new six by two by two

[lentoa]

Congrats on the new tank, mate. Can't wait to see the setup, when's the delivery expected and when can we get some pics?

Got the tank delivery sorted, should be here in a week or two, just need to re-decorate the room first. I've got all the equipment sorted now, 2x Aps2000ef for filtration, 2x 300watt Hydor external heaters, 2x 25kg bags of fine coflake sand for the substrate, and 3x L.E.D light bars built by Ps3Steveo for lighting.

Also got 3x egg crates for background, and 1x Hydor Koflakeia Evolution 4000, might need to get another one of those. Planning to paint the back of the tank black to give it some depth, and using 100kg of atlantic paddle stones for the rockwork, might need to get more once I start hardscaping.

Sold the 260 vision and moved all my fish to my rack of 3ft tanks, still using the old external tetratec ex700 on one of them to seed the new filters when I'm ready. Will be using malawi salts/buffers, already been using them in my old vision tank before I sold it.

[lentoa]

Just picked up 2x 25kg bags of fine coflake sand and 3x egg crates today. Got a great deal with the 25% discount, paid £55 for the lot. The bloke at my LFS was a top fella, gave me 2 large bottles of Tetra Aquasafe for nothing.

[flarix]

once the egg crate's in place and you've got sand over it, I'd be prepared to grab another bag to cover the plastic, it's a nice tank, I missed out on a second-hand one recently for £200

[lentoa]

My tank arrives tomorrow morning and I'm getting excited, today I picked up some polystyrene for between the tank and stand, also grabbed some paint for the back, a roller and tray. Got 2 new cheap internal 300watt heaters for £21, still deciding on using 2x hydor external heaters with the 2x aps 2000ef I want to filter my tank.

Got the paint from Wickes, it's chalky flat matt, liquorice colour, 4 pots for £4.

The polystyrene is veneer, used for wall insulation, £3.99, it's thin so I'll use it in layers.

The paint roller and tray were only £1.99.

Did a test paint on a piece of glass, the tester pots have a brush attached, it covered well so I'm hoping to do the back of the tank in 1-2 coats but we'll see how it goes with the sponge roller.

Here's a close-up of the new coflake sand.

[flarix]

I used gloss black on mine, super smooth finish. Brush application was the way to go, whatever paint you choose, I'm sure it'll look great.