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Custom Build 3' x 2' x 2' - Rimless with Euro Brace

AndyVox

Member
Joined
8 May 2012
Messages
46
Location
West Midlands
Firstly please excuse the iphone photos, I'll use a decent camera once its past the build stage.

This is my tank currently, a Juwel Rio 300, it doesn't fit into the alcove between the wall / chimney breast so we decided we needed something about 3ft long, but I wanted something tall and wide to make up for the water volume I will be loosing.

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A 3' x 2' x 2' came up at the right price. It had a sump in the rear that massively reduced the space (about 6 inches in width) and came in a horrible grey colour, that really wouldn't fit with our decor.

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First job was to use vinyl to refinish the tank, done in white as that matches the room best.

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Refinished with the tank back on, trimming removed at the top. Rear sump completed removed.

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I ordered some euro style braces from a local glass shop. Drilled holes on the rear for external filter pipes (I wanted this build to be as sleek as possible - without going down the sump route, which is difficult with 3 externals running on it)

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First brace in, I've since done the rear but no photo yet, I also had to seal a bizarre hole in the bottom (hence the weights sitting on the glass) which was drilled for pipework by the looks of it. Will keep up to date with progress. I'm hoping to fill it on Saturday and get everything moved across.

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I'll be using two t5's to begin with but im tempted to go down the LED route in the near future.
 
Hi,
looks like a great project.
Your jewel set up looked amazing, I'm looking forward to following your progress.
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
Have to agree with Ady, the 300 looked great, so looking forward to what you achieve with this one.
Love what you did with the cabinet, great skills, looks awesome :)
 
Thanks for the comments so far.

I'm really pleased with how the cabinet turned out. I've done one before like this but i spent more time trying to get this one perfect and I'm really pleased with the result. I wanted it to look like the expensive (RedSea - I think) tanks for marine.
I've done some vinyl on cars before so taking the cabinet apart and doing one piece at a time is fairly easy in comparison to the curves on a car.

Euro Style braces basically have no cross pieces. Just glass braces round the inside edge and sometime bottom edge. The idea is to reduce the blockage of light - something that in my rio really annoys me, given that its a horrible black plastic brace!

Right photo update:
I've finished the bracing. Managed to get loads of silicone on the glass. Getting it off is a pita!

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Water test done, everything is water tight, very little bowing from the glass - the braces are good! - excuse the mess, we are decorating / building fish tanks!

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The braces are very unobtrusive, exactly what I was going for!

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Rear brace, with holes for the external filters

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Two bags of this for under the substrate

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Possibly need another bag, what do you guys think?
Substrate wise I will be reusing my tesco cat litter from my rio. I'd get new but I hate how light it is for a few weeks, at least this way it'll be pre soaked and hopefully packed with some nutrients from the eco-complete underneath and the API / Aquarium plant food substrate capsules I've been using. I want to make sure I get off to the best start possible.

I've been given the thumbs up by my other half to spend this evening moving things across, so long night ahead. Work tomorrow isn't going to be good, but at least it will be done.
Layout wise I'm picturing something similar to my rio, I've got the bogwood from that and three other pieces to use. I'm hoping to use the extra height and depth of the tank to really stack the wood and have lots of branches coming out, then I'll fill the centre in with microsorum and crypts below, coming down to a glosso carpet on the left hand side.
 
Looks great, can't wait for more updates.....and photos!
 
Great Journal so far please keep it up, its well written and interesting!

Your hands on approach is great, coudl you tell us anymore about the vinyl and how you tackle it and what it costs, as you have given me an idea!

I look forward to your scape taking shape!
 
Thanks for all the comments so far.

Great Journal so far please keep it up, its well written and interesting!

Your hands on approach is great, coudl you tell us anymore about the vinyl and how you tackle it and what it costs, as you have given me an idea!

I look forward to your scape taking shape!

The hands on approach has been more out of necessity than anything, we had the rio in the corner of the lounge but it didn't fit at all due to the chimney breast, I've actually got about 100cm there give or take, but nowhere near enough for a 4ft - if I had thought about it I'd have measured it before we bought the house and decided against it!
Anyway we have been decorating the lounge, having new furniture so I had my eye out for a 3ft x 3ft. We had a look at new ones but I couldn't justify the money, which would be better spent on the house, so I settled on this, which ended up costing me about £50 given that the guy threw in an ro unit and various heaters / wavemakers. I knew I'd have to spend some time on it and now I'm pleased with the choice!

Vinyl - the best stuff is the 3M vinyl, I've used this before which I sourced from a friend with a car vinyl business.
He didn't have any white in so I went to b and q, I used three rolls in total at 9.68 a roll I think. This covered all the visible sides, the only parts which aren't covered are under the tank, on the base and in the cupboard / back of the cupboard door.
Time wise it took me about one and a half hours, but as I mentioned I've done it before, and some car parts so I'm fairly used to it. Key is patience, slow and steady.

I took the whole stand apart, individually covering each flat piece, cut the piece of vinyl bigger than you need but manageable, remember that you will need to go round the corners. I'd have taken photos on the go if I'd have thought. If you look at this photo:

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Imagine the top piece the other way up, seperate from the base. I'd measure it against that, being aware it would need to go round the corners, you need to give it a good wipe down, make sure it has no sharp bits as it will rip the vinyl. Lay it over, making sure its square to the wood, peel the backing off one end about an inch, stick that down, then slowly work down the piece slowly peeling the back as you go. Ensure there are no bubbles, slow and steady wins the race, I find that a credit card or damp cloth can help to smooth it out. Once the top surface is laid then there are two ways to do the sides and corners, vinyl stretches and you can mould it round the corners if you heat it with a hair dryer or paint remover. But.... I find this method very difficult for sharp corners like on a piece of wood. It's fine on a car with a smooth body, with the wood I've managed to rip the corner and scrap the entire piece. So I'd suggest, as I did with this ne cutting a triangle and almost sticking it down Like you would with wrapping paper to get a neat corner. Unless you get very close you cannot see the overlap of vinyl. It's really pliable stuff, very water resistant, just be aware it rips quite easily so you need to be careful with it.

Hope that helps. I did it piece by piece and then just poked holes in the joining areas and due to the stretchy ness (is that a word?!) it pushed back together with slight force.

Right a few picture planted - I'm not happy with it yet, I moved the plants over from my rio and although the placement works to an extent I want to change it up, also there is some bba on the plants as my interest in the rio was lacking towards the end due to the new tank... I've nuked it with easy carbo, and now the filters are all clean, co2 is up nice and high I'm hopefully it'll die back fairly quick.

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I forgot to say, lighting wise I've gone with two T5s because I had the unit knocking about and the Arcadia off my juwel is far too big.
To get the LED/mh shimmer I've added a tmc 400 tile that I had from a nano I did a while back, the mix of the t5s and the led make for quite a pleasing colour, hopefully it's enough light, bit worried as I've not had a tank this deep before. I've attached it temporarily to the t5 unit using a piece of steel that I bent into a hook and slotted through the rails on the tmc unit. It's not overly pretty but it works.
This also allows me to stagger the lights so the led comes on first for 15 minutes, the the T5s, and the same in reverse for lights off. The led on its own is pitiful but I hate watching the fish all jump when the light goes from nothing to two t5s, this seems to have minimised it.

Co2 wise I've modified a marine calcium reactor to work as a co2 reactor which my lfs were using on their display tank, they upgraded and only wanted £10 for it, I'm running it through a fluval 405, and then out through a spray bar along the length of the back, with my two 305s outputs helping, one at each side. 3 externals is probably overkill on this tank, but with 7 large angelfish, 40 penguin tetras, 30 rummy nose and 25 oto's I think it's probably needed.

I'm thinking another shoalling fish wouldn't go a miss, preferably something large enough that angelfish can't snack but that shoals close like rummys. Any ideas? I do like black neon tetra, my lfs has some really big ones at the moment.
 
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