It was more work than I expected, but I love the way it turned out...











Approx 132 gallons plus sump volume minus rock and sand space.



I thought about it, and I plan to get a pair of mandarins (once they are eating prepared foods in QT) but I think I'm going to try to get a pair of Potters and maybe a pair of Flame Angels to set off the tank.





Thanks... Trying to get there!



Me too!



Would be cool, but don't want a species only tank...



I hope it's sooner than later...




Basement is finally finished! I will call for final inspection on Monday, all that's left is some paint touch ups and installing the doors on the cabinets, but everything is done for inspection. Now it's full speed for the tank!

Two dwarf angels would be beautiful, not to mention making the tank proportionally larger. Also, you could have a large group of schooling fish.

I like the dwarf angel pair, keep's the scale of the tank big. A large school of something active would also be very appealing to the eye. I have no doubt you'll make good stocking choices. Those stairs look great!

I like how you did the stairs. (The natural wood and the white riser). You need to priorize and get some water in that tank!

Are you using nano size liverock or just breaking up bigger pieces.

I just finished reading this thread start to finish. You are truly a craftsman and your attention to detail is amazing. From the tank to the finished basement to the stairs and handrails I am in awe of your abilities. I am now going over to the other site to read the 225 tank build.

+1 Love the idea of a pair of angels! Large school of Anthias as well?????

-David

Not sure what fish stays small enough and still schools... At least ones that are colorful???



Thanks!



Easier said than done...

Isn't nano size LR just bigger pieces that have been broken up? I will be using rock that fits the space...



Thanks! The 225 was quite the build, I don't have any pics when I was building the tank, just everything after.



Thanks, maybe some Anthias would be cool, at least while they are small. They too can be big.


Thanks everyone, I'm working on canopy ideas now, and trying to locate the last few pieces of equipment and trying to plan vacation the start of next month. Thanks for all the feedback and support, not trying to drag you along, but things can happen much faster when I have more money and not trying to do a million things at once. I'll keep you posted of the inspection on Monday.

Masked gobies school (see lalani's tank for great pics), and Trimma tevegae are also very colorful.

That could be a monster school. Anthias or Chromis would be cool too.

[quote name='calvin415' date='Sep 18 2008, 10:02 PM' post='1819797']
It was more work than I expected, but I love the way it turned out

Looks Great ........gotta be maken the wife happy ! Didn't even show my wife the stairs or she would be in my ear now

oooooooooo.... ahhhhhhhhhh.... nice nano cube

Very cool tank! Can't wait to see it with water and lights....LOVE the stairs..absolutely gorgeous!

I just read this whhhhole thread! I love this tank and it doesn't even have any thing in it

moarrr pix!!

I am off to read the other thread before Monday Night Football

Maybe a school of firefish or pajama cardinals? I like the potters angel.

I NEED to see this tank running.........hurries!

Simply awesome. Time to get it wet!

I dont know how much of a pain it would be but you could make a shelf that ran the length of the tank and have the base of the shelf be the hood for you light fixtures.

This would allow for pictures and stuff to be sat on top of the shelf.

You could do it like your stairs and have the top be natural wood and the sides painted white.

Your doing an awesome job man, I love these picture updates!

YOUR TANK IS AWESOME I CANT WAIT TO SEE IT WHEN ITS DONE!!!!

Someone mentioned a group of firefish. While they may not be feasible (they are aggressive to conspecifics-maybe your tank could give enough space), I do think that a school of dartfish/gudgeons (genus Ptereleotris) would be really cool and a good intermediate between anthias and masked gobies. Most of the species, such as P. hanae, are really colorful.

Nice little fish, but certainly not an attention getter like some of the other species. Thanks for the idea though!



Anthias would be sweet, but would get big over time... Chromis are nice and bright and would look cool when they were small, but when they get larger, I find them to just be an eye sore, not because they are any less bright, but because they no longer look like little beams of light bouncing around.



LOL! Thanks!



Thanks!



Thank you very much, I'm going as fast as I can at the moment.




I know, I know, I'll post more as soon as I have a better update.






School of FF would be sweet, but I've never been able to keep them from fighting, perhaps I just need a larger school! LOL! Don't really care for PJ Cards, but a bangaii pair are also in the running.




LOL! Going as fast as I can ATM...




Thanks! Tell me about it, but first it's time to get it drilled.

Well suddenly I'm getting errors when I try to quote more people, so here's replies to everyone else:

Prowland:
I dont know how much of a pain it would be but you could make a shelf that ran the length of the tank and have the base of the shelf be the hood for you light fixtures.

This would allow for pictures and stuff to be sat on top of the shelf.

You could do it like your stairs and have the top be natural wood and the sides painted white.


Not a bad idea, I'll have to play around with the look and see if I can get it to work!

ddr_phish:
Your doing an awesome job man, I love these picture updates!

Thanks, I'll try to get some more posted soon.

Big_Bruddah77
YOUR TANK IS AWESOME I CANT WAIT TO SEE IT WHEN ITS DONE!!!!
Thanks! Me Too!

lakshwadeep:
Someone mentioned a group of firefish. While they may not be feasible (they are aggressive to conspecifics-maybe your tank could give enough space), I do think that a school of dartfish/gudgeons (genus Ptereleotris) would be really cool and a good intermediate between anthias and masked gobies. Most of the species, such as P. hanae, are really colorful.

Yeah, I've had the same luck, perhaps with the length it might work now??? Thanks for the suggestion, I'll have to look into them.


So I should have sign off on the basement very, very soon. Had a couple minor items to change on Final Inspection last week, I only have 1 more thing to do and I can have them re-inspect. I hope to have that done on Monday. Once that is finished, I will get the tank drilled, plumbing run and start working on building my own sumps and canopy.

Stay tuned for updates soon.

This thing is awesome! I love the idea of a Potter's and Flame angel. The tank seems long enough to be able to do multiple dwarves. What about a Midnight Angel as well? You could try a harem of leopard, fairy, or flasher wrasses as well. That could add some really interesting colors and movement to the tank.

We used to live at the Academy and now we visit friends at least once a year. I may have to drop by and see this thing.

Let me know when you're in town.


Update:

Basement is officially done!!!! We got sign off today!!!! I'm on vacation next week (traveling) and the following week (chill at home) so hopefully I can get work done on the tank.

Nice dude. I can't wait to see this up and running. Dream nano.

Can you please build a time machine? I want to see this tank before I get alzheimer's or something...

Will do. Congratulations on getting the basement signed off on!

+1 to well done for getting the basement done (or cellar if you're in the UK) - now get cracking with that tank!!!

EDIT - but don't actually crack it...

Do you guys have meetings at member's houses? i am at rockrimmon, at would love to see it sometime. The wife loves the look!

We do, check us out at http://www.thescmas.com/ we also have a frag swap this Saturday at the Crown Plaza please swing by and see us! http://www.scmasfragstock.com/

Look at orange striped cardinals also they school together and stay around 2".

first of all, props to you, pat pat, great job, and anything else that could be said about creating such a masterpeice!!! any new updates??? god i cant wait for some new updates!!!

I'm in DC at the moment, coming home on Saturday... I hope to get to work on the sumps and a canopy when I return along with drilling the tank and installing the plumbing. Unfortunately, I'm out of money, so I still have more lighting, to buy along with 150-200lbs of LR and Sand. I'll try to post pics at things happen.

Thanks for everyone's patience!

+1 for cardinalfish. I forgot about them, but I have one of the pictures from CP Farm as a wallpaper, and they have a huge school of cardinalfish:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=e...fari%26rls%3Den

great build! I think the ff would be wicked, but a harem of flasher wrasses sound better.

My mom could have used you when she needed her cabinets and banister done, she wasn't happy with that guy.

cant wait for the weekend to see what happened!

Still waiting.....

Dang guys, I said I wouldn't be home until today... I've already painted the stand with exterior paint to protect it from any drips and hope to get started on the sumps on Monday morning. Depending on how much energy I have I might get started on drilling the tank tonight, and painting the cabinet doors.

Take pills and drink redbulls...HURRY!!

won't taking pills and drinking red bull kinda cancel each other out? i guess it depends on the pills, huh?

Damn straight, took some pills my buddy gave me (got from his mom who is a nurse) and I could've built a house during lunch time.

Hijack over.

Good idea on the exterior paint. You now have me wishing I'd thought of using exterior wood finisher on the stand for my new tank instead of generic furniture polish.

As long as the pills arent Viagra then you would be like an epileptic jackrabbit

That like a rampant rabbit?

Yup

Well it took me a lot longer to drill the tank than I expected but it's done! All 12 holes are finally drilled. 9 (5 drains 4 returns) in the tank for the closed loop, and 3 in the overflow (2 drains 1 return).





Because the stand was already built up before the leveling hiccup, the top is rather thick... LOL!





1/2" OSB on bottom, 1/2" drywall, spray foam to level the tank, 3/4" oak ply, 1/2" foam, 1/2" acrylic. Again, each hole took a while...

LOL!
Well at least it came together for you! I like it. Now... MOAR WATER!

That's thick!!!

Glad you are concentrating on the tank now

Slow but steady, I suppose...

The suspense!

Lookin great progress is always good