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OK,
So, now I have my hood built for my tank. It is made out of Laminated Pine Board and Pine side boards. It has a single slit in the center to allow the light to sit on top (dont want to put screws on the light is too nice), and has two holes cut for filter equipment, air hoses, etc. It is a really awesome hood! Skook'um even! When I feed the fish all I need to do is slide the light back.
I have puttyed the holes where the screws are, and all we have to do now is Varathane the thing to prevent water damage. It is laminated, and we are hoping that the combination of varathane and lamination will prevent warping as much as possible.
I spent the other evening trying to "gimp" together the fluval 403 that came with the tank (due to missing parts), and got that done. Only problem is it sprung a leak in two places. The one was easy enough to fix, just more hot glue topped with more aquarium silicone. The other however, is at the seam where the top goes onto the canister. I am thinking I need a new seal. I am going to try to locate one this week. If I cannot find one in a store somewhere, I think I will order it from Big Als Online. It is only 9.49. Not a bad price.
Anyway, The fluval does work. The only thing is getting it to suction. Man sucking on that tube till it got goin was almost enough to make me have a heart attack! Or hyperventilate. If anyone happens to have ideas on how better to do this than sucking on the tube, please send your tips.
So, If I can get the seal, and get it set up, and assuming it doesnt leak, Then all thats left is to set up the tank. I have been propagating my live plants as much as possible, and will perhaps my plastic plants to fill up space temporarily until the plants spread out enough and I add enough new ones over time. I am going with a Amazon river theme, and my driftwood is almost ready to go, and my plants are doing well, and I picked a combination of nice natural stone, some darker, some lighter, and also have selected a couple of small bags of colored polished rocks to add for decor.
The only thing I need to get now is a background for the tank. I may just get a big peice of paper and spray paint it then tape it to the tank. I am thinking a black background will accent the driftwood and plenty of live plants nicely.
Cross your fingers for me all and hope its just the seal on the fluval that is toast. Im getting antsy and if the filter wont work I am liable to lose my mind. This setup has been 2 months now in the works. Its sure exciting but definetly a ton of work to set up a used tank of such size. Almost makes me wish Id just saved and bought a brand new everything included kit!

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