Yellow Neo tank build.

[Nubster]

Starting another build thread that will be lost in the traffic, but that's ok.

I am starting out with a 40B I grabbed at the latest Petco sale, just finished building the stand frame. Still deciding if I am going to skin it or not. The tank isn't going to be out in the house, it'll be in a spare room (my fish room so to speak) so I am really not concerned about the looks.

Plans are, Black Diamond blasting media substrate, two sponge filters, possible medium/high light with CO2 but not sure on that yet, Iwagumi style hardscape, lots of Java Fern and moss. Inhabitants will be the really nice yellow neos that I got from sewingalot. If you read this Sara...shrimp are doing great and starting to breed :icon_bigg

Anyways, that's about it for now...not much I know...here is a quick pic of the tank and stand and I'll get one soon of the Oyaishi rock I plan to use in the scape. As usually, comments and suggestions are welcome...please comment...I suck at this stuff and can always use lots of help roud:

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Next step is cleaning and paint the tank...back and sides will be black.

 

[Nubster]

Started painting the back and sides of the tank black and I DIY'ed a shop light for the tank that should put me around medium lighting according to the chart. Here is a little write up on the DIY light....

Not really a serious DIY, just a simple modification. I thought I'd throw this up in case anyone else is looking for a inexpensive lighting option for a 40B or other 36" tank.

I had on hand an old 48" shop light I was using on my 75g before switching to T5. I found some 36" bulbs in 6500k at my local Lowes. After not being able to find a suitable fixture for those bulbs, I decided I would make my old fixture work.

So I got the bulbs and once home, I disassembled one end of the shop light. I installed the bulbs so that I could get a proper measurement where the end-cap needed moved to.

Marked the fixture, took it outside and drew a straight line all the way across.

Using my angle grinder and a cutoff disc, I made short work of the fixture. Don't forget to wear your safety glasses.

Fitted the end-cap and a few pop rivets and it is nice a secure.

Cut the wiring down to length, soldered the connections, and used heat shrink tubing to make sure the connection was good.

Finally, installed the bulbs and fired it up.

So there you have it, a little DIY, less than $20, and you can have a decent medium level light over your 40B.

 

[rav]

nice work on the light-
question on the stand - should you put a diagonal brace or a sheet of plywood to keep it from falling to one side? new to this hobby so please excuse the question if not applicable.

 

[Nubster]

There is...you can't see it in the pic though, but it is a good point. Before I added it the stand seemed to have really good side to side stability but that could change after adding 400+ pounds to it. Now it's rock solid. I plan to probable skin it at some point too that that will add even more.

 

[Nubster]

One step closer, tank is painted though it's a really crappy job. Not sure what happened but seems there are spots on the tank that didn't accept the paint despite cleaning it well with alcohol. I'll have to touch them up later or use black tape to cover up the spots.

I also played around with my main rock of focus, my Oyaishi rock if you will. I have a few supporting rocks too, just didn't bring them in. I might go out and see if I can find anything else that would work better. But here is a quick shot of what I have to work with. I am debating on doing a Iwagumi style hardscape keeping nice and simple or building a kinda cliff type layout with a nice high shelf in the left corner built up behind the main rock and a retaining wall of other rocks. This shelf would extend from the back to about halfway to the front and from the left side to about mid tank. I have some ideas on how to make the shelf but I need to get into town to check the availability of supplies. Anyways, quick shot of my Oyaishi rock....

Don't mind the dirty glass and little bit of substrate. I just added enough to cover the bottom glass so I could get a better idea how things would look. There will be a lot more substrate in there when it's all finished.

 

[Nubster]

Got it set up yesterday, shrimp in today. Here is what I have so far. Needs more plants, hope to have a bunch more Narrow Leaf Java Fern next week as long as my pending trade works out. I know the sponge filters are a bit of an eyesore, but the tank is about the shrimp. Let me know whatcha think....

 

[rav]

those shrimp are very cool - I like it a lot