Discus Tank Upgrade - A Year In The Making! (Long)

Tried to post too many pictures in one thread, so the last post was broken. Here it is working (broken down to multiple posts)....



***** Started my discus journey with a 180g tank and six discus. After 8 or 9 months of them growing great and having no problems with disease or otherwise, I was thinking about an upgrade into the show tank arena. Thinking maybe a 240g.

One day I was in the garage looking at Facebook Marketplace and almost fell over when I saw a tank for sale only 50 miles from me...

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10ftx2ftx3ft - 450 gallon, glass (3/4 inch sides & top - 1 inch on the bottom), custom made! Spoke with the seller who said he bought it from a fishing lure company who had commissioned it for their offices. He bought it from them and decided that he didn't want to take a wall out to get it into his house, so he was selling it. It was believed to cost over 10K new. He was selling it for around 15% of that price!

I showed my wife, who supports my tank addiction. She looked at me and shook her head and then said "It will be my retirement gift to you". I would be ending my 28 year law enforcement career in a few weeks and she couldn't have given me a better gift!

Went that day and put it on my trailer and stored it in the garage while I undertook the long process of planning and implementing setup of this beast.

First on the agenda was a stand. Luckily, I have a nephew that is a pipeline welder who volunteered to weld up a steel stand for me...


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16 hours over two days and this was the result...



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Simultaneously, worked on the sump. Bought a used 125 gallon tank and had the glass dividers cut locally and siliconed up. Stand and sump were put in the family room We are on a slab foundation, as I was estimating that up and running, we were getting into the 5 to 6 thousand pound range. The tank itself weighs 1000 pounds+ empty...


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Added an inch and a half of plywood to the top of the stand and started planning moving day....

Posted an "event" for my Facebook friends and promised a brunch (kindly made by my wife) in exchange for help getting the tank inside. On the day of the big move, removed the sliding glass door panels and soon after, 18 people showed up to help. Two table lifts and the aforementioned army... and it went in without too many hitches or hernias...


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Even got my 5 year old grandson involved in getting the included plumbing out for me...


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It's ready for plumbing and scaping...


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Has four total drains (2 on each end) and four returns (2 on each end). Plumbed everything. Two return pumps (1 for each side). Two 800 watt heaters on controllers...


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For scaping I wanted a show-stopper, so the best in show-stoppers is AquaDecor out of Serbia. Pickup an Amazonian tree stump, standing logs, and branches...


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For substrate, decided on Safe-T-Sorb baked clay - @ $8 bucks for a 40 pound bag. 240 pounds went in to the tank then the stumps, logs, and rocks were setup (rocks from a local landscape supply)


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Went with cheapo black box lights as I was only going to put anubias and java fern in the tank, so not worried about light. Used Menards shelf brackets with closet rods ($20) to hang the lights...


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And we're ready for Discus........


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When you have such a big tank, you need to plan of water changes (100 gallons/twice per week) and for water top off, as it loses 2.5 to 5 gallons every day or two to evaporation...


ATO in the garage behind the tank... drilled through the wall for PVC to the sump. Didn't want to have to fill up a container every couple days, so went with a 65 gallon barrel. Two fail-safes so it should never pump the whole 65 gallons into the sump (fingers crossed)


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Have three tanks (the 450, 90 reef, and 65 puffer), so had to streamline water changes. This is in the garage next to the tanks and the wife can still park her car in there...

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Just recently skinned the stand using wood, Ikea cabinet panels and magnets....

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That's where we stand as of today. Up next is a matching canopy that will go from the top of the tank to the ceiling.... stay tuned......

I cannot even begin to comment. Did you work for Marineland while in law enforcement? I kind of wish that you had continued on with with first thought of putting wheels on that bad boy. Wow!

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Originally Posted by peewee1

I kind of wish that you had continued on with with first thought of putting wheels on that bad boy. Wow!

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Those were used to get that beastly stand out of my unattached garage to the house. Stand weighs about 300-500lbs. I bought those panel dollies originally to roll a playhouse I built out of my garage and onto a trailer then rolled into the backyard at my grandson's house. They work like a charm.

Cn we switch wives

I’m speechless. I thought my own made stand and 190g tank was a big project, but it’s tiny tiny comparing to that. Great job!

Looks like you got a steal there Pete!

I love the layout and everything looks so clean and the proportions on the decorations is spot on.

Open-top aquariums have always been a problem for me (as far as evaporation is concerned), but I don't like the weight or fragility of glass tops. I know you said you're looking to add a canopy, but have you also considered placing something like this polycarbonate panel or this polycarbonate twinwall sheet? I recently switched from no top to the polycarbonate twinwall sheet and have seen a significant reduction in the amount of water that evaporates from the system. I even placed it on top of my sump!

Gorgeous tank. Excellent work setting it up.

Seeing this made me pumped to start my 270G build. Lots of good ideas I see in your build.

Can't wait to see more pics.

Holy jebus sweet mother of the cosmere...

O________O

Your sump alone has greater capacity than my entire Fish Nook.

Gorgeous! Your sump is the size of my tank!