# Unique tank...



## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

Found on craigslist. Already paid for, just waiting to go pick it up. 46"Lx20"Wx47"H

Never seen a 4' high tank in person before


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

Other than suggesting you buy a koralia to mount and be able to move around easily near the back and bottom of that tank, that is a seriously cool find!!!


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

It is indeed. Best part....

$100


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## mok3t (Nov 28, 2008)

Never seen a tank more designed for angels in my life...


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## PaulineMi (Apr 3, 2008)

The rock on the right hand side looks like it came off Mt. Rushmore. :lol:


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

*mok3t*Actually thinking about an oscar :lol: 
*PaulineMi*It is pretty big. I actually got into the tank to try and pry those rocks loose to lighten the load a little bit, but the silicone held tight. It took 5 people to put it into the truck and that wasn't even lifting the whole thing. We had to tip it over and put one end on the tail gate and use us all to lift the other. Probably would've taken at least seven people to actually carry the thing. 3/4" - 1" glass is no joke :?


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Take that sucker apart! 8)


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## chrispyweld (Dec 20, 2005)

Nice find!!!

I may have to agree with TFG. You could make some nice DIY's out of that. 
That's what two four by fours and an eight foot by two foot tank. To sweet.

You know your all about the DIY's.

If your going to keep it intact go for the ultimate show tank and go with discus. Your dedicated enough to the hobby to make it work.


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

My initial thought was a 240G made w/the side panels rotated 90*'s and a ~500G w/the front and back. Two 4x4 windows on an 8' tank would be pretty interesting :lol: I'm trying to figure out some kind of temporary stand so I can test fill this beast...


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Set it on the floor to test fill it...


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

It is on the floor, but i've never been comfortable filling a tank that's sitting directly on the floor...especially one w/no plastic bracing. Going from glass directly to concrete just makes me queasy  You've done it before???


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

Just thought I'd add a pic of the nerve-racking drive home...


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Put a piece of foam under it or something soft and cushy  I always test fill on the fishroom floor right next to the floor drain 

The floor is concrete


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

You will probably need a guitar string, the thin one, which is called the top string. Buy one at a music store. Don't take it off a guitar because it won't be where you'd think something called the top string should be. To get out those crazy rocks, saw back and forth with the guitar string to cut through the silicone. I prefer using monofilament fishing line, but it will not cut through the amount of silicone you may run into. To remove the rocks once they are loose, release the cross braces too.clean up the cross braces and reinstall them.

I would make a stand for it out of solid cinder blocks and mortar. That way you can get it nice and level with the mortar and get it about 4" off the floor. Then I would box in the "stand" and bottom of the tank with 1 x 6'es. If space is a premium, I would use a 75 for the filter, but put it above the tank in reverse configuration for a sump, not ideal, but it would work, without some of the normal advantages of a sump. If you have more room, I'd put a sump, say a 100 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank, in a remote location. Possibly hook it into a system with several other tanks, and always use UV with a system.

Working on a tank this deep is always a bear. You will find it helps to pull out about a foot of water, but even then it will always happen that the top of your head always ends up soaking while you are upside down working in this tank. And have a buddy watching, one big enough to lift you out if something goes wrong.

The tank is perfect for one species of cichlid. They are mouthbrooders from deep water. They spawn vertically with the female dropping down through the water column to retrieve the falling eggs. The male has yellow tips on his fins that resemble the eggs. The female tries to collect those eggs too and that appears to be when the real eggs get fertilized. These fish don't eat their own fry. Fry seperate off into schools, generally all in a school will be the same size. That makes it easy to net them out, already sorted. Adults go all over the tank, except the presence of a bottom seems to confuse them because in the lake they would never see a bottom. Fry tend to stay close to the surface. The catch with this fish is although fantastically beautiful, until practically adult they all look like sivlery minnows.


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## non_compliance (Dec 4, 2008)

imusuallyuseless said:


> Just thought I'd add a pic of the nerve-racking drive home...


HOLY S##T!! LoL.. I didn't realize that tank was THAT frickin huge. That is really awesome... have fun with that dude!

That's not a rock... that's a BOULDER! That thing probably weighs around 100lbs itself!


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

The greatest part is in the first picture of it it looks like a 40 tall then in the truck it looks like a 300 :lol:


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## joiseymike (Feb 8, 2009)

Wow! That's huge! I can't wait to see what you do with it.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

That's what she said....


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## chrispyweld (Dec 20, 2005)

TheFishGuy said:


> That's what she said....


 =D> I doesn't matter how old I get penis and fart jokes still make me laugh.


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## VT4Me (Mar 23, 2008)

TheFishGuy said:


> The greatest part is in the first picture of it it looks like a 40 tall then in the truck it looks like a 300 :lol:


I agree. I nearly questioned the original dims but decided to keep my mouth shut and just watch. Glad I did. The first photo is totally misleading!


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

LOL it is THAT frickin huge :lol: :lol: :lol:

And I think you're right. The larger rock does probably weigh about a hundred pounds, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to take them out before loading it into the truck. The smaller one looks like a natural rock, but the larger one appears to be made of concrete.

Anywhoo, I don't necessarily think the first photo was misleading, it's just that there isn't anything to put it into perspective. If you can think of the larger rock being about 2' high then it's not that hard to imagine the tank. It's essentially two 90G tanks stacked on top of one another. I did get into the tank at one point, but no one thought to take a picture. I think that would've really given you all a good idea :wink:

Mcdaphnia, Any idea what I can expect to pay for that guitar string? And is there anything more specific I need to mention when I go to buy one???

Don't think brick and mortar is going to be an option as we'll only be staying in this place for a year so I don't want to put anything permanent up. Thinking about a very simple 2x4 box frame w/plywood on top and then later adding some 1x2's up the side in the back to make places for me to install insulation and later 1/4" thick luan over the back and side panes. Hoping that would help w/the temp. issue since this tank will have to stay outside in an open garage for the next year.

As for the sump, I do have an 85G plywood tank that has been temporarily put on hold. Perhaps I could finish that out and place it above this tank. Only issue is trying to build a stand for it that's 4' tall so I would be able to use it as the dump filter...


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

PS I like the penis joke as well, but my wife didn't care for it...who woulda thunk it :lol:

Also, how many watts should I be thinking about for the heater considering it'll be outside??? Brand and model suggestions would be appreciated :thumb:


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

300W should do it no problem. "they" say five watts per gallon but that's a little rediculous if you ask me...


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

Good to know :thumb:

Anywhoo, no real progress on getting it set up. I started hacking at the silicone holding the bigger rock w/a long flat head screwdriver and an old knife I found. Looking through the side there seems to be a tons of it in there. Probably used at least 3 tubes on the side. Hate to see what's on the bottom. Only good thing I see is that it's pretty thick so Hopefully I can cut through all of it w/o having to worry about damaging the glass.

Only other thing to note is that I finally got good measurements of this thing. All panels are 3/4" thick glass, but the bracing is 1/2". The interior dimensions of the tank are 45.5" long x 18.5" wide x 47.25" high which works out to about 172G :fish: :fish: :fish:

Definitely going to have to remove the bracing if I'm going to work on removing the rocks. It really isn't easy getting in and out of the tank w/it installed and there's only so much I can reach while standing outside. The more I look at the larger rock the heavier it seems. Honestly don't think I could lift it out of the tank by myself and it's way too tight for two people so that should be interesting...

Anyway, sorry not much of an update.


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

Nothing new on this one, but I did score again on C list. Got a 29G leaker, 20G High w/glass top & 10G w/glass top all for $20 + gas


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

Well for now I've given up on removing the rocks because I've been so busy working and I started to feel like this would never be filled. I didn't even bother to finish cleaning out the bottom. I did go get a 4x2 piece of plywood to place underneath the tank and decided to fill it 


































































Space was tight w/only 3" of clearance up top so I pried up some loose boards from the shelf above it 8) Also the floor must be uneven as there's about a 3/4" difference between the right and left side so I'll have to get some shims. There was also the unfortunate discovery that there isn't power inside the garage so I'm not sure how filtration is gonna go...


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## gmaschke (Aug 23, 2008)

Ah man you gotta set this thing up I cant wait to see how it looks. If you were closer I'd come help :thumb:


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## TheBanker (Jun 14, 2008)

i agree with the first picture looking misleading, im thinking to myself 5 guys to move that. But from looking at the other picture i see why. Great tank.


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## Romble (Apr 11, 2007)

the only *************** for this tank would be to clean the glass inside, set up the ornaments/rocks etc and also clean the gravel.. I can imagine it would be real hard to reach to the bottom..

Otherwise it will look cool.. I can see it as a perfect reef tank really...or a box jellyfish solo :wink:


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## gtphale (Oct 12, 2008)

LOL first pic doesn't do this tank justice. I thought it was a small high tank. Till I seen it in the bed of the truck. Cool tank :fish:


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## Neb (Sep 22, 2008)

that's quite the tank, I was going to suggest getting a heat gun and heating the silicon to remove the rocks but it's too late for that now :lol:


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## aaronc (Mar 2, 2009)

HOLY S##T!! LoL.. I didn't realize that tank was THAT frickin huge. That is really awesome... have fun with that dude!

That's not a rock... that's a BOULDER! That thing probably weighs around 100lbs itself![/quote]

Yea that first pic does not do it justice. And i thought my brothers 137g tall was big.


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

LOL yes it is pretty big. And it did take 5 of us. That wasn't even fully lifting it. We had to tilt it on one of the sides and then pivot the bottom glass on the tail gate so we only really lifted one side of it.

Anyway, I filled it again today. It's still quite filthy, but at least a large majority of the leaves are out. Unfortunately, there's a 1/2" layer of dirt(obviously now mud) and small chunks of concrete on the bottom of the tank. I tried to siphon it out w/the hose, but it got clogged very quickly so that wasn't really effective. I did come up w/a spontaneous rig made of 2" pvc pipe that I found lying around. I did have to spend $12 on fittings, but figured it was worth it...It wasn't. I was never able to achieve an effective siphon w/this contraption. I think the tank being just 3/4" off the floor is going to be a factor in trying to siphon off the bottom of the tank.

Also I noticed what seems to be a small leak on the bottom near the left rear of the tank behind the smaller rock. I didn't actually see the leak, but I checked the entire perimeter and that is the only spot where the plywood is wet. If it is a true leak it's kind of disappointing. The only good thing is that if it is, then it's obviously very minor and isn't a big deal since the tank is outside. That's not such great news for when we move next year and I get the chance to keep it inside. Certainly wouldn't look forward to resealing a tank like this.

In any case I did drain it again so that I could place the shims underneath the left side to try and level it out. Think I might leave it alone for a few days to let the remaining inch of water evaporate so I can climb in to finish cleaning out the bottom. Once I'm satisfied that the floor is clean enough that I won't excessively cloud the water upon fill up(which has been the case these first two times), then I'll decide on what to put in there...keeping in mind that it'll have to be able to survive colder temps. Might just do goldfish and a pleco until it warms up a bit...


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

You can do texas cichlids


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

That's an idea although we have been having some pretty interesting temp. swings around here lately :? Hopefully, I'll have it stocked by saturday


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## chrispyweld (Dec 20, 2005)

TFG took my response. Texas should do fine...in Texas.


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## gsxrchris (Nov 26, 2006)

Hey i know a place here in san antonio where you can get some very large Tx cichlids free, just the cost of some bait. lol Theres a river on the SS near my grandmas where i grew up and always caught them not knowing till i got into cichlids what they where. If you need help moving it i can help, then you can help me move my 150xh 48lx24dx31h made of 1/2" glass i got for 80 bucks off c-list lol.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

I've got a breeding pair with fry right now... Unless they've eaten them in the last 24 hrs... :lol:


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

Might have to take you up on that gsxr...although I haven't gone fishing in many years, so I no longer have any gear :? Where on the south side are you talking about???

TFG, you still owe me nics from like a year and a half ago :lol:


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## dialicious (Oct 18, 2007)

See, this is why I love Craigslist. And having a pickup truck is key. There's so many items that most people can't collect because they can't pick them up! 
I might have missed it somewhere - but how thick is the glass? 5/8?


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

I actually do not have a truck  I begged and pleaded w/my wife for us to get a new tacoma or tundra(ok, maybe didn't try THAT hard :lol: ), but she opted for the more family friendly '09 camry :? Me thinks she wants some babies soon :fish:

Anyway, what we do have is one of her friends w/a tacoma that's always always always willing to help w/all the stupid stuff I get into(including getting stranded w/my motorcycle  )

In the rare cases that I can't find him, I've actually gone to the lengths to rent a uhaul for a few hours...but of course I do factor in the cost of that to determine if it is still a good deal.

AND as of last night I actually determined the largest tank I can fit into the 2 door honda accord I drive w/o removing the passenger seat is in fact a 75G(which I got for $60), so really anything larger than that is going to need a truck. That's what kept me from going after the full 90G setup I wanted...

BTW:


imusuallyuseless said:


> Only other thing to note is that I finally got good measurements of this thing. All panels are 3/4" thick glass, but the bracing is 1/2". The interior dimensions of the tank are 45.5" long x 18.5" wide x 47.25" high which works out to about 172G :fish: :fish: :fish:


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

Just thought I'd post another reference shot. Here you can see the beast next to a 75G resting on it's side...









As you can see there's still at least 2-3" of water left in the tank that's taking a surprisingly long time to evaporate. Have to put my plans for this on hold as I don't think my wife wants me crawling in the tank when she's not here. I also can't even budge this thing by myself so I can't even get the shims underneath until she comes back in town.

I did buy fish to stock this thing w/though. My favorite lfs didn't really have any interesting CA Cichlids in stock...except some red/gold severum that are on hold due to illness. Was very very tempted to buy some catfish, but the salesman kept telling me that they all reach over 2'. Anywhoo, I ended up getting 10 tiny <1" demansoni, 5 swords and 6 black skirt tetras. They're in a bucket right now, but will go into the big tank once the bottom gets cleaned out. Still have no solution for filtration though :?


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## sleepy09 (Jan 15, 2009)

> Still have no solution for filtration though


Swimming pool filter :lol:


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

I can DIY and adequate filter for this thing w/no problems. My rather unfortunate issue is that the garage has NO power in it, so I'd have to run a 50' extension cord from the house. Not exactly an ideal situation :?


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

Sounds like it's time to bury a supply line and put a new panel in the garage :lol: Get to work digging! It's really not that much work, I did that in a day last summer. My garage is only 20 feet away though :dancing:


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

Lol we'll electrical is certainly not one of my strong points


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## mithesaint (Oct 31, 2006)

imusuallyuseless said:


> Lol we'll electrical is certainly not one of my strong points


Learn by doing my friend. Preferably with someone who knows what they're doing right beside you!! :lol:

Wait...do you own this place, or rent? If you own it, get digging! If you rent, fughetaboutit. Too much work for someone else's house.


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## imusuallyuseless (Dec 28, 2005)

I'm a renter


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

When you do need electrical advice pm me. I power up garages all the time for side work... The greatest part is I tell the customer if they want to save A LOT of money to dig the trench for me! LOL then a show up for a couple of hours, run the power, mount the panel and off I go. A lot of D.I.Y.ers can run outlets and switches and stuff, but when it comes to "big power" they get nervous... That's where I come in


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