# 125 Gallon Progress Thread...



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Well as some of you may know, i was able to snag a 125 Gallon for pretty cheap last Sunday, and well i've finally got to the cycling stage!

Started out with a very dusty Stand, tank, canopy and lights:

















Took a bottle of hot water and white vinegar about 50/50 dilution and wiped the whole stand and canopy down. I also scrubbed the inside of the tank and moved it into its position in the house:

























Got the tank done but had to do something about that terrible blue background. It was spray-painted on the back of the tank for at least 3 years so it was a nightmare to take off. Took about 3 hours with 4 razor blades and a bottle of Goop-off. Couldn't feel my hands afterwards, but it was well worth the work, cause the end result was awesome and now with the background on it looks complete...Almost. I may change the rock and plant background to black since the lighting dulls it out now that the water is in. When the tank was empty with the new background on, it was so much brighter, but i bought both this current background and an all black one just to switch it up in case.

I felt the tank was too short, so we needed to raise it up a little more to be easier to view and to clear the chairs in front. Trying to raise a 2300 lb tank more than a few inches without building a new stand was gonna be a lot more work and cost then i imagined, so we went ahead and just took 2 4x4x8 Cedar fence posts and made a base for the tank with that. Rose the tank up 3 1/2 inches and now i feel that i can see the tank easier without having to bend over and the Cedar is strong enough and dry enough to hold the weight no problem.

Then i went ahead and bought some more PFS since i needed about 140 lbs to fill the tank. I then went to a local construction supply company and bought 350 lbs of Pennsylvania Tumble Stone. Put down some lighting egg crate for the bottom of the tank to rest the rocks on. Put rocks in first, then filled the sand in around them for a nice sturdy placement.

Filled the tank with water and set up the FX5. It was extremely easy to setup, very easy to prime and started up immediately with no micro bubbles or any issues. Amazing what happens when you actually "READ the instructions." VERY, VERY silent i might add, you don't even know it's running and everyone who sees it is amazed at how large it is and how silent it runs.


















I then went to Petsmart and snagged some Anubias plants so they can go ahead and start rooting to the rocks since there wont be any fish in the tank. I'm running 2 10K 96 watt Power compact florescent so we are just under 2 watts per gallon and the plants are only about 2 1/2 feet below the lights so they should be getting about 7800-8800K in spectrum due to the depth of the tank and lighting i have.

Here's what i ended up with!

















































Now we just need to finish cycling. Started adding ammonia yesterday and I'm gonna test it today to see where we are at. I already seeded the tank with filter media from my 55 gallon so we shall see how long it takes for the Nitrites to drop and the ammonia to go to zero.

I will update this thread with any new additions or changes and let me know if you all have any suggestions to make the tank JUST that much better!


----------



## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

That looks great! Normally I'm not a fan of picture backgrounds, but that one matchs the rocks and plants you've put in the tank so perfectly. Nice work!

One thing I will caution you, your plants may not do well with the levels of ammonia and nitrite that will build up during fishless cycling. I know you put them in to root, but just a heads up. I'm not a plant expert, but I've heard mentioned about ammonia burning plants. I'll let someone else chime in who knows more about it.


----------



## jd lover (Mar 11, 2011)

looks good =] nice steal on the tank btw :thumb:


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Well Now this has me thinking about the plants and my fishless cycle. Now i'm wondering if it would just be safer to put like 3 comet goldfish in there and let them cycle the tank slowly then give them to a friend who owns a pond. I'm going to check ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates today to see if my seeding has helped any.

I can put the Anubias in my 10 gallon quarantine tank and let them root to the rocks in there if that would be a safer way.


----------



## CjCichlid (Sep 14, 2005)

I think the plants will be fine, especially since you said you seeded the filter with existing media from an established tank. Should cycle fairly quickly. Whats your future stock going to be?


----------



## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

The plants will love the ammonia.


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

I'm stocking the 125 with the fish that are in my 55 Gallon. This is going to be their permanent home. I may add 6-8 more Demasoni's but currently the 12 i have are doing well and no ones fins are nipped, everyone is eating, so i may keep it at 12 if they all are doing fine and just add some Rusty's to the tank for some more variety.

I mean since there is bacteria already in the system, the ammonia should break down to Nitrogen quickly and the plants should suck that Nitrogen right up correct?


----------



## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Prov could likely explain it better. Plants will consume ammonia and nitrites, so there's no worry in having them in the tank while cycling.


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Well if they consume both, would it make the cycling process longer? I'm testing the water in the tank now.


----------



## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Steveboos said:


> Well if they consume both, would it make the cycling process longer? I'm testing the water in the tank now.


No.. The amount that the plants would consume is negligible. The plants actually consume the byproduct of nitrification, nitrate.


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Oh ok, well ****, i'll just leave them and hopefully they are still doing well in a week or 2.

My water test didn't come out like i wanted, but oh well.

PH- 7.7
Ammonia - 0 PPM
Nitrite - 0 PPM
Nitrate - 0 PPM

Well i will retest later since i made a mistake on dosing the tank did 25 drops instead of 250 drops haha. I'm an idiot.


----------



## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

GTZ said:


> Prov could likely explain it better. Plants will consume ammonia and nitrites, so there's no worry in having them in the tank while cycling.


I knew plants consumed ammonia and nitrite (and nitrate), but I thought I read somewhere about too much being bad for them.

You can kill terrestial plants by overfertilizing.


----------



## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Looks nice steve!! How are you liking the FX5? Glad to purchased it?


----------



## londonloco (Mar 31, 2011)

Plants will be fine, they will even aid in your cycling, not hurt it.

Your tank is outstanding, love the rocks. I'm redoing my 75g next month, def going to bookmark this thread. Very nice....


----------



## smitty (May 7, 2004)

Steve I love it. Nice creative touch, enjoy.


----------



## skurj (Oct 30, 2011)

Looks very nice.

I only have one thought, are you adding any other filters or any powerheads to break the surface to aid in oxygenation? or an airstone or bubble wall?

When I can I use the output from the canister and aim it towards the surface to help with any sort of film on the water and to oxygenate (is that even a word...)
You might be able to raise the output on the fx5 enough so it breaks up the surface.

It might also help a tiny bit with the cycle.


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

13razorbackfan said:


> Looks nice steve!! How are you liking the FX5? Glad to purchased it?


Oh my lord man, it's so easy to set up, I just put some filter floss in the trays, cut the hose and aimed the intake out-take. Then i filled the canister almost to the top, turned it on and we were golden. No micro-bubbles, no leaks, just easy setup and tons of flow!

I am very glad i purchased it and once the cycle is done, i'm going to add a ton more Biomax and filter floss to the filter for extra surface area and it will be the ultimate bacteria factory!!

Thanks for the compliments!


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

skurj said:


> Looks very nice.
> 
> I only have one thought, are you adding any other filters or any powerheads to break the surface to aid in oxygenation? or an airstone or bubble wall?
> 
> ...


Well i have an Aquaclear 110 that will be going on the tank also, but that will happen in about a week after the cycling period has had some time.

I do notice the dead spot you speak of in the center left of the tank. So i will put the aquaclear on that side or i may put the aquaclear on the right side and move the FX5 output to the middle-right of the tank.


----------



## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Steveboos said:


> 13razorbackfan said:
> 
> 
> > Looks nice steve!! How are you liking the FX5? Glad to purchased it?
> ...


Only filter floss?


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

13razorbackfan said:


> Steveboos said:
> 
> 
> > 13razorbackfan said:
> ...


For now, i had tons of suspended sand in the water, so i just put filter floss on each level to help clear it out. But now i have enough biomax to do a level of that. And my PH is reading at 7.6 out of the tap, so another one will be Crushed Coral or Aragonite. Then i will stuff the last one with filter floss, so the whole canister will be utilized.


----------



## Steve C (Oct 9, 2011)

Looks good :thumb: After I get my 55g finally finished I hope to find a 125 myself for the basement, I love the looks of that size tank. So much room to play with!


----------



## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Steveboos said:


> 13razorbackfan said:
> 
> 
> > Steveboos said:
> ...


Yep...and the crushed coral can act as extra bio media as well. I think when I get my FX5 in 6-7 months...I am just going to use the factory set up to see how I like it. I think the FX5 plus the AC110 on my 75g should be enough!


----------



## skurj (Oct 30, 2011)

If you've already started cycling get that biomedia in the fx5 asap..

If it were me i'd put the 110 on now with floss in it and get the fx5 going on the bio.


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

skurj said:


> If you've already started cycling get that biomedia in the fx5 asap..
> 
> If it were me i'd put the 110 on now with floss in it and get the fx5 going on the bio.


I'd do that but the AC110 is on the 55 for all the fish in there, so i can't move it untill i move the fish.


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Skurj you were completely right about surface agitation. Today i just check the tank and the whole left side of the tank near the intake had a thick film on it. I'm not used to having such a large tank and one output.

I was thinking of sticking the EX-70 on the 125 now since the AC110 is on the 55 with the Cichlids in it and the EX-70 can do around 300 GPH realistically so i might just run that and the FX5 for now until the cycling is complete.


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Well tested the water today and we are at 1 PPM Ammonia, .5 PPM Nitrite and 5.0 PPM Nitrate, so i think in the next 2-3 days I'm going to make the switch over to the 125 for all my fish!

The extra filter on the tank helps a ton to keep surface agitation, but i am still going to make a spray bar for it.

I think i was able to source some black ABS pipe in the area since i don't feel like dealing with the peeling or flaking of painted PVC.

Counting down the days!


----------



## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Steveboos said:


> Well tested the water today and we are at 1 PPM Ammonia, .5 PPM Nitrite and 5.0 PPM Nitrate, so i think in the next 2-3 days I'm going to make the switch over to the 125 for all my fish!
> 
> The extra filter on the tank helps a ton to keep surface agitation, but i am still going to make a spray bar for it.
> 
> ...


Are you sure the ABS is ok in the water? I was reading last night, when looking for your black PVC, that some people on other forums said that the ABS was not good for tanks. Maybe they just meant saltwater but not sure.


----------



## rich_t (Nov 26, 2009)

Steveboos said:


> 13razorbackfan said:
> 
> 
> > Looks nice steve!! How are you liking the FX5? Glad to purchased it?
> ...


You didn't try the self priming feature on the FX5?


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

rich_t said:


> Steveboos said:
> 
> 
> > 13razorbackfan said:
> ...


No i followed instructions and did it the correct way, And it works Flawless.


----------



## rich_t (Nov 26, 2009)

Steveboos said:


> rich_t said:
> 
> 
> > Steveboos said:
> ...


Cool. I was just reading a review of the filter on another site and the guy was mentioning how pleased he was with the self priming feature.


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

I didn't see anything in the instructions about that, but i've heard people having tons of issues when they just set it up and turn it on. It says to fill the canister with 2 gallons of water, so i did that. I wonder what the self-priming feature is...


----------



## Shahlvah (Dec 28, 2011)

I love your tank and the rock work, it looks awesome, nice work!!!


----------



## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Steveboos said:


> I didn't see anything in the instructions about that, but i've heard people having tons of issues when they just set it up and turn it on. It says to fill the canister with 2 gallons of water, so i did that. I wonder what the self-priming feature is...


I think it is when you first plug it in it takes a couple minutes to pull the air out. Since I am going to get one later this summer I watched the setup video provided by fluval on youtube. They said plug it in and it will sit idle for a couple minutes while purging the air and then all the sudden the filter will turn on shooting out the air with the water. I think it self purges every so often automatically.


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Yeah razorback that's exactly what it did. Huge bubbles of air, water splashed up, but then we were good to go! Now to avoid having to prime it everytime i do a water change, i just don't drop the water below the intake. I'm just going to do 40% water changes twice a week instead of a large 70% water change once a week on this tank.

It turns off for 2 minutes every 24 hours to purge out air, pretty awesome if you ask me!


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Alright so i got sick of how dark and dull the background was, so i went back with some cooking spray and viola! The background is now 10 times brighter than it used to be!

Before:









After:

























I'm also in the beginning stages of my spray bar for the FX5. I will have it sanded and painted tonight, drilled tomorrow and in the tank after it dries for about 3 days.

Assembled and glue curing:









It will be black and it's 4 feet long to accommodate for the AC110 that i currently have on their. I also added about 800 grams of both Biomax and Biochem stars to the middle level of the FX5 and stuffed the 2 top layers with filter floss. The biomax in the FX5 is seeded from the 55 for faster cycling.

We are getting closer and closer to fish!


----------



## whiskeyriver (Nov 29, 2011)

Wow! That cooking spray technique really worked wonders. Also, I'm not usually a fan of 2D picture backgrounds, but it matches your rocks nearly identically. Nice job with that.


----------



## skurj (Oct 30, 2011)

I thought about using cooking oil to refit my 2d BG on my corner tank but worried if there was a chance it could go 'off' and get smelly...

Going to get some baby oil and use that.

Wish I had taped the bg on after installing it (with the oil) the first time. The corner unit is so close to the wall it will be impossible to redo the whole thing i think.


----------



## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Looks very nice. The rocks match the background perfectly. Well done! :thumb:


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Thanks! Yeah i was surprised at how big of a difference it made! It makes the tank so much more complete now.

The background feels like it's glued to the back, so i wont need any tape haha.

I wanted river rock and plants in my tank, then i found this background at my work and they both worked together perfectly to were i sourced my rocks, so the tank looks a lot bigger than it is. Even though it's already 6 feet long!


----------



## jd lover (Mar 11, 2011)

need fish NOW! =p nice trick with the oil. i would probably try it if i wasnt installing a 3d bg for my 125 soon


----------



## whiskeyriver (Nov 29, 2011)

Possibly mineral oil to do the same trick?


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

jd lover said:


> need fish NOW! =p nice trick with the oil. i would probably try it if i wasn't installing a 3d bg for my 125 soon


I wish, but Ammonia is still measurable and Nitrites are still too high, but we are close!!

I know I'm going to add more fish when i move up. I'll keep the 25 i currently have now in the tank, then probably add a handful more Demasoni and Yellow Labs for a more complete look.

Can't find Rusties easily around here, so i will just stick with the species i have now.

I wanted to do a 3D background but this tank is only 18" deep and the background would have taken up at least 3-6 inches of that and the 55 is too narrow as it is, so i decided against it.


----------



## JimA (Nov 7, 2009)

Looks nice. Now just find a place to hide that heater. :wink:


----------



## jd lover (Mar 11, 2011)

Steveboos said:


> jd lover said:
> 
> 
> > need fish NOW! =p nice trick with the oil. i would probably try it if i wasn't installing a 3d bg for my 125 soon
> ...


you have a huge ass 3d bg then lol mine is only roughly 1-1.5" thick


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

JimA said:


> Looks nice. Now just find a place to hide that heater. :wink:


Oh trust me hiding BOTH heaters and the intakes is the next step. Just want the water to get cycled, get the spraybar installed and we are good to go!


----------



## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

whiskeyriver said:


> Possibly mineral oil to do the same trick?


Yes, or look for Seaview.


----------



## skurj (Oct 30, 2011)

Steveboos said:


> Thanks! Yeah i was surprised at how big of a difference it made! It makes the tank so much more complete now.
> 
> The background feels like it's glued to the back, so i wont need any tape haha.
> 
> I wanted river rock and plants in my tank, then i found this background at my work and they both worked together perfectly to were i sourced my rocks, so the tank looks a lot bigger than it is. Even though it's already 6 feet long!


Steve trust me... at least tape across the top and bottom.. the air creeps in and next you have areas unstuck.
I thought I was generous when i used the Seaview product, basically the whole bottle but alas it only took a few weeks for it to start to lift in places.


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

skurj said:


> Steveboos said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks! Yeah i was surprised at how big of a difference it made! It makes the tank so much more complete now.
> ...


Yeah probably a good precautionary measure since it's a pain to get backgrounds on this tank since it's psychically impossible to move. Thankfully i was smart and left 5 inches behind the tank, just enough for me to be able to get my arms and shoulder behind the tank.

Kind of sad when you have to use a car windshield squeegee for the background to get the air bubbles out since it's so long.


----------



## jnick (Aug 17, 2011)

Nice build! I'm working on my first 125G as well right now! I plan to go with a Black background and am torn between painting the back glass black, or using a black roll like what you have for the rock. Am I understanding that you used cooking spray to adhere the background to the glass? Or did you use tape as well?


----------



## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Just adding my $.02 here but painting the outside back glass is really easy to do. I have always used cheap $1.00 per can generic black spraypaint.

Removing the paint later is easy to do with a paint scraper.

Just throwing that out there. Obviously, if you are adding a BG to a running tank, painting certainly would not be the preferred way of doing it.. :thumb:


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Well getting the paint off is a nightmare and the background is so easy to put on and is easy to remove i would just buy the background. I also have a roll of black for my tank, but the rocks in the current background look awesome, so i'm going to keep it like this for a while.

Cooking spray yes, i'm going back and taping it also to make sure it doesn't slide off, but people have had them stay on for years without tape.


----------



## jnick (Aug 17, 2011)

Awesome! Any specific brand of cooking spray? And what process is used? Dowse the background or just a very slight mist?


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Haha honestly i didn't have enough cooking spray so i used some Olive oil spray and it worked exactly the same!

Just spray the back of the tank (if not filled and in position) or spray a light mist about 12 inches away from the background covering the whole piece. Then if the tank is very long ( like mine) just ago ahead and have a friend help bring it up and over the tank and on to the back.

I installed mine with like 7 power cords, 2 hoses and a canopy on, so that made the positioning a lot more difficult, but I'm in the final step of cycling so i don't want to remove anything.

Remember most of it you are going to squeegee out if you soak it in cooking spray, so a light mist is all that is necessary.

Then go back over with a credit card and get all the air bubbles out pulling the air bubbles out towards the edges of the background and viola!


----------



## jnick (Aug 17, 2011)

Great!! Thanks buddy! Didn't mean to hijack your thread but this will (hopefully!) make starting up my tank that much quicker, rather than waiting for the 3-coat paint dry cycle!


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

No Problems, that what this thread is for! So you can see my progress and see the mistakes, easy fixes that i make!

Spraybar is painted and sitting out to dry for about 4 days to adhere to the plastic for good!


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Tested Nitrites and Ammonia again last night and we were at zero! So i went ahead and moved all the fish over and it seems as if they love their new home already!

After taking 30 minutes to catch 25 fish in my 55 gallon, i don't even want to know how long it would take me to catch these fish in the 125, they are lighting fast!

But so far none of the plants have been removed and they seem to like all the rocks and the abundance of space. The peacock is making use of all 6 feet! I can't wait till they all get bigger and fill the tank a lot better!

Here's some pictures and a video in HD!


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Moonlighting in effect:


----------



## quentin8 (Sep 30, 2011)

Looks great, My only complaint is that the heater sticks out like a sore thumb. You should try hiding it at a 45 degree angle behind the rock pile


----------



## skurj (Oct 30, 2011)

quentin8 said:


> Looks great, My only complaint is that the heater sticks out like a sore thumb. You should try hiding it at a 45 degree angle behind the rock pile


I'd probably tuck it in either back corner.


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

I probably should have mentioned that in about 3 days there will a black 4 foot long spray bar in the bank instead of that ugly output nozzle. When i move the spray bar in, i'm removing one of the heaters and re arranging the intakes/out takes.

But keep in mind guys that the room temp is 68, so i need to cycle the warm water around, so i will put the black heater under the black spray bar and they will disappear a lot better than they currently do.


----------



## DanniGirl (Jan 25, 2007)

Looks awesome!

Both fish and tank look great! A job well done. :thumb:


----------



## Fishy_Cichlid (Aug 4, 2011)

Amazing. Great work. Those rocks simply make the tank look so natural. I like the moonlighting too. Congrats.


----------



## Steffano2 (Jan 11, 2007)

Steveboos said:


> I probably should have mentioned that in about 3 days there will a black 4 foot long spray bar in the bank instead of that ugly output nozzle. When i move the spray bar in, i'm removing one of the heaters and re arranging the intakes/out takes.
> 
> But keep in mind guys that the room temp is 68, so i need to cycle the warm water around, so i will put the black heater under the black spray bar and they will disappear a lot better than they currently do.


I would move the heater to the lowest possible point and as close to the intake tub. Below the rock level = Out of sight too.

1. Heat rises.

2. Placing the heater by the intake tube, the rising warm water will be drawn into the filter and then dispersed through out the whole tank via your out take/spray bar. Sorta like an in line heater.

Have you thought of adding height to the tank?

If I could suggest adding height in your tank by building up your rock piles to 3 different levels of height. If you don't want to do 3 at least try one, not 2. Odd numbers are always the rule in landscape/aquascape design. Also leaving an open focal point slightly off center left or right you will be adding depth to the tank and turning it 3D. The human eye will be drawn into the tank via the open focal point unknowingly "shazam" you've just created depth too.

I'm not writing this to be critical, just to be helpful to bring your tank to whole other level. You seem very interested in design and want your tank to be the best. Plus from your post I gathered that your into the details of "things", plus remember it's just my opinion/observation and worth nothing!


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Steffano i love the constructive criticism for sure and appreciate it. I mess around a lot with the rock designs in my tanks and usually when i'm NOT trying to create something it looks most natural.

I am glad the fish are finally in and seem to be happy, i am just going to fill out the numbers a little more by adding about 8 more Demasoni and about 6 more Yellow Labs. Then once the tank is up to par on the bacteria, i will move the rocks around.

The main thing i have here is the the anubias is wedged between the rocks and i want to give it enough time to root. So the tank will stay like this for the next month, then i am going to take your suggestion and make things offset, more random.


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Finished the spray bar today!! Love it!! The circulation is amazing now! I also hid the Fluval behind the rocks on the right side and put the Aqueon next to the FX5 intake so it blends it a little more. I may get rid of it entirely if the fluval can do a good enough job on it's own though!






Here's the thread i created in the DIY section:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... p?t=239826


----------



## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Looks amazing. I am sure I missed it but did you use black PVC or paint?


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Painted the PVC. I'm going to buy another piece and drill first, then paint after so you don't see all the white holes as easily. For $1.73 for a 5 foot piece of white PVC, you can't beat it!!


----------



## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Steveboos said:


> Painted the PVC. I'm going to buy another piece and drill first, then paint after so you don't see all the white holes as easily. For $1.73 for a 5 foot piece of white PVC, you can't beat it!!


I wouldn't worry about seeing the white. In a few weeks when stuff has time to grow and buildup on it you will not be able to see the white. In the past my white spray bars would turn in color after some time. [/quote]


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

The only thing i was thinking was that since i made the holes so small, there is actually a lot of pressure behind the spray, so i don't know if anything will be able to grow, but i like algae, it looks natural.

We shall wait and see i guess!


----------



## nudge (Aug 1, 2011)

Nice work. I have just brought an fx5. My tank has predrilled holes 3/4" in dia for canister hosing(through the top brace). My dilema was the 1" hosing wasn't going to fit through the holes but this is the perfect solution.

I can run the 3/4" pvc through the holes and then attach an elbow at the top and run the 1" hosing off that. Can you tell me, is the fluval intake tube 3/4" like your diy spray bar?


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

I believe it is. The inner diameter of the hose is 1 inch, but the tubing for the intake is 3/4 i believe.


----------



## nudge (Aug 1, 2011)

so the intake and outlet hosing (1" int dia) is plugged onto the 3/4" tubing? I'm guessing with the hose clamps it gives a tight enough seal, any leaks?


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Yeah with the 1 inch inner diameter tube it's actually a SNUG fit just to get it on the PVC, then with the hose clamp (#12) they are very tight and no leaks so far after 3 days.


----------



## nudge (Aug 1, 2011)

cool thanks, thats an outstanding tank by the way, you must be stoked


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Oh i LOVE looking at it everyday and so do the people that come into my house! It's right in the kitchen!!


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

Just got the lighting changed over to 1 96 watt Actinic and 1 96 watt 10,000K. I think it looks awesome now, bringing out the blues in the fish a lot more and making the yellows pop out more!

The fish are also growing very quickly and they are 3 times the size when i first bought them 3 months ago!


----------



## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Hi *Steveboos*,

Your background and rock decorations amke for an excellent front view of your tank. It is unique and pleasing to look at. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks,
Matt


----------



## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Looks AWESOME!!! I love how natural it looks.


----------



## E82M6 (Feb 20, 2012)

Wow. Your tank setup and fish look great. I love how natural it all looks. :thumb: to you.


----------



## Steveboos (Dec 23, 2011)

I love how much depth you can add by just moving the rocks around and creating more of a landscape to the eye.

Thanks for the compliments, i LOVE this tank and every time i look at it, it reminds me of where i started (my 29 gallon community tank) and now i realize just how much i enjoy fish!!


----------

