Making my 800 gallon bigger!!

[TheFishGuy]

My name is Jonathan, otherwise known as TheFishGuy on a few other forums. I run monsterfishrescue.com and seem to be rescuing more and more fish. Recently my 800 that I built two and a half years ago started to leak. The tank has been drained and all the fish are living in a roughly 800 gallon pond. So since we have this saying that there's no problems just opportunities I've decided to take this opportunity to make the tank much larger. As it stands the tank measures 14' long 3' front to back and 30" tall. Since my incredibly understanding wife who lets me fill the house with fish tanks doesn't want the tank to take up more room I've decided to add onto the back of it. I'm going to take it a step further though and make the addition deeper. What I mean by deeper is by making it taller by going down.

Here's the future footprint:



So while the footprint will be larger indeed, it's going to be 26 or so inches deeper in the addition part. Here's a 3D to explain.



Then what it'll look like through the glass:



With the addition the total gallons will go from 785.45 to 1623.27 more than doubling gallonage. More importantly this will give options for more fish to go into the tank by creating two huge breaks in line of site.

Here's a link to the original build, and to the thread that was a continuation:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... light=1122

The continuation:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... h+list+800

This is essentially part three And yes, I've started this thread on a bunch of forums because I'd like to get to know the people from this forum.

[zenyfish]

Groovy!

Those links will work if you delete ***** and hand type in ichli.

This thing with blocking out pleco and cichlid is silly and irritating.

[Dave Rinaldo]

This thing with blocking out pl*co and c*****d is silly and irritating.

You can change the setting in your User Control Panel.

[TheFishGuy]

So..... how exactly do you change that? I couldn't seem to figure it out....

[Dave Rinaldo]

http://www.planetcatfish.com/faq/index. ... opular=yes

[TheFishGuy]

Thank you very much!!!

[zenyfish]

You can change the setting in your User Control Panel.

Cool! Thanks ... I never knew that ... I love this site more everyday.

[TheFishGuy]

Dave is the king!

[TheFishGuy]

I've got a couple of video updates on some progress. This weekend I'm going to try and get all the lumber together to get more done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hmzmNM-9j8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IxMbB2s68w

[TheFishGuy]

Here’s some video updates for you, mostly of demo:

Update 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2p5pEq9LbVY

Update 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmM8Ws6QGkI

Update 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHTAmnGhmBA

As always if there’s any question feel free to ask and I’ll try to answer the best I can.

[mr rahtid]

hey johnaton hows it going i respct the fact that you have the know how in bulding your tank my thing is i have a older tank thants is frankly scaring the you know what outa me its a plywood 600 gal thats been leaking on and off i have the love of my family life in our tank for the pass 5yrs or so loseing her or getting rid of her is not realy a good opt.so i came across your ad and wanted to know if you could help us.what would it cost to get a tank the size you are bulding for yourself?see i have the room for lets say 15 to 16 ft long 5 to 6 ft wide how deep??i am thinking 3 to 4 ft deep with holes drill in the back for a gravity filteration system please if you could help let me know i wish i had all the money in the world to go out and get one that size but i am not bill gates i am on a budget thank you phillip

[TheFishGuy]

phillip, I'm no millionare either. As a matter of fact this repair and addition is going to cost me $1000 or so. I'm not (neither is my wife) too excited about that. I'm hoping that with this new liner that the tank will be good for atleast 20 years. I'd be happy with ten...

As for total cost of a tank this size... it'sgoing to be about $4000. That's including the pump, heating system and everything. Glass is a the major expense for most people. In my case I happened to be in the right place at the right time and got the glass for this tank for under $200. If you make your tank shallower like 30" or less you could get away with 1/2" glass which is WAY cheaper than 3/4".

Now if you're asking how much it would cost me to build you a tank... I'd realy have to think about it...

[TheFishGuy]

I’ve got another quick up date, well it’s more so all of you can feel my pain… LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o_RluZpiYk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-PSurgcYaw

I also got all the framing material today from Mentor Lumber, Rick was able to help out Monster Fish Rescue by giving the material pretty much at cost. They didn’t make any money, but they didn’t lose any either… It’s been a tough year for everyone so I didn’t want them to lose money on me. I was also able to order the hardie panel today too. It should be in Friday or Monday. Roughly $600 so far for this repair/addition. I’ll know an exact amount when my bill comes…

I’m hoping tomorrow will be a productive day for this project. If I can get everything framed by Monday then I’ll be able to start installing the hardie right away! Atleast soon we’ll all be able to see the shape of the tank!

[TheFishGuy]

Here’s what got done today….

Up date 9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPxY_hEXUDo

Up date 10 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5gJE2wS6Kw


It took an hour and twenty minutes to clean the second pane of glass. A nerve racking hour and twenty minutes…

It took three hours to frame the floor of the addition. The “sleepers” are scribed to fit the very uneven and out of level floor. But at least the floor of the addition will be level…

Thanks for looking and if there’s any questions please feel free to ask!

[TheFishGuy]

I made some pretty good headway today, 99% of the framing is done. Just seven small pieces to put in and I can start sheeting!
All the braces under the floor sheeting were installed.
Holes were drilled in the scribed floor joists under the addition.
The floor sheeting was installed and the walls framed.
I also figured out how many gallons of water the tank will hold…

1457.01 gallons! The sump will also have water in it but I haven’t made a 100% decision on the sump yet. It’s got to be quite large in order for it to not run dry before it gets fed. I’m thinking about 175 gallons or 200 gallons should do it.

Here’s a short video…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPn8PhnrqG0

Thanks for looking!

[TheFishGuy]

And here’s update #12

Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HUWcIE-3XY


Embeded:

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[TheFishGuy]

The sheeting is done! Next is cutting holes in it where the bulkheads are going to be. The reason I’m doing that is because last time there was barely enough thread on the shower drains to make a good seal. I’m going to make the holes slightly larger than the nut for the bulkhead, this way I’m only dealing with the thickness of the hardie panel and pond armor. And yes, I plan to silicone in the bulkheads this time. Last time I did not. I might go get the hardie panel tomorrow and the two sheets of plywood to make the sump tank. The sump tank will be made out of ¾” plywood lined with hardie panel, then lined with pond armor. Enjoy the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx4Tk5qr5Uc


As always, if there’s any questions or comments feel free to ask 

[TheFishGuy]

So I promised everyone an update by Thursday, the only thing I really got done was four out of seven sheets of hardie panel installed. Tomorrow hopefully the rest of it will get done… We’ve got a party Saturday, I’ve got work Sunday and three days next week so not much is going to get done again for a while… I hate work… It gets in the way of the things I really want to do! LOL

Here’s some pictures:

The hardie has been glued to the floor with liquid nails:



This is showing one of the preliminary holes that’s cut for one of the bulkheads:



This is a picture of two dogs and a cat:

[TheFishGuy]

Here it is, up date 14!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHCMbRywux4

Nothing exciting really, but for those of you that do not have speakers here’s a summary:

1.) The hardie is going in slow due to waiting for it to dry before the next piece can be put in.
2.) The pump and unions have been ordered for the radiant heating system. They will be in this week.
3.) Most of the plumbing has been purchased for the radiant heating system.
4.) The Pond Armor has been ordered!
5.) The temperature controller arrived today too!
6.) The basement is a mess.
7.) I wish I had more time to get this thing done.
8.) If I had hair I’d be pulling it out.
9.) I’m tired.

[TheFishGuy]

Sorry about the non working video… youtube insisted that the first time I uploaded it failed. They even asked me if I wanted to try it again… So I did. It said it was successful so I posted… Then all of a sudden they said it was a duplicate! &@$!@%#$

That’s ok, I forgot to post the pictures I took of the bracing LOL So here’s the pictures:








And here’s one from today:




And here’s the video… hopefully LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9z7iLTGPLs

[TheFishGuy]

So... no one's got any questions? comments? I'd love to hear from you I'm a nice guy... really... just ask my victums.... uh, I mean friends...
Here's a vid from today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGD814DW9rM

[TheFishGuy]

Up date #16

You can either watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-wl5cUObm4
Or read this:

First off, the Pondarmor is here! Here and under strict orders to acclimate for a day. The cans were submerged in hot water for an hour then they’ll sit until tomorrow late morning when we’ll start doing the seams! Sunday morning we’ll go over the whole thing looking for touch ups, which according to Butch we’ll have some. The bummer is I’ve got a side job to do Monday and Tuesday. So the glass won’t get put in till Wednesday…

Also, the circulating pump is here and installed for the heating system… Along with a “T” and valve put in one of the hot lines running towards the tank. This “T” will feed water through the pex tubing that will be coiled up in the sump tank which will act as a radiant heating system to keep the tank at 80*. The pump still needs to be wired and so does the temperature controller. Honestly I’m not too worried about the sump and heating system, I just want to get this thing test filled!

I also cut up 2” strips of fiberglass mat to put in over all the seams… I’m ready to start water proofing, it’s just waiting till the morning to get started by vacuuming the tank out and starting the process… Yeah. Like I’m going to get any sleep…

[MatsP]

Just in case there's any doubt, I do enjoy following your progress. I don't have much to add, so I'm not posting much - but it's certainly nice to see a plan comming together.

I wish I had the space for such a big tank - I could have all sorts of interesting things in it... ;)

--
Mats

[TheFishGuy]

Thanks for posting MatsP My mother doesn't think we have the room! LOL For some reason she thinks the kids need to have a room to play in... But we never had a room to play in when we were growing up! LOL Besides the fact that when the kids do play downstairs they get all crazy! LOL

At any rate...Tell me what you think of this color?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGUVU7U-kDs

Other peoples opinions count too!

[TheFishGuy]

No opinion on the color? Well, upon request I did a little informational video series… If you ever plan to work with Pond armor this might help you get together some of the things you’ll need… The first three vids are about 5 min each, the last one is a quick snippet… As for progress on the tank… I wired the temperature controller in and tested it along with the pump… The pex is going to work just fine to heat up the water! It gets hot FAST! Everything works as it should! I’m looking fore ward to see it in action!
I was also able to get out and get the fittings and pipe for the filter… Hopefully I’ll be able to work on that this afternoon… We’ll see…

Well, here’s videos 18-21 if you’re interested to see pond armor getting installed.

18- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS0_pmNYrCw
19- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg7L4UWEmH0
20- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3DkoINFib8
21- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kkz0fnEMFvI

[El Loricadio]

Very nice work, Are you going to put some guppies in there? j/k

[Martin S]

Likes Mats said, not much to say really, but am enjoying watching your videos and seeing it all come together.
FYI there is a youtube tag you can use when posting your links to include them into the posts which only requires the final code (after the 'v=' in the url you have posted), so for example using [ youtube ]FS0_pmNYrCw[ /youtube ] (without spaces) should do this:

Lookng forward to the next installments
Martin

[TheFishGuy]

Thanks Martin, These are "copy and paste" posts as I'm posting on over 30 forums... and this method seems to work on all of them At any rate, here’s what got done last night… The first video I took was too long for youtube so I had to do it over again and make two and they just recently finished uploading… My sincerest apologies for the delay…

Up date # 22 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJjVqfGNoS4

Up date # 23 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsmsxLbG-dg

As I’m typing this a video is uploading to youtube from what got done today… You won’t be disappointed when that gets posted!

[TheFishGuy]

Here's what got done today! Vid #24

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtTTOYCYRzs

[TheFishGuy]

Hi folks,
First off, I’m sorry I have not posted lately. My heart has not been in it. I did fill the tank last Friday and everything was fine. An hour later I discovered a major leak and had to drain the tank. The leak was caused by a spot in the pond armor where a piece of fiberglass was left and a bubble of air was trapped behind the pond armor and burst under the pressure thus creating a crack in the pond armor on the floor of the tank. Another leak was discovered in the plumbing and was easily fixed. Actually I’m kind of embarrassed about that because I knew doing it that it was going to be risky. Both the crack and bubble were fixed with very little effort and the tank was again filled Monday night. The weekend was too busy to do it any earlier. This morning I woke to find the tank about an inch and a half low. There seems to be an issue with the floor of the deep end but I have yet to drain the last three inches out of the deep end and clean it to inspect. I’m feeling a bit defeated at the moment so I apologize for the lack of posting. One thing that did lift my spirits was finding out from the water company that it only costs $12.30 to fill the tank. So I’m not feeling so bad wasting the water.

The plan is to work on finding the issue tomorrow and solving it then filling Wednesday morning. Hopefully I will have good news Wednesday evening. Third time’s a charm!

Thank you for following the thread and for all the moral support.

Jonathan

Ps This is a “copy and paste” post and I will gladly get to any and all questions as soon as possible. First priority is to get this figured out. Thanks for understanding.