I think this is the best place to show u all how i started building my own stand for my juwel Rio 400. And how my background was made. The backgroud is made by a friend of mine.

There won't be lots of text just a lot of pics with a small description.


Started with this mess! This is how my room looked before.


breaking down my closet


tight fit!


finally some space


we had to move the rio 180. that was a bit scary.. there was still 50L water in the tank.


starting with the new stand




real nice to demolish ur own bed.. but now i had to sleep on my fishing stretcher








screws, screws and more.. screws....


size comparing, i'm about 1.90m, the stand is 300x60x70cm (LxDxW)


some doors, the middle 4 doors are for my clothes and stuff. The 2 doors on the outside are for my pumps and stuff


Electrical


more electrics

finally painted the doors


some pvc pipes, bents and connectors

I wanted to get rid of all the hoses from my pumps, so i made everything out of pvc pressure pipe.
With this whole system i can easily tap my water and refill the tanks.

Glue Away!








refill point


tap point, the blue hose goes out my window.




At last we could get the rio 400 from the previous owner


finally ready so the Rio 180 was the first to take place


glueing some pipes


its hard to get around the back of the tank!


making a pump ready so i can test my glue skills


filling up!




first part of my background

finishing the filterpipes




building in the bakcground








filling up the holes






getting some color on it






first scape


at last i could sleep in my own bed!


Did a rescape, when i was filling the bottom with sand i noticed that the caves become to small..
Click for a enlargement!

the tank is now getting ready for fish. The plants are just for support and help getting the tank ready.
I will get rid of them when the fish is introduced in the tank.

My main fish is gonna be Gibberosa Mikula, I bought the last 8 from forestcat (member on this forum)
other fish is gonna be a solitairy lepidiolamprologus kendalli Nkambea and maby some synodontis.

Some technical information:
Tank: Juwel Rio 400 150x50x60cm 400L
Light: 2 T5 36 watts. Both dimmed to 50% and 1 mirrored so it wont shine in the tank.
Pumps: 1 Eheim 2228 (1000L/u) and 2 Eheim 2224 (700L/u)
Background: DIY from a friend
Other: Refreshing is done with a hose on my shower, 1 pump is pumping old water from my tank out of my window and simultaneously fresh water is added through the pipe system.

The complete makeover took about 3 months. But, the result is great i must say!

When i get the fish, about 2 weeks from now, i will post some more pics!

greetszz

You are absolutely right Michael, the result is Great !! I am amazed. Looks like you have some furniture building skills, and clearly your friend has some background skills.

I am in awe.

Great post - very interesting. I wish I had your DIY skills.

thanks guys! u almost make me blush

My skills are not that great i did building school and learned for architect. Unfortunatly i didn't make it all the way. Some classes were too hard.

The good way is that i can draw de designs on my pc and when everything is like i want it to be i start building This way you already have the problems solved in the drawing

The guy that build the background does this for a hobby. He builds backgrounds from 1.20m till 10m!

i'll keep u all posted

I cant wait to see the fish in there!
Seems like you guys could make a living or at least a supplemental income from designing tanks for people.
That tank is amazing!!
Excellent job.

same here, can't wait! but i'll have 2 wait at least 2 weeks... the tank is still starting up.

But within these weeks i can mess around with my scape, maybe i'll make some more caves. Got loads of stone stored.

my friend is selling the backgrounds so he makes a little income from it

As i said, when the fishes arrive, the camera will be there!

Wow you photos are awesome. Wow it looks so good. Alot of hard work... but worth it in the end. Your new Mikula's are going to be soooo happy!

yeah i think so 2! i've made a little movie of my tank!

i'm uploading it now


Link


only thing you cant see is the caves / space behind the plants. I'll make another movie next week or so..

greetsz 2 all!

That is an awsome job. You really have a gift and patients. If you lived by me I would hire you to do some tanks for showroom. I love how you took picture for detail and looks real good.

Are the rocks in the foreground polystyrene as well? If so, how do they stay down?

no all the rocks u see are just rocks, they are called ardenner breuksteen. The rocks are big and easy to lay on top of eachother.

Nice point is that the rocks contain a lot of chalk. so it keeps my PH, GH and KH nicely high!

Nice video, I don't think forestcat could have hoped for a better home for his baby Mikula. It will be great to see them swimming in there !