180 gallons and fish room: the whole story
I've been wanting to keep a freshwater ray for more than two years now. In fact, when I got serious about fish keeping with my first community ten gallon, I looked at FW ray keeping to be the pinnacle of my hobbyist's journey. I started reading about rays and talking to other hobbyists (lfs employees, people online) while I went through the basic problems of all beginners... ammonia and nitrite spikes, ich, overstocking, learning to find the right balance, etc. My thinking at the time was to start simple, get a hang of that, then move onto something bigger (55 gallon tank with mixed cichlids), maybe even saltwater (which I've done too), and of course move out of our tiny 1 bedroom 400 SQ foot apartment and own a house with a finished basement (for the concrete slab).
And of course money was a big factor too. I have been saving in one way or another for the last two years.
A few days ago the plan finally came to fruition and my 180 gallon (24" x 72") was delivered and installed in my fish room den which my wife and I built specifically around this ray tank. We have a full finished basement that was a huge mess when we bought the house. We basically demolished the original room, framed out a cinderblock wall, and used beadboard for paneling and bombay mahogany poly to stain the molding to give the room more of a dojo look than workshop. Laid a nice but affordable floating floor.
What's nice is the tank abutts a wall that leads to the utility room and water lines. It will be a simple matter to put in a T-line to the hot and cold pipes and run them into the room. Also, the washing machine is behind the tank and I was thinking of cutting a hole through the wall and siphoning water directly into the outflow pipe where the washer drains. This would make water changes much easier but I'm still planning this one out.
Back to the tank...
When I saw the tank and stand when they arrived at the local store from which I purchased them, my first thought was, Holy shit, what have I done. Just the volume of the tank and stand vertically placed together was intimidating. To fully appreciate the size... the length and the incredible width... you have to see it in your house. It's really insane... and I can go on the record and say 180 gallons are big enough for me; I will not be upgrading.
The tank and stand were delivered from the store (a great local place) and I checked for leveling. Thankfully all was perfectly level. Cleaned the sand and began to fill with a python. Took nearly an hour to fill to the top.
Three medium sized pieces of driftwood, which look tiny, are going to be the only decor. My wife's picked out a really neat looking black-to-gray transitional fabric for the backdrop.
Filtration is the biggest aqueaclear, stripped-down Emperor (mostly for additional bio filtration), and a Rena XP4. I hope the two 300 watt heaters I have will keep the water warm, though I have a third one if need be.
Enough rambling, here are more pics.
For scale, the width is 4" longer than the length of the standard 20" ten gallon tank.
The driftwood pieces are all about the size of footballs.
Occupant will be one freshwater stingray, possibly p. motoro or whatever's healthy, eating, and acclimated to captive life.
- Josh
joshday.com
And of course money was a big factor too. I have been saving in one way or another for the last two years.
A few days ago the plan finally came to fruition and my 180 gallon (24" x 72") was delivered and installed in my fish room den which my wife and I built specifically around this ray tank. We have a full finished basement that was a huge mess when we bought the house. We basically demolished the original room, framed out a cinderblock wall, and used beadboard for paneling and bombay mahogany poly to stain the molding to give the room more of a dojo look than workshop. Laid a nice but affordable floating floor.
What's nice is the tank abutts a wall that leads to the utility room and water lines. It will be a simple matter to put in a T-line to the hot and cold pipes and run them into the room. Also, the washing machine is behind the tank and I was thinking of cutting a hole through the wall and siphoning water directly into the outflow pipe where the washer drains. This would make water changes much easier but I'm still planning this one out.
Back to the tank...
When I saw the tank and stand when they arrived at the local store from which I purchased them, my first thought was, Holy shit, what have I done. Just the volume of the tank and stand vertically placed together was intimidating. To fully appreciate the size... the length and the incredible width... you have to see it in your house. It's really insane... and I can go on the record and say 180 gallons are big enough for me; I will not be upgrading.
The tank and stand were delivered from the store (a great local place) and I checked for leveling. Thankfully all was perfectly level. Cleaned the sand and began to fill with a python. Took nearly an hour to fill to the top.
Three medium sized pieces of driftwood, which look tiny, are going to be the only decor. My wife's picked out a really neat looking black-to-gray transitional fabric for the backdrop.
Filtration is the biggest aqueaclear, stripped-down Emperor (mostly for additional bio filtration), and a Rena XP4. I hope the two 300 watt heaters I have will keep the water warm, though I have a third one if need be.
Enough rambling, here are more pics.
The driftwood pieces are all about the size of footballs.
Occupant will be one freshwater stingray, possibly p. motoro or whatever's healthy, eating, and acclimated to captive life.
- Josh
joshday.com
posted by Josh Day at 4:01 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Josh!
What an awesome project!!! Can't wait to see the finished result and the fish!!!
Wow!
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