20 Gallon Long Aquarium Upgrade.
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, 08-28-2013 at 12:14 AM (3218 Views)
So after taking a look at my aquarium and seeing how cramped the aquascaping looked. I decided that maybe I should go a little bit larger. So the local Pet Smart was having a sale on 20 gallon long aquariums so I decided that would do just nicely. I wanted to space our the rockwork and provide more swimming space for the fish and growth for the coral.
So the first thing that I needed to do was reinforce the stand that the aquarium was being placed on. The piece of furniture was not designed for the weight of an aquarium. This there was some bowing on the center of the stand from the weight of the previous aquarium. So 1 inch by 1 inch wood beams and I reinforce the center of the stand to support the additional weight.
After reinforcing the stand was completed the next step was to paint the rear glass of the aquarium so that no wires, tubing or equipment would be visible. I used a Rust-oleum latex paint which when dry how a smooth glass like feel on the surface. I take a couple of coats to properly cover the glass at first and dries extremely fast.
The next step was to transfer the some of the existing sand, live rock, inverts & clams as well as the equipment to the new aquarium. I purchased an additional 30 lbs of live sand to give myself a 1.5 inch deep sand bed. Also the Kessil a360w was repositioning in order to spread light across the entire aquarium.