Kayotic5011
Active Member
Im 34 and have been keeping aquariums and working with them on my own for 18 yrs. I grew up in south Florida (west palm beach area) so I got to dive and collect a lot and have got to keep many forms of life in an aquarium, couple of my favorites being cuddle fish and octopus. I don't know everything and wont pretend to, in fact ill be the first to admit I know nothing when it comes to the amount of knowledge there is to learn. After leaving south Florida and the luxuries of having the ocean by my side I went back to fresh water setups and there I remained for the next several years, as it can be cheaper to keep and maintain when your not next to the ocean. Here are some of my Fish Tank Adventures
Here is a 40 Gallon fresh water aquarium I did while at home in TN.
Then I sold it because I got an invite to go to California.
Upon arrival back home from California I set up another 40 Gallon Aquarium.
I also had an Idea for a cave tank. You cant buy them so I had to make one and this is how it came out.....
I have complete pictures on how I built this aquarium and I will be happy to make a tutorial if its desired. Its surrounded on 4 sides with just a couple holes cut in the top to allow light through. Designed for fish like blind cave tetra, and Fresh water shrimps (never did fill it with salt water). The volcanic spouts have air stones in them to give them the effect of being active and to help bring O2 to the water, there is also a hidden filter in there for more advanced filtration and half of the top of the tank is removable for maintenance.
Ok lets step back a moment in time to when I went to California. I brought a 30 gallon long aquarium with me and took the chance while being there to build a pacific ocean tank, complete with black sand gravel made from the crushed volcanic rocks that made up north California beaches....Heres how it came out.
What makes this a chance build you might ask, I'll tell you.... I set that whole tank up for next to nothing, everything I needed from the water to the decor even a couple camel shrimps and small blennies and gobies all gathered from my local docks and ocean.....If I tried to build this tank here it would easily cost me few hundred. The only time I put any money into this tank was for fish and to maintain water quality which wasn't much seeing I wasn't doing corals and I used high tide ocean water for water changes. Tank was originally filled with ocean water and salinity controlled with fresh water, my fish were always happy and healthy. This tank was left behind for a friend to have when I left California.
Everywhere I go I always bring a tank with me, which brings me to what I did when I got home. As I mentioned above after coming back from California I built another 40 gallon fresh water aquarium (shown above). After a couple yrs I got a decent job and decided to go back to the saltwater aquarium trade and set up one i could have going for a while.....Remember that half octagon corner tank also mentioned above? Well heres a picture of it while it was being built.
In its current state I had it sprouting seeds for ground cover before being delivered to a friend and filled with water. This was that 40 Gallon aquarium I put up after coming back from California. I had to find a new home for it as I was on a new adventure. Unfortunately I did not get a pic of this one full of water, I must have forgot.
I broke down the 40 fresh and filled it back up (after cleaning it of course) with saltwater and I added a refugium I designed from a 20 gallon long under it to use as my filtration.
At this point of the build the tank had been cycling for 2 months or more, and I stepped up from T5's to This kick butt light from DSunY, its an amazing led lighting system with wifi controls and wired controller.
Now Months Later.....
and the tank has been cycling for 6 Months or so, and in my opinion and a lot of other aquarium keepers opinions this tank out grew itself as a tank can never be big enough, there's always room to grow....but you see the thing is and you will notice in all my aquariums that ive showed, my tank is a 40 gallon breeder with the same over flow (just different tanks) on it (being this system has never failed me and a 40 gallon breeder gives you epic room and fish space), and I felt that if I wanted to build a real reef tank and do it right the first time now wouldn't be a bad time to upgrade Before I really start to stock and collect corals for my reef.
My reasons for wanting to upgrade were kind of made for me....let me explain lol. I started to notice the stand I built for my 40 gallon (which has been the same stand in those 40 gallon tank pics through out this journal entry) had started to finally show its age and get a little gangster lean going to it. Apparently while building that stand I left out a couple supports that I guess after holding so much weight for so much time accompanied with the weight of the rocks finally started to give way...not bad, but enough for me to go uhh uhhhh no way.....
another reason For my wanting to upgrade was because my refugium out grew itself too, there was no way a 20 long refugium would do anymore, and so I took the 40 gallon breeder (yes the 40 again lol) that I had just broke down from fresh water and rebuilt it into a way better more roomy refugium
aint she a beaut! Ill have more on this build later...because What goes with this refugium is a beaut in its own right I went and bought me a 120 gallon tank as my upgrade....WHA WHA!!!! I'm so stoked, this is the biggest Tank I have ever owned to date and is massive compared to the 40 lol.
This is my 120 Gallon Tank Build, I have more build pictures of this tank i will be sharing in a tutorial of my 120 gallon tank build. This build took me a week mainly because of waiting for the 120 to show up in the mail and I work 40hrs a week......I will be putting fake stone texture and features on this stank so there wont be any wood showing eventually. I built this stand to erect the aquarium away from the wall so I can view it from all sides and use every angle of my reef for corals as well (no more anemones going to an unseen part of my tank).
The other side of the stand has an opening for access to the 40 gal refugium and filters. The little port windows or the "Hotel side" as I like to call it is for access to my protein skimmer and for adding water to the return if it needs it a long with a viewing window for the main refugium itself.
My new 120 has been set up and running as of monday feb 5th 2018, water has been clear for a day and a half and I have lost a lot of life through the fish and a couple corals I had in the 40 before the switch. I knew it was going to happen but im glad I made this change now before stocking that 40 and killing more money and life with the switch. My water is good, my Calcium is at 520 my dkh is at 11 - 12 and my nitrates and phosphates are at 0. Its only been 5 days since fill and my tank is showing signs of dead diatoms and cycling thanks to all the live rock and sand from the 40 gallon. It sure gave it a good boost and started the process way faster than when I first set up the 40 gallon.
Both my refugium and
My 120 gallon are looking great. cant wait for it to finish cycling so I can start adding and making it my reef tank. (I'll be putting an auto dosser on it soon after).
Thank you for joining me on a few of my fish tank adventures. I look forward to learning from yours and sharing many stories about tanks in which you built. I cant wait to see and hear about your adventures. Stay tuned as well because I'm always getting myself into a fish tank and will keep adding to these adventures without a doubt.
Here is a 40 Gallon fresh water aquarium I did while at home in TN.
Then I sold it because I got an invite to go to California.
Upon arrival back home from California I set up another 40 Gallon Aquarium.I also had an Idea for a cave tank. You cant buy them so I had to make one and this is how it came out.....
I have complete pictures on how I built this aquarium and I will be happy to make a tutorial if its desired. Its surrounded on 4 sides with just a couple holes cut in the top to allow light through. Designed for fish like blind cave tetra, and Fresh water shrimps (never did fill it with salt water). The volcanic spouts have air stones in them to give them the effect of being active and to help bring O2 to the water, there is also a hidden filter in there for more advanced filtration and half of the top of the tank is removable for maintenance.
Ok lets step back a moment in time to when I went to California. I brought a 30 gallon long aquarium with me and took the chance while being there to build a pacific ocean tank, complete with black sand gravel made from the crushed volcanic rocks that made up north California beaches....Heres how it came out.
What makes this a chance build you might ask, I'll tell you.... I set that whole tank up for next to nothing, everything I needed from the water to the decor even a couple camel shrimps and small blennies and gobies all gathered from my local docks and ocean.....If I tried to build this tank here it would easily cost me few hundred. The only time I put any money into this tank was for fish and to maintain water quality which wasn't much seeing I wasn't doing corals and I used high tide ocean water for water changes. Tank was originally filled with ocean water and salinity controlled with fresh water, my fish were always happy and healthy. This tank was left behind for a friend to have when I left California. Everywhere I go I always bring a tank with me, which brings me to what I did when I got home. As I mentioned above after coming back from California I built another 40 gallon fresh water aquarium (shown above). After a couple yrs I got a decent job and decided to go back to the saltwater aquarium trade and set up one i could have going for a while.....Remember that half octagon corner tank also mentioned above? Well heres a picture of it while it was being built.
In its current state I had it sprouting seeds for ground cover before being delivered to a friend and filled with water. This was that 40 Gallon aquarium I put up after coming back from California. I had to find a new home for it as I was on a new adventure. Unfortunately I did not get a pic of this one full of water, I must have forgot. I broke down the 40 fresh and filled it back up (after cleaning it of course) with saltwater and I added a refugium I designed from a 20 gallon long under it to use as my filtration.
At this point of the build the tank had been cycling for 2 months or more, and I stepped up from T5's to This kick butt light from DSunY, its an amazing led lighting system with wifi controls and wired controller. Now Months Later.....
and the tank has been cycling for 6 Months or so, and in my opinion and a lot of other aquarium keepers opinions this tank out grew itself as a tank can never be big enough, there's always room to grow....but you see the thing is and you will notice in all my aquariums that ive showed, my tank is a 40 gallon breeder with the same over flow (just different tanks) on it (being this system has never failed me and a 40 gallon breeder gives you epic room and fish space), and I felt that if I wanted to build a real reef tank and do it right the first time now wouldn't be a bad time to upgrade Before I really start to stock and collect corals for my reef.My reasons for wanting to upgrade were kind of made for me....let me explain lol. I started to notice the stand I built for my 40 gallon (which has been the same stand in those 40 gallon tank pics through out this journal entry) had started to finally show its age and get a little gangster lean going to it. Apparently while building that stand I left out a couple supports that I guess after holding so much weight for so much time accompanied with the weight of the rocks finally started to give way...not bad, but enough for me to go uhh uhhhh no way.....
another reason For my wanting to upgrade was because my refugium out grew itself too, there was no way a 20 long refugium would do anymore, and so I took the 40 gallon breeder (yes the 40 again lol) that I had just broke down from fresh water and rebuilt it into a way better more roomy refugium
aint she a beaut! Ill have more on this build later...because What goes with this refugium is a beaut in its own right I went and bought me a 120 gallon tank as my upgrade....WHA WHA!!!! I'm so stoked, this is the biggest Tank I have ever owned to date and is massive compared to the 40 lol.
This is my 120 Gallon Tank Build, I have more build pictures of this tank i will be sharing in a tutorial of my 120 gallon tank build. This build took me a week mainly because of waiting for the 120 to show up in the mail and I work 40hrs a week......I will be putting fake stone texture and features on this stank so there wont be any wood showing eventually. I built this stand to erect the aquarium away from the wall so I can view it from all sides and use every angle of my reef for corals as well (no more anemones going to an unseen part of my tank).
The other side of the stand has an opening for access to the 40 gal refugium and filters. The little port windows or the "Hotel side" as I like to call it is for access to my protein skimmer and for adding water to the return if it needs it a long with a viewing window for the main refugium itself. My new 120 has been set up and running as of monday feb 5th 2018, water has been clear for a day and a half and I have lost a lot of life through the fish and a couple corals I had in the 40 before the switch. I knew it was going to happen but im glad I made this change now before stocking that 40 and killing more money and life with the switch. My water is good, my Calcium is at 520 my dkh is at 11 - 12 and my nitrates and phosphates are at 0. Its only been 5 days since fill and my tank is showing signs of dead diatoms and cycling thanks to all the live rock and sand from the 40 gallon. It sure gave it a good boost and started the process way faster than when I first set up the 40 gallon.
Both my refugium and
My 120 gallon are looking great. cant wait for it to finish cycling so I can start adding and making it my reef tank. (I'll be putting an auto dosser on it soon after).Thank you for joining me on a few of my fish tank adventures. I look forward to learning from yours and sharing many stories about tanks in which you built. I cant wait to see and hear about your adventures. Stay tuned as well because I'm always getting myself into a fish tank and will keep adding to these adventures without a doubt.
