My 6ft tank project + Video update

This will be the last for this year i will be building a unit for my 6ft tank
i will have the tank in the morning.
this is how it will look i will be asking lots of questions
1st thing on my shopping list will be two 300w heaters

The little lad is very impressed
Got light unit two external filters air pump
Coral sand and Texas hole rock

Looks great all the best with it il be keeping an eye on this

Pretty big tank ! which fish are you going to keep ?

I ordered a tank from Seahorse as the Clearseal I got had a leak ... 1 in 1,000 they said .. lucky me.

Guys from Seahorse are keeping my Tangs for now and was thinking on going back to Malawis and Victorians since new tank will be a bit bigger

Let me know what are you planning on your tank

Cheers and thanks for sharing

Santiago

Malawi and Victoria are mixed now in the 350 L
It's a really good mix but once the 6 ft tank is fully setup
I will just keep Malawi cichlids I am going to try breed a few off this list
Pseudotropheus sp. Elongatus "Chewere"
Pseudotropheus elongatus "Chailosi"
Pseudotropheus sp. Polit
Pseudotropheus sp. Zebra Long Pelvic Mdoka
Metriaclima pambazuko

Hopefully I be getting more Victoria cichlids soon
I been chatting a lad up north with a big intrest in the victs

irish-zx10r wrote:

Pseudotropheus sp. Elongatus "Chewere"
Pseudotropheus elongatus "Chailosi"

If you mix 2 geographical variants of the one species they will more than likely hybridise( bigger male will breed with the female of both locals). If you are looking to sell on quality fish you are better off keeping one variant of species. If there is a hint your fish have a chance of being hybrids you will find it very hard to move on your fry.

upthedeise wrote:

irish-zx10r wrote:

Pseudotropheus sp. Elongatus "Chewere"
Pseudotropheus elongatus "Chailosi"

If you mix 2 geographical variants of the one species they will more than likely hybridise( bigger male will breed with the female of both locals). If you are looking to sell on quality fish you are better off keeping one variant of species. If there is a hint your fish have a chance of being hybrids you will find it very hard to move on your fry.

Thanks for the advice
They are only mixed now for a short term bases
I was just saying how well they look in the one tank
There is few breeding the victs in the midlands so they will be my
Main aim if u know of any one coming up this way let me know I do anything for a few female flavus

Breeding malawis is easy.
The challenge with Malawis is getting quality stock in the first place to breed from.
Most of what is in Ireland is very very poor. Although it is getting slightly better.
Female flavus here in cork if you want them. proper males too.

Some help needed I got two Eheim external filters one is the professional 2
And the other is Eheim External Filter Professionel with Heater
The first one needs a impeller any one got one for sale or a link for one ?
The second is missing the heater is it worth fixing and who has experience with these ?
How much water will it heat ?

upthedeise wrote:

Breeding malawis is easy.
The challenge with Malawis is getting quality stock in the first place to breed from.
Most of what is in Ireland is very very poor. Although it is getting slightly better.
Female flavus here in cork if you want them. proper males too.

I think my male was bought off you by a lad near me in portarington
He is a stunner and one of the best cichlids to watch his colour is stunning

Yeah , he will be good so ha ha.

Another busy day sold my 120 L found a lad on adverts with a impeller for my eheim external filter
Also got enough wood to build a few fish tank units sheets of mdf 3:5 foot by 7ft sheets x 4 and few smaller sheets








70 kg of Texas hole rock

60 kg coral sand

This pic answers my Q on being able to get the draining plumbing over the side of the tank!

Will be watching your progress on this project so as much detail as possible please!!!!
And best of luck with it.

BTW where did you get the Texas hole rock and how much was it?

Richard

I would not have gone for mdf for the stand it is very weak if it gets wet plywood would be better

ck1 wrote:

I would not have gone for mdf for the stand it is very weak if it gets wet plywood would be better

The mdf is only the outer skin of the unit and doors the rest is maid of
3x2 timber lengths should I water proof with some paint ?
I taught the 3x2 would be very strong and would be a good support for the mdf.

Richard what photo are you on about ?
I seen it for sale on adverts.ie and a few from here
Had some for sale after changing there tank setup.
It can vary in price I got both sand and rocks for 80 euro

the 3x2 will be plenty strong.im not sure abot water proofing it i just know from experience that once it gets wet it no good.plywood would be alot better and its not expensive at about 16euro a sheet for 18mm

"The little lad is very impressed" photo
It shows a gap of about 50mm from the end of the tank to the brace which would allow for external filtration plumbing to be fitted over the side without drilling the tank or the brace. I want to build a 6'x 2'x 2' tank which will be a room divide with one side up against the wall so plumbing access will have to be the side as opposed to back of tank. The advice I got so far was to drill the tank which didn't appeal to me at all, so seeing this picture shows that I can strengthen the tank with brace and still manage external filtration!

Redser wrote:

This pic answers my Q on being able to get the draining plumbing over the side of the tank!

Will be watching your progress on this project so as much detail as possible please!!!!
And best of luck with it.

BTW where did you get the Texas hole rock and how much was it?

Richard

Which photo are you talking about I am going to use two external filters

Has anyone else bad experience with mdf I going to price plywood today
But one thing I don't want to happen with so much water is have a leak.
And if I do use plywood should I just replace the top sheet 6ft x2ft ?

Work for today hang doors on the unit finish off reinforcing the unit
Here is my idea for hanging the light unit I can use heavy tube and weld a plate to where it will bolt to the unit
Behind the tank.








If anyone has a better idea please share it with me
I want this to look good when its finished so your help will be great

James

Thanks James you understand my Q now and the latest pic shows what I mean.

Regarding MDF I was always advised to avoid it for "wet areas" as it swells up if it gets wet.
This cabinet will be housing your filter unit and your utensils for the aquarium such as cleaning items cloths sponges etc. these all will be wet and the humidity in the cabinet will be high and that is even if you never have a leak in your filter unit or tank. You will be carrying out maintenance on your filter unit and there will be some spillages within the cabinet. When doing maintenance on the tank there will be the odd spillage also. So over time the cabinet will suffer if made of MDF I know the structure is of good wood so structurally it would be always sound, but aesthetically it might start to get very shabby in time.
So like ck1 I would advise plywood, or plenty coats of paint to waterproof it.

Richard

from experience in painting MDF i would just try get some plywood if you can, or you can get a PVC sealer for the MDF and build up a good few coats of that then 2-3 thick coats of a good gloss paint will do the trick but it will not be a permanent fix tho

irish-zx10r wrote:

Here is my idea for hanging the light unit I can use heavy tube and weld a plate to where it will bolt to the unit
Behind the tank.

If anyone has a better idea please share it with me
I want this to look good when its finished so your help will be great

James

also why don't you try to flatten the ends of the tube and just bolt the to the frame up the whole length of the legs, save a bit of welding

I understand what your saying Richard I try doing all projects on a budget
And hopefully the end result will help others that don't have much money. Will this be a option
I used it before on a counter top and a floor the sheets can be got in woodies
They just stick on
Waterproof laminate sheets

Yeah you have the mdf at this stage so you have to make the most of it. I would stain and varnish (yacht varnish preferably)it giving extra attention to the edges.
And I hear ya re the budget I am one of those who don't have much, but plenty of ideas and grand designs!

Have you got your lights at this stage?

Redser wrote:

Yeah you have the mdf at this stage so you have to make the most of it. I would stain and varnish (yacht varnish preferably)it giving extra attention to the edges.
And I hear ya re the budget I am one of those who don't have much, but plenty of ideas and grand designs!

Have you got your lights at this stage?

Dannyb the light will be floating above the tank and the pipe will only be just about seen well thats the plan

yes i have a 5ft marine arcadia light unit with 4 t5 lights
Thanks for the tip about the stain and varnish (yacht varnish )
when i win the lotto i can think about a better unit lol

upthedeise wrote:

Yeah , he will be good so ha ha.

spot the cork fish 2:38 lol he is the best colour in the tank and unreal to watch he is like a horn dog lol
there galway fish also in here and a few dublin

irish-zx10r wrote:

upthedeise wrote:

Yeah , he will be good so ha ha.

spot the cork fish 2:38 lol he is the best colour in the tank and unreal to watch he is like a horn dog lol
there galway fish also in here and a few dublin

Yeah he looks like one of mine. your female labs look familiar too.

upthedeise

I have a bad feeling about what u say with mixing both after todays water change just about every fish in the tank were after each other and it looked like the yellow tail acei was with the red zebra female i have more females than males in the tanks i think its 5 to 1 at the minute i love a nice adult lab male and few female
flavus cichlids i bet the male be happy then and even better colour i cant imagen he could get much better though. how can i tell if the flavus is f1 f2 or so on have u better colour ones

You cant tell if its F1 or F2. If he one of mine he is F2

upthedeise wrote:

You cant tell if its F1 or F2. If he one of mine he is F2

i think i also have a white tail acei from you i got these fish in portarington i think its stan
but i not 100% sure i think he is here on this form and the africancichlidireland form.
He gave them to me for free after my last bad experience, hopefully i return the good deed to him one day.

Stans a good lad. THe white tailed acei are not mine.