# the building of my tanks CONTINUES



## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

well i thought the pages on my old posts were piling up so for your convenience i started a continuation to the post and every time the post gets 5 pages iw ill continue and have links to the old post..

here is a link to the first stages of my tank building

http://www.piranha-fury.com/forum/pfury/in...showtopic=48761
and here are updated pics of the progress..more to cometoday as i should be done with epoxy painting the tanks

my equipment came today!!!


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

oh and my equip list ...6xac500...6 titanium heaters...1 mag drive @1200GPH..2 x fluval 204's to completely fill with biomedia and im going to buil a custom drive tray also filled with biomedia to return the water to the tank on the rhomb tank. On the epoxy..this tsuff is great paint it better be its expensive. it claims to be the most durable paint that you can buy lets hope so so here pics of the pygo tank with an epoxied outside im about to go do the inside and the rhomb tank...


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

drive tray-drip tray


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## nelsong6969 (Jul 26, 2004)

would it be cheaper to buy a regular tank or build one? im talking like a 55-75 gallon not a big one like that


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

cheaper to buya small tank like 55 gallons..it gets alot cheaper once you start building BIG tanks or custom ones


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## EZ_Ian (Feb 21, 2004)

you will paint the inside of the tanks as well right cretin?


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

Its looking good man, keep it up.

Yes he will epoxy the inside to.


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## MR.FREEZ (Jan 26, 2004)

cretinHOP said:


> cheaper to buya small tank like 55 gallons..it gets alot cheaper once you start building BIG tanks or custom ones


 cheaper to buy a tank if you dont know what your doin cause if you fuk one little thing up your floor is fukt and

your fish are dead so unless your handy with tools go buy your tank and save your self the worry man


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## JAC (Jan 19, 2004)

Oh my, so many AC500's...can I have one?


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## Death in #'s (Apr 29, 2003)

JAC said:


> Oh my, so many AC500's...can I have one?










why i personaly hate them

but thats alot of filtration u have there


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## wvarda (Aug 8, 2003)

your doing exactly what i want to do! last summer I build a 90 out of plywood, and its still 100% leak free. I actually think my P's (that used to be in there) liked it better than a glass tank. there are no annoying reflections with dark backgrounds, and the sides are covered. If i wasn't in an apartment i would build myself something in the 200g range ..... oh ... one day...

keep up the good work!


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

well its not THAT hard to build a tank you just have to have ok common sense and how to useyour hands if youre artistic its a plus. you can use that to help you figure out how to do things or design your plans and use your hands...just approach it from a common sense standpoint.


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

Not a fan of the AC's... Some Emp 400's would have been better.


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

doctorvtec said:


> Not a fan of the AC's... Some Emp 400's would have been better.












AC 500's ALL THE WAY!!


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## Pizzo (Nov 22, 2003)

what's up with everyone building monster tanks by themselves lately?? (im jealous, ok?)

good luck with the project man, looks good so far.


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

lol i got the new ac500's the ones with biomedia the media looks pretty good pourous cylinders...oh and i got both tanks epoxied outside and inside one coat i have to do the rest tommorow and if im lucky the glass will be here too and if so pics to come...Jason


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

monster tanks eh? lmao ima lready planning a 12x3-4 footx24-30 inch tank that is...538-897 gallons gonna have like 40-50 reds or a total mix of pygos and serras (only ones that see eachother in the wild)and see how it plays out...and im gonna use the old tank for saltwater lmao..either that or a shark tank over 1000 gallons...like 192x48-60x36 lol built with framed plywood...who knows iw ouldntstart it for another 6 months at least...


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

after 4 heavy coats of epoxy..I am going to apply 1-2 coats of fiberglass resin to the inside of the tank to protect the epoxy paint some people useplexi this is how iom gonna do it...warning this epoxy paint STICKS TO YOUR HANDS HARDCORE! anyways here is the pygo...


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

and here is the rhomb tank. some peoplewould say that you dont need to epoxy the outside but i only did one really good coat i mean c'mon you dontw ant ANY water seeping into your wood.


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

BTW the tanks are turned on their face and back so youre looking at a top view


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

oh BTW the tank is gonna have a built in backdropso its not gonna be blue lol


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## Pizzo (Nov 22, 2003)

cretinHOP said:


> BTW the tanks are turned on their face and back so youre looking at a top view


 i was gonna say "how you planning on keeping the glass from falling off?"

thanks for clearing that up :laugh:


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

things to do...fiberglass all edges and corners and bottom of tank








fiberglass inside over the epoxy 
do up the canopies with epoxy 
build the rhomb canopy 
install glass and front supports 
plumbing 
stand finishing 
decide on exterior finish 
test fill 
drain and build the backdrop with sylicone, sand and rocks 
build supports and construct removable waterfall 
add sand and pump and piping for waterfall 
add rocks and plants 
cycle 
add fish

im making all of my canopies fairly clumbsy and simple/raw for 2 reasons a..i can weigh them down and children cant just open them up and think its cool to hand feed my p's(I may put locks on the hoods) and becauise its simple and i like that


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

partially fiberglassed both tanks and i am cycling the filters as we speak


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## matc (Jul 31, 2004)

how did you fix the glass ? with glue ?... I've heard that epoxy is expensive ?


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

matc07098702 said:


> how did you fix the glass ? with glue ?... I've heard that epoxy is expensive ?


 He, and i will do the same thing, lie the tank face down after it has had its lst coat of epoxy and thats dried, use a bead of silicone around the plywood face edges, and place the glass on top... then leave it, or you can always put some weights on it... after that has dried you then put a bead of silicone around the glass edges to stop water from seeping in...


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

im going to weigh it down with bags of sand


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## 351winsor (Aug 3, 2004)

I can't wait to see what it looks like when it is finished


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

me either man im stillw aiting for the glass delivery than i have to do all of the exterior finishing like painting and wood


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## EZ_Ian (Feb 21, 2004)

nice work cretin, keep it up it looks awesome!!!


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## DiXoN (Jan 31, 2003)

nice job i like those a lot.
dixon


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## KangolBrand (Jul 15, 2004)

hey, wont the ply wood give up after a while knowing how much gallons its gonna have to hold ??? Im planning to build one but around 400 or 500 gallons for a mix piranha tank.


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

no way dude it wont give up exterior grade or birch plywood is better than CDX board which is what most people have houses built of. and that isnt even sealed with epoxy or resin or paint or sylicone..relax your socks i wanna build a 144x36-40x24 (540-600 gallons) inch tank too i may just use the one deignated for pygos as a salt tank because in the future iw ant to build a shark tank 15+feet x 6'x30" inches with a male female joint joining in the middle or even making it a huge V corner tank. these show tanks cobined witha couple smaller ones and im done. if youre building a tank around 500 gallons i suggest that you build the BOX for your tank (back/sides/bottom)only then epoxy the wood with a thin layer of epoxy then fiberglass it with cloth.. after that install the front frame and the top frame THEN instal the glass and the top supports BTW you CAN epoxy the wood before assembly.you dont have to do too much with the fiberglass cloth and may be ok with just doing the corners outside and a layer inside before the epoxy coats...then epoxy over the fiberglass with a color of your choice.that and sand to a nice finish with fine fine sandpaper and ad a THIN layer of fiberglass resin to protect the epoxy paint that will make this tank your planning absolutely perfect...you can do this before putting in any front supports or top supports...take your time and by good wood.inspect it first. and id say unless you find a good supplier order your epoxy online to save money. you can get fiberglass resin cheap at walmart however...jason


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## qwuintus (Feb 3, 2003)

for large tanks, you should reinforce the wood with steel.
but i know of a guy who made a 1600 shark tank with pure wood. its extremely strong. i believe his name is 'mystic' something, or blacktip on the board, but he doesnt come around anymore.


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

you can reinforce it witha wood frame and or fiberglass. if i build the 600 gallon it will have a wood frame surroundinga fiberglassed box. if i build the 2000 gallon shark tank it will have metal top supports running from front to back as well as be totally fiberglassed/epoxied and framed


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## EZ_Ian (Feb 21, 2004)

any new pics of the progress?


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## KangolBrand (Jul 15, 2004)

Most ply wood are 8 feet long what If I decided to go longer how would this work?? and resin what kill fish right? lol might be dumb but never know


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

you can double up 1/2inch plywood so the seam from one meets up with the flat peice of another and make longer than 8 foot or buy 12 foot sheets. resin does NOT kill fish its fiberglass some tanks are made of fiberglass ..ponds..its perfectly fine as lonmg as its dry some people make HUGE tanks/ponds with fiberglass.


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

ill have more pics up monday night especially if the glass gets here..its my day off for now i just did more finishingw ork.


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

well i just started painting the outside a few coats and installed the glass on the pygo tank i should have more pics up soon iw ant both tanks done wedsnday and filled with water this weekend the latest..


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

just ordered the last of teh wood for the exterior finishing..stained birch plywood and wood to build the floor in the basementa nd for the stand plus some other things pics to come tommorow


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

ia m also putting side windows in the pygo tank wwith some extra glass i have around and framing it up


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## matc (Jul 31, 2004)

Show us some pics !


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

tommorow when they are more finished and as i am working on them i will i just syliconed the inside of the pygo tank all around the glass and everything lol i have to paint a base coat of black and then start to fiosnih the oustdie with stained wood


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## EZ_Ian (Feb 21, 2004)

pics right now cretin!!!


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

lolok **** brb


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

before you view these pics remember this is unfioshed..sylicoen bubbling outside on the glass...only a rough base coat of black..partiallyt painted basecoated rhomb tank..i am getting in birch ply tommorow and stain i am base coating both tanks in black and partially framing both with HQ wood that is going to be stained a medium color and poly...there will be top braces tommorw in both wood and black as well to tie in the way it looks...the glass will be cleaned up with a razor blade and i am going to drill and put in the overflow tommorow as well and possibly finish both canopies with lights installed. so here is roughed up tank pics and my mess..


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## EZ_Ian (Feb 21, 2004)

cretinHOP said:


> lolok **** brb


 lol


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## EZ_Ian (Feb 21, 2004)

pics pics pics pics pics pics pics pics pics


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

rough pygo tank with glass


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## EZ_Ian (Feb 21, 2004)

cretinHOP said:


> rough pygo tank with glass


 looks good so far, i like the black outside tank idea


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

unfioshed=unfinished very rough here is a seam and remember i am addinga custom back drop you will see no blue at all


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## EZ_Ian (Feb 21, 2004)

cretinHOP said:


> unfioshed=unfinished very rough here is a seam and remember i am addinga custom back drop you will see no blue at all


 is that seam siliconed?


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

bubbling sylicone


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

yes it is and the tank isnt going to be all black i am partially framing it with stained/poly woodwhat youre looking at is just base coat


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

my mess


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## EZ_Ian (Feb 21, 2004)

pretty badass cretin, keep up the good work


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## EZ_Ian (Feb 21, 2004)

i want water in those by saturday!


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

i plan on having water in them on the weekend sitting overnight


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## EZ_Ian (Feb 21, 2004)

cretinHOP said:


> i plan on having water in them on the weekend sitting overnight


 totally sweet! The tanks are lookin good cretin!!


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

Gj Jason, keep it up man, your tanks are looking good.


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## matc (Jul 31, 2004)

You have 2 150 g tanks am i right ?


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

matc07098702 said:


> You have 2 150 g tanks am i right ?


 They are bigger than 150 dude...









Jason has built around a 230gal and a 185gal...









Again, keep it up J... your tanks are looking good.


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

they are

96x31x18=230 ish
96x25x18=185 or so


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

i may be building a 1thousand plus gallon someday soon


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## matc (Jul 31, 2004)

for DC PIRANHA...Are you going to make a DIY plywood tank and with all the prices ?


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

dc is making one and you can PM him you know just click on his name on the posts and send a PM


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

matc07098702 said:


> for DC PIRANHA...Are you going to make a DIY plywood tank and with all the prices ?


 Yes, im also making Plywood tank, but its made out of Birch...









Heres the link to my Tank, lots of pics, and some Prices to what the costs are... ill total it all up when im finished.

Feel free to pm me, Dave


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

ok f*cker lets see whats up when they are both up and running yua nd your birch sh*t lol


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

:laugh: Birch Looks good...


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## frogguy1 (Jun 9, 2004)

Nice job man


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

I know thats why i bought some to go with the black ...and <clears throat> wasnt it you asking me what kind of plywood to buy a couple weeks back? LMAO!


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

cretinHOP said:


> I know thats why i bought some to go with the black ...and <clears throat> wasnt it you asking me what kind of plywood to buy a couple weeks back? LMAO!


 Hey... hey hey, dont get me wrong, i asked for your OPINION, birch or pine...


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

go for CDX board next time


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

lol


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

:laugh:


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

here is a pic of the top supports on the smaller tank the picture looks a bit distorted but its ok...both tanks have the glass installed and tyhe top supports all i have to do now is the finishing work..1 stand..1 canopy and then im finished


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

hole for the overflow


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

hole for overflow


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## Methuzela (Apr 27, 2004)

You should get someone to do a custom airbrush design onthe inside. Someonelike me


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

you could custom airbrush a dead body for the backdrop lol and flames on the outside like its hell lol and il put skulls in the tank for my reds that'd be funny i could call it the metallica tank


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## Methuzela (Apr 27, 2004)

I'd airbrush the inside like made plants an sh*t


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## EZ_Ian (Feb 21, 2004)

Metallica piranhas!!!





















lol


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

How about a...a..........a........aaaaa :rasp: BIRCH :rasp: background J,







.


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

how about im using 1/2inch foam insulation and making contours liek sand out of fiberglass resin and gluing rocks then finally sand to it with sylicone and glueing it to the inside of the tankw alls?


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

how about i paint a giant anus on the back life like and make a cave out of th ehole and just get a big morey eel to live in it lmao....


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

:laugh:


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## NTcaribe (Apr 8, 2004)

hey cretin send me a pm of the price of your materials

or dc piranha you from canada what is the cost of materials?

and if you were to build say a 300gallon could you use 2 pieces of glass with support between both??


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

NTcaribe said:


> hey cretin send me a pm of the price of your materials
> 
> or dc piranha you from canada what is the cost of materials?
> 
> and if you were to build say a 300gallon could you use 2 pieces of glass with support between both??


 Yep, you can use 2 peices of glass. Check out my page there man, it shows the cost of materials n stuff for my tank.


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

here is aminor update....the filter and equipment cut outs and stuff had to make this one sepia so you could even see it


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

222


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

333...other tank


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## CaminoMan78 (May 25, 2004)

What kind of epoxy paint are you using? I am in the process of building my tank right now too and I need to decide which kind and where to get it. I have heard of fish dying after they were put in a painted tank because the epoxy is toxic so I wanted opinions from people who are in the process and have experience with the question. Thanks a lot


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

people with reef tanks have used poolpaint i used poolpaint or a two part epoxy paint OR pure resin http://www.westsystem.com/ only get the paint or pure resin dont get stuff intended for driveways or other house projects the specialize in like bathtubs or sinks or anything like that


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## CaminoMan78 (May 25, 2004)

So you would recommend getting a pool paint then? It is much easier to find in my area than the epoxy. It will seal the tank just fine, correct?


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## CaminoMan78 (May 25, 2004)

How bout something like this stuff?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

stuff looks great but its only sold to industry pool paint is fine problem is you can only get blues you can order from difefrent sources like thishttp://www.westsystem.com/....its a clear resin but i think if you put a layer of black acrylic paint before you coat with epoxy to have a colored background it would be fine


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## Serygo (May 17, 2004)

holy sh*t 6 ac500's?
Why not just get like 2 fb300's?
and then you can save urself some money.
Thats what I am doing, I agree with death in #'s, I personally dont like ac500's on my tanks.

And why you buy 2x fluval 204's? Why not just buy 2 304's or 404's? itll be better filtration.


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

lol ac500 are basic and easy to maintain i can ad to the media basket area easily...the 204 filters were for a slow flow bio filter i have like 8 liters of biomedia for each tank some in the canister and some in a drip tray returning into the tanks a bacteria filter... and the help polish the water as well.


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

i kinda wish i got the biggest canister by eheim for each tank...the oens rated at 500 gallons butthe ac500s are also part of a build in waterfall in the rhomb tank working witha mag drive for current


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## CaminoMan78 (May 25, 2004)

Bought some gel coat from a company called fiberlay. Should have it in the next few days. Hopefully it will work and not kill my fish. The salesman assured me that he had built many tanks that way in the past. Hopefully he was not filling me full of bullshit. Anyone have any experience with this product?


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

gel coat is whatthe coat boats with so its probobly indestructable lol and perfectly waterproof it sounds logical. if youre worrie dbaout it get a ten gallon tank and paint the inside with it..give it 2 daysto dry and put a few goldfish in it and see if they die. I think gel coat may be a type of epoxy but im not sure...


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

I dont see water in your tanks yet... you said on the weekend you would have them filled...
















Hurry it up


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

i am dealing with alot of sh*t...it rained for two days i couldnt work on it i was working on it painting all sunday then itrained and wrecked the whole thing and rained untill today


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

itsbeen raining ALOT its storm season in New england i guess itw ould have been done already man


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## EZ_Ian (Feb 21, 2004)

cretinHOP said:


> itsbeen raining ALOT its storm season in New england i guess itw ould have been done already man










stupid rain!!!


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

good and bad news i filled both tanks caus ei figured i might as well see if they work before i go and make them nice..they do no glass breaking but the wide tank has a smallleak i guess i didnt use enough sylicone in one small area and im gonna drain both tanks and totally put a sh*t load on it here is the smaller tank filled


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## piranhaha (Mar 22, 2004)

yeah im in new england too and the weather has sucked the last couple weeks.......


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## DC_Cichlid (Jun 24, 2004)

DAMN, Good job on getting the tanks filled... wish mine was at that stage... ARGGG!

Keep it up and hurry up and get those fish in there.. that tank looks awsome with water in it,







.


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

well im gonna finish em i got the subsrate and im gonna build the background and finish the outside painting and get glass tops here is a pic of the bottoms of the tank with some bedliner painted on..unneccesary but i thought i would like to protect the bottom from water creeping in and getting scratched


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

the susrate..play sand/pool sand/pond rock/all perpoud gravel

this is for the bottom as well as to build the background of the tanks


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## KRS one (May 28, 2004)

very very nice !!!!


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## KRS one (May 28, 2004)

anything else done?? i realy want to see one of these in action


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## PygoManiac (Jul 26, 2004)

looks tight.


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## Stranger (Jul 1, 2004)

can someone tell me what a FLUVAL is for and what it does in details. THX


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## cretinHOP (Jun 23, 2004)

the fluval is for filling with biomedia and is a slow flow biofilter the water exiting the filter canister will pass through another slotted or holed container with MORE media and intothe tank


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## nitrofish (Jan 14, 2003)

Stranger said:


> can someone tell me what a FLUVAL is for and what it does in details. THX


 just a type of canister filter.


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## jackburton (Nov 25, 2003)

sh*t hot cretin good stuff can you make a blueprint for your tank cause i want to allso build one

also you must have loads of money all that sh*t wow


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## 33truballa33 (Oct 18, 2004)

any updates or pics on this??


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## hellraiser7821 (Jul 3, 2004)

holy fukn sh*t jason your back








i thought u were gonna be gone for good bro


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