My name is Jonathan, otherwise known as TheFishGuy on a few other forums. I run monsterfishrescue.com and seem to be rescuing more and more fish. Recently my 800 that I built two and a half years ago started to leak. The tank has been drained and all the fish are living in a roughly 800 gallon pond. So since we have this saying that there's no problems just opportunities I've decided to take this opportunity to make the tank much larger. As it stands the tank measures 14' long 3' front to back and 30" tall. Since my incredibly understanding wife who lets me fill the house with fish tanks doesn't want the tank to take up more room I've decided to add onto the back of it. I'm going to take it a step further though and make the addition deeper. What I mean by deeper is by making it taller by going down.

Here's the future footprint:




What it'll look like through the glass:



With the addition the total gallons will go from 785.45 to 1623.27 more than doubling gallonage. More importantly this will give options for more fish to go into the tank by creating two huge breaks in line of site.

Here's a link to the original build, and to the thread that was a continuation:

Cichlid-Forum :: View topic - 1122.08 GALLON TANK PROJECT!!!

The continuation:

Cichlid-Forum :: View topic - My wish list in the 800 gal....

This is essentially part three And yes, I've started this thread on a bunch of forums because I'd like to get to know the people from this forum.

I just joined this forum so I'm going to try and get everyone caught up on all my updates of this project!

Here's the list of fish (and their sizes) that were in the 800:

Black belt 9
Black belt 8.5
Black belt 9
Black belt 9.5
Blue Acara 5
Bocourti 11
Bocourti 10
Common Oscar 11.75
Common Oscar 8.5
Cutteri 5.25
Firemouth 5
Giant Danio 2
Green Severum 7
Green Severum 7
Green Severum 6.75
Green Terror 4.25
Intermedious 8.25
Intermedious 8.25
Intermedious 8.25
Irridescent Shark 15
Irridescent Shark 10.5
Jack Dempsey 6.5
Jack Dempsey 3.25
Jack Dempsey 3.75
Jaguar 7.5
Lemon Severum 4
Loepard sailfin pleco 14.5
Mad Barb 15
Mad Barb 15
Midas 7.75
Midas 7.75
Midas 7.5
Midas Mr. T 8.5
Nicaraguan Cichlid 6
Nicaraguan Cichlid 7.125
Nicaraguan Cichlid 7.25
Nicaraguan Cichlid 7
Nicaraguan Cichlid 4.25
Nicaraguan Cichlid 5.25
Nicaraguan Cichlid 5.25
Pacu 22
Pacu 18
Pacu 17
Pictus Cat 10
Red Bay Snook 5.25
Red Midas 8.75
Red Terror 7.25
Red tiger oscar 8.75
Regans Cichlid 7
Regans Cichlid 6.25
Regans Cichlid 5.25
Robertsoni 10
Salvani 5.75
Salvani 4.5
Silver Dollar 7
Silver Dollar 5
Silver Dollar 6
Silver Dollar 6
Synodontis 8
Synspilum 10.5
Tiger Tilapia 8
Tiger Tilapia 7
Tilapia Mamfe 7.25
Uaru 5

Most of these will be going back in the tank when it's done, but here's a video of what's going on:


Here’s some video updates for you, mostly of demo:

Update 4:

Update 5:

Update 6:

Update 7:

Update 8:

I also got all the framing material today from Mentor Lumber, Rick was able to help out Monster Fish Rescue by giving the material pretty much at cost. They didn’t make any money, but they didn’t lose any either… It’s been a tough year for everyone so I didn’t want them to lose money on me. I was also able to order the hardie panel today too. It should be in Friday or Monday. Roughly $600 so far for this repair/addition. I’ll know an exact amount when my bill comes…

I’m hoping tomorrow will be a productive day for this project. If I can get everything framed by Monday then I’ll be able to start installing the hardie right away! Atleast soon we’ll all be able to see the shape of the tank!

As always if there’s any question feel free to ask and I’ll try to answer the best I can.

Sorry for the massive post.......

That is a huge project or should i see Monster project.I cant wait to see all this when it is done.Been catching all the vids on youtube.It is great you do what you do.Be careful them kids will be swimming in it lol.Keep us posted bro...

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Im not sure,But something on this board smells fishy!

I will definately do my best at updating this thread. Thanks Marty

Awesome project Jonathan, bravo! Subscribing to thread and looking forward to see how it all turns out. Best wishes with it!

Thanks MediaHound,

Here’s what got done today….

Up date 9

Up date 10


It took an hour and twenty minutes to clean the second pane of glass. A nerve racking hour and twenty minutes…

It took three hours to frame the floor of the addition. The “sleepers” are scribed to fit the very uneven and out of level floor. But at least the floor of the addition will be level…

Thanks for looking and if there’s any questions please feel free to ask!

Now thats a project, I thought I had seen this somewhere else or at least the drawings are you on AC/MFK ??

Yes, I'm on over 30 forums

Looks like it is coming along well.Alot of work but will be awesome when done.Oh and by the way Happy B-Day Jonathan:-)

__________________
Im not sure,But something on this board smells fishy!

Thanks Marty :D

Made some pretty good headway today, 99% of the framing is done. Just seven small pieces to put in and I can start sheeting!
All the braces under the floor sheeting were installed.
Holes were drilled in the scribed floor joists under the addition.
The floor sheeting was installed and the walls framed.
I also figured out how many gallons of water the tank will hold…

1457.01 gallons! The sump will also have water in it but I haven’t made a 100% decision on the sump yet. It’s got to be quite large in order for it to not run dry before it gets fed. I’m thinking about 175 gallons or 200 gallons should do it.

Here’s a short video…



Thanks for looking!

And here’s update #12

Link:



Embeded:

Wow your crazy. The good kind of crazy but crazy nonetheless. Can't wait to see it finished.

I think that's what everyone is waiting for LOL Me too!

update:

The sheeting is done! Next is cutting holes in it where the bulkheads are going to be. The reason I’m doing that is because last time there was barely enough thread on the shower drains to make a good seal. I’m going to make the holes slightly larger than the nut for the bulkhead, this way I’m only dealing with the thickness of the hardie panel and pond armor. And yes, I plan to silicone in the bulkheads this time. Last time I did not. I might go get the hardie panel tomorrow and the two sheets of plywood to make the sump tank. The sump tank will be made out of ¾” plywood lined with hardie panel, then lined with pond armor. Enjoy the video!




As always, if there’s any questions or comments feel free to ask 

How are the fish liking that little pool you have them in?

I think they might like it better than the 800 in the sense they know their boundries, no glass to confuse them. But I think they'll like the new tank better than the pond :D

So I promised everyone an update by Thursday, the only thing I really got done was four out of seven sheets of hardie panel installed. Tomorrow hopefully the rest of it will get done… We’ve got a party Saturday, I’ve got work Sunday and three days next week so not much is going to get done again for a while… I hate work… It gets in the way of the things I really want to do! LOL

Here’s some pictures:

The hardie has been glued to the floor with liquid nails:



This is showing one of the preliminary holes that’s cut for one of the bulkheads:



This is a picture of two dogs and a cat:

Wow ... I don't even know where one would get started on something like this. How did you get started on something like this? Or is that a previous post? Looks good, looking forward to keeping an eye on it!

If you read the first page of this thread it goes through the entire history of this tank

Here it is, up date 14!


Nothing exciting really, but for those of you that do not have speakers here’s a summary:

1.) The hardie is going in slow due to waiting for it to dry before the next piece can be put in.
2.) The pump and unions have been ordered for the radiant heating system. They will be in this week.
3.) Most of the plumbing has been purchased for the radiant heating system.
4.) The Pond Armor has been ordered!
5.) The temperature controller arrived today too!
6.) The basement is a mess.
7.) I wish I had more time to get this thing done.
8.) If I had hair I’d be pulling it out.
9.) I’m tired.

Sorry about the non working video… youtube insisted that the first time I uploaded it failed. They even asked me if I wanted to try it again… So I did. It said it was successful so I posted… Then all of a sudden they said it was a duplicate! &@$!@%#$

That’s ok, I forgot to post the pictures I took of the bracing LOL So here’s the pictures:








And here’s one from today:




And here’s the video… hopefully LOL

And here's a vid from today