Hi everyone;
When I was in school and varsity I used to keep fresh water (Central American and then Malawi's). Later on I moved to Natal. I use to keep koi when I lived in Natal (Richards Bay and Kloof), but when I moved back to Centurion after 7 years in Natal, my wife suggested I try a marine tank. The koi gave me an insight into the nitrification cycle and although marine is much more involved it did help me a lot as I understood at least a small part of the bacteria at work. The learning curve was steep, but after reading the books by Julius Sprung and lots of information on this site and with some time passing the tank I set up (1.5 x 0.5 x0.6(h)) was taking shape. I focussed mainly on the water quality and test once a week. The beginning was a mess as I got incorrect advice from a local dealer (not one from MASA), but then steffany put me onto Lanzo, who really helped me a lot. I then decided to build a larger tank as I realised what I thought I needed. I moved the old tank and Lanzo and Peter won the quote for the tank.
Herewith a few photo's of my existing tank after it was moved to the garage. (What a job).
The fist thing that was delivered was the stand. It was build through Lanzo and it had to carry the new tank of 2.8m (L) x 1m (w) x 0.6m (h). The one thing I was not going to do any longer was to crawl in under a tank to work on something 11H00 at night, so I decided to move the sumps etc. to the garage where I could reach them easier and also keep the room where the tank is in as dry as possible. The area under the tank is meant to be very dry, so moving the sumps tied in with that objective. The stand is made from 50 mm square tubing and is powder coated.
The glass arrived soon after:
The tank has a canopy and all lighting will by hidden. Therefore I could afford to use euro bracing.
As you can see the garage was a mess and the daughter's car had to sleep outside. For a week I said, but it turned out to be a few months.
Whilst I was waiting for the stand and the glass I had the wood that has to cover the tank and to make the canopy pre cut at Ferreira's. The have a brand new machine and their accuracy was excellent. In the meantime I build the canopy. I split the canopy in two halves to make it easier to handle. I also deigned it that the front cover could clip off. This means that you can get into the tank without moving the lights. I will add more photo's of this once it is on the tank. I chose Crown cut royal mahogany and stained it later on to go with the furniture.
As I am an accountant without woodwork experience, the yorkie was there to supervise.
And then the sides went on 12 mm glass.
and even better at night, Lanzo and Peter really did a neat job. I thought there would be a mess in the house, but I must complement them as Corrie never had to complain about a mess.
Now we had to wait, and work on the woodwork, whilst the base had to go in.
