The Making of the Monster (265gal)

This is what the 265gal started out looking like.

the-making-of-001.jpgIts dimensions are 210cm L x 60cm W x 78cm H. Rather boring and dull as I had been waiting for some work to be done on my stand so that I could work on my sump. It had been like this for a few months. So to start with it only had the 3D rock imitation styrofoam background.

The inhabitants up to this point were:

  • 4 Tinfoil Barbs,
  • 6 Silver Dollars,
  • 1 Royal Clown Knifefish,
  • 1 Black Ghost Knifefish,
  • 1 Ocellaris Peacock Bass,
  • 1 High-Quality Blood Parrot,
  • 1 Chocolate Cichlid,
  • 1 Pangassius,
  • 1 Common Pleco

These are some of the things to be added into the tank:

the-making-of-005.jpg80Kg of course sand. Actually more like gravel.

 

 


the-making-of-004.jpgI also had a large piece of drift wood which is too light to sink. I sawed it in half and siliconed it to a flat base.

 

 

the-making-of-019.jpgThen came the fun part, washing the gravel. I found it easier to use paper trays with holes too small for the gravel to fall through.

 

 

the-making-of-016.jpgI used a strong shower head spray to wash the baskets full of gravel.This way it took me about 30 minutes to wash all 80Kg.

 

 

the-making-of-006.jpg This is the tank I was holding my monsters in. It’s a 145gal and its dimensions are 190cm L x 46cm W x 62cm H. There was an undergravel filter I needed to get out so I had to take out all the rocks and wood. I then slowly detached the filter sections and lifted each one by tilting it and letting the gravel roll off the back.

This took about another 30 minutes to do and caused an almighty mess in the 145gal, so I immediately did a 50% water and this helped clear it up. I also added dechlorinator and anti-stress to the tank to calm the beasts down.

 

the-making-of-011.jpgAfter this I anchored the UGF down in the 260gal using a few river rocks. This shot shows the UGF in its final resting place. The UGF was too big to put in as a single unit so I had to install it in three sections which turned out to be a bit time-consuming. The plumbing on the bottom of a filter this size makes just slipping it into place not as easy as it sounds, especially with the older models like this one.

 

the-making-of-039.jpgNext I could finally add the gravel. I started off using the smaller bowl to begin the piles and then used a 20 Litre bucket to pour the rest of the gravel in.

 

 

the-making-of-035.jpgThis was rather back breaking as the buckets were heavy and I was balancing leaning forward on a chair careful not to put the weight of the bucket on the glass. Strangely enough this did not seem to spook or stress the fish as much as I thought it would. I had also added a healthy dose of anti-stress in this tank before I started that day.