"Paul" wrote in message
...
I've got my 4'x2'x2' safely in my home, it's bloody heavy! I've
started
staining/and varnishing the 800mm high colonial style stand and hood.
It's
a big job!! there is almost 10metres of surface area to varnish the
inside
and outside of the stand and the hood, and I have to do this 3 times!!!

Make sure there is no possibility of fumes or condensation coming off the
stained hood into the tank. Consider using a true seal for your final
coat (polyurethane, epoxy, fiberglas etc) if there is a chance of water
contamination.

I have built my filter, it looks great and will fit 3, 1 inch pieces of
foam
(about 1' x 1' square) and about 20 litres of sump area, with some
filter
media in the bottom. I'm going to return this to the tank with a
resun
6000, which will pump at about 1600 litres an hour with the head that
it's
got to contend with.

next step is to build the background, and I think I like the idea of
styrofoam coated with cement/sand/water/colouring/ mix looks the best.
does
anyone know, if I've going to keep africans, if I'll need to seal this
background?

Yes, seal with epoxy or fiberglas. This seals the coloring agent (and
sand texturing) and prevents the fish from tearing it apart when picking
the algae off of it, ymmv.

Styrofoam structures
http://cichlidinspiration.net3services.com/show_articles.asp?category='Co
nstructions%20-%20Background'
http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com...ackground.html
http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com...o/invent1.html
http://www.goddijn.com/aquarium/index.htm
http://www.thekrib.com/TankHardware/janne.html
http://www.african.uklinux.net/phpBB...26&forum=8&153
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_o...tmax_styro.htm

...and then for more inspiration )
showtanks
http://cichlidinspiration.net3services.com/
http://www.aquariumdesigns.com/aquariums.html
http://www.livingcolor.com/
http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/
http://www.saltvandssiden.dk/birger_kim_rylander.htm (marine, Danish)
http://www.aquariumdesigners.com/gal...ir=./Aquariums

anyway, looks like more staining/varnishing this afternoon, lots of
work to
go!! hopefully I can get some photos of the finnished product, cos I
think
it should look great!

Sounds great !

NetMax