Kman 225 Tank Build.
- Thread starter Kman
- Start date
shamous113
Active Member
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2015
- Location
- Stratford
Looking good. cant wait to see the final result.
For this build I decided to place my rocks first on the tank glass and will add my substrate later and fill with water after it is added. This cuts down on clouding and allows me to lay my rocks easily as it has no water yet that clouds up. At this point I am building up my rock face. I went with an open concept with three main structures That i will tie together with arches. The key is to make your structures different sizes as you can see the one on the left is quite larger then the other two. If they are all even it will look like a pile of stones. This picture is part way through as I am waiting on my arches to bond and harden.
For my arch that I made (Pic pending) and to make my structure more solid I tried a new product called Aquaforest stone fix. This stuff works great but you need to do in small batches as it will go from good to go to rock hard in seconds. I used plastic beer cups and plastic spoons for mixing. I added the water first (about a table spoon) then kept adding small spoon full of the powder till it went from runny to thick. I found if I started to apply the mixture when it was the perfect consistency halfway through it was rock hard in the cup and useless. So I started to apply when it still had a little wateriness to it, it was still think but has a slight wetness to it. That way I could use all in the cup. Even then you need to use quickly. I found if you are connecting two rocks together say for a shelf don't try and do one side and let it bond then try and flip it over. It will break. You are better off to mix a little larger batch and apply it and flip right away. Then work on the top portion. I let mine in this case bond for 30 min as I broke it twice when i moved it before this and had to do it over. Normally for holding the rocks together it bonded in 10 to 15 min.
It is a beautiful cabinet and hood. I picked it up off Nighthawk because of the full access to the hood. I loved how the front portion hinged so I could gain full access without having to remove the lid. It has some reflective material lining the hood. I never bothered to use glass at this point. I like how the glass keep the evap down and things in but I don't like how I don't have easy access to the tank without removing it. The hood itself is pretty closed in so this reduces evaporation yet doesn't get condensation onto the lights. As for the light bracket I made that by using a U shaped aluminum bar I got at home depot. I drilled holes and use aluminum screws to attach. I have T5 going in but I have to adjust the aluminum mount in order to fit in. The hood itself has metal L brackets on the slid that allow me to slide the lights back so I can get the big things in. But with the T5 mounted they are to high as the space
When I do my builds I sort my rocks into groups. I go over all of them so I know what I have so I can see shape and size of them. I sort them into base rocks that go under the structure, flat rocks that are used for over hangs and caves, face rocks that are on top of my structure that have a cool shape (prime rock), and ones I call finishing rocks. Those are used to even out UN-natural looking areas or in places like the sand bed to round out an area or added visual affect. When I am about to start my structure I lay the rocks I am going to use out first for easy access and I can easily look at what I have so I can grab the rock that best fits my needs. The face stone I bring out later. I keep a spray bottle filled with tank water and spray them every hr or so. Or if the rock looks like it is drying. If I take a break I spray them and cover in garbage bags.
derrick orosz
Super Active Member
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2014
- Location
- Ayr, Ontario
That’s a sexy sump
Why thank you.
For the DT I was bare bottom originally. I like to put the rocks on the tank bottom so they are most stable. That way when thing burrow beneath them they don't shift my rock work. I ended up adding sand but it didn't work out as well as I had wanted. It blows around to much so I will probably end up taking it out. For now I am just letting it dissolve and add calcium to my tank water. lol Been busy but will be posting updated tank photos soon. It is maturing quite nicely.
Haven't updated this thread in some time. Finally got around to upgrading my light mount. My old one wasn't designed to the way I liked it. Plus using the C channel aluminum on a 6 foot tank warps over time from the weight of three LED. So this time I went and got one inch square aluminum tubes from home depot. I cut to size and screwed together using glue and brackets. Then painted. I wanted something that is flexible so I can add more led or T5, was slidable in my hood so it could be moved back to allow larger object to be added or removed and have the LED able to slide side to side for proper light courage.
For each LED I cut strips of flat aluminum pieces and drilled a hole in the center. So i could screw into the wholes in the LED to they are individually controlled. At this point I am not adding the T5 lights yet. I need to finish the sump cabinet design and Apex cabinets. Then once the sump is installed I can install the apex and wiring from the T5.
Hey bud , could I swing by and check out your hood sometime ? I’ll need to build one for my tank and would love to see how yours was built
Probably won’t be for a while but , just seeing if the offers there ,
Great looks set up can’t wait to see more !
Probably won’t be for a while but , just seeing if the offers there ,
Great looks set up can’t wait to see more !