KrazyKuch's & Michika's 180Gal Tank Build

[Parker]

Originally Posted by michika

Sounds like a nice plan. We were actually thinking of the same thing, because it actually makes a lot of sense. I still love those book shelves you've built into your plans. I'm really jealous.

Thanks, we're happy with how it turned out. I'm looking forward to getting the canopy built and seeing the finished product.


I think your going to blow me out of the water with your big tank though..

[michika]

We'll see. Right now we're focusing on just getting our house togther (we STILL haven't finished unpacking since we moved in October), and getting the 180 to a more "finished" state. I wish I could buy time, 'cause I need a lot of it.

I'm pretty sure I am going to go with a similar stain to yours. I've been bugging Kevin's brother, who works with wood, about some help skinning the tank in a similar colour.

[michika]

I came downstairs this afternoon and my second favorite piece, the A. abrotanoides has RTNed and there is no saving it at this point. I'm really hoping I'll be able to find another colony, or a frag in the near future.

As a somewhat knee-jerk reaction, I did a 15% water change on the system and did a little bit of tweaking. We finally figured out what the on/off electricity leak in our tank was, despite hours of dedication to solving this before. It turned out it was my Koralia #1. I ended up removing it, and will find another use for the magnet. Next up was some rearranging, my green digitata has decided it doesn't want to stay where its been for the last month or so. I found it a new home.

Pretty minor changes overall, but I felt I had to do something "productive" after finding that piece RTNed.

[michika]

I did find a replacement colony for the one that RTNed on the weeked, however I did not buy it. I'm debating picking it up next weekend though.

However, I found one of my dream fish, a magnificient foxface, at Red Coral and was thrilled to be able to bring it home on Saturday. It was at home in the tank within about an hour, and there was zero aggression from the other inhabitants. I saw it eat nori on Sunday, and I'm finding it to be less of a scardy-cat then most other rabbitfish I've ever kept, or seen.

I have a bunch of photos to share, but I can't seem to get photobucket to accept the uploads. I'll be trying again tonight when I get home.

Kevin completed his skimmate collector yesterday, he is just waiting on the weld-on to cure for 24 hours and it should be ready for a long-term water test. I sort of understand how it works, but I'm a visual learner, so seeing it in action will make everything click.

We also found an unused hardware store gift card that we made short work of. We re-purchased, and have begun to build a new mesh top for the tank. This time around we found a stronger mesh, which I'm hoping will prevent any jump-throughs. The trade off though is that the mesh holes are larger then before, however none of our current fish have a hope of fitting through them so it seems like it might work out.

[Delphinus]

Any details on the mesh? Where did you find it? I need to do something similar. I have a serious need to lose my eggcrate lids.

[michika]

I'll do you one better and give you pictures when I get home in a few hours.

It came from Home Depot, and I probably have enough left over that you can just have it. Its like flimsy plastic chikenwire I guess.

[michika]

New thread for the build on the big tank, just to separate it out a bit more, so voila, the Last Big Upgrade.