# 190 gallon discus tank



## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

Hey every one. Thanks to my lovely wife for buying this beautiful tank for me. I found this tank on craiglist.It The dimensions of the tank is 54"x 27" x 30" .The stand is 56"x 28"x 34" . I'm making it out of 2x4's and I will skin it with either maple or oak plywood. The tank needs a good cleaning. I will be using a sump for filtration. But I'll not be using the sump it came with.Here are a few pictures of the stand build and the tank. .


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## onefishtwofish (Apr 21, 2010)

nice size ..acrylic?


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## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

onefishtwofish said:


> nice size ..acrylic?


Yes it is.


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## onefishtwofish (Apr 21, 2010)

i love the clarity of acrylic. your discus should show really well in it.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

The workmanship on this series of tanks is absolutely incredible ! Crazy Dave owns 2 of the 3 I've seen. Really like to know who fabricate them.

Dave: Your pics are getting me dizzy  Have a tough time seeing which side up hehe.

As for the stand. It does not hurt to lap another 2 x 4 in the vertical legs lapping onto the top frame 2x4 and the bottom frame. I.e. it will sit on the floor and reaches to the underside of the tank. Screw this new 2x4 to the top and bottom frame real good and a few to the existing vertical.

As is, you are relying on the screws between the leg and the frame for stability.

Make sure to sheath the entire back, edge to edge with at least 1/4" plywood - the diaphragm. Call me if you want to discuss.

Remember Maple is not a easy wood to stain either. Unless you plan to clear coat, go with oak - cheaper and much easier to stain. Use bleached oak stain and water based varnish if you want a lighter colour. Next time you are over, I can show you a couple things re. finishing the plywood edge. Good you are using your tools  Nice cut with that sliding mitre.


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## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

Thanks Gordon. I will chat with you when i stop by. I'll be adding more wood to the stand. I need to take it a part. I need to lower the legs 4 " . I really want to go with red mahogany but it's a little out of my price range. Beth had to take my wallet from me the last time we went to Windsor Plywood.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Yah, there are plywood at almost $300 a sheet. Last time at Windsor Bby, I think I might have left some drool stain on a couple sheets :lol: Keep your credit card in your shirt pocket and she can have your wallet. 

Oak just went on sale at Coquitlam Store, may be at N. Vanc as well. Stain that red mohogany and tell people its red mohogany. Not too many can tell any way


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## STANKYfish (Apr 21, 2011)

Nice wife!! Nice tank!! This is going to look awesome with Discus. Will watch for more pics


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## discuspaul (Jul 2, 2010)

It's gonna be an awesome Discus tank, Dave !


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## djamm (Sep 25, 2010)

Nice looking tank Dave, congrats...Looking forward to seeing your setup on this one


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

Gorgeous tank! Good luck with the rest of this project, look forward to seeing the complete setup.


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## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

Well I have tried the credit card trick before but she has caught on to that one. I saw a few nice sheets of teak


gklaw said:


> Yah, there are plywood at almost $300 a sheet. Last time at Windsor Bby, I think I might have left some drool stain on a couple sheets :lol: Keep your credit card in your shirt pocket and she can have your wallet.
> 
> Oak just went on sale at Coquitlam Store, may be at N. Vanc as well. Stain that red mohogany and tell people its red mohogany. Not too many can tell any way


Yup she is a nice wife but i had to make a deal with her to get this tank. I wonder if that was a good idea.....:bigsmile: I'm hoping to get more work done this weekend.


STANKYfish said:


> Nice wife!! Nice tank!! This is going to look awesome with Discus. Will watch for more pics


Thanks Paul. Hope all is well with your discus.


emile said:


> It's gonna be an awesome Discus tank, Dave !


Thanks . I'm still waiting to see you set up the 180 acrylic you have..What's taking so long lol


djamm said:


> Nice looking tank Dave, congrats...Looking forward to seeing your setup on this one


 Thanks


Elle said:


> Gorgeous tank! Good luck with the rest of this project, look forward to seeing the complete setup.


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## Luke78 (Apr 24, 2010)

Nice find and pick up Dave(wife should get some credit here too), looks like your gonna have your hands full for the next little while with these few setups you got going.


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## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

Luke78 said:


> Nice find and pick up Dave(wife should get some credit here too), looks like your gonna have your hands full for the next little while with these few setups you got going.


Thanks Luke. This will be an easy tank to up keep. There will only be 6 discus in there and not much else for a while. It's going to be strictly a discus tank. Plus i need some to do until bonsai season


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## bonsai dave (Apr 21, 2010)

Well I had to redo the stand. I made the first one 4" to high. Here are a few pictures. I'm going make the doors out of red oak but that will have to wait till the spring time as it is getting to cold to stain them. So I will just paint it for now to keep it for molding or getting wet. There is more work to be done to it. I ran out of ply wood to finish the panel on the bottom so I had to use 3 different pieces for now until I can pic up more tomorrow.


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## AWW (Apr 22, 2010)

So i take it you will be by to pick up the sump soon?


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