# Full aquarium setup DIY



## nickquinteros (Sep 17, 2014)

Hey guys, so recently I've been thinking about setting up a new tank for my cichlids but I'm on a serious budget so I thought I would diy a majority of it. I already have a 30 gallon breeder that I bought off craigslist for 25! It came with a lid and lighting so it was a pretty good deal. But back to my project. Right now my cichlids are in a very tiny 10 gallon tank that I know isn't enough room. I had to take them off my friends hands because he could no longer care for them. he had little to no knowledge of them and housed them in the 10 gallon for a few months already. So since I don't want them to be stressed I'm upgrading them to a new tank. So now for what I have to do over the next few weeks.
1. build a tank stand.
2. build hob filter.
3. collect rocks for hard scape.
4. figure out other materials for caves and hardscape.

I'll be going step by step on all of these topics just to post my progress and to get feedback from everyone. I'll be starting my project tomorrow and I'll be posting pictures too. stay tuned :thumb:


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## nickquinteros (Sep 17, 2014)

hey I forgot to post the first picture of my setup.

so there's the 30 gallon breeder. got it for 25 dollars. came with hood including lighting and those sweet neo pet stickers haha. 
Inside I have a bag of filtration pad, ceramic rings and a power strip. together it was about $20. More pictures to come


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

It sounds like a good project, congrats on the tank pickup!

Are you sure that is a 30 breeder tank? I've never seen one with that hood style before.


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## nickquinteros (Sep 17, 2014)

Deeda said:


> It sounds like a good project, congrats on the tank pickup!
> 
> Are you sure that is a 30 breeder tank? I've never seen one with that hood style before.


based on the dimensions (36x18x12) yes it's a 30 gallon breeder. the tank is over 20 years old (manufacture tag says April 1991) so that may be why it's not the same style as the tanks they make today.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Thanks! I like the dimensions of the tank.

What cichlids do you have?


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## nickquinteros (Sep 17, 2014)

So today I started my Tank stand. I went out to home depot and picked up 6- 8foot 2x4s. I tried to pick out the straightest pieces I could so my tank would stay level. I'll go step by step on what I did to make my stand

so I started out with my top base and bottom base. the outside diameter is 36.5" by 18.5" I added just a little bit to make sure my tank would sit on it properly.
(quick tip when cutting your wood: measure out one piece to desired length then use that cut piece as a template for the other pieces to keep them all the same length)



after making my bases I started to put on the legs. one in each corner. I used a clamp to keep all my pieces still while I drilled in the nails.


After putting on my legs I decided I would add 2 extra legs in the middle as well as a base support right down the middle of the base. It's probably over kill but I don't want to take a chance with 300lbs of water in my room.
But anyway after putting on my 6 legs I added the support legs. (the short pieces on the outside of the legs) these are the legs that will be supporting a majority of the weight.


after putting on the supporting legs I finally slid on the top base. This should fit flat on all 6 supporting legs to properly distribute the weight. Sadly in this picture my drill battery died and couldn't screw on all the sides. but this is just a sneak peek into what the finished product should be. while drilling the top base its good to use a level before the drill to make sure the entire top side is level. after leveling quickly clamp down the piece so it doesn't mess up the leveling.

that's it for right now guys. as soon as my drill charges, I'll finish up drilling and put my empty tank on top just to show you guys what it'll look like.


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## nickquinteros (Sep 17, 2014)

Deeda said:


> Thanks! I like the dimensions of the tank.
> 
> What cichlids do you have?


I have a yellow lab (possibly a hybrid), yellow fin acei (also a possible hybrid), and a taiwan reef steveni. all of them are around 3" I'll be posting a picture of all of them once my new tank is finished.


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## nickquinteros (Sep 17, 2014)

Alright guys! drill is done charging and my tank stand is complete!

this is the final product and I'm really impressed with it! further on down the road I'll be adding sheets of plywood around it with a few doors and a shelf inside to make it more pleasant to the eye and add a stain or some paint to it. But that won't be in this thread.
So next step is to bring it outside and fill up my tank. not only to test the the durability of my stand but also to check for leaks in the tank (being that I did buy it used and don't want to put fish into a leaky tank) So i'll be filling it soon and I'll let it sit for a 12 hours or so then check back for leaks and make sure my stand holds up.
Let me know what you guys think!


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## nickquinteros (Sep 17, 2014)

hey guys so since my last update I've been doing a little bit of work while I waited for my tank to sit for about a day to check for leaks and make sure my stand can support the weight of water. 

here is what I did with my tank. I set it up in my back yard and filled it up and left it for about 24 hours. my tank is leak free and my stand holds the weight just fine. 
I know have it setup up in my room and refilled it with water and I put in my sand and all of my plants. the water is super cloudy from my sand so I'm just waiting for it to clear up and cycle before I put my fish in. but while that's happening I'm working on everything else. 




so while my tank is clearing up I decided to start on my hob filter. the pictures above show what I bought to start on it. using a one gallon plastic pitcher, 1/2" PVC with end cap and 90 degree bend, 1/2" male and female PVC adapters, filtration pad, and ceramic rings came up to around 20$ I set it up with a filtration pad sandwiching the ceramic rings. as soon as I get my power head in the mail, I can install that and upload more pictures. I'll finish up the hob sometime this week. see you guys soon!


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## JP_92 (Aug 2, 2013)

nickquinteros said:


>


Can we get an update on that guitar as well? =D> opcorn:


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## nickquinteros (Sep 17, 2014)

JP_92 said:


> nickquinteros said:
> 
> 
> >
> ...


aha that's an old project. I was planning on building a guitar but with the prices I was getting for all the parts, I was better off buying a new guitar so I just gave up


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## nickquinteros (Sep 17, 2014)

ok guys I'm finally done with the majority of my tank!



the first picture is my filtration system. I was going to originally go with an HOB filter but it didn't fit on my tank and kept leaking. So I quickly cut open an empty water bottle and filled it with my filtration media and put it on my powerhead. And boy does it work amazingly It quickly cleared up the cloudiness of my tank and removed a lot of debris that was still in the sand. It's not crystal clear just yet but it's only been on for about an hour.

So the next step is to finish the hardscaping of my tank. I'm planning on buy some slate from home depot and making a bunch of caves for the tank. let me know what you think! I'll be posting the finally project soon. Thanks :thumb:


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## yamadog (Oct 7, 2012)

nickquinteros said:


> hey guys so since my last update I've been doing a little bit of work while I waited for my tank to sit for about a day to check for leaks and make sure my stand can support the weight of water.
> 
> That's possibly the most overbuilt stand ever for a 30 gallon tank! You realize you have 12 vertical 2 by 4's in that?! Wow. I love it. I have 8 vertical 2x4's in my homebuilt stand under my 135 gallon. Good job. Ya, I'm pretty sure the stand can support it.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

second the overbuilt sentiment, I would have arranged them differently (sliding the outside 2x4 over to support the end top frame piece), but you have as many vertical 2x4's as I have supporting my 180.


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## nickquinteros (Sep 17, 2014)

you can never be too safe haha. I mean I was planning on hard scaping my tank with some heavy rocks so I just want to make sure it doesn't give way.


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