OK, here we go.
This is me measuring the exact dimensions of the overflow boxes in order to get the ceramic back wall fitted. I was supervised by one of the two real bosses.
After the Ceramics were delivered to my office last week I transported them home to get some work done over the weekend. Before putting it in I had to check whether the tank isn't actually leaking. Although I considered a brand new tank to leak a one in a million chance, but rather be safe than sorry. Another issue that I wanted to check before proceeding with the decoration was the levelling of the tank. The tank was perfectly leveled when empty, but the flooring may react on the heavy load, and move a millimeter or so. So on Friday night I filled the tank with tap water and let it sit over night.....everything was fine, the tank is tight and the levelling was as good as before. When the tank was half filled it was impressive to see how much the refraction of the water shortens the depth of the tank
Another interesting thing to observe was how the cats were attracted by the water.
The next thing was the fitting of the back wall that surrounds the overflow boxes. It is made from three pieces, two corners and a flat center panel. One of the corners needed a bit of trimming, but that was easily done. The three parts are not connected yet, because I will need to take one corer back out to install a bulkhead I forgot to buy before all the shops closed. As soon as all the bulkheads and the overflows are installed, the three pieces will be glued together so you can't see the seams anymore. It really becomes one single piece then, so better install everything beforehand.
After this was done, I started putting in the ground. Although I don't like sand because it is a major sink for detritus, I really dislike barebottom tanks, because I think that they look absolutely awful.
For my last tank I used grey Polyurethane foam, which looked bad in the beginning but ok after several months. When I visited Korallenwelt, the manufacturer of the Ceramics, Torsten the owner showed me a tank where he used a new material. It is some kind of concrete that looks just like sand, but solid. I was intrigued by that stuff and pestered him long enough to get two containers. Currently this material is not being sold to customers, he only uses it for large public aquaria.
Let's see how that stuff will behave in the long run. Putting it in was quite easy. After the ground was hard enough to step on it, the central reef was added, also Reef Ceramics.
That's it for today, tomorrow I will fill the tank with DI water, add some silicate adsorber and let it run for three weeks. I have to go on aResearch Expedition, so while I am freezing my butt off in the Barents Sea, the Ceramics will leach off their excess Silica and the cats will have an XXL water bowl
Cheers
Jens
