46 bow front project

i've ended up going with the second design due to more land space, today i formed the plexiglass to make that curve, cut the egg crate for the drainage system, and plummed the first half of the filter/waterfall, tomorow i'll silicone the water area and most of the plumming for the waterfall, then i'll start on the background most likely.

 

quick update, laid the foam down for the background, siliconed all the piping for the waterfall/filter, tomorow will lay down black silicone and the covering for the foam.

 

POSt sOMe PiCs!!!

 

camera unavail till sunday

 

the back ground turned out awesome, need to touch up in few places and it will be perfect, tonight i will start contructing the river stream, and layind down the ground cover, pics tomorow!!!!

 

good! can't wait to see pictures

 

oh zoomzoom i can't for the LIFE OF ME figure out how to do what i want with that program.. something is wrong with me lol

 

you guys are going to love my water stream

 

first pictures!!! the stream is not done so thats not in yet, water is also not operational, but its a start!

 

Great work man! its looking sweet! keep us updated.

 

new pics!, waterfall was operational earlier, took a while to prime but it worked excellent, had a small leak at base of it, its repaired now waiting for silicone to finish curing before adding water to it, installed my fogger/mister system, working awesome, looks real cool on the water part

 

That is amazing. draw me up some construction plans ill buy them off you

 

here's how i made that, first i cleaned the tank to get rid of all the fish stuff, then i measured the tank to figure how how much of it will be water and how much land, then i figured out where i wanted to put my waterfall, after that i cut the clear plastic(plexiglass) and heated up to form the curve i wanted, after it cooled down i used black silicone (use black it blends in better then clear, as clear turns white after a while) to seal it.
during this time i also ran all my plumming for the waterfall filter with pvc pipes and sealed it with silicone.
next day after silicone cured i tipped the tank on its side on the floor, and sprayed about 3 bottles of GreatStuff big gap filler, this is when you form the curves and bumps on the back wall, completely covered the back half of the tank with it, adding more foam in some area's to create bumps, after i was done adding stuff, i stuck my pieces of drift wood in random area's. i ended up using 3 cans of that stuff to cover the back wall of my 46 gallon tank
after that cured i loaded up my silicone gun and covered every inch of foam with nice coat of silicone, using my hands to smear it evenly across every bump (WEAR GLOVES) while its still nice and fresh cover your area's with rocks and the peat moss mix to your liking. i used my old aquarium pebbles and river pebbles i bought at home depot to cover my waterfall area, and the rest i randomly placed river rocks all over the walla and covered with peat moss mix, make sure you put a real thick covering!!!
after that cured i tipped the tank upside down to get rid of excess material, then i cut and placed egg crate as the bottom layer of my soil, placed the nylon screen mesh over the crate and placed a small layer of river rocks covered by another screen, with a layer of my aquarium pebbles followed by another screen and then finally the organic soil.
i made my stream using a small plastic gutter drain pipe cut in half and siliconed with rocks over it.
ok here's what this actually cost me in materials, you may be able to find your stuff cheaper somewhere else but this is what cost me as i can recall.
black silicone 5 x 5.39 - 26.95
expandable foam 4 x 5.33 - 21.32
flexible gutter drain 2.37
bag of river pebbles 2.89
bag of organic soil 5.39
pvc pipes and fittins 10.43
top fin 10 filter 12.99
reptiflo 200 powerhead 15.99
egg crate 18x24inch 12.99
nylon screen mesh 3.99?
big branch stick 25.00?
jungle earth 5.99
peat moss mix 5.99
plexiglass sheet 10?

total so far is 162.39