150gal - time for a makeover... DIY weir, sump, background

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R

Red16

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 14, 2013
39
0
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Tyne And Wear, England
Around 5 or 6 years ago it started like this, a little starter tank moved over for a 5'x2'x2' ND Aquatics aquarium and stand





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I've fancied a bigger tank for a good while now but wanted to know exactly what I wanted/needed prior to buying it, so I've began upgrading the current tank to allow me to try things out and see what I really want/like/need.

Currently spec is:
2 x 48" T8 lights
1 x Eheim Pro 3 external filter
2 x inline 300W heaters

Made over spec:
1 or 2 x 48" BeamWorks double bright LED lights, trial fitting needed to decide (awaiting delivery)
2 x Eheim Pro 3 external filters (second filter sat waiting to be fitted)
2 x inline 300W heaters
120cm internal weir
3 x overflows
Planted sump tank with 600gph return pump
DIY rock background with hidden pipework
 
To save messing around with the tank early on, I used the help of my son and made a mock aquarium



Lined it with polystyrene blocks ready to be chopped, cut and painted



then the dog wanted in on the action

 
Today I've been to Shinshiro Koi ( http://www.shinshiro-koi.co.uk/contact-us.html ) and bought the overflow pipework, it's 1.5" diameter so plenty big enough for what I'm planning, probably slightly too big, but it'll be future proof.



I've also been to Bay Plastics ( http://www.bayplastics.co.uk/contactus.htm ) and bought some 5mm cast acrylic sheet



One piece of the acrylic was cut with an angle grinder to resemble a weir comb, which you'll see soon.

Then I started to assemble the weir/overflow, it was bonded with Tensol 12 and clamped until it dried





As you can see in the above photos, some of the teeth on the weir comb were damaged when i slipped with a clamp, doh! These will be bonded back on once the box is finished.

With the clamps released, stage one looks like this



 
Thanks candyman :)

I was planning on finishing the weir box today but got sidetracked and forgot.

I tested the sump return pump this afternoon, it's allegedly 2200lph but with a hose connected and pumping the height it will be in my aquarium setup it only managed 720lph, either a second pump is required or a bigger/better pump instead.

Here's how the background is looking after a few hours of tinkering









Ignore the two blocks in background with rocky shapes etched into them, they were just trial attempts, they'll be removed and done again to match the ones on the left side.
 
Thanks anibalvti :thumbsup:

I've done a bit more shaping of the rocks on the left side



Rock shapes drawn on the background



The outlines of each rock shape cut out



And a close up of the right corner



The vacuum is having a hard time eating all the snow!

 
sure is, it's messy. Once you finished it though it'll be rewarding. Keep us posted!
 
It's really messy E.C. the wife is going crazy, haha!

After a bit more work yesterday this is how it's looking, i think i'll have to silicon the foreground rocks to the base of the aquarium to stop them floating away!







The postman has just delivered this set of diamond hole saws and suction guide this morning :)

 
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