225-on-order-details-once-it-arives...then I receive a 300???

[Yanbbrox]

Very nice, bigger is always better.

vey nice yo waiting for it to be filled

full marks to Bobby for changing the thread title, i hate making threads for the sake of it, pointless in my view..

I hate starting threads for no reason, so much easier to change the title, fun stuff starts tomorrow....

 

[Yanbbrox]

Gravel in, water 1/4 filled. Due the fact it is snowing I can't use the purifier hooked up to the pond to fill it as it's frozen so it's one bucket at a time. Filter next then lighting, followed by a bit more filling, should be hooked up and running today and filled tomorrow.


Pics to follow.

 

[SanWa]

Very neat looking tank. 10/10.

 

[Yanbbrox]

Very neat looking tank. 10/10.

Thanks fellow uk MFRer

Stared the day with buckets after buckets of water to get to this point:




Then the gravel was washed and added



Then the really fun bit, three holes were cut in the back of the stand, one for electrics and two for the filter intakes and return, after the first hole my drill ran out of power so I manged to get an hour on the xbox

Drill recharged and the other two hole were cut and the pipe work fitted.

Now the really really fun part, the hood came off for the holes to be drilled for the intakes/return and the lights, no problem.

The big problem is if you look closely at the next picture the only gap for them is the gap they are in. There is no way room to move them in the tank so the only way to get them in is lifting the hood(which is really heavy) vertically above the tank with them in and drop them down in to the tight hole. So it needed to be moved from the floor up onto two chairs the lowered. Just not going to happen, so once again I roped in Dan from next door(who by the way still has my silly tank up and running in his living room). The solution was to put the intake in the holes tape them to the hood and place the hood on them we'd get on the chairs lift the hood whilst the wife ran round untaping them and we could drop the hood as she guided them in. Big problem no matter what we tried we just couldn't get the spray bar to sit underneath the lip. The wife came under with all sorts of bending pipe that would make it go under the evaporation covers but I was having none of, i was convinced I could get it right. As the wife can't lift the hood I opened the cover, Dan lifted one end I lifted the other with one hand and managed to finally get it in and right. The hood is never coming off again.




I am looking at running a second canister on this later down the line, the hood will not be coming off.

Finally the filter is in, so we tired to prime and fire it and it was having none of it, with the tank not full the pressure just won't equalize enough to fire it up. We spent another hour of bucket after bucket trying to get it working, each time it got closer but not quite enough.


I'm done in for today I just can't lift anymore, so a bottle of wine and a chill out is needed for the day ahead tomorrow.

To do list:
Fill it fully use all the waste water from my other tanks first(I always cycle new tanks this way)

Fire up the filter

Install the lights

Add one ton of plastic plants(not to everyone's taste), wood etc and let it run for a few days, test the water wed/thurs, if all is well rescue my common plec from Dan's as it's out grown the silly tank and add it to the tank, I can't even remember why I had to move it next door/which tank it came from, something was picking on it.

The filter has spent a good couple of months running on my 116usg tank so it should be well seeded.

If all goes well I should be able to free my poor aro from it's prison sometime next weekend. The planned moved date was October!

The tank as it is now:

 

[robroy]

know the feeling with the snow-had to do my weekly WC last night filling the tank with buckets (really missed using the hose and it took much longer). Thats a tight fit for the filter pipes-you'd struggle with an FX5 and if you used 2 externals (which you'll need on a tank that size) then getting 2 pipes in each of those gaps will be very tight. But you seem an innovative fella so I'm sure you'll manage mate!
looking forward to updates

 

[JASamper]

Very nice looking tank

 

[Yanbbrox]

know the feeling with the snow-had to do my weekly WC last night filling the tank with buckets (really missed using the hose and it took much longer). Thats a tight fit for the filter pipes-you'd struggle with an FX5 and if you used 2 externals (which you'll need on a tank that size) then getting 2 pipes in each of those gaps will be very tight. But you seem an innovative fella so I'm sure you'll manage mate!
looking forward to updates

It will be a pain but everything with this thing has been problem/find solution etc. The good thing is that a second filter won't be needed for sometime as the tank will be lightly stocked.

Very nice looking tank

Thanks

We are up and running....more to follow

 

[Yanbbrox]

All done, thankfully the weather cleared up a bit over night which meant the pond unit could come in to fill it.

Even full we could just not get the filter to fire, it took a good hour of fooking about with the pipework and pumping the canister, we almost gave up and then it sprung into life, both intake working well, so on to the lights.




Simple, string down the back attach the light inputs pull up and switch on. Wrong they just wouldn't fit, new plan get them through the back of the stand to the side and then force them in from the top. A couple of hours later done and in. I hate the wires hanging down the back of the tank but another plant of two will hide them.

 

[BROCKandKIMBO]

looking great... little tip, i always suck the water through the intake from the output piping to get my canister going. Works like a charm, however your circumstances may have been a little different. Good luck with everything!

 

[jgordon]

Man!! That tank is sexy. My wife won't let me have just one more. Guess 25 is it

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