Custom 3d background discus project

[Bc chick]

Well this is my first fish project other than setting up a brand new tank. Picked up a hundred gallon tank last night. It was a saltwater tank so I'm converting it over. I scrubbed it out and am soaking with bleach today. Its going to take about 4weeks for my background to come in. In the mean time i am focusing on the fish/bedroom/woman cave room. Have to drain current tank and move it to another wall to make room. I'll be starting this tomorrow as i need the tank to house current fish and water while i move things around. I will have about a foot of extra space. Just enough to get inbehind the tank. lol....pushin it! bigger is better. Will have to remove tv from wall and move to another wall. The tank came with a stand just frame made from two by fours so I'll be working on that in the next little while. Skirting it with wood and painting it although I have no clue how to do this. Yoo-hoo Mr ex-husband LOL

[Bc chick]

Ill post pics when i figure out how

[Altum Nut]

You can post pictures directly from your computer (or your cell phone) to this site, without using photobucket (or some other hosting site) using the insert image button from above the "Quick Reply" text box.
86768
Just click on that button and then click on the "From Computer" tab and hit select file button. Then you will need to find the picture on your computer. If you are using a android cell phone the process is the same. Most digital cameras and cell phones keep their pictures in a folder labeled "DCIM"

I just pulled this from another thread...

...Ralph

[Bc chick]

Its telling me im not allowed upload failed. Is it my size? Do you know how i can tell how big it is? Im on a android

[Second Hand Pat]

Its telling me im not allowed upload failed. Is it my size? Do you know how i can tell how big it is? Im on a android

Most likely it is the size of the file. We have a limit of 2MBs. I do not know how to tell you the size on an android. You might consider emailing to yourself and posting from a computer were you could determine size and resise or crop from there.
Pat

[Bc chick]

Well thats very disappointing. I dont have computer:(

[DJW]

I'm being stubborn and still don't have one of those thumb-operated smart phones so I can't be sure, but I think there are apps for that, called image resizers.

[Second Hand Pat]

The phone might have a native app that can do that. The iphone has edit functions which are available when viewing a picture.
Pat

[Bc chick]

Ok one thing i want everyone to know up front about me....i always have the luck. My pic is 2.1mb lol

[Bc chick]

I'm being stubborn and still don't have one of those thumb-operated smart phones so I can't be sure, but I think there are apps for that, called image resizers.

I was very subborn as well. Went from a flip phone t OK a galaxy....all i can say is wow lol. Ok lets try this....opps pic is now smaller but went from jpeg to pn....something lol i forgot. Im getting closer. New suggestion?

[Bc chick]

I just pulled this from another thread...

...Ralph

Sent your way

[Bc chick]

Well got the new tank downstairs. Tomorrow im gonna siphone my old tank into the new tank house my fish in there while i move their tank to its new spot. Then i can siphone part of their water back. Hope this is a good plan.
Took my 13 shots to figure out sizing of pic. Heres the tank im moving

[rickztahone]

Well, you figured out the picture portion of it! Way to go.

[Altum Nut]

I was very subborn as well. Went from a flip phone t OK a galaxy....all i can say is wow lol. Ok lets try this....opps pic is now smaller but went from jpeg to pn....something lol i forgot. Im getting closer. New suggestion?

This is the photo posted for Bc chick

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z319/Altumnut47/49b1f665-4a35-4c80-a717-6aba2831690b_zpsqoxrujsp.jpg (http://s194.photobucket.com/user/Altumnut47/media/49b1f665-4a35-4c80-a717-6aba2831690b_zpsqoxrujsp.jpg.html)

[Bc chick]

Everyday is a adventure. So yesterday i siphoned old tank into new put fish in and moved old tank into place. Well....siphoning it all back UP into the tank wasn't so easy so I went out to buy a pump. Well we're having thunderstorms out here really bad and everybody seems to be out of pumps the only find pump I could find was at the pet store so I paid $95 because I didn't know what I was doing and bought one that only has an output so I can't use it as a suction her. Oh well lesson learned there. Today I had to move stuff around to make room for the new tank in a light bulb fell off the shelf and wouldn't you know right into the new tank that had an inch of water and the bulb into millions of pieces. Needless to say I have to wash the whole tank out again. Time to work on the stand tomorrow. One week down 3 to go until the background comes in.

[Bc chick]

Bare bottom bare bottom bare bottom is all I hear. I have a hard time liking the empty bare bottom but I do want to make my fish is happy. People talk about painting the bottom of their tank but I can't help really wanting the look of sand so I'm trying. I decided to paint the bottom of my tank but tried to paint it to look like sand try to get the best of both worlds. First try didn't go so well I was too impatient and didn't wait for it to dry good enough in between coats. So I had to do it all over again but I'm happy with how it turned out.

[Bc chick]

Well my background came in. It came in 12 pieces!

[Bc chick]

Had to drill holes for the outtakes.
https://youtu.be/M82RljP0AdY

[Bc chick]

Made intake n screened off

[Bc chick]

Not sure why pics r upsidedown

[Dhavalsp]

looking forward to some full tank shots...seems like an interesting project..

[Bc chick]

Thanks for the comment. I was starting to think i was boring everyone lol. Im a little worried about flow getting to the other side of the tank. Im hoping the fx6 has a good flow. At first i had no clue, was scared to drill into background. Also the background came shorter than i ordered so i had to space out the background when siliconing it. So there are big gaps now between pieces that i need to work on today. Heres a video i made to show the supplier.
https://youtu.be/P_ElVxgq5a8

[Dhavalsp]

I did not get much idea about how it looks from front, but it seems like you have used a good amount of your volume in that background...not sure how much volume in water will be available for the fish...

Also is that a 75 or 55? if it is 55, I would highly recommend just getting a grown proven breeding pair...if 75, you may get away with 4-5 fish - 4 inch discus, don't attempt to grow juveniles in that tank as that background is definitely going to trap some gunk and you will have water quality issues....

[Bc chick]

Its a 100

[Bc chick]

Its been awhile since my update. Been working on my in/out takes. Had to drill some holes......

https://youtu.be/M82RljP0AdY

[Bc chick]

Not sure how i missed this. Sorry outta sequence
https://youtu.be/P_ElVxgq5a8

[Bc chick]

I dry fitted everything and made a video of the gaps to send to aquadecor, the ones that made the background.

https://youtu.be/35jPBeB_4P4

[Bc chick]

Got it all silconed in. Tried using a fish friendly spray foam to fill gaps. Tried one and i didnt like how it turned out so ended up leaving the gaps. Im not happy about that. Worried if i stuck cardinals in, they might get stuck in gaps. Background is siliconed to back of glass so they wont be able to get in behind.

[Bc chick]

Next i started my waterfall. I took a piece of 1 inch PVC piping, attached to the top and cut a 90-degree angle off the bottom. I drilled a hole in the top of the elbow and fed a piece of tubing through it then attached and AirStone at the bottom. The 90 degree angle allows for sand to be sucked up the tube and come out the top. As you put the tube into the water the deeper it goes the air bubbles start pushing the water up through the tube

[Bc chick]

Got water fall going. Took awhile testing to get it to fall right.

[Bc chick]

Now time to get it up onto the stand. Heavy sucker. Dropped it on my foot and broke three toes!!! Quite the project this is turning out to be. Or should i say adventure.

[Ryan925]

Now time to get it up onto the stand. Heavy sucker. Dropped it on my foot and broke three toes!!! Quite the project this is turning out to be. Or should i say adventure.

Background looks nice. Looks like it takes up a lot of room though but maybe it's just the pic. How many fish are you going to stock?

[Bc chick]

Background looks nice. Looks like it takes up a lot of room though but maybe it's just the pic. How many fish are you going to stock?

its 6 footer. Stocked already....got them 1 week ago now. its a secret. im trying to catch up on my journal. lol gonna take a video this weekend and introduce everyone.

[Bc chick]

i dont understand why some pic come out sideways n some dont. guess it depends on the angle i took it

[two utes]

I've been following your thread and sorry that l was not able to offer any advise , as l have no experience with your type of set up. But l just have to commend you on this. Even with all the problems you've had, you seemed to get trough it all.
Kudos to you! Its looking fantastic, and l cant wait to see it on the stand with discus in it.

Good luck, but i'm sure you won't need it.

[Bc chick]

thank you so much for your comments. sometimes i wonder if anyones following.cant help but be a bit proud, ive never done any diy project before. ive suffered so much not be able to drive my standard mustang with the broken toes!

[Bc chick]

Background looks nice. Looks like it takes up a lot of room though but maybe it's just the pic. How many fish are you going to stock?

ive been following you as well through your sub change. looks fantastic

[two utes]

ive suffered so much not be able to drive my standard mustang with the broken toes!

Discus and Mustangs. Nice! Hope your toes heal up quick. Keep us posted

[Ryan925]

We are def following. It has been a long time seems like it's quite a project. I imagine you will be very satisfied with end result. Look forward to seeing how your long journey and hard work pay off

[Bc chick]

It's been a long time because I've been busy with my new discus family. They arrived 9 days ago it was like Christmas morning opening that box. Each bag I pulled out was black so each one was a surprise such beautiful colors I've never seen something so nice. At first I was wondering if I'd be able to keep up with the daily water changes but then it's like motherhood just took over and I want to do so good for them 15 20 minutes and I'm done. It's nothing. I find myself worrying about them all the time. What are they doing. are they swimming? Are they hiding? What are they doing now? I can't help but be a little bit worried about them though. Like I said I've had them for 9 days and I find that they still hide too much. They scare easily which I know is normal. When they're hiding if I feed them they wont come out, I have to wait until they're out to feed them. They were introduced to uncycled tank but with a cycled sponge from the breeder. I've been doing daily water changes of about 50 to 60% but find by the end of the evening my water is a bit cloudy. There was one day my ammonia was up to .25 but other than that my daily testing has been ammonia zero nitrites 0 nitrates .5 is it possible it still is not cycled? I don't age my water as of yet but plan to do so soon just for the simple fact that I don't like the microbubbles. I have no swing in my pH. at feeding time they eat as long as the food is stuck to the glass but once it floats to the top that's it. I don't know if they're just a little dumb or what LOL but they don't seem to realize the food is floating on the top. For this reason I'm going to stay away from flake Foods. I'm running an fx 6 and I have a Air Sponge Filter which I got from the breeder. I just don't understand what's making my water cloudy. It's not really badly cloudy just off a little.

[Bc chick]

Discus and Mustangs. Nice! Hope your toes heal up quick. Keep us posted

yeah me to because its almost time to park if for winter

[Ryan925]

I'd say it's possible the tank is still cycling. After I did a substrate change my tank was cloudy as it went through a mini cycle. Keep up with those daily WCs.

My fish used to do the same. They never fed off of the surface. It seems months later they will a bit but still are the most fond of it. Eventually those worms on the surface start to fall then they attack lol.

I remember the early days. I was like you. Always worried always checking in on them. Sooner than later they get very comfortable and now they bite my hands when I have it in the tank and I have to push them out of the way when I vac

[Bc chick]

i cant wait for that. so even thoughi got the cycled sponge it will still go through a mini cycle?

[Ryan925]

Your filter just may not have built up enough bacteria yet. The sponge is helping to speed up that process but the sponge alone is not enough BB. Imho

[DJW]

i cant wait for that. so even thoughi got the cycled sponge it will still go through a mini cycle?

Yes, the bio needs to get stronger. If you use a cup and skim the uneaten food off the surface about 1/2 hour after feeding, the water will stay cleaner and it should help with cloudiness.

[Bc chick]

after reading the white poop thread, i notice his poop is sticking to sponge filter. nothing sticks to mine. i wonder if this is because im doing daily changes or maybe my pump isnt strong enough.

[Bc chick]

Yes, the bio needs to get stronger. If you use a cup and skim the uneaten food off the surface about 1/2 hour after feeding, the water will stay cleaner and it should help with cloudiness.

yes i fed just before wc and usually remove what floats to top. the remainder sticks to glass as water level goes down then i wipe the glass to remove it. thinking im gonna go get a stronger pump

[Ryan925]

I use a hydro farm air pump for my airstone. Quietest pump I have used and love the large adjustment knob. They come in a variety of different number of outlets.

I use the 2 outlet one

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002JPEVMC/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474218737&sr=8-1&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=hydro+farm+air+pump&dpPl=1&dpID=41%2BAG3UDFIL&ref=plSrch

[Bc chick]

So I got it up all on the stand looks good set up the fx6 and I was not happy with my output. Not enough flow getting through the background. Plus I never thought the holes through very well I drilled them pointing down thinking I wanted to hide them but not thinking that the flow would just be going down. Having a good output is more important than hiding my intake and outtake behind the background so I gave up on that moved everything to the front got some great flow going. So thats it. the adventure is over.
And for my new adventure.....

https://youtu.be/kLNww4ItfEU