120 room divider next to TV comeback tank.

[Pedal Dangit]

Coming back from over 10 year hiatus. OK so I have this weird house with a weird family room. We call it stonehenge because of the octagon shape and pillars. Anyhow, I want to put a tank in the space and have the end drilled for room divider. Not sure if we will make a hood or have rimless with pendants. We are also considering just getting a basic tank for now and then going custom if it looks like this hobby will stick.

So That's it for now. Just the drawing board. this will be a very slow progress thread at first.

I'm looking for a deal on a used tank 100+ in southern CA. PM if you got a cheap tank 48" long.

Give me some ideas if you have them re: hood or hanging lights
I'm leaning towards hood.

pics:

 

[dbl]

Signing up to follow along as I'm a sucker for a peninsula. If you were going to hang the lights, from what point would you do that? They look like very high ceilings. I personally used a integrated hood in the stand. Ultimately it's your preference and how it works with your space.

 

[Pedal Dangit]

Signing up to follow along as I'm a sucker for a peninsula. If you were going to hang the lights, from what point would you do that? They look like very high ceilings. I personally used a integrated hood in the stand. Ultimately it's your preference and how it works with your space.

I will be taking out take the white railing out between the pillars and if I did pendants hang from the cross beam. like this.

 

[dbl]

I will be taking out take the white railing out between the pillars and if I did pendants hang from the cross beam. like this.

Ah...now I get it. That almost lends itself to a center overflow. And by center, I mean center of the tank - so essentially all four side are viewing panels. You would have an overflow and return "tower" in the middle of the tank. Just food for thought.

 

[Pedal Dangit]

Progress as slow as to be expected. Although very possible that I may go pick up a used 120G tomorrow.
I used some cardboad boxes to moch-up the space available. The boxes are 54x24x24, but I will probably just use a 48" 120G
Hopefully the railing will come out soon. You can see the challenges ahead with the step down in middle of the stand. I plan on having separate 12.5" wide refuge on the top step and a 12.5" wide sump on the bottom tile floor level.

 

[dbl]

Well, I guess it goes without saying, but that is certainly going to be a custom stand! You'll just have to use your imagination but what a great spot for a tank!

 

[NY_Caveman]

I get it now! Those last few pictures helped. This aquarium is going to look great there.

 

[Pedal Dangit]

Today I scored a 120 Visio tank from FB marketplace that came with a nice bonus T5 light. And it didn't even cost me any cash. I trade an old retired snap-on 1/2" impact gun for it. Just water tested it... looks good, holds water, not really any bad scratches. ;Smuggrin it even still had the sales sticker on it but couldn't make out the price...

Next on the list: drilling the end of it for an overflow box.

 

[Pedal Dangit]

Ooops.
Here I go buying a bunch of cheap stuff I don't even know if I will use. These were on super sale today. Was waiting for Petco $1 a gallon, but then found these used tanks super cheap, all around the size I want to play with.

 

[Pedal Dangit]

The railing is gone.

So these were really "test" tanks. I was lucky to find some super cheap used stuff to play with and model up what I think I am going use: 30 gallon refugium and a 20 gallon sump. The 30 will have a DSB about the depth to the top of the so gallon sump. 4-6"

These were such a deal, I got all 3 tanks for $40. I was thinking of setting up the tall tank in the kitchen while building the stand and collecting parts for the big build.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Nice score! Cannot wait to see this!

 

[Pedal Dangit]

Since the 120 in the family room is a long ways out on my timeline, I'm setting up a small tank in the kitchen to play with in the meantime.

There was a work bench table type thing we had that was begging to have an aquarium on it

Unfortunately, the used Reef Octopus skimmer I just acquired needs a $170 pump.... I will probably just buy a whole new skimmer. that and some plumbing and I should be able to get some rock going in here.