Habitat - Indoor :: 200 gallon

[drillr00]

It's getting there.... I'm powder coating a few metal grills that will go over the top, getting some more rocks, and looking into some tank backgrounds and other decorations.

[Lilsaint]

NICE u run 2 FX 5!!!!

[savage Rock]

WOW

[freshprince2146]

Looks amazing.

[slider_keeper]

that is coming along nicely. The FX 5's should beable to do the job on the tank. I like the stained finish, good job! What lights are you going to run on the tank?

[blackforces get you]

thats perfect. even my brother said it lol right after i did

but he said wood breaks down but you gotta use what you got. termites are your worst enemy. but that looks totally great

[rsour24]

looks rly good

[jwinters]

That's so awesome! You're really handy. Looking at the pictures totally made my <3 you. XD

[drillr00]

I put some exterior polyurethane on top of the stain so I'm hoping that slows down any wood break down. It has a nice glassy feel to it...almost like a bar table.

As for the lights, I'm still trying to figure that out. I'll be going with the standard uva, uvb, heat light but I'm looking to add some more light since the tank is so long.

I'm having some metal gratings powder coated for the top so I may just end up throwing some fluorescent lights on top but I've also seen some really bright thin LED bars from http://www.superbrightleds.com/ that might look and function well...any suggestions?

[steve]

Looks great! Is the basking area on only one side of the tank? If so, I would go with a MVB.

[drillr00]

Steve - the basking area is actually dead center. I covered the center brace to make into a basking area. It's hard to see but if you look through the original pictures of the tank you'll be able to see what I mean.

[marisa]

You can still use a MVB if the basking area is in the center. You just need something to hang it off of in the middle of the tank.

[drillr00]

ah I see what you are saying. sorry I meant to say I'm looking for non uva/uvb/heat light suggestions to light up the rest of the tank.

[untsmurf]

Wow that's beautiful!!You've done a miraculous job refinishing that tank.

As for lighting, I've seen some submersible LEDs that are pretty cool. You'd probably have to get about a half dozen of them to light the entire tank though.

Did you make an undergravel filter??? I've seen a custom made one that looks very similar to yours and supposedly it does a wonderful job of keeping the waste from getting trapped in the rocks.

[drillr00]

untsmurf - I made a pvc "output" flowing around the aquarium. The white egg crate is spaced 1 inch from the bottom of the aquarium and the pvc has many holes drilled angling down and horizontal to the floor. The two vertical corner PVC tubes also have holes drilled pushing water around the aquarium. I'm "hoping" that most of the waste will get pushed up from the rocks and can be sucked back up by the filter. I'm using relatively large beach rocks so I'm hoping that helps keep the waste from getting trapped easily.

As time goes, I'll see how well it works. I may end up using the regular nozzle that came with the filters if this fails.