Custom building a 170G tank

[Mind_nl]

oke the time has finally come to start thinking about my new tank. I just got a new drawer cabinet in the livingroom and it has a great space to build my new tank on. The tank will be 1 meter x 1 meter and about 75 cm high (excluding the light canopy) which should be able to hold about 170G of water. After some research I decided to use wood to build the tank and use glasfiber and epoxy resin to make it strong and waterproof. The tank will have an inboard biological filter concealed behind a 'rocky wall' (also made from glasfiber+epoxy) I'll post pictures and questions as I get along.

Right now I'm wondering about how thick the front glass pannel should be for the mentioned size of aquarium...?

 

[Mind_nl]

here's a picture of my living room corner where I'm building the tank. (note the styrofoam packing of the cabinets on top, its gonna come in handy when building the aquarium back )

 

[mp3z24]

170 gallons of water weighs close to 1400 lbs (640 kg)... are you sure that cabinet can hold up that much weight???

~mike

 

[Mind_nl]

I'm quite sure it can not! The weight is supported by two long beams along the wall and an additional 3" x 3" beam going straight down in the middle. The cabinet could be pulled right out
Thanks for your concern.

 

[Mind_nl]

For now I've put my 45G coldwater tank on the cabinet it's the home of 9 carassius auratus (4 'homegrown'), 1 leuciscus idus `auratus`, 1 gobio gobio and a fish I caught in the wild but is still to small to identify

This is what I want to make of it:

 

[Mind_nl]

heres my 45G tank sitting where my 170G tank will be build:

 

[Billsgate]

Veel geluk met het bouwen van je aquarium.....Ik zou het zelf niet proberen

It looks good, although I would be a bit concerned about that much water in a tank I built myself......you hae to trust yourself 100% to do that, and maybe be a bit of a risktaker

 

[Mind_nl]

I just got me a 50G barrel that I'm going to use for tap water. Plan is this: I'm going to cut the barrel in 2 (top to bottom) and place the two halfs next to each other. Tap water flows into the first barrel, which is equipped with a pump and bubbles. After one week the water is pumped into the second (half) barrel and the first one is replenished with tap water. From the second barrel the water is pumped into the aquarium at a very slow rate (the 25G have to go into the aquarium in about one week) An overflow pipe will be connected to the sewer.

 

[Mind_nl]

I just got the frame for the front back from the welder, check it out:

and in front of my current tank for size comparison:

 

[Billsgate]

Can't wait to see it up and running!!!

 

[Mind_nl]

That makes two of us

 

[Mind_nl]

any thought on the lighting I should use? I was thinking about those small TL lights, with a whole bunch of them I can also make them simulate a sunset... How many watts would I need???

 

[greenmaji]

any thought on the lighting I should use? I was thinking about those small TL lights, with a whole bunch of them I can also make them simulate a sunset... How many watts would I need???

You might try to ask this question in a different area.. if you want FW with plants then that section.. If its a reef lighting question then there.. Im not sure because I dont know what you want to do with it and I wouldnt have a clue if it was reef related.. I havent looked into that yet... the time will come though..LOL

 

[Mind_nl]

Yes, the tank will be for freshwater

 

[greenmaji]

If your wanting plants in your tank and you want a high light grow anything setup that youll need CO2 with then youll want about 510watts of light.. no CO2 medium light plants about 340watts.. low light plants only 170-255 watts..
If you want a fish only setup you will definatly want less then 170 watts of "usable" light

"useable" light- florecent light in the color temperature range of 5000-10000K, 5000-6500K ideal.. antic (blue) light can be added with little to no effect in FW..

If you want plants you are going need to consider mostly CF or NO that would have to be overdrivin. MH can be used if you can get the correct K value in the bulbs..
Hope this Helps..

 

[Ohio Cichlids]

Looks Great! 8)