My 55g All Male Peacock build

[Steve]

I joined the site the other day and figured I would share some pics of the build up of my 55g that I have just about finished. This is my first tank since I got out of it about 15-20 yrs ago.  Back then when I was in my 20's I had a few cichlid tanks but they were just small 15-30g tanks with one or two smaller pairs in them, so when I bought this 55 I decided to take my time and do it up as nicely as I could. This build actually started exactly 1 year ago (started it October of 2011) and just 5 days ago finally got it done and filled with water and on my 6th day of the fishless cycle today.

I tried to edit it down so it wasn't so long that it bored you guys to death since this was a year long project, so hopefully I didn't cut out anything where I missed something.

Started out with a 55g tank I found on Craigslist. I paid $60 for the 55G and a 20g "long" tank both from the same seller. I plan to use the 20g long tank as a temp/hospital tank. The only problem with the 55g was that for whatever reason the previous owner decided to remove the center support brace. He obviously was not a very handy type of person because it looked like he removed the brace with an axe

Starting out...


So I had to remove the factory top trim and order a new trim for it. Removing it wasn't all that hard, just more of a pain in the rear because it takes awhile to cut all the silicone that holds it on the tank. I used a 4.5" paint scraper and worked it all along the outside & inside of the trim to finally get it to come off.  Then I had the LFS order me a new top trim which only cost $15. They could only get me the black trim but that's not a problem because I will be building an all wood canopy so the trim will not even be visible...



Now I have started on my 3D background for the tank. After spending some time trying to decide what shape of rocks I want to make it look like and what design I wanted, I came up with something a bit different than I have seen so far. Since the tank is 13" wide I didn't want to do a background that sticks out too far into the tank where I would lose 1/3 the water volume for the fish to swim in. So what I decided on was this.  I bought 6 sheets of 3/4" styrofoam and have siliconed together 3 sheets to make the thickness 2.250" at the thickest part as seen here......



Then for the design I am doing it so there are two (maybe even three) "openings" in the background. The reason for this is it will leave more room for the fish to swim, pluse it will actually give the illusion of depth in the tank to make it seem bigger. Because in the two/three openings that I leave between the "rocks" of the background I plan to airbrush the back of the tank where the glass shows with a shaded light to dark blue and then mount two 20" Cold Cathode light bars behind the tank. What that will do is give the inside of the tank the appearance of being in an underwater cave, and the two/three openings with the airbrushed blue shades and the blue Cold Cathode lights reflecting behind the opening will make it look like you can see out of the cave out into deeper "open water" of the lake.

This is a picture I was looking at online which gave me the idea to try it this way. So this will give you a basic idea of what I'm going for...



My background will be about 6 pieces on the back, then I will have some small pieces on the side to hide the intake and return tubes for the Rena xP3 filter and powerhead.

So I started out tonight shaping the first of the pieces. I found a single hand hacksaw, a small drywall scraper, and a round reamer made from a section of a fishing rod with some sanding grit epoxied to it made for the perfect tools for shaping my rocks.

The start of roughing in the edges of the first two pieces that will form the first "cave opening"....





And the first three pieces roughed in and mocked up in the tank so I can see what more shaping I need to do on this half of the background....



As you can see from this picture doing it this way I think will still give me a nice 3D look and will not take up all that much room inside the tank which was one of my main goals with this



In the picture I have the four main pieces cut out, trimmed and shaped. I still have three more smaller pieces to make to go across the top.



These pics show a bit better how the masonary brush helps to get the thick Drylok paint down deep into the crevices to show the texture better. Roughing the foam with a drywall scraper leaves a real nice realistic rock surface look.




Got a little bit of time to work on it some more today.  Just have one more piece to finish building and then shaping then I can coat the 2nd section with Drylok. But was able to get the 2nd coat of Drylok on the 1st section earlier in the week and now did some of the shading paint work on the first section.

The shading I am doing is using a darker Grey in the lowest spots on the "rocks", then going over that as well as some of the medium raised surfaces with a medium earth tone brown. Then going over the most raised portions with white to give the whole surface some more depth/3D look. The method I'm using is dry brushing to get the desired look.

The start of dry brushing the deeper areas that are to be shaded. The one deep crevasse here is just dry brushed with some darker Grey at this point...


Here it is after the darker Grey, Earth tone brown and white shading is all done on it...


And the complete first sections two pieces which make up the left 1/3 side of the tank all completed. The edges are left flat because I will be building in some very small side panels as well so need a flat surface to match them up too...



Also started working on the first of the side pieces. Doing the sides in thin 1" foam board so it does not take up anymore tank space than need be. Decided to also build in some small caves into the side board. The larger cave with have a small divider in it so that it will hide the intake for the canister filter behind one side of the divider, while still providing a hiding cave for some fish. Above that is a smaller ledge supported by a rock shaped post to give it strength and provide another "home" for fish...








First test run with the lights this morning. I still have A LOT of work to do such as 2nd coat of Drylok, lots of shading left to do, have to fill and sand some of the seams to smooth them out. But here is a pic with the lights set up behind the opening which will show you what I have had pictured in my mind to give it the whole "Underwater cave looking out to the open water" look I am going for.


First here are the lights I will be using. They will be a total of four of these lights (two for each opening). They are 20" long Cold Cathode lights which are used for lighting up computer cases in case modding hobby on computers. These have been converted over to normal household 110 power with inverters and a wall plug. The opening is covered with some light blue Christmas wrapping paper then the lights positioned behind it with a small space between the lights to focus the intensity more at the top of the opening so that it fades from top to bottom so it gives the effect of the water getting deeper the lower it goes in the opening...













Pieces all attached to side stryo board and started to be shaped....



More to come ........

[Steve]

The last side panel is all done so now the background itself is pretty much finished and ready to install into the tank in the next day or two after a good cleaning and some painting of the bottom of the tank is done.


Side panel...



Filling the tank fully to double check there are no leaks as well as to test out the new water changer...




Some equipment that is ready for the tank....


50ft Vaccum&hose water changer
Blue Cold Cathode lighting (pair of 20" bars and pair of 12" bars) for the cave openings
Dual T5 HO lights
Hydor inline heater
Lifegaurd digital temp gaude with alarm
Normal in tank thermometer
LED Moonlight strips
Timer power strip
Water test kit
Cleaning tools & nets

 Did the final test fit of the background to see if any other small pieces need to be made (a couple small ones do). Also got the new light in position (dual T5 HO bulbs 1 white 1 Actinic Blue). And also tested out all four of the "Open water" cold cathode lighting for the cave openings on both sides. Still have to monkey around with where the spacing & distance of those to get the exact effect I'm looking for but I think I'm pretty close right now.

Lit up with just the dual T5 light







With the Open water cold cathode lighting on...








Started by making two frame structure for top and bottom that were identical. I decided to do them this way so the 2x4 uprights would mount in between the top & Bottom frames so the wood would be supporting the weight rather than any weight on the fasteners.




First upright mounted....



Couple of the pocket screws done with the new jig...



I also decided to double up the corner 2x4's in a "L" shape also pocket screwed in as well as screwed back to side. May be overkill but it's cheap insurance IMO. You can also see the height of the stand in this picture. I never do like to have to bend over to look into a fish tank, and since I'm 6'6" with long arms I can get away with a stand height higher than most people, so I did mine 39" to the bottom of the tank.















Picked up the hardware for it last night at Lowe's. I decided on Colonial style hinges and nickle brushed rope style knobs. Since the wood skin is red oak I went with a red oak stain...




I also bought some 5 piece tiles. I plan to inlay the tiles in a diamond position into the front of each door and then trim the tile with some wood to add a nice accent on each of the doors...



Now have part of the floor in it, and also have one of the doors done and mounted now. I went with a thinner 1.250" oak for the frame of the door to give it a bit sleeker style. Door frames have a double routered edge on the inner side and a single routered edge on the outer. I mitered all the pieces but there still is a small bit of filling that needs to be done. I'm actually very happy with the way the door came out. Even though I am a very hands on type of person and build all sorts of things, wood working just does not fit in with my many years as a welder/metal fabricator so I have always shied away from anything to do with woodworking. And the door was probably one of the biggest worries about this job. So I'm very pleased with the way this is coming out.








The first door with the Italian ceramic tile inlaid and the wood trim mitered and mounted to the door skin is done. Now you can see what I had pictured in my head because I'm sure it probably sounded weird that I was planning to mount a floor tile on a door when I mentioned that idea lol. But I think it came out really nice to add a classy touch to the doors.



The toe molding is on (waiting to put the corner molding on still) and also have the first coat of finish applied....



First coat on the door as well. Still have to sand between coats and apply a 2nd coat, then going to polyurethane over it all to give it a gloss clear finish.





Close up of the inlaid tiles....


Shot of the corner molding and trim work....



I also mounted a digital thermometer with high&low temp alarms on the side. I used two pieces of angle wood to form a trim over top to protect it from getting hit as well as a "tube" for the sending unit wire to route through....



Inside I painted the floor and sides as well as frame work all gloss white to make it brighter inside, but I stained two pieces of oak to close off the back of the stand....



I made the panel on the right not go all the way to the top, that way I can run my filter tubes and wiring through the opening...



Made a shelf to store any supplies on....




Started by buying these four rocks chosen for their shapes & size which I really liked...



After washing, drying, two coats of Drylok and a few hours under a heat lamp they have their base color and are ready for some shading/drybrushing...



After shading them with dark grey, brown, some olive green to simulate algae and then some white on the high spots .......





Rocks in the tank....



With just the cave lights on....



With cave lights and testing out the LED moonlight strips....



With all the lights including the dual T5 white & actinic bulbs..





More to come....

[Steve]

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Shoot of the whole upper level of the canopy...









Side of upper level before......



After



Quick shot of it sitting in the room now finally...



Back pieces drying....



Started building the panels to conceal the filter intakes today (one intake on each end of the tank). Once finished the only thing that will hang below the panels are the very end of the intake because I want it to be uncovered so I will end up painting those so they blend right in...

One panel roughed in and shaped...


Both panels with first coat of Drylok on them...


The last piece of the left cave opening now siliconed in to place...


Managed to make enough time to get both the side rock panels mounted and shaded with color today. They hide the filter intakes extremely well yet still leave opening enough to get good flow to them. Also now that all the 3D background is in the tank I installed the new top tank trim piece with a bead of silicone all the way around the top of the tank. I was struck with an idea today to add something I had not planned. Since I am doing a "cave theme" I though it might look nice to make a few small rock formations that would hang down into the tank from the top of the waterline (think stalactites here) and mount them about 1" from the front upper lip of the tank. So I made three sections out of foam and have the drylok coat curing on them right now. I'll test mount them to see if I like the idea of them once they are dry. If not then they will not be used, but we'll see tomorrow how they look.

Here are the finished filter intake panels I made....

Close up...(you can just barely see the intake grill peeking out in this side angle)



Front shot they are not visible at all



More to come.....

[Steve]

An order I placed last week came in which was for 2L of Matrix bio for my dual canister filters. Also got the pads and some filter floss. Some more of the lighting systems came (3 Hydor LED white spotlights and 1 Blue Hydor LED spotlight) Actually waiting for one more Blue LED spotlight that's on backorder And picked up two 24" Versa-top hinged glass tops today as well as 50lbs of Tan Medium sand and 50lbs of White sand from Home Depot (plan to mix tan & white together).

Still waiting on the other one of the Blue LED spotlights which will light up the right side panel in blue like the left one. But here is a test run with the four Cold Cathode "cave lights", twin blue LED 48" moon light bars, three LED white spot lights, and one of the Blue LED spotlights all on now. I also have a 48" T5 dual light which will mount in the canopy for times when I want to really light the whole tank up, but I personally like the more dramatic effect the spot lights give to the look.

So far I'm very pleased with the way the lighting system is coming.



After mounting both glass lids on top I realized that the 1" acrylic rear of the glass lids which is normally used for trimming filter intake clearance... well it just was not gonna work because my custom background I made extends 1.75" away from the back glass, which means the filter intake as well as spraybars were going to need to be routed through the glass part of the lids...uhg!

Nothing's worse than having to cut brand new glass you just bought and hope you dont crack the whole thing in two. So after a few tense moments with the glass cutter I went to work. I am very happy with the way it all came out. Rather than run the spray bar along the back like I originally planned on doing from the start of this build, I decided to run them along the sides and tuck them up into the edge of the trim so they were completely hidden from sight. This required some trimming of the upper lip of the background, as well as notching the new top trim piece I just installed, and cutting the spraybar to fit.


View from the front the spraybar is completely hidden in the upper trim piece...



Then it was simply a matter of doing the exact same thing to the left side of the tank...



And then glass all cut/trimmed and new lids mounted into place



Painted the upper inside of the canopy white to reflect light better, and the rest of the inside flat black to keep the light from peeking through any seems where the door mounts to the canopy. Also have the dual T5 lights, two LED moon lights and the 5 LED spotlights now all in place as well.





Was at the fish store today and happened to see a few rocks that I liked the shape of and picked them up. Just like the other rocks I did I cleaned them and Drylok/painted them to match my DIY background I made. First picture are the rocks in the natural colors they were after washing them very well.



Then after two coats of drylok



And finally after some dry brushing work/shading & highlighting




Lots of pictures with different stages of the lighting system on since it's a pretty in depth lighting system I designed for this. The lighting system I did on it entails the following....
4- 20" Cold Cathod light bars
2- 12" Cold Cathode light bars
48" T5 Dual lights 1-10000k and 1-Actinic bulb
2- 24" LEd blue Moonlight strip lights
2-LED Hydor H2show Blue LED Spotlights
5-LED Hydor H2show White LED Spotlights
20" under cabinet light inside the lower stand




You'll also notice I made some wood angle strips and stained them to match the stand then siliconed them onto the leading front edges of the tank to give it a more finished look.



With all these lights there is a TON of wiring so I made sure to spend a good deal of time routing, sleeving and making all the wiring neat for looks as well as being safe.



Inline Hydor heater on one of the Rena Xp filters









With all the lights including the T5's on....


















Well my OCD kicked in and I had to do something about the hoses. These filters were used when I bought them and after closer inspection now that I had them in the cabinet I noticed just how full of nastiness (diatoms?) the hoses were. Spent about 4 hours cleaning both filters top to bottom with warm water and brushes. As well as went to 3 different places trying to find some replacement hoes for the Rena's. Ended up finding the proper size at a local hardware so bought 16ft of it for $36. Should be more than enough plus have some spare left.

Well I just finished filling with water  :dancing:  I have to say.....there sure is something to be said for spending the extra time washing your sand. I spent about 5-6 hours washing my sand so I knew I had it washed pretty well, but I still expected at least a day or two of cloudiness before the tank was clear. To my surprise though, with the exception of some of the "new tank air bubbles" blowing around the tank, it's actually exceptionally clear:nana4:

During filling ....



And not even 1 minute after getting filled and turning both the filters on...

[Steve]

The true colors of it don't come through well on video, but you can see the nice shimmering light effect in it with the way I have my spraybars & LED spot lights set up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVDSJZzCecA&feature=plcp

And that is where I am at today with it. On the 6th day of the fishless cycle, still have a solid 2PPM Ammonia so hoping that starts going down in the next 2-3 days so I can start redosing and move onto the next step.

Thanks for reading along.

Steve

[linuxrulesusa]

Wow.  Amazing project.  Great work.

[SKISWETPETS]

WHOA!!! AMAZING!!!!

[jcunningham0295]

Awesome tank and project.  Wish I was that handy....

[GrizzlysDad]

All I can say at this moment is WOW,
JUST WOW!!!

[PowerCerg One]

Good lord I have just become envious of someone's handyman skills.

[Ron]

The attention to detail here is second to none - looks fantastic!

Welcome to the forum Steve and thanks for sharing. 

[Steve]

Thanks guys. I tell ya though the waiting for it to cycle is KILLING me It's only been 6 days of the fishless cycle so I know I still have probably at least 3-4 more weeks left till it's even close to fish...but it can't happen soon enough for me now lol.

Steve

[Nick]

Absolutely amazing. Well done. I believe you have finally pushed me into doing a 3D background.

[PaulineMi]

Don't know how I missed this thread......   Amazing work! 

[Marty]

I finally got a chance to read this thread thoroughly.  Very cool setup!

If you're feeling impatient, stores do sell bacteria cultures to drastically speed up the cycling process.