Christy's 180 build

[christyf5]

LOL, there hasn't been much progress lately. The inlaws have arrived so its kind of slowed things down. I'll try to get some pics for you tomorrow

[lastlight]

I've seen a few tanks in-wall like yours is Christy and what really impresses me is when the rock slopes up on either end with low rockwork or sand showing in the middle...not quite symmetrical though. Only an idea I'm sure whatever you have planned will be bomb =)

Here's a fairly densely packed scape that illustrates what I'm talking about although this particular tank is not in-wall. The design could always be thinned some.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-04/totm/index.php

[christyf5]

I'm hoping to do something like these with two "bommies" and a pass through. I can't find the other pic I had but basically from a top tank point of view, the two bommies were offset and you ended up with an "angled crevasse" look that was pretty cool.

[lastlight]

I think we're all the same here. Saving random fts shots as we surf the forums. I must have hundreds of inspiration shots. I get what you're aiming for though and that will be nice to watch fish navigate.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by lastlight

I think we're all the same here. Saving random fts shots as we surf the forums. I must have hundreds of inspiration shots. I get what you're aiming for though and that will be nice to watch fish navigate.

Hmmm maybe I should start saving pictures too. I never save them and then often can never find them again.

[lastlight]

Justin even the pics you sent me went into my random folder of goodness.

Nobody get any fast ideas...it was interior design =)

[christyf5]

I think Brett should share his aquascaping photos in a new thread, I've only found three that do anything for me, I need more inspiration!

[christyf5]

progress!

today I moved the wavysea from its position on the side of the tank:



to the front of the tank:



Yay me!

[christyf5]

man not even one sarcastic comment

More progress.

So this is the tank room, not the fish room but the nice relaxing spot to watch the tank.



Yeah theres a whole ikea kitchen in there. Thats also why the next photos suck so hard. Its hard to balance on various boxes while taking photos


Hmm, didn't take any photos of putting the paneling up. Oh well, imagine what its like putting paneling up, with swearwords and stuff.

Got the tank framed. This color we used in our bathroom and since we had a whole can I thought I'd try it on the frame. I didn't really like it. The frame is MDF and weighs a ton but it was only $2 a foot compared to the lovely other real woods I had picked out which were $20 a foot So the MDF is screwed into the wall and then wood puttied over the countersunk heads.



Then I went to the store and bought the color I originally wanted (it sucks buying those halfy cans of paint, they're so pricey!). Got the low VOC paint so I didn't have to turn off the skimmers.



So the original plan was to copy Dez's tank frame idea, it was perfect except for the fact that my tank is longer and we don't have an Ikea here (but mail order is fun, you should try it with a kitchen sometime!). However, my husband announced that he couldn't do the dowels so he wanted to use hinges to provide access. Of course that didn't work either because you can't lever up the pointy parts of the frame (they get really tight before they start to flip upwards). So we ended up having to make a couple of cutouts:



And the lid now louvers up via 4 hinges that allow the lid to be raised 170 degrees. Of course it weighs a ton so it doesn't stay up on its own. I gotta find a big stick somewhere.



So ya, thats about all that got done. Now I just need to get the light rack built and I can move stuff over

[Mrfish55]

Looking good, need to do something about the kinky hose on the wavy, and I would cover it to slow down algae growth, big difference with the panelling and trim. How are you making out with the light rack?