites down while only dosing @ 50% of what you have been doing.

What are you using as an ammonia source? Whatever amount (drops, teaspoons) you are adding to create 1 PPM, cut it in half.

Another thing you could do is find some seeded media somewhere, friend, petstore, whatever and add it to your filtration.

If you can - I would do that first.

What type of filtration? I am running a sump & wet dry so it was fairly easy to add a piece of seeded wet - dry prefilter fiber to my drip plate.


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

My ammonia source is the stuff I got from Dr. Tim's (very easy to precisely calibrate the dose with this stuff). The tank I'm cycling is not my main tank (the 110 gallon), which is still sitting on the dining room floor waiting for the stand to be delivered. The cycling tank, a 15 gallon, will ultimately just be a hospital/quarantine/nursery tank. I figured I'd cycle it so that I have established bacteria to seed the main tank with when it's set up in a few weeks and get it cycled more quickly. The little tank is being filtered by a couple of Lustar Hydro II sponge filters. As long as it's cycled in the next two weeks (that'll be five weeks of cycling), I'll be satisfied.

I'll follow the steps you've suggested to see if that moves things along more quickly.


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Something to consider: You more than likely will not have a colony large enough to cycle that 110 tank with the two sponge filters without a spike to some degree.

I would go & grab a few more cheap sponges & sumberge them in the tank somehow & add a couple of airstones to increase the aeration & then add ALL of the filter media to the new tank once you set it up.

you need to increase the bacteria colony's mass as a whole to help prevent the spike.


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

I'm not hoping to cycle the 110 with the filters from the 15, just seed it to speed up the process. I fully expect a spike but I'm hoping it gets cycled in less time than the several weeks the 15 is taking. Good idea about the airstone. I have a couple sitting around.


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Ok... no problem then. Will probably be a couple of weeks after you set up the 110 before you can add fish..


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

What did your final stock list end up being? You mentioned not being sure of the albino zebras but your original stock list said you were going to go with albino socolofi. I also notice a lab in one of the photos (not mentioned in the stock list).

Again, really nice tank. I've looked at the photos several times.

Will you post some more now that the demasoni have been added?


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Yes I will...

I am guilty of flip flopping... Originally, it was going to be demasoni, alb socolfi, msobo, red top trewvasae, & flavus..

All were supposed to arrive 12/24. Due to delay in shipping because of the horrible weather everywhere, I couldn't stand waiting any longer & decided to source some of the fish locally. While removing the flavus & the socolofi from the original order.

Scratched the Flavus after I discovered that the females are not attractive. Knew I could get the red top's close but ended up with OB red top's instead.

At another fish store - he had albino zebra's but not socolofi so I ended up with them. He also had Rustys so i got them as an extra. He had yellow labs too. He sold me 30 - 1.5" fish for 60 bucks so I grabbed them all.

As of this moment - I have labs (9), albino zebra's (10), demasoni (20), OB red top trewv (6, 1M/?F), rustys ('8'). The Msobos ('8') are to arrive at a later date.

That is too many species for sure but the fish are very small. I will probably also add the msobo's at a later date - let them all grow some more & see how things shake out. If I have to reduce down, the rusty's & the albino's will probably be the two that go first. I only have $36.00 in those two groups.

If it does end up with only dem's (blue/black), labs (yellow), msobo (dark non striped males, orange females) & the OB red top's - I think it should be a very attractive tank. Would really like to keep the white albino's to add contrast though. We'll see.

Oh.. There are 3 syno multi's added to that tank today too. :thumb:

Inevitably, WAY too many fish in a 4 ft tank. :-?


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Your tank looks fantastic, well done!!


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Thanks!


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)




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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

:drooling:

Simply awesome! I love that combination of colours!


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Thanks...

The Demasoni's are really active fish.. They act like they own the joint & have only be in there 24 hours.. Really cool fish..

I think I am gonna swap the rusty's for the Msobo's (orange females) & call it a day. Will have white, yellow, orange, OB & blue/black.

Just have to keep my eye on those Albino Zebra's. If i only have one male in there - i think I will be ok. They don't back down to the Dem's and they are 1/2 their size...


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Not that I am an expert but adding few more rock piles or just building up the ones you have might look better, seems sparse with that awesome background, also will give a few more hiding places for the fish.

It's a tank of the month candidate!!


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Thanks JimA..

Yeah - I agree.. If nothing else - I am already seeing the necessity for more rock zones. There needs to be more hiding spots.


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## Glaneon (Sep 27, 2010)

Looks great Cantrell!


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Thanks Glaneon..


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## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Tell ya what would be killer if you could do it, looking at your one picture taken at an angle if you can imagine a middle btm half way down the background? In other words you would have a rocky/sandy type shelf half way down that looked like the bottom sticking out maybe 5 or 6 inches. The shelf would act like a rocky overhang for the fish below.
There would be a colony of fish living halfway down then a second colony on the btm yet they could mingle back and forth.

It would be tough to do but would look hella cool, specially with so many fish and a tank as deep/tall as yours.

Not sure the fish would figure it out and take up residency on the shelf/middle layer though?


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Intersting that you say that... It has one kinda. There are indentations & cervices all across the face, particularly the right hand side.

The dominant male demasoni (I think - still early) goes up into the upper levels of the background all the time. Then he will zone out at the bottom & then back again. He has free reign basically..

When they get irritated with another fish & bow their fins & really flash their coloring - they are stunning...


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## hbbyhorse (Oct 15, 2010)

WOW!!! Very nice, I agree that start to finish with pics sure helps some of us newbs, I'm excited to see the end result (with fish). Well done! =D>


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## gliebig (Oct 1, 2010)

Great looking tank!
I have the malawi background, too. I hope my tank turns out 1/2 as good as yours.


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Thanks for the compliments...

I am still not entirely pleased with it but I will never be..


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

nicely done. 
great looking stock to btw.


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

thank you...


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## Adams2156 (Jan 6, 2007)

:drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling: :drooling:


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Thanks...

I gotta reduce the species in that tank at some point. Going to let them grow & see what happens... The only certainty is the Demasoni..


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

demasonis and labs are a very good mix along with the albinos in the long run.
im no expert in malawis but i think 3 rock dwelling species is more than enough for that tank.


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Four can work if it is the right one but risky for sure.. There are FIVE in there right now & still debating the msobo's.  Everything but the Dems are still really small though.

Trewavase's & Rusty's are the other two & probably the most likely to go unless those albino's get out of hand..

So yeah.. Some decisions to make down the road or maybe another tank?...


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