NEW to the saltwater world- restoring 175 gallon Oceanic bowfront

[Joroboto]

I recently picked up a 175 gallon Oceanic bow front aquarium on CL that needed some TLC. I've completely rebuilt the stand using the old one as a template and polished the glass. I've also resealed both the tank and the 30 gallon sump. Currently in my cycling period. I'll post some of the pics of the process so far. Looking forward to having a new hobby

 

[revhtree]

Great job and it looks good!

Welcome to R2R!

We appreciate your membership!

Thanks for joining and please make sure and post often!

 

[ritter6788]

Welcome! Good luck with your new build.

 

[Joroboto]

Here's the room placement. To the left of the stand is my livingroom

Doing my final polish on the glass

My rock layout. I bought this medical grade skeleton on ebay several years ago with the hopes of one day putting it in a tank. I replaced all of the metal parts with fishing line btw and hollowed out the skull and added a crank to the back so the fish can swim through.

I ended up replacing the double doors with a single one. I got tired of wedging myself under there:0

 

[Joroboto]

Got my LED light bar in. Water is finally starting to clear up

Just the blues on.

 

[wysiwyg]

tank looks awesome love the skeleton

 

[Dumnorix]

Dude that skeleton rocks! Nothing like some added calcium. And great job on the stand - that old one had seen better days...

 

[cdrewferd]

That's sweet. Great use of the skeleton. Can't wait to see it covered in corals and fish swimming through the head.

 

[Joroboto]

Yeah, the previous owner had some sump overflow problems. I wouldn't have set a 10 gallon on it It was basically a glorified template. The new version is also roughly 5 times as heavy since I used actual furniture grade lumber. I'm hoping to add fish in the near future. Probably damsels. Any good inverts to start with or do I need to wait?

 

[gmoney243]

Is this Jeffery Dahmers tank? Lol looks cool bro right on time for halloween.

Sent from my Vortex using Tapatalk 2

 

[byronious]

Awesome! You did a great job on the stand. Love the skeleton idea. :angel: . The damsel idea.......not so much.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

The tank looks great!! I can't wait to see how it progresses!

Yeah, the previous owner had some sump overflow problems. I wouldn't have set a 10 gallon on it It was basically a glorified template. The new version is also roughly 5 times as heavy since I used actual furniture grade lumber. I'm hoping to add fish in the near future. Probably damsels. Any good inverts to start with or do I need to wait?

How far into the cycle are you? I would wait to add anything until you are showing zero for ammonia and nitrate. I may have missed it but how are you cycling the tank?

 

[bige]

I love that skeleton. It will look cool once it ages.

 

[Bry]

Excellent Idea on the skeleton.. that will look awesome once it starts to color up and get encrusted with critters!

 

[saltwater bob]

Skeleton is super coolness...can hardly wait to see how it colors up...how much did it cost?

 

[Nemoose]

Looks awesome. But, i would rethink the damsels, lol. They are cool and cute when there are small but can be hell on wheels as they mature. And, in that tank they would be a total pain to catch. Maybe start with some chromis to avoid some issues in the future. The inverts should actually be the first things in the tank. Google "clean up crew". Try a mix of snails, nassarius, cerith, turbo, and then some hermit crabs. After they are extablished and doing well then it is time for a fish or two. It takes time for the bio filtration sysem to develop so go slow and don't over load it at first.

 

[Isoprene]

What is that skele made out of? When I first started I wanted to get a actual skull to put in mine and I couldn't find anything that wouldn't leach silicates or some type of chemical out into the system? I was thinking about doing a ceramic skull but its difficult to make one.

Sorry didnt read, medical grade as in its actual skeleton material or is it molded from something?

 

[AsphaltPays]

Hello and Welcome to R2R Great looking Tank..Nice Rebuild !!!

 

[revsgirl]

Too cool! Your tank is very creative!! Welcome to R2R!! Lookin' forward to seeing more pics as your tank progresses!

 

[Joroboto]

Thanks for the compliments The skeleton was a factory defect(crooked collar-bone) so I got it for about $55 on Ebay. For those asking what it's made of, it's a cured resin. About the same as they use making aquarium ornaments so there's no danger in silicate leakage. The only real pain was replacing all of the metal clips and screws with fishing line