# my new 150gal malawi tank



## djoverdose (Jan 7, 2011)

Hi. just want to share my new 150gal all male malawi haps/peacock tank.

from my 65gal (48x18x18) tank to 150gal(60x24x24).

hope you guys like it.

heres a short video.


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Looks great, but all I see is a pic, no video.


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## djoverdose (Jan 7, 2011)

opps... sorry...

heres the link.
http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d54/d ... NY0178.mp4


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## zimmy (Aug 13, 2010)

Very nice! =D>


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Wow, thanks for a tour of the whole system. Well done.


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## cobology (Feb 10, 2011)

nice tank


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## 60gallon (Dec 14, 2010)

Nice tank and beautiful peacocks!!!!!!


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

Your fish are real camera hogs!

Looks like you thought of everything.

Congrats on a great set up.

kevin


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## RRasco (Aug 31, 2006)

Very nice.

What is that you have inline on the return?


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## jimmie (Oct 23, 2002)

Nice tank,I have haps/peacocks tank myself ,good choice


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## djoverdose (Jan 7, 2011)

zimmy,cobology, 60gallon and jimmie,

Thank you sir. glad you guys liked it.

prov356,

Thanks. thank you for telling me that the video is not playing. 

ridley,

hehehe yeah they are. they thought im going to feed them. have not feed them for 2 days. preping them for the move. its quite a stressful day during their move. im glad there was no casualty.

RRasco,

Its a DIY rainbar.

heres a couple of pics of my whole setup.

FTS 









my sump (35gal) its a bit small for the 150gal.
im using two pumps, 1 for the return, 2nd is for the UV lamp and for the moving bed filter(bioballs) located at the middle compartment. 
also placed a small basket inline to the drain pipe. it will serve as a pre filter.










other side of the cabinet. installed a small t5 light so that if ever i need to service something at night time it would no be difficult.










organizer and color charts.









FTS of my cabinet


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## djoverdose (Jan 7, 2011)

heres the tank build.... from day 1 to day 8.

First to arrive was the stand. made by a 2"x2" angular bar welded together to form a square.
primed and painted black










same day the glass and the tank builder arrived just hours later.









here is super B (Mang Ben) our monster tank builder here in Manila. his known in www.mypalhs.com as a good monster tank builder.

his in the process of drilling the bottom glass pane for the bottom drain.



























tank is done. his son is just cleaning the excess silicon inside the tank.










heres a picture of my bottom drain. instead of the usual surface skimming, i added another glass infront and have it cut in the middle. this will serve as a mid tank skimmer.

usually here in manila they extend that 2nd glass all the way to the bottom so that all the poops can get sucked up. but since i have substrate i only had it done till the middle part.


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## djoverdose (Jan 7, 2011)

tank is done. no for the cabinet build. also painted the back part of the tank black.














































thats me with the black polo shirt. checking the craftsmanship of my carpenter.










cabinet is finished.










Day 5

leak test.









day 7
placed all the sand and rocks inside.









my DIY light hood. compose of ordinary t5 lights. 2 28Watts 7,000K daylight. and 1 28Watts blue light.









hope you guys like it.


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## Chunkanese (Feb 4, 2011)

Wow man, you get to wear shorts in February? It's negative -25 Celsius here! Awesome tank and beautiful fish. I would imagine a custom built tank would cost a pretty penny. Very cool montage of pictures showing the day by day build. Jealous. :drooling:


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## djoverdose (Jan 7, 2011)

chunkanese,

thanks. yup it did cost me abit. though i guess it is much cheaper here compared into your place. more or less it cost me around P15,000 (1$=44Philippines peso) roughly around $340 for the whole setup. excluding the sump and filter media since i already have those way back in my previous tank.

i live in the Philippines. the coldest months we have here are during november to February 24-31C. 

hehehe thats my carpenter wearing shorts.


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## RRasco (Aug 31, 2006)

Definitely much more expensive here. I priced a 125g yesterday. Some places want $269 for the tank, $339 drilled. Combo setup (stand, hood, lights, filter) was running $549. Another place wants $349 for the tank, stand, hood, and lights. I think that's where I'm going unless a good deal pops up on craigslist first.


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## djoverdose (Jan 7, 2011)

WOW.... $500 is too much... for that price you can have a 6x2x2 or a 7x2x2 tank and thats already a 1/2" thick glass. well basically the reason why i got it that low is because the person who made my tank was a freelance tank builder while the stand was made by a forum member from mypalhs.com its his sideline. so its like im going directly to the manufacturers and not to the retailers.

But if i will purchase it in my LFS most likely i will be in the $400 mark and thats just for the tank and the stand.

if you know some one who knows how to weld i guess it will be much cheaper.


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## RRasco (Aug 31, 2006)

I work at a metal manufacturing shop...

Wish I could build a tank and I would do it myself. I don't trust myself to get that right though. Glass is too expensive to mess up, especially large pieces.

I think $349 for a new 125g, stand, hood, and lights is a pretty good deal. People around here expect $500 for a used 55 gallon setup. They are insane. There are some good deals though. I got my 110 tall with stand, hood, and lights for $150. Used though, so the tank is not perfect, but it works!


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## djoverdose (Jan 7, 2011)

men its pretty expensive back there. 500$ for a 55gal setup is a ripoff...

same here. im a diy guy but when it comes to glass i would rather hire some one to do it for me. im much more concern about the hazard of glass breaking while making it rather than the price.

safety first.


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## dtune21 (Dec 16, 2003)

RRasco said:


> I think $349 for a new 125g, stand, hood, and lights is a pretty good deal.


Yeah that is a very good deal. The cheapest price around here is $500 and thats just a special that Aqueon is running for their setups. I paid $450 for my 100g with stand,tank, glass tops and lights and thought it was a good deal, but I also think the tank I got is better quality than the Aqueon.


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## djoverdose (Jan 7, 2011)

have you guys tried to go to a glass & aluminum supply/maker? because here in manila there are times that we just get our supplies from the suppliers and have it pre cut then hire a tank builder to assemble it. or if the glass/aluminum supply knows how to do one or if you have the plan on how to build and braces the tank you can just instruct them.


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