# My 55g Mbuna tank project



## Steve C

Figured I would start this post so I can keep track/show progress each step along the way on this project.

First off it's funny how things can snowball so much. Because I have been out of Aquariums/keeping fish for over 15 yrs and just a few weeks ago decided to get back into it. I planned on getting just a 10g tank with some community fish to sit on top of the entertainment center. And some how that turned into a 55g mbuna tank that I am building the stand, canopy, 3D background as well as other things for myself. Guess you can tell I am the type of person that can get hooked on/obsessed with something pretty quickly :lol: Anyway on to the project....

Started out with a 55g tank I found on Craigslist. I paid $60 for the 55G and a 20g "long" tank both from the same seller. I plan to use the 20g long tank as a temp/hospital tank. The only problem with the 55g was that for whatever reason the previous owner decided to remove the center support brace. He obviously was not a very handy type of person because it looked like he removed the brace with an axe 

Starting out...









So I had to remove the factory top trim and order a new trim for it. Removing it wasn't all that hard, just more of a pain in the rear because it takes awhile to cut all the silicone that holds it on the tank. I used a 4.5" paint scraper and worked it all along the outside & inside of the trim to finally get it to come off. Then I had the LFS order me a new top trim which only cost $15. They could only get me the black trim but that's not a problem because I will be building an all wood canopy so the trim will not even be visible...










Now I have started on my 3D background for the tank. After spending some time trying to decide what shape of rocks I want to make it look like and what design I wanted, I came up with something a bit different than I have seen so far. Since the tank is 13" wide I didn't want to do a background that sticks out too far into the tank where I would lose 1/3 the water volume for the fish to swim in. So what I decided on was this. I bought 6 sheets of 3/4" styrofoam and have siliconed together 3 sheets to make the thickness 2.250" at the thickest part as seen here......










Then for the design I am doing it so there are two (maybe even three) "openings" in the background. The reason for this is it will leave more room for the fish to swim, pluse it will actually give the illusion of depth in the tank to make it seem bigger. Because in the two/three openings that I leave between the "rocks" of the background I plan to airbrush the back of the tank where the glass shows with a shaded light to dark blue and then mount two 20" Cold Cathode light bars behind the tank. What that will do is give the inside of the tank the appearance of being in an underwater cave, and the two/three openings with the airbrushed blue shades and the blue Cold Cathode lights reflecting behind the opening will make it look like you can see out of the cave out into deeper "open water" of the lake.

This is a picture I was looking at online which gave me the idea to try it this way. So this will give you a basic idea of what I'm going for...










My background will be about 6 pieces on the back, then I will have some small pieces on the side to hide the intake and return tubes for the Rena xP3 filter and powerhead.

So I started out tonight shaping the first of the pieces. I found a single hand hacksaw, a small drywall scraper, and a round reamer made from a section of a fishing rod with some sanding grit epoxied to it made for the perfect tools for shaping my rocks.

The start of roughing in the edges of the first two pieces that will form the first "cave opening"....



















And the first three pieces roughed in and mocked up in the tank so I can see what more shaping I need to do on this half of the background....










As you can see from this picture doing it this way I think will still give me a nice 3D look and will not take up all that much room inside the tank which was one of my main goals with this.

That's as far as I got this weekend, will post more updates as I get farther along. Hope you all enjoy and feel free to comment or make any suggestions, I am always open to suggestions and ideas I may not have thought of yet.


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## Steve C

Wow not a single reply? is my idea that bad?? like I said open to suggestion, if there's no reply because you don't like the concept please let me know, I don;t take things personal


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## Agridion

Steve C said:


> Wow not a single reply? is my idea that bad?? like I said open to suggestion, if there's no reply because you don't like the concept please let me know, I don;t take things personal


Looking good so far... Just remember to incorporate your HOB or sump inlet and oulets into your design.... To hide them.


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## CITADELGRAD87

Looks great to me. I admire your willingness to try this, I have zero artist in me, it would look terrible if I tried it.

I think airbrushing it will be great, too.

Keep posting as you go.


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## Steve C

Agridion said:


> Steve C said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow not a single reply? is my idea that bad?? like I said open to suggestion, if there's no reply because you don't like the concept please let me know, I don;t take things personal
> 
> 
> 
> Looking good so far... Just remember to incorporate your HOB or sump inlet and oulets into your design.... To hide them.
Click to expand...

That actually brings up a quick question if you don't mind Agridion. I am making room behind it for my intake&return of my xP3 I am buying this week. But I was also thinking about sticking a HOB filter on it for extra help in the tank as well as so I have a filter ready to go for my 
hospital tank". You guys think it's worth doing a 2nd filter on this tank for those reasons or should I just forget the hassle/money and stick with the one xP3 and worry about a filter for the hospital tank later?

BTW thanks for the replies. I didn't want to sound like I need patting on the back or anything like that, but when I saw no replies I started thinking maybe my concept for the BG was a dud or something so I had to ask lol


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## CITADELGRAD87

Using another HOB to have in case of hospitalization is kind of a comfort thing. There was a time when I nursed a 5 inch C Moorii back to health in a 1.5 gallon tank I found in a back shelf of our office supply closet because I didn't have anything else. You never know when you are going to need it, but when you need it, you need it NOW. I have had fish give up and die literally overnight.

That monstrosity I am putting in my wall is going to get an HOB filter sitting in the sump, because I don't want to look at it. Hopefully I can just throw that on a dedicated hospital tank if I need to. With a big sump, I can also just toss a beat up fish into the large part of the sump and he can recuperate in privacy.

With your cool background, I am not sure I would want it hanging down spoiling the view, but again, it's a comfort thing, give and take. I guess my answer is, it's a good thing to be able to use on a moment's notice, but not totally essential. Your call.


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## cdavitt

opcorn:


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## why_spyder

Neat idea - I'm gonna keep following this project. :thumb:


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## JMUFTW

Looking awesome dude - love the concept. :thumb:


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## cmjdjm1

Looks great to me! I'm loving the design so far. Keep up the good work!


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## Agridion

Steve C said:


> Agridion said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Steve C said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow not a single reply? is my idea that bad?? like I said open to suggestion, if there's no reply because you don't like the concept please let me know, I don;t take things personal
> 
> 
> 
> Looking good so far... Just remember to incorporate your HOB or sump inlet and oulets into your design.... To hide them.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That actually brings up a quick question if you don't mind Agridion. I am making room behind it for my intake&return of my xP3 I am buying this week. But I was also thinking about sticking a HOB filter on it for extra help in the tank as well as so I have a filter ready to go for my
> hospital tank". You guys think it's worth doing a 2nd filter on this tank for those reasons or should I just forget the hassle/money and stick with the one xP3 and worry about a filter for the hospital tank later?
> 
> BTW thanks for the replies. I didn't want to sound like I need patting on the back or anything like that, but when I saw no replies I started thinking maybe my concept for the BG was a dud or something so I had to ask lol
Click to expand...

I apologize its been a few days... Busy putting the babies room together and working my new sump design. Any how like citadel said an extra filter isn't necessary for a tank. You just should make sure you have enough water circulation in your tank. A good biological filter only needs to turn the tank volume over twice an hour. But its recommend to have a higher water circulation for the fish. Now many people here will say you need 5 to 6 Times the tank volume turnover within an hour but that's realy overkill and accounts for water circulation as well. Now having an extra filter handy to use to set up an emergency tank is helpful and having some colonized filter media makes the process that much easier. I mentioned to remember to incorporate the piping (whatever filter(s) you use) into your design so that they won't be seen. I will say having an extra filter is nice for redundancy. If your main/only filter were to break it is always easier to not have to worry about your fish dying while you fix your filter.


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## jsttryn

I'm looking forward to how this turns out!


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## Steve C

I should be back to work on it next week. Hope to have it all shaped and coated with Drylok by late next week. Tied up this weekend with closing up the cabin upnorth and family stuff in the way.


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## Steve C

Got a little free time this evening to do some more work on the background. Went to Home Depot and bought some more GE Silicone #1, a gallon of Drylok, and a masonary brush (short stiff bristles) and got back to work on the background tonight.

In the picture I have the four main pieces cut out, trimmed and shaped. I still have three more smaller pieces to make to go across the top.










These pics show a bit better how the masonary brush helps to get the thick Drylok paint down deep into the crevices to show the texture better. Roughing the foam with a drywall scraper leaves a real nice realistic rock surface look.


















This is just the first base coat to see if anymore shaping needs to be done. Next will be a 2nd coat and then some shading with some earth tones to create some more depth and 3D looks.


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## CITADELGRAD87

Is the drylok just paint? Does it seem to lock down that popcorn the foam gets whenever I try to carve it? It just seems to spew little beads forever.

That is really coming along, and if I am not mistaken, this will look very nice when you are finished, nice work.


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## Steve C

Basically imagine a thick paint that has a gritty sand texture to it and that is what Drylok is like. You just brush it on like paint. What I did was blew off each section with air before I painted it, then brushed the Drylok on in a normal paint method with the brush, then went back over it with the masonary brush in a "dapping" method. Still saw a few little popcorn pieces like you are talking about but the Drylok is thick enough that after a couple coats they should not pose and problem IMO.


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## Steve C

Got a little bit of time to work on it some more today. Just have one more piece to finish building and then shaping then I can coat the 2nd section with Drylok. But was able to get the 2nd coat of Drylok on the 1st section earlier in the week and now did some of the shading paint work on the first section.

The shading I am doing is using a darker Grey in the lowest spots on the "rocks", then going over that as well as some of the medium raised surfaces with a medium earth tone brown. Then going over the most raised portions with white to give the whole surface some more depth/3D look. The method I'm using is dry brushing to get the desired look.

The start of dry brushing the deeper areas that are to be shaded. The one deep crevasse here is just dry brushed with some darker Grey at this point...









Here it is after the darker Grey, Earth tone brown and white shading is all done on it...









And the complete first sections two pieces which make up the left 1/3 side of the tank all completed. The edges are left flat because I will be building in some very small side panels as well so need a flat surface to match them up too...


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## Steve C

Decided to get a tad more done before I called it a night. I now have the rest of the background carved out and shaped but still have to mount the smaller piece and get it all in line across the top (trimmed down). Then it'll be time to finish the first coat of Drylok over the rest of the bare foam, then a 2nd coat, then shading like on the first sections....










Also started working on the first of the side pieces. Doing the sides in thin 1" foam board so it does not take up anymore tank space than need be. Decided to also build in some small caves into the side board. The larger cave with have a small divider in it so that it will hide the intake for the canister filter behind one side of the divider, while still providing a hiding cave for some fish. Above that is a smaller ledge supported by a rock shaped post to give it strength and provide another "home" for fish...


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## The King Crabb

Looks great! :thumb:


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## Steve C

Thanks. I'm not to sure about the little upper overhang ledge now though. I liked it when I made it and I know the fish will probably like it, but after walking away and coming back to look at it now it just looks a bit too man made to me now.

I will probably coat it with Drylok once I get the rest of the side panel done and see how it looks then, but that little ledge my be getting taken out. Not sure yet. Anyone else got any input on that little ledge let me know what you think...you might make my decision easier for me :wink:


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## Steve C

Well now I'm glad I didn't scrap the little overhang cave that I built. Because I ended up adding a ton more detail to the side panel in the form of shaped foam rocks and just coated it with Drylok and now I really like the looks of it. Once it's dry and all the shading is done I think it's gonna be a nice little home for a few fish for sure.


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## Agridion

Looks really good. :thumb: opcorn:


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## Steve C

First test run with the lights this morning. I still have A LOT of work to do such as 2nd coat of Drylok, lots of shading left to do, have to fill and sand some of the seams to smooth them out. But here is a pic with the lights set up behind the opening which will show you what I have had pictured in my mind to give it the whole "Underwater cave looking out to the open water" look I am going for.

First here are the lights I will be using. They will be a total of four of these lights (two for each opening). They are 20" long Cold Cathode lights which are used for lighting up computer cases in case modding hobby on computers. These have been converted over to normal household 110 power with inverters and a wall plug. The opening is covered with some light blue Christmas wrapping paper then the lights positioned behind it with a small space between the lights to focus the intensity more at the top of the opening so that it fades from top to bottom so it gives the effect of the water getting deeper the lower it goes in the opening...










Here is a pic with the lights on and the first of the two opening light up, and the room lights on as well.....










And a pic with the cave lights on and the room lights off....










And a close up...


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## halffrozen

O_O

WANT!


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## mretuck

I am in the middle of making a BG .... and have now just had realization that I need a revamp. I love this!


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## The King Crabb

=D> I applaud you! This has just become my new favorite idea ever incorporated into a fish tank :thumb:


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## CITADELGRAD87

This is wicked cool. I like when someon can see something in their mind's eye and make it happen.e

Very interesting effect, I am buying into the cave opening and darker-deeper thing.

VERY convincing, keep it up.


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## Steve C

Thanks everyone. This is my first real foray into making a "nice" tank so I'm pretty happy with how it's coming along so far.

Something else I am thinking about doing is rather than doing just blue tinted "moon lighting" I'm thinking about using some LED's in a bit of a fan formation in the upper right hand corner and angle them so they sweep across the tank from right upper to left lower. Basically to make it look like moon light is shining through a opening in the top of the cave. Also thinking about putting the Cold Cathode lights on a dimmer switch so I can lower the brightness of the "open water" lights to match the moon lights.

Not sure about that one right now either because I don't want to get ahead of myself, still have a lot left to to on just the background still. Really enjoying it though so far, glad I got back into the hobby after so many years away from it.


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## Malawi Marco

Wow! That is amazing. It really looks cool.


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## Steve C

Well things are moving along well on this now. The complete back is done as well as the left side panel. All that is left now is the right side panel and then the whole background unit will be done and I can then start on building the wood stand, canopy, and lighting system for it.

I went back over the whole thing today with some flat drab olive green and dry brushed that on to many of the areas to give it the look of algae growing on the rock walls. Because I like the look of algae on the rocks but once the tank is up I don;t want to have it anywhere else, so I figured since I made my own background..why not make my own algae :lol: So now it has light grey for the main color, then dark grey in the creases, earth tone brown in some spots, olive drab in others. Then I went back over all the raised portions with white paint and dry brushed all those raised high spots to give it the look of being worn and lighter on the tips of the rocks.

Once I get the right panel done (which I started tonight) then I'll be finished with the background. In the meantime I cleaned the tank today and placed it all in there to snap a picture...


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## Steve C

Started on the finial piece of the background last night so once I get this piece done I can silicone it all in to the tank and start on the stand then.

Pieces all attached to side stryo board and started to be shaped....

















Shaping finished in this pic....


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## The King Crabb

Looking good! :thumb: What's that you're using to shave it down, some sort of cheese grater?


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## Steve C

It's actually a small drywall scraper. Works great for shaping.


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## The King Crabb

Good to know!


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## adam858585

Looks awesome Steve, especially for your first attempt. Something like this is the UK would probobly cost about Ã‚Â£200. Im definately going to follow your thread and design and create my own. When i saw the picture you were trying to re create i thought "how the **** is he going to do that". anyway, i take my hat of to you, very good job. You can make me one now


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## FishyOne

Your background looks great! Thanks for sharing the pics and build process.


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## stevenp

jeez wat a neat idea :thumb: il b followjn this closely opcorn: make sure you keep uploadin pics as the project progresses :thumb:


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## Steve C

Just bumping this back up. Because I got a lot of good Aquarium things for Christmas, so I started back working on this again tonight.

Will have some new pics tomorrow.


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## Steve C

Finally some updated pics.....

The last side panel is all done so now the background itself is pretty much finished and ready to install into the tank in the next day or two after a good cleaning and some painting of the bottom of the tank is done.

Side panel...










Filling the tank fully to double check there are no leaks as well as to test out the new water changer...










Some equipment that is ready for the tank....









50ft Vaccum&hose water changer
Blue Cold Cathode lighting (pair of 20" bars and pair of 12" bars) for the cave openings
Dual T5 HO lights 
Hydor inline heater
Lifegaurd digital temp gaude with alarm 
Normal in tank thermometer
LED Moonlight strips
Timer power strip
Water test kit
Cleaning tools & nets


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## Steve C

First coat of white paint on the bottom (outside of tank). I painted the bottom white because I plan on using white sand so I figure this will help to keep them digging fish from exposing the bottom of the tank a bit.










And after 2nd coat is dry, tank flipped over and glass all cleaned. Will be siliconing in the background tomorrow.


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## 18fisher

i love this link great info,cool idea to paint botom,gonna be doing something like this soon keep updates comeing thanks 18fisher :thumb:


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## DanniGirl

Looks great so far! Very creative... :thumb:


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## CITADELGRAD87

Looks good, Steve. I like how this is coming together. Great idea painting the bottom to counter the diggers. Interested to see how that looks in action.


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## tim_s

Steve C said:


> Wow not a single reply? is my idea that bad?? like I said open to suggestion, if there's no reply because you don't like the concept please let me know, I don;t take things personal


Sorry buddy!~ I haven't come across your post yet! - looks very good so far.


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## Steve C

Some big steps forward today. Did the final test fit of the background to see if any other small pieces need to be made (a couple small ones do). Also got the new light in position (dual T5 HO bulbs 1 white 1 Actinic Blue). And also tested out all four of the "Open water" cold cathode lighting for the cave openings on both sides. Still have to monkey around with where the spacing & distance of those to get the exact effect I'm looking for but I think I'm pretty close right now.

Lit up with just the dual T5 light



















With the Open water cold cathode lighting on...



















Steve


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## tim_s

I really like it and I love the fact I have not seen this done within a home before - Good work, Cannot wait for more pictures.


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## TrashmanNYC

:drooling: :dancing: :fish: =D> :thumb:


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## bwestgsx06

This is coming along amazingly - it makes me want to try it myself.

Perhaps for those of us who wish to duplicate - or attempt to duplicate - you could do a writeup or even just list out the materials you used as well as techniques/things you did that you thought worked or didn't work out well. (For instance, I noticed you had mentioned potentially airbrushing a light blue for the cave cutout but chose to go with lightblue christmas paper instead... things like that)

Regardless, this is a sweet idea and I am definitely inspired. What are you stocking the tank with?


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## Steve C

> Perhaps for those of us who wish to duplicate - or attempt to duplicate - you could do a writeup or even just list out the materials you used as well as techniques/things you did that you thought worked or didn't work out well. (For instance, I noticed you had mentioned potentially airbrushing a light blue for the cave cutout but chose to go with lightblue christmas paper instead... things like that)


Sure I can do that once I get it all finished. I'm actually trying a few different papers right now to see what the different effects are and which I like best. Just picked up some blue tinted transparent foil which I'm gonna give a try and see what that looks like.


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## Cichlid_Expert

:drooling: That tank is amazing! Great job *Steve C* :thumb:



bwestgsx06 said:


> Perhaps for those of us who wish to duplicate - or attempt to duplicate - you could do a writeup or even just list out the materials you used as well as techniques/things you did that you thought worked or didn't work out well. (For instance, I noticed you had mentioned potentially airbrushing a light blue for the cave cutout but chose to go with lightblue christmas paper instead... things like that)


*
+1*


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## Steve C

Thanks guys..and sorry bwestgsx06 I forgot you asked what I was stocking it with. Original plan was to do around 14-16 Mbunas, but since this project started I have completely fallen in love with Peacocks so now I plan to do about 8 peacocks of different variety in it. Haven't set it in stone as to exactly which ones yet, still thumbing through books & this site looking at different ones.


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## S14Swap240sx

best of luck with your diy stand!

I would recomend drill wide on the 2x4 instead of close together in the middle that the kreg jig is set for. i find that you get a bit of side to side un-evenness only drilling two screws in the center. all in all 2x4's suck big time.


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## spotmonster

Sweet, Steve C! I like the idea of the caves.

opcorn:


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## Woodworm

S14Swap240sx said:


> best of luck with your diy stand!
> 
> I would recomend drill wide on the 2x4 instead of close together in the middle that the kreg jig is set for. i find that you get a bit of side to side un-evenness only drilling two screws in the center. all in all 2x4's suck big time.


Years ago I was a cabinet maker and we used pocket screws for our face frames and we spaced them where they were about .5 inches from each end for the 2" and 3" wide pieces and the same for the 4" with one centered to keep the pieces from twisting. I know it isn't the same thing but I think the principle of spacing them is sound.


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## Steve C

S14Swap240sx said:


> best of luck with your diy stand!
> 
> I would recomend drill wide on the 2x4 instead of close together in the middle that the kreg jig is set for. i find that you get a bit of side to side un-evenness only drilling two screws in the center. all in all 2x4's suck big time.


I was wondering about that, when I looked at the picture of the jig I noticed how closely set the two pockets are but I wasn't sure if it was set up to drill them that close, or if they were different sizes. But now that you said that I see they are both the same size and set at that spacing. I will for sure take your advice and space them out a tad father.


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## Mr.Dempsey

this tank is looking awesome good job


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## S14Swap240sx

Steve C said:


> I was wondering about that, when I looked at the picture of the jig I noticed how closely set the two pockets are but I wasn't sure if it was set up to drill them that close, or if they were different sizes. But now that you said that I see they are both the same size and set at that spacing. I will for sure take your advice and space them out a tad father.


well since 2x4's are so uneven.. take your time and pick out the straitest ones.. typically shorter lengths are cut more strait.. i mean its gonna be the cheapest part of the stand build.. i only spent like 30 dollars on all my 2x4's and 2x6's but i took an hour to pick em out. haha

Biggest disapointment was with the much more expensive 1x4's and how **** warpped those things where... really made skinning it super difficult.


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## GTZ

If you're going to pocket hole 2x4's, just use 3/4" ply for the whole stand and pocket hole that instead. No picking out straight wood, you're stand is already 'skinned' plus it's lighter.


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## lilcountrygal

Had to add a reply so I can keep up with this. You are very talented!! i wish I had HALF the artistic talent you do. Your tank is going to be absolutely amazing. I hope you build the stand quickly.... I absolutely can. not. wait. to see fish in this. :drooling:

opcorn:


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## S14Swap240sx

GTZ said:


> If you're going to pocket hole 2x4's, just use 3/4" ply for the whole stand and pocket hole that instead. No picking out straight wood, you're stand is already 'skinned' plus it's lighter.


Yeah that could work, i went with 2x construction cause my tank is 125, even tho im sure there is a way to make plywood work for that i dont have circular saw nor table saw or anything like that and home depot did a not so great job cutting me plywood sheets as is. For a 55 i would totally consider it.


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## Steve C

GTZ said:


> If you're going to pocket hole 2x4's, just use 3/4" ply for the whole stand and pocket hole that instead. No picking out straight wood, you're stand is already 'skinned' plus it's lighter.


I would, but I'm use to working with things such as dimensional lumber and that combined with the limited woodworking tools I have, I just have much more confidence that I can make a skinned dimensional lumber stand look much better than a plywood one. Plus I plan to (if money allows) skin it with a very nice oak so I'd still want to skin it even if I did plywood.


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## CITADELGRAD87

I can't wait to see that cave deal in the stand, that will make a cool effect at night.


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## Steve C

Well back on this project as time permits. Picked up all the lumber for the frame yesterday as well as a Kreg jig jr (very happy with that tool!)










Started by making two frame structure for top and bottom that were identical. I decided to do them this way so the 2x4 uprights would mount in between the top & Bottom frames so the wood would be supporting the weight rather than any weight on the fasteners.










First upright mounted....










Couple of the pocket screws done with the new jig...










I also decided to double up the corner 2x4's in a "L" shape also pocket screwed in as well as screwed back to side. May be overkill but it's cheap insurance IMO. You can also see the height of the stand in this picture. I never do like to have to bend over to look into a fish tank, and since I'm 6'6" with long arms I can get away with a stand height higher than most people, so I did mine 39" to the bottom of the tank.


















That's were I'm at right now, will post more later as I get time to get more done on it.


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## CITADELGRAD87

Now you're just showing off with the pocket corner jig.

Looking great, I like overkill, I never worry about anything giving way.

Keep it up.


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## Steve C

> Now you're just showing off with the pocket corner jig.


 :lol: I tell ya man it was a great investment. Once I saw someone else here use it I thought to myself "oh yeah I gotta get me one of those!".

Well all the frame is now done. Actually didn't think I would be able to get the entire frame done today but glad I did. Now I can move onto some sanding and then skinning it and laying out all the trim/shelves/power strips etc etc.


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## CITADELGRAD87

From a movie favorite of yours....

What have you got here, a portable shower or a monkey cage?


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## Steve C

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Headed to Lowes in a bit. I am thinking of going with some 1/2" red oak plywood to skin it with and then add some nice trim pieces, but we'll see what looks good to me when I get there. Hopefully I'll have some pics of starting to skin it later tonight/tomorrow.


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## Steve C

Well started skinning it with some 1/4" red oak wood today. Gonna have a bunch of filling/sanding/staining/poly/repeat to do once I get it all skinned, but I think it's gonna look real nice once it's done. Wiped one area with a damp rag just to see how the grain is going to look.


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## The King Crabb

I like it, nice work! :thumb:


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## Steve C

I just decided that is going to be the back of the stand and I am going to start over on skinning :lol: Mainly because the more I look at it I just don't want to deal with any nails at all or trying to fill nail holes with filler/putty. So I think I am going to just turn it around and start over and liquid nail the skin on without any nails at all except for under where the trim goes.

Aw well, do it right now matter how long it takes I guess.


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## dr2391

Hey its looking nice. I just bought a tank and now in the planning stage. I was wondering what kind of converters did you use for the cathodes


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## Steve C

These are a newer style of cold cathodes that have a Built-in Micro Inverter so they actually plug into the wall outlet rather than having to have in inverter/converter like the older cold cathodes use to. I ordered them online from a computer modding shop called "xoxide".


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## MikeyMike22

I'm actually a little upset with your project. Whereas I was content with my setup before, I now want to do this with my 125 gallon tank!
I've also built my own stand, but I can't wait to see how you do your canopy...I could use some ideas. The canopies I've made before are basically a 1x1 frame with plywood face and a few trim pieces. They looked nice, but had no lids, doors, etc. and had to be taken off for maintenance. Not a big issue with my smaller tanks, but I think I need something more functional for the 125.

Awesome project!


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## Steve C

:lol: Thanks Mike.

I've got an idea of how I am planing on doing my canopy. What I am going to do is to build basically a canopy that is about 30" tall and it will have 3 openings (basically windows because they will be covered with clear acrylic). In the middle window will be a very cool croc skull I have, not the cheesy one that you see at LFS but a very realistic imitation I have had for awhile. Then on each side of the skull will be windows with a nice piece of holy rock or something of that nature in them. Then each of the three windows will be backlit with white CFL bulbs.

Then to make it easy to clean and do PWC's I plan to hinge the front half of the canopy.

I hope to have the stand done in a week to 10 days and then start the canopy.


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## dr2391

which ones are the ones you got? i can't find any on that website that say they plug into the wall


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## Steve C

dr2391 said:


> which ones are the ones you got? i can't find any on that website that say they plug into the wall


I know this site is a bit funny about people posting links to sites so I just sent you a PM with the links to the exact ones I am using so check your PM's.


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## dr2391

thank you!


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## bwestgsx06

would you mind PMing me as well?


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## Steve C

Sure, PM sent.


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## Steve C

Got a lot done the past day or two. Starting to look like a stand now. I'm very glad I ditched the nails and decided to redo it without any nail heads showing. Hope to have it all skinned by tomorrow so I can start working on the doors.










Although my assistant quit early on me today. I guess she doesn't work a full day on the weekends.


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## Cali_screw

Looking good!


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## bwestgsx06

this build is seriously awesome.


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## Steve C

Just letting the final front skin piece dry and then I just have one more side panel to attach and the skinning will be done. Then I can move on to making the doors, filling a few joints, adding trim and sanding. I put a few nails at the very bottom but those will be covered by trim....










Picked up the hardware for it last night at Lowe's. I decided on Colonial style hinges and nickle brushed rope style knobs. Since the wood skin is red oak I went with a red oak stain...










I also bought some 5 piece tiles. I plan to inlay the tiles in a diamond position into the front of each door and then trim the tile with some wood to add a nice accent on each of the doors...


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## Steve C

Now have part of the floor in it, and also have one of the doors done and mounted now. I went with a thinner 1.250" oak for the frame of the door to give it a bit sleeker style. Door frames have a double routered edge on the inner side and a single routered edge on the outer. I mitered all the pieces but there still is a small bit of filling that needs to be done. I'm actually very happy with the way the door came out. Even though I am a very hands on type of person and build all sorts of things, wood working just does not fit in with my many years as a welder/metal fabricator so I have always shied away from anything to do with woodworking. And the door was probably one of the biggest worries about this job. So I'm very pleased with the way this is coming out.


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## Woodworm

Nice work. I love the idea of using the tile and can't wait to see the results.


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## Steve C

Coming along nicely now. Got the other door built and hung today, picked up some magnetic latches and installed those for the doors, and got the top trim piece that covers the bottom trim on the tank cut/mitered and installed today. Still have to put the trim on the bottom of the stand, the trim on the side corners of the stand, do the inlaid tiles and trim on the doors as well as finish filling/sanding the few spots that need it. Then it will be ready to stain.

Of course I HAD to just sit the tank on it so I could see how it was gonna look


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## Bpawl92

this looks phenomenal. the attention to detail you used for the whole BG and what you plan to do for the stand i couldnt even come up with. cant wait to see it finished :thumb:


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## dsouthworth

That background is truly unique


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## bubG

looks great Steve. Seeing your inspiration the beginning, I had my doubts but you really made it make sense in the end, and for that you should be proud. I envy the artistry you displayed in that background especially but the entire build is top notch. thanks for sharing all this.


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## Steve C

Thanks guys, I'm starting to get antsy to see it all together myself now that it's getting so close 

The first door with the Italian ceramic tile inlaid and the wood trim mitered and mounted to the door skin is done. Now you can see what I had pictured in my head because I'm sure it probably sounded weird that I was planning to mount a floor tile on a door when I mentioned that idea lol. But I think it came out really nice to add a classy touch to the doors.










The toe molding is on (waiting to put the corner molding on still) and also have the first coat of finish applied....










First coat on the door as well. Still have to sand between coats and apply a 2nd coat, then going to polyurethane over it all to give it a gloss clear finish.


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## Steve C

The stand is DONE. Well not 100% done, but 99% done. All that is left is to put a coat of polyurethane on the backside of each door as well as on the shelf. As someone with almost no woodworking experience I have to admit I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, it's a real joy to stand back and look at something like this which I will have for many years to come and know that I built it. I ended up doing two coats of stain on it and then three coats of polyurethane to seal it and to give it a nice shine.

I still have to build a matching wood canopy for it but I probably won't start that for about a week or so. Need to get some other "paying work" done this week. Here's the pics of the completed stand.....

Front view....









Close up of the inlaid tiles....









Shot of the corner molding and trim work....










I also mounted a digital thermometer with high&low temp alarms on the side. I used two pieces of angle wood to form a trim over top to protect it from getting hit as well as a "tube" for the sending unit wire to route through....










Inside I painted the floor and sides as well as frame work all gloss white to make it brighter inside, but I stained two pieces of oak to close off the back of the stand....










I made the panel on the right not go all the way to the top, that way I can run my filter tubes and wiring through the opening...










Made a shelf to store any supplies on....


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## Steve C

Got some real work (the paying kind :wink: ) done this past week so should have some more free time to get back on this project again this weekend. Planning on picking up the lumber for the canopy and probably starting on that this weekend.

Still having some "design block" as to how I am going to do the canopy though. Because I want to build it with three openings in it where I can add decor into the openings behind acrylic windows, yet have easy access to the tank without having to remove the entire canopy...._AND_ be able to do both of those things without having the canopy itself being super duper tall :?


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## Woodworm

Looks good


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## dr2391

loving it. can't wait to see the progress on the actual tank! i am going to be starting my 55g soon and am using your tank and a couple others as inspiration :fish:


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## Steve C

I was at the store this evening picking up a few things and while I was in the housewares dept looking for a new smoke detector for home I came across this "Under Cabinet light". Wasn't really looking for it or anything for the tank/stand at all but when I saw it was only $8 for a 75w fully enclosed light like this the gears started turning and I figured it was a no brainer that this would be perfect for a light inside the cabinet for anytime I'm working on the canister filter or doing anything else inside the cabinet.

I'm going to wire it to a switch on the side of the stand next to the digital temp gauge so that I can turn the light on from outside the stand and not have to reach up inside it to turn it on.

Also made a little hanger rack for tank tools out of some scrap trim wood and screw in hooks.


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## bwestgsx06

well done man well done. Can't wait to see this thing fully stocked.


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## Steve C

Thanks. I just picked up 4 nicely shaped rocks for it at the LFS yesterday. I cleaned them and let them dry overnight and am in the process of drylok'ing and shading them with paints to match my BG right now. I'll post some pics of them in a bit after they have had a bit of time to dry.

Also picked up the 1x2's for the canopy frame last night, about to start working on the frame for it in just a few minutes as well.


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## Steve C

Well I made some decent progress this weekend. Today I worked on getting the "cave lights" set up how I want them and made the brackets which will hold them behind the tank and tested them out for the last time before I take all the mounts off to stain them. Don't know why I'm going to stain wood brackets that will be behind the tank and never been seen by anyone, but that's just how I am lol...If they aren't finished/stained then I'll feel like the job is not finished. I made one tweak to the light bars and I mounted them on about 45 degree angles, that way it looks like the light outside the cave openings are coming in on an angle the way water bends light in a real lake, I like the effect it gives that way.

I also bought four rocks from a local fish shop yesterday. I really only bought them for their shape and not their color because I planned on cleaning them and covering them with the same Drylok that I used on the background, then shading them to match.

Got the canopy started as well. Only had time to get the base started before I called it a night, but it's a start, now I can decide on height and other things overnight before I get back to work on it.

On to some pictures...

Started by buying these four rocks chosen for their shapes & size which I really liked...










After washing, drying, two coats of Drylok and a few hours under a heat lamp they have their base color and are ready for some shading/drybrushing...










After shading them with dark grey, brown, some olive green to simulate algae and then some white on the high spots .......



















Rocks in the tank....










With just the cave lights on....










With cave lights and testing out the LED moonlight strips....










With all the lights including the dual T5 white & actinic bulbs..



















Also decided after seeing that the price of the XP3 just went up another $25 to forgo the XP3 and just kick the budget up a bit more and go with the Fulval fx5. With the GPH flow of the FX5 it should turn this tank over at least 12-15 times per hour.

Should have some more work on the canopy done over the next couple days.

Steve


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## basesloaded190

Really love everything you are doing here!

With the FX5 are you going to build a spray bar instead of using the output that comes with it?


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## Steve C

> With the FX5 are you going to build a spray bar instead of using the output that comes with it?


I've been going back & forth over that very question myself in my head the past few days, and I think I am pretty sure that I will go ahead and build my own spraybar for it. Since I have the 3d background which would be in the way for adding the spraybar on the back of the tank, I am considering a way to mount it on the front side of the tank but yet still keeping it out of view.


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## Steve C

Have the main frame work started for the canopy now. It will be a total of 19" tall with a 6" door for in tank cleaning and such, then the area above will be 3 opening with decorations behind windows. Have to make the 50th trip to Lowes in just a few minutes for more supplies :lol:


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## Steve C

Finished getting the majority of the braces cut and installed tonight. All that's left is the front top rail and then one side brace on the right side. Should have those in and be able to start making the floor for the upper shelf and skinning it tomorrow.

I think the lumber dept at Lowes knows me by first name now


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## Steve C

Sorry only one pic tonight. Gluing the shelf on....


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## Steve C

Managed to put in another full days work on it today. Have pretty much the main parts of the canopy on now. Just have to do all the rest of the trim work on it, stain, poly and such still. The upper trim is just butt jointed but that's because that will all be covered by 3" trim like is on the stand itself.

These pictures will give you an idea of what I am going for with the canopy. The lower section is a 6" door which I hinged at the bottom so it will provide easy access for basic tank work and feeding etc etc. Then the upper section is going to be covered with clear acrylic and then behind it will be an underwater scene with another 3d background, some hand made foam rocks, the croc skull, some driftwood and such to replicate a lake bottom and it will also have its own lighting built in to it. Probably sounds weird right now but once I get onto making it I think it will add a pretty neat touch to the whole unit.


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## Steve C

Started working on the underwater scene which will be filling the upper level of the canopy tonight. Still have lots of shaping to do before I start painting/shading but I have most of the "lake bottom" and 3D background all in place for shaping now.


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## BullyBuddies

I cant wait to see your finished set-up and the stocked tank. That background is truly unique.


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## Steve C

Put another full days work into it today and got quite a bit done....yet still quite a bit left to do, I can't believe how much more work this is taking than I expected. Seems I get one thing done and then have two other things come to mind that I want to do.

Canopy with matching scroll work on the access door...










The upper lake bottom scene I have been working on. All the rocks are shaped, coated with Drylok, shaded with brown, dark grey, olive drab to simulate algae and white to highlight the high spots. Also added some vines and a few other things you would find on the bottom of the lake....




























First coat of stain on the canopy and the background sitting in place...I will be cutting out the wood that is visible between the rocks in the center of the background and then back lighting a blue insert with some more cold cathodes so it has the same look as the caves in the tank.



















Full tank&stand shot...










Things I still have to do...
- 2nd coat of stain on canopy
- 3 coats of poly
- Clear acrylic cover over upper canopy opening
- Upper decorative trim on canopy
- Cut out wood center and mounted back lite section on canopy
- Wire all the lights in and install a switch panel on side of stand to control everything

Few other things which I can not recall at the moment but I'm getting closer every day to getting it ready to fill with water.


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## Dart032

Very impressive. Love the attention to detail. So I read something about giving the bg two weeks to leech after curing. I'm about ready to test mine in water. What are ur recommendations on leeching the bg?


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## Steve C

I haven't got to the water/leeching BG step yet in my build so I can't say for st hand on that aspect of it. But I have been reading up a lot about it here on the site and it seems most people suggest at least 1 week of leeching out with big water changes and monitoring PH levels during the leeching.

I'm sure someone that has done that step already will be able to give you solid advice on that, but if your planning 2 weeks and some daily water changes during that time I think you will fine.


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## Steve C

Got a lot done on the canopy tonight. Started out with the plan of using blue CFL bulbs in regular DIY style lamp sockets to light up the top level of the canopy with so I bought two of each of these....










But after getting them out and mocking them up inside the canopy where I planned to mount them the plan changed. I just was not happy at all with two things. First thing was that they did not give off the proper color spectrum of light to match the rest of the tank lighting. And secondly to mount these I would had to have made some heat shields as well as some fake rocks to hide the big bulb and socket and after all the work I have put into this build the last thing I wanted to do was cheap out and make it look bad.

So I ended up going with these, the same style 20" pair of Cold Cathode 110 light bars with ac/dc adapter. Not only do they match the tank lights but using the 4 metal clips to mount them they fit perfectly along the upper trim rail of the canopy....










Next job I tackled tonight was to add 4 12" x 12" mirror tiles into the upper part of the canopy. I figured this would accomplish two things. One thing would be to help make the "lake bottom scene" in the upper level more visible since the overall height of this is 6'6" to the top. Plus it would also reflect everything to help make it look almost like you were seeing the reflection off the water surface from underneath.

Then I also added some blue heavy paper in the opening between the rocks and covered that blue paper with a transparent blue tinted paper to give it some "waviness" and help to make it look more like real water....



















Shoot of the whole upper level of the canopy...










Just a few shoots from the front of everything as it stands right now. Still some more to small detail work to do, but most of the main jobs are about done now!


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## pikayooperdave

cool!


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## dsouthworth

This is the most unique build that i've ever come across. 
You've taken every aspect of a build to the next level. The Bg, the lights behind the BG. The scene on top is sooooo creative. nobody's ever done something like this 9that *** seen).

You have really, really impressed me Steve


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## Steve C

Thank you very much dsouthworth I really appreciate the kind words. I guess it's obvious that I'm a bit of an obsessive personality, when I get into something I put all I can into it 

I have to admit though this website has been what has really inspired me to do this build. I can't even begin to tell you how many hours I have sat here pouring over eveything on this site for the past 5 months. It's been a great source of inspiration.


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## CITADELGRAD87

OK, Steve, I know I finished mine and don't spend as much time here, but that is ABSOLUTELY bad A$$. Very very VERY cool. Beautiful woodwork, rockwork, ingenuity, all around super strong showing.

I love this build.


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## Steve C

Thanks CITADEL, I was just last week wondering where you have been, hadn't seen ya around for a bit nice to see you back :thumb:

Got a little bit more done today but only worked on it for a couple hours tonight. After looking at it for a bit last night I decided to also mirror the sides of the upper level to give it a bit more finished look.

So after spending an hour searching the entire house for my glass cutter I finally gave in and went to HD and bought a new one so I could get these side mirrors done tonight.

Only had 2 mirror tiles left so I had to be careful not to break one....










Side of upper level before......










And after............


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## dsouthworth

Very nice!


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## kuopan

this is absolutely amazing.. would you be able to break down all the materials and cost?? and maybe a timeline?

you should definitely create a video for this as I can only dream to be this handy.


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## bwestgsx06

I second any list of materials because I am wanting to just get my feet wet with BG designs and even things like paint selection for coloration are a mystery to me.


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## nimaohoh

Looking cool. Thanks for your sharing! If you want a big boat, i think you can build it.


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## Bungalowdan

Awesome! Too bad you can't put fish in the upper portion, because that's looking great also! It complements the tank nicely!

I might be stealing that upper level idea when I build my 125!


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## NYPDMOUNTIE

Very impressive. Great work.


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## Steve C

NYPDMOUNTIE said:


> Very impressive. Great work.


Thanks, sorry no updates lately. Been busy with work stuff, but should be buying my filter this week I hope and back on to it shortly.


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## bwestgsx06

any updates to this? This was one of my favorite builds to watch...


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## Steve C

Nothing to update yet but should soon. Been tied up with some other projects, and this time of year (spring) things such as fishing trips keep me tied up a bit (leaving for a trip Friday morning) so I haven't had much chance to get anything done recently.

I will be moving the tank upstairs shortly though and getting it set up to start cycling very soon so soon as I do that I'll get some updated pics posted.

Steve


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## bwestgsx06

bump?


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## Steve C

bwestgsx06 said:


> bump?


Moving the tank upstairs hasn't happened yet. Mainly because I decided to remodel the entire room where the tank will be going so I put off getting it upstairs and cycling until the room was completely finished. Finished it up about a week ago so will move the tank in before too long. I go on an annual 2 week vacation in July though so my plans are to get the tank upstairs and cycled before vacation, then have it ready to add fish after I get back from vacation at the end of July. I could do it before, but I don't want to add fish and then leave for 2 weeks right after I add them though so I'll be waiting till I get back for the fish. I'm still around and have the same plans though :thumb:

Steve


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## Steve C

Hello to everyone, it's been awhile since I was on here. You guys probably all thought I had given up on this build or that I was dead :lol: Actually just the old story of life getting in the way of projects is all that happened. The extra "fun money" dried up for a while and I had to put the aquarium build on hold for a few months over the summer while I did some other things. But now that business has picked back up and I have a bit more money to put towards the aquarium build again the project is back on now.

Last week I had a major step forward and with the help of my brother in law we brought the tank/stand/canopy upstairs into the light of day and positioned it in the room were it will call home. Currently I am getting ready to mount the filter intake tubes behind the back ground and then mount the back ground into position one final time. I'm also searching for a local place to buy the sand from (not having much luck there yet) but once the filter tubes/spraybars are mounted then I'll be hooking the filters up and starting to cycle it very soon.

Nice to finally be back on track with this project.

Quick shot of it sitting in the room now finally...










Steve


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## Steve C

Just finished the final trimming of the background and now have the three main large back sections permanently siliconed in and curing. Tomorrow I will be installing the side panels and then placing the intake tubes for the Xp3 and Xp4 filters so that I can build covers that will concel the intake tubes from sight. Also picked up the filter materials today and ordering the rest of the ceramic rings tomorrow.

I already have the lighting system pieces all here (t5 duel light, dimable LED blue moonlights) but after doing some searching online tonight I found a smoking deal on some of the Hydor LED Spotlights. So I'm ordering four of the LED spotlights tomorrow so I can add some more dramatic lighting effects to the tank at night.

Back pieces drying....










Steve


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## Steve C

Finished putting the side panels in late last night so now the whole background and side panels are all securely attached in the tank now. Next will be routing the dual filter intakes (one in each corner) and then concealing them from sight, then mounting the spray bars.



















Steve


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## Iggy Newcastle

Pumped to see the end result. I think it's going to be quite unique and look sweet.


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## Steve C

Thanks Iggy...i'm surprised I have had the patience to keep it going this long myself, I'm usually way to impatient lol. Just tested the LED moonlights a few mins ago, I'll post a pic shortly, but I'm still waiting for a bunch of LED spotlights from Big Al's so can't wait to get those hooked up. But it's pretty cool looking as is right now with the moonlights. Pic to follow soon.

BTW. NICE largemouth in your avatar. I'm a HUGE fly fisherman myself and my other passion is fishing all the time here in the great lakes and Northern Michigan.

Steve


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## Steve C

Started building the panels to conceal the filter intakes today (one intake on each end of the tank). Once finished the only thing that will hang below the panels are the very end of the intake because I want it to be uncovered so I will end up painting those so they blend right in...

One panel roughed in and shaped...









Both panels with first coat of Drylok on them...









The last piece of the left cave opening now siliconed in to place...


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## stellarbabe316

This is absolutely amazing. I just read the whole thread and I am so impressed by what you did. Of course, I am sitting here thinking about trying a 3D background myself, but I know I am not nearly artistic nor crafty enough for it. I truly admire what you have done here.


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## Steve C

Managed to make enough time to get both the side rock panels mounted and shaded with color today. They hide the filter intakes extremely well yet still leave opening enough to get good flow to them. Also now that all the 3D background is in the tank I installed the new top tank trim piece with a bead of silicone all the way around the top of the tank. I was struck with an idea today to add something I had not planned. Since I am doing a "cave theme" I though it might look nice to make a few small rock formations that would hang down into the tank from the top of the waterline (think stalactites here) and mount them about 1" from the front upper lip of the tank. So I made three sections out of foam and have the drylok coat curing on them right now. I'll test mount them to see if I like the idea of them once they are dry. If not then they will not be used, but we'll see tomorrow how they look.

Here are the finished filter intake panels I made....

Close up...(you can just barely see the intake grill peeking out in this side angle)










Front shot they are not visible at all


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## Steve C

I dunno...what do you guys think? 
/?
They aren't painted/shaded....but the three pieces in the front of the tank? YES or NO?


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## Steve C

Are the three pieces visible I'm talkin about?


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## ratbones86

yeah i see them they in the very front rofl. BTW I LOVE YOUR TANK!!! I wish i had the time and money to make one like that right now. AWESOME JOB! kodos to ou good sir!


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## Steve C

I misspoke. They are painted, but not shaded yet.


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## Storiwyr

Wow. I just read this entire thread, and every bit was worth it. That is the most amazing tank build I have ever seen.

As for the extra pieces, any way you could get a full tank shot with them? I'm trying to picture it in my head. They could be awesome, or they could be distracting, you know?


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## Steve C

Thanks guys for the compliments. Well after more thought and looking at the front pieces, I decided to ditch them. I thought it might be a neat idea at first, but after looking at them for a couple days I really found them just taking away from the overall look I was going for and they just blocked some of the other background details I worked hard to build so I scraped that idea.

But the past few days I have make some more steps forward. An order I placed last week came in which was for 2L of Matrix bio for my dual canister filters. Also got the pads and some filter floss. Some more of the lighting systems came (3 Hydor LED white spotlights and 1 Blue Hydor LED spotlight) Actually waiting for one more Blue LED spotlight that's on backorder  And picked up two 24" Versa-top hinged glass tops today as well as 50lbs of Tan Medium sand and 50lbs of White sand from Home Depot (plan to mix tan & white together).

Still waiting on the other one of the Blue LED spotlights which will light up the right side panel in blue like the left one. But here is a test run with the four Cold Cathode "cave lights", twin blue LED 48" moon light bars, three LED white spot lights, and one of the Blue LED spotlights all on now. I also have a 48" T5 dual light which will mount in the canopy for times when I want to really light the whole tank up, but I personally like the more dramatic effect the spot lights give to the look.

So far I'm very pleased with the way the lighting system is coming. Now tomorrow I get to wash 100lbs of sand  

Current state today (minus canopy because I have to do a bit of trimming on the inside back brace of it).


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## Koteckn

ill be waiting to see this completed... opcorn:


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## Steve C

More progress this evening, but what a pain it was. After mounting both glass lids on top I realized that the 1" acrylic rear of the glass lids which is normally used for trimming filter intake clearance... well it just was not gonna work because my custom background I made extends 1.75" away from the back glass, which means the filter intake as well as spraybars were going to need to be routed through the glass part of the lids...uhg!

Nothing's worse than having to cut brand new glass you just bought and hope you dont crack the whole thing in two. So after a few tense moments with the glass cutter I went to work. I am very happy with the way it all came out. Rather than run the spray bar along the back like I originally planned on doing from the start of this build, I decided to run them along the sides and tuck them up into the edge of the trim so they were completely hidden from sight. This required some trimming of the upper lip of the background, as well as notching the new top trim piece I just installed, and cutting the spraybar to fit.









View from the front the spraybar is completely hidden in the upper trim piece...










Then it was simply a matter of doing the exact same thing to the left side of the tank...










And then glass all cut/trimmed and new lids mounted into place


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## austings

Looks great! What kind of filter are you using? What other plans for this tank do you have?


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## Iggy Newcastle

Steve C said:


> Thanks Iggy...i'm surprised I have had the patience to keep it going this long myself, I'm usually way to impatient lol. Just tested the LED moonlights a few mins ago, I'll post a pic shortly, but I'm still waiting for a bunch of LED spotlights from Big Al's so can't wait to get those hooked up. But it's pretty cool looking as is right now with the moonlights. Pic to follow soon.
> 
> BTW. NICE largemouth in your avatar. I'm a HUGE fly fisherman myself and my other passion is fishing all the time here in the great lakes and Northern Michigan.
> 
> Steve


Thanks Steve. After reading the whole thread, and seeing all the pics, I could tell you were really into fishing. Nice 'man cave'

Nice recovery on the glass tops/spray bar. Looks sweet and completely hidden.


----------



## Steve C

austings said:


> Looks great! What kind of filter are you using? What other plans for this tank do you have?


Pair of canister filters (XP3 & XP4). No other big plans than what I have already done, just finishing it up and some small detail work now.

Steve


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## Storiwyr

When I saw you online Steve, my first thought was "You march right up to the DIY board and update your thread, Mister!"  Glad to see the updates! Can't wait to see it completed with fish swimming around in it, gloating over having the sweetest digs on the block.


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## PaNiK

very awesome a little intimidating as im about to start my background today!


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## metricliman

Hey Steve, could you post how much it cost you for the whole setup? I'm starting a 55g tang tank soon and I WANT THIS!!!


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## Floridagirl

Tuly awesome thread! Like everyone else, just waiting for finale with fish! opcorn: opcorn: opcorn:


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## Steve C

> very awesome a little intimidating as im about to start my background today!


PaNiK- Just have fund with it, the good thing about making your own Background is that there really is not wrong way to do it. Just start shaping the foam and see where it takes you. You'll find that you can make changes while your doing it and it will be fine. Just take your time and have some fun doing it.



> Hey Steve, could you post how much it cost you for the whole setup? I'm starting a 55g tang tank soon and I WANT THIS!!!


metricliman- I Haven't sat down and added it up to an exact amount yet, but with everything so far I think I have somewhere between $800-$900 total in it. That included some stuff which isn't installed yet like the two Rena filters, the Hydor inline heater and all that stuff as well.


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## Steve C

Painted the upper inside of the canopy white to reflect light better, and the rest of the inside flat black to keep the light from peeking through any seems where the door mounts to the canopy. Also have the dual T5 lights, two LED moon lights and the 5 LED spotlights now all in place as well.


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## Steve C

Well, about 3 hours into washing sand so far....and I've got _maybe_ 20lbs washed lol. Boooooorrrring! But I'm very happy with the color. I bought 50lbs of tan and 50lbs of white and I'm mixing about 70% white with 30% tan and it's coming out a very night light tan with some white specks in it which is what I was hoping would happen. If it quits raining soon I hope to be able to get the rest of it washed out this evening but we'll see how that pans out.


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## cichlid_crazy

Looking good
IMO the only thing worse than washing sand is catching holding females.


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## Steve C

All the sand is washed and in the tank now (took about 5 hours of washing). Did a total sand bed depth of about 1.5" - 1.75". Also have the filters set up now as well as all the wiring and cable management neatly routed where it is good looking and safe. I just ordered two more white LED spotlights last night so soon as those get here I'll get them in and get some pics of the entire set-up. The good news..... it is just about done and ready to add water/start the cycle now within a couple days :dancing: :thumb:

Steve


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## Steve C

Was at the fish store today and happened to see a few rocks that I liked the shape of and picked them up. Just like the other rocks I did I cleaned them and Drylok/painted them to match my DIY background I made. First picture are the rocks in the natural colors they were after washing them very well.










Then after two coats of drylok










And finally after some dry brushing work/shading & highlighting










Steve


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## rotccapt

that is so cool how you transformed the rocks


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## Steve C

Well guys after almost exactly 1 full year (took a few months off from working on it during the summer) it is not all done except for a couple minor things and should have water in it and cycling by the weekend then fish in it soon as it is cycled. I am extremely happy with it because the end result is _*EXACTLY*_ what I had pictured in my head when I first started this build. Here are some pics of it all done ...all that is left is to clean the filter hoses, get some filter hose clips, fill the filters with the media (Matrix media and pads/floss) and fill her with water. So next time you see it will be with fish in it.

Lots of pictures with different stages of the lighting system on since it's a pretty in depth lighting system I designed for this. The lighting system I did on it entails the following....
*4- 20" Cold Cathod light bars
2- 12" Cold Cathode light bars
48" T5 Dual lights 1-10000k and 1-Actinic bulb
2- 24" LEd blue Moonlight strip lights
2-LED Hydor H2show Blue LED Spotlights
5-LED Hydor H2show White LED Spotlights
20" under cabinet light inside the lower stand
*










You'll also notice I made some wood angle strips and stained them to match the stand then siliconed them onto the leading front edges of the tank to give it a more finished look.










With all these lights there is a TON of wiring so I made sure to spend a good deal of time routing, sleeving and making all the wiring neat for looks as well as being safe.










Inline Hydor heater on one of the Rena Xp filters





































With all the lights including the T5's on....









































































Steve


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## Steve C

No comments...good OR bad? lol


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## cichlid_crazy

I love it. When you first started talking about it, I couldnt picture it. But it really looks good all finished


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## fusion

Really like it, will look even better when you get some fish in it


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## Steve C

Thanks..didn't want to seem like I was fishing for compliments or anything like that, but just wanted to make sure others liked it like I did was all and I wasn't thinking it was "done" when maybe it wasn't lol

Steve


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## harddriver62

I think it's great! I wish I could be that creative and build like that. cant wait to see it stocked.


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## Steve C

Well my OCD kicked in and I had to do something about the hoses. These filters were used when I bought them and after closer inspection now that I had them in the cabinet I noticed just how full of nastiness (diatoms?) the hoses were. Spent about 4 hours cleaning both filters top to bottom with warm water and brushes. As well as went to 3 different places trying to find some replacement hoes for the Rena's. Ended up finding the proper size at a local hardware so bought 16ft of it for $36. Should be more than enough plus have some spare left.

May be filling it with water as soon as tomorrow. Just have to find the proper clear amonia tomorrow so I can start the cycle. I actually did buy some today but it was the wrong stuff...it was clear ammonia but it was "ammonia surfactant" and after getting home and searching CF to make sure I got the right stuff, I realized I did not (glad there is so much good info in the Search on this forum it saved me some big trouble).


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## fusion

Only place i could find the ammonia was ACE and i looked at lots.


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## Steve C

Thanks fusion. I think that is where I am going to go today or tomorrow. Funny thing was I was there yesterday and looked for it and I did see they had the one that was "Janitorial " strength and I just passed it off as probably being too strong and not the proper stuff, but after searching CF I see that actually is the one most people use so I'll have to go back and get that one.

Steve


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## fusion

Steve C said:


> Thanks fusion. I think that is where I am going to go today or tomorrow. Funny thing was I was there yesterday and looked for it and I did see they had the one that was "Janitorial " strength and I just passed it off as probably being too strong and not the proper stuff, but after searching CF I see that actually is the one most people use so I'll have to go back and get that one.
> 
> Steve


Yes, thats the one


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## Steve C

Picked up the ACE brand today. Just to triple check before I start adding it (probably tomorrow- fingers crossed) ....this one I got is the right stuff?


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## Steve C

Well I just finished filling with water :dancing: I have to say.....there sure is something to be said for spending the extra time washing your sand. I spent about 5-6 hours washing my sand so I knew I had it washed pretty well, but I still expected at least a day or two of cloudiness before the tank was clear. To my surprise though, with the exception of some of the "new tank air bubbles" blowing around the tank, it's actually exceptionally clear :thumb:

During filling ....










And not even 1 minute after getting filled and turning both the filters on...










Steve


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## rotccapt

looking good


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## GTZ

Steve C said:


> Picked up the ACE brand today. Just to triple check before I start adding it (probably tomorrow- fingers crossed) ....this one I got is the right stuff?


 :thumb:


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## Steve C

A quick video of it as it's cycling. The true colors of it don't come through well on video, but you can see the nice shimmering light effect in it with the way I have my spraybars & LED spot lights set up.


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## PaNiK

Why is the top shimmering? Is that a tank too?!


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## Steve C

PaNiK said:


> Why is the top shimmering? Is that a tank too?!


The top isn't really shimmering, but I did it with a background that is made to look like the background in the tank and then made it to look like water in the back of the upper part by using the reflection from some cold cathode lights and some blue paper covered in clear paper so it catches and reflects the lights.

Steve


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## hoopvillian

Show quality. Beautiful tank my friend.


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## cichlid-gal

you really did end up with your cavern look...very nice Steve...very nice


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## Steve C

Well while I'm cycling I decided to play around with a little detail item I have had in mind. I've been wanting to do some sort of a fish skeleton on the front/middle of the access door on the canopy but all I could find were either decals *yuck* or real fish skeletons which were not the "mean" looking fish skeleton I had in mind. So I decided since I had some time, I'd make my own.

Started out with free hand drawing a basic idea of what I wanted on some thin foam as a template...










Then cut it out with a razor....










Then transfered that over to some 1/4" styro, shaped it with some sandpaper, added some teeth and first coat of base color. It will all be painted with a bone/cream color once the rest is cut out and shaped...


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## WhitzEnd

Steve, This is just incredible. I LOVE the backlighting with the cold cathodes. What did you end up using for the skin on the back of the tank. You mentioned blue paper but also airbrushing at one point and even foil. I would love to know what you used to get the final effect.


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## Steve C

Thanks Whitzend. I ended up using some blue Christmas wrapping paper with a clear blue tinted wrapping paper in front of it. My only concern was that the paper might get wet and then ruin it and cause me to have to drain the tank to get it pulled away from the wall to replace the paper, so what I did was once the paper was in place I made protective covers for them. I cut some 1/8" clear acrylic sheets into two section the same size as where the paper is on the back of the tank, then I covered paper with the clear acyrlic and used 2" wide clear tape all the way around the edges of the clear acrylic so basically the blue paper is now sandwiched between the back glass of the tank and the clear acrylic so there's no worry about it getting wet now.


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## Steve C

Well I have been conversing with Billy at Cichlid Express back and forth all week getting the stock list finalized. This is the final stock list ...

Red Shoulder: 2.5" 
Lemon Jake: 2.5" 
German Red: 2.5" 
Red top Lwanda: 3" 
Benga Sunshine 3" 
Ethelwynnae 2" 
Albino Red Diamond 3" 
OB Peacock 2.5" 
Syno Hybrids 2"+ 
Nagra Flametail 2.5"

Fish are being next day aired on Monday and I will have them Tuesday. I have to say dealing with Billy was a super easy experience and I will for sure be calling Billy back in a month when my other 55 is ready to stock.

Added a few more accent pieces to the tank so wanted to share some final pics before it is stocked with some finned critters in a few days


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## PaNiK

That's just ridiculous. Stop it. It's completely assenine to have a tank that *******.


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## Steve C

:lol: :lol: PaNiK would it make ya feel better if I changed the stock list to just a single Neon tetra?


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## Floridagirl

Steve C said:


> :lol: :lol: PaNiK would it make ya feel better if I changed the stock list to just a single Neon tetra?


This made me giggle!


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## Steve C

I've got fish!!!!! They came from *vendor name removed* and look awesome :thumb: :thumb: Everyone is happy healthy and not hiding at all. I even put a tiny pinch of pellets in and every one of them went for the food so no one seems stressed from the journey to Michigan. Once I turn the light on later tonight or tomorrow I will post some pictures of them. Feels great to finally see fish swimming in the tank :dancing:


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## Steve C

I think the Lawanda has already staked his claim to the right corner of the tank


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## metricliman

It's been a long run! Over a year start to finish. Now that's a job well done.


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## kojak76

Just in case anyone like myself is planning a background you have to read this....so, I figured I would just bump it back up top  This guy deserves it for sure.


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## bibbs68

Steve, great job!

You have incorporated so many items into this build that there is literally something for everyone...cabinetry, lighting, background making...the list goes on!

Again, very well done and thanks for sharing.


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## Hock

Bumping this because this is the nicest and best looking setup I've ever seen. Kudos good sir.


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## k7gixxerguy

Absolutely gorgeous build Steve. But where are the fish pics?


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## Steve C

k7gixxerguy said:


> Absolutely gorgeous build Steve. But where are the fish pics?


I had some pics of them somewhere in one of the threads, didn't realize I never posted them under this one till you just mentioned it. I'll tryin get some fish pics up in the next day or two.

Steve


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## Steve C

Some of the fish pics, a few still aren't colored up yet so didn't take pics of those...


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## rotccapt

the fish look great. is that natural algae on the background or did you paint that?


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## Steve C

It's natural. I've been letting it grow on the BG and rocks for the past couple months now.


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## rotccapt

it looks great


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## Steve C

Thanks. It was kind of a back & forth decision as to if I wanted to keep it cleaned off or let it grow. Since it was coming in so nice and green I decided to let it grow and up my lights on time to help it. Took awhile for it to fill in and wasn't happy with it at first, but now that it has filled in nicely I'm glad I decided to let it grow out.


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## k7gixxerguy

They look great steve, that OB (1st and fourth) has very interesting coloration. I hadnt seen one like that before. The ones I see normally are more two toned only.


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## mhough260

This is an awesome thread , Steve, I enjoyed reading from page 1. You've inspired me to attemp a DIY background on my 55g Mbuna set up, so we'll see in the next few weeks if I can pull of something half as sweet as yours turned out.

I mentioned this in another thread of yours just a little while ago, but saw you actually putting the substrate in here, so I figured Id ask here as well, what substrate did you decide to go with? Pool filter sand?

Awesome job!!


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## Steve C

I went with Quickrete paver sand (fine grit/white) which you can get at either of the big home improvement stores for $3.40 per 50lb bag.


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## ratbones86

you should post some pictures of the fish so we can see how they have progressed!


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## aquacichlid

Nice tank! This is now one of my favorite DIY threads! I would love to see a picture of the whole tank with the fish in it!


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## Steve C

Thanks everyone. As requested here are some updated pics with the fish and tank as they are this evening. There's a couple towards the end that are of the other 55g Mbuna tank which I snapped some pics of this evening as well.
.
.
.


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## ratbones86

**** steve you should be proud! One Great looking tank. I can't wait to get started on my 30g tang tank bg. Hopefully i can come close to your skills.


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## Iggy Newcastle

Great pics, Steve


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## ratbones86

what is the fish in the 10th picture??


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## ratbones86

nm forgot i posted on other post lol.


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## Ooooohlala

Just want to bump this up because I've read it from start to finish and it was all worth it. I'm aiming for something like your background but much less grand than what you have done because I'm sure I don't have half of your creativity and artistry Steve. I'm really looking forward to doing something like this and you have given me tons of ideas and taking photos of everything, step by step, just makes it easier for us who wants to achieve something like this! Looking forward to more of your projects, job well done sir!


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## mceatalot

Wow. Simply amazing work. The attention to detail is impressive. Well done. this has got to be one of my favorites. Keep up the good work!


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## Steve C

Well have to update this post now. Sadly....the power went out for 4 days last month while I was on vacation fishing for two weeks. Even with auto feeders and all I did, I lost this entire tank  Now...that's the sad part. After a bit of depression, I jumped right in and redid the tank with vigor. Changed the sand to all black, added some various live plants, and through the help of some local Cichlid club members, I managed to restock with even better looking peacocks than I had to start with. As of now there are 10 of the most amazing colored peacocks I have seen in person in this tank now. I was very depressed to lose the original ones, but I'm thrilled with the replacements.


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## DarbyGloss

Why you bought smoke detector for your house?


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## Iggy Newcastle

Bummer about the power Steve, but your new fish are gorgeous. Hope all is well...


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## Steve C

DarbyGloss said:


> Why you bought smoke detector for your house?


And the award for the most random post ever goes too....... :lol: No idea what you are talking about :?



> Bummer about the power Steve, but your new fish are gorgeous. Hope all is well...


Thanks Iggy. I'm picking up another hap for the tank this weekend. Getting a really nice White Knight Alhi 1m/3f and will end up adding the male to this tank after I see if they will breed for me first.


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## JohnnyJohanni1

Mr. Steve C I'm curious to how you did the blue part of your background as it served as my inspiration for my project?


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## Iggy Newcastle

> DarbyGloss wrote:Why you bought smoke detector for your house?
> 
> And the award for the most random post ever goes too....... :lol: No idea what you are talking about :?


Hilarious!


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## Steve C

JohnnyJohanni1 said:


> Mr. Steve C I'm curious to how you did the blue part of your background as it served as my inspiration for my project?


The blue is a heavy wrapping paper (like Christmas paper but thicker) bought from a paper party type shop. Then I cut and taped a rear panel of lexan and attached that to the back of the tank over the paper which serves to protect the paper from getting wet. Then I made a mount that comes up off the back side of the stand and holds four AC powered cold cathode lights (pair of 20" and pair of 12") and that illuminates the blue to give it that extra 3D look of a cave.


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## JohnnyJohanni1

Thank u very much Sir


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## ajramos92

Hey Steve,

After you coated your rocks with drylock, what paint did you use to color your rocks? Also can you mention brushes used and techniques.

I have great rocks from riverbed in my tank, but all different colors. Would like them all darker.


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## Steve C

No special brushes are needed, I just used cheap $1 store kids paint brushes. The paint I used was Krylon fusion. What I did was after I coated the rocks with Drylok I would take a small plastic cup and spray a bit of the first color (working darker to lighter) into the cup. Then take the brush and dip into the cup and then wipe the excess off onto a paper plate so there is just a slight amount left on the tips of the brushes bristols. Then just lightly dry brush it on to the areas I want on the rock and move on to the next color after that with a clean brush and cup. Then lastly do some white on the raised portions of the rocks tips to simulate a worn down type effect.


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## ajramos92

Thanks for the directions in detail. Will try it out when I have some time to get it done.


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## bpark83

Very nice build with some clever ideas! I like the backlight/cavelight concept. :thumb:


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## ilm121209

i know this is an older post but i love the tank design. and the computer set up next to the tank! i guess im not the only one here with fish and custom built pcs


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## Steve C

Been about 5-6months since I last updated this post so figured I would post an updated pic. The live plants have been doing extremely well with nothing more than dosing flourish excel every other day. Have added some new stock as well to what was in there last fall. Tank is now very well established and has has a nice slight green algae on some sections of the background as well as rocks.


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## hose91

Funny. I'm relatively new, and as I went through the pictures in a thread entitled "55g Mbuna Tank project" I was really beginning to wonder about what I've learned so far about Mbuna. I kept thinking, "isn't that a peacock?, or "that's a Mbuna?, ****", then I went back a page and saw the power outage explanation. Bummer, but these are great looking fish. I also saw your 240g tank thread about finding a leak when 98% full, after all the pre work you put into it. You're a better man than I, to keep your cool then. Keep up the good work, its an inspiration to those looking to start fishkeeping!


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## Iggy Newcastle

The tank looks great Steve. That Saphire looks pretty incredible.


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## DrgRcr

That is a tremendous job on the BG, well done! The cold cathode lighting in the holes is a beautiful and natural looking touch. I picked up a 210 g tank recently, and I was considering a manufactured BG. But I'm rethinking after seeing yours! What do you think you spent in materials for the BG when it was all said and done?


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## Steve C

> What do you think you spent in materials for the BG when it was all said and done?


Materials for the BG itself are not too expensive, I'd say less than $100 counting Drylok/paints/foam/silicone. Then the CC lighting and adapters ran about $75 so around $175 total for all materials.


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## ilm121209

Steve C said:


> What do you think you spent in materials for the BG when it was all said and done?
> 
> 
> 
> Materials for the BG itself are not too expensive, I'd say less than $100 counting Drylok/paints/foam/silicone. Then the CC lighting and adapters ran about $75 so around $175 total for all materials.
Click to expand...

xoxide.com and amazon.com are great for lighting. last i checked xoxide had dual 12 inch and single 15 inch lights for $10 then you just have to modify an old 12v plug to connect to them. i had a few laying around but you can get the cheap online. just as an example so people know what im talking about, cut the end off one of these and wire it to the lights. http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=CnGk ... 0MA/1586.p


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