DIY - Projects & Ideas • My Odyssey- Building a 100G Tank into my Living Room Wall

[CITADELGRAD87]

Are there some Vic's in there?

You got me there. Four Pundamilia nyererei (Ruti Island) that I got locally as fry. I wasn't sure the sex when I got them, but it turned out to be 2 and 2. The males are so wicked colorful, my wife asked me to put them in with the others. They hang together like a little school. I was going to put them in the 50 when I moved the rest out into the 100, I had plans for a purist haps and peacocks tank, but an emergency from a stuck heater in their grow out tank on Christmas day made me turn my 50 into a melting pot, and despite my concerns, it worked out peacefully. My wife liked them so much, I sort of got over ruled.

There are aloso a couple tangs, including a pair of Black Calvus and a smaller calvus.

[Steve C]

I can see the hint of algae just starting, it looks good

The only problem I have with your tank is every time I look at yours I question my plan of using white sand on my build Seriously though, I was never a big fan of black substrate but every time I look at yours it looks better and better to me. I think I'm gonna have a dilemma on my hands when its time to buy my sand

[cantrell00]

Are there some Vic's in there?

You got me there. Four Pundamilia nyererei (Ruti Island) that I got locally as fry. I wasn't sure the sex when I got them, but it turned out to be 2 and 2. The males are so wicked colorful, my wife asked me to put them in with the others. They hang together like a little school. I was going to put them in the 50 when I moved the rest out into the 100, I had plans for a purist haps and peacocks tank, but an emergency from a stuck heater in their grow out tank on Christmas day made me turn my 50 into a melting pot, and despite my concerns, it worked out peacefully. My wife liked them so much, I sort of got over ruled.

There are aloso a couple tangs, including a pair of Black Calvus and a smaller calvus.

The Pundamilia are Victorian so yes, you do. I thought that was what those were...

[CITADELGRAD87]

Everyone is settling in, I have been doing about 25% water changes every Weds and Every Sat, water parameters seem ideal based on what I am able to test, 0.0 ammonia, 0.0 nitrites, 20-40 nitrates, never over 40. Never really under 20, though.

The sump has been flawless so far, Usand Jets working well, temp is constant at 78-79 degrees.

[CITADELGRAD87]

Zombie thread, back from the dead.

I was unhappy with the single outlet for the water changes, that had me using a long piece of 1 inch on a side line of the return both to send water to the drain, and to circulate water by bleeding a bit off the USandJ system on the return.

I decided to run a single dedicated run to the drain, and a separate dedicated run to the sump, valving between then depending on what I was doing at the time.

I hacked off the whole 1" assembly at the 1" vavle, but as much as I tried, I could not figure how to run the two separate 1 inch lines without valving each one. At least this way I can drain the drain line so water is not sitting in it between water changes.

ANOTHER THING!!!! The tile sponge I used as a vibration dampener totaly disintegrated after a 10 week immerson, it was literally the consistency of wet toilet paper, it was just chunks floating around in the sump, gross. SORRY to anyone who followed my lead there, I replaced it was some artificial sponges from the dollar store, they are just foam sponges.

Here are the photos:

Old setup:


Here's the drain line back in the tank for circulation:


New and improved:

New mainfold



The drain run



I put an extender on the return end to keep the returned water from going right back into the pump



I also FINALLY cleaned out that disgusting intake floss, it was 8 weeks after cycle was complete and probably 4 months since I installed it, super nasty, I will spare the pictures on that one.

Thanks everyone, I think it's done at this point. I will snap some pictures of the new 3/8 bulletproof tops that I am almost finished with. Bulletproof as in literally.

[Agridion]

Looks good. I bet you can drain your tank rather quickly with that PVC piping.

I like how much filter floss you have, in my setup I only have 1/4th of the floss that you have so I have to rinse it out every day. Even though it only takes 3 minutes to do it is still rather annoying.

Are you getting any algae growth? I've found that with the amount of light (given that I do allow direct sunlight to hit it for a few hours each day) that I am getting even with a tank full of plants I have a significant amount of algae that needs to be cleaned once a week, pulled from the background and scrapped off the glass. I would be intereseted to hear how your's is doing.

[CITADELGRAD87]

Yes, nothing outrageous, but the background now matches the real rocks. Both brown and green algae. I have cut the lights to about 4-5 hours a day for the past month or so. There are about 6 plants in there, all seem to be doing well, some really shooting out rhyzomes/roots.

I clean the front glass once a week, it gets a couple spots, nothing really bad, and I cleaned the side glass once about a week ago, that's the first clean since the cycle.

[PfunMo]

On the grout sponge issue, I had the same at one point. It seemed just go to a jelly that I had to use a scoop to remove. It was so soft, I could not pick it up by hand. I had been using a lot of salt in that tank as it was brackish and I thought that might have gotten to the sponge. Maybe not.

I'm currently looking at whether I want to use filter floss in the future. I am taking a bunch of small tanks and small filters apart and finding a problem when used with filter floss. I have a lifetime bag full but It is giving me soemthing to think about. There always seems to be a few strands that come loose and float around. They finally wind up wrapped around the impeller shafts on filters. This seems like a good way to get sand bits trapped on the shaft and ruin impellers. I'm thinking over whether there is good value in using it if it costs me impellers.

[CITADELGRAD87]

On the grout sponge issue, I had the same at one point. It seemed just go to a jelly that I had to use a scoop to remove. It was so soft, I could not pick it up by hand. I had been using a lot of salt in that tank as it was brackish and I thought that might have gotten to the sponge. Maybe not.

That's exactly what happened to me, it went to pieces, I started seeing nasties coming in the UsandJets whenever I reopened the main valve, I thought it was just gunk form not cleaning the filter floss for 2 months. Then when I did this renovaton of plumbing, it became harder to get at the pump, so I wanted to check it all out, and I found large pieces swirling around the sump. I used a net to grab them. When I got the sponge out, all that was left was the scrubbie part, the rest was just gone.

[dsouthworth]

I think I should throw this in. I used 1/8" styrofoam and it worked perfectly. The weight from the pump is enough to keep it submerged. It's only been used for a month. But works great.

[CITADELGRAD87]

I tried styrofoam but could not get the hum to go away until I swtched to softer stuff, right now I guess I should mention that it's sitting on a cheap mouse pad wrapped around 2 synthetic foam blocks the size of kitchen sink sponges.

[Agridion]

I tried styrofoam but could not get the hum to go away until I swtched to softer stuff, right now I guess I should mention that it's sitting on a cheap mouse pad wrapped around 2 synthetic foam blocks the size of kitchen sink sponges.

I have mine on a thin slice of poret foam and that works perfectly.

[CITADELGRAD87]

It's been right at 5 months since I completed cycle on this. In that time I have lost 2 fish.

So far I have not vacuumed the gravel, and it looks clean. Fish appear to be well adjusted, I think the fact that they are surrounded on 3 sides by safety, and the spectators are usually across the room, keeps them out in the open rather than hiding.

I replace the filter floss over the drip tray about once a month, at about 2 weeks I ususally toss another 1/4 panel floss on top to catch more stuff.

The plants are still hanging in there, some seem fine, some are getting munched. I will get some new ones next time I am at the plant heavy LFS.

I dialed the lights WAY back, they now come on from 5:30pm to 10pm, then 2 hours of LED moonlight. The background has taken on a dark brown color. Not totally uniform, but not a variety like in the dry photos.

Water changes are easy, and with the warmer weather, the water heats up in the sump in about 1 hour, I just need to do it before bedtime. Current schedule is about a 35 gallon change every Saturday and Weds.

We are verry happy we did this, it is also very popular with our friends. Sometimes when I am home late from work and trying to unwind to sleep, I just sit on the couch and no longer even turn the boob tube on, I just watch the fish.

The ONLY thing I would change is a hot water line, and a bigger tank.

[vann59]

Glad to hear things are going well. It seems to me that plants are a lot more work to care for than fish. It occurred to me that perhaps faux backgrounds maybe should be made to look like they have some green algae on them, since it would be the natural look for them to have anyway, and they would tend to have the more natural look even when cleaned or dirty. I personally prefer green over brown any day.

You're not missing anything by not watching TV as much. A nice tank is good therapy and better than any sleeping pill.

Update us with some current pics!

(how is it we seem to be on this thread lately on the 27th of any month?)

[JAyliffe]

The tank looks magnificent! I love having mine in my study wall too, just a picture frame of aquatic life to gaze at... all the clutter hidden away. I wish I had gone to the extent of plumbing in the drains and having a sump too, maybe I'll do that some day