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The Wall Of Aquariums Is Almost Done!

By King of DIY on

Joey: Starting to look a lot more awesome. The Vieja had been added to their aquarium, lights added to that aquarium. Before we begin what I want to talk about today, I know you guys like it so let's feed the big boys. A little side note before we start, before I was feeding these guys I pushed back their lid and was adjusting the lights, I can't see up there like you would think and there was a piece of shrimp or uneaten food up there that had gone bad. If you ever had sea food that sat out for 24 hours or so it gets pretty bad. Anyways, I accidentally pushed it into the aquarium and Susan ate it. Hopefully, she'll be okay.

I'm going to pump her full of some good food so maybe it flushes it out. Here's me getting upset that she ate it. I'll give you guys a nice little handful, do you guys want that? Look at them. They're best friends when it's time to eat. They're like-- All right. Come get it. I'll make sure it all goes in the tank now. I think Susan's going to be fine. Well, she's definitely eating a lot more aggressive.

She realizes that she's got to have to be more aggressive, I don't know why I keep saying "she" it's a boy, in order to survive with the catfish. I'm going to separate them soon I think. Catfish is getting-- He's having a growth spurt.

He's eating more, he's growing fast and I don't think Susan's going to keep up so we'll separate them here shortly. Susan went over there to digest. I think what will happen here is I'm going to maybe-- I don't know what to do. What do you guys suggest? Put her back in the 120, see what happens here. She's not big enough to fit in his mouth but he did get a little nippy and started nipping at her fillers and I'm not a fan of that. They will grow back. They're very similar to the fins of a fish getting damaged. See her coming now. See those fillers are trailers, whatever you want to call them. They're technically fillers on a Gourami. They are half the size they were and that's just him nipping.

That's no different than a fish nipping at another fish's fins. They will grow back. It's not permanent damage. She's going to be fine. Sorry. He's going to be fine. We need to maybe reconsider changing his name [laughs]. Anyway, on to the next tank. Look at these lights though. Isn't that awesome how they're all-- Well, they're not all even and spaced and what-not if we get a better idea here. They're all unequal. This is very rough. Look at the cords on the ground. I got to clean up. All of this is going to be faced with black plywood looking much like the 375 or the 500-gallon system with the sump, of course.

The fish are doing absolutely fantastic. If you guys don't mind we'll just take a quick look at some of these guys. My lord, these guys are beautiful. Such an underrated and affordable fish. It's just too bad they get so big. Definitely going to want to be looking into for a pair anything from 90 to 100 gallons. These guys get upwards of a foot long, sometimes bigger. The male are just getting absolutely boisterous. If you look over here we got three little girls. If you could see them, they're trying to blend in. Then there's clearly a male but-- Uaru, very interesting hugging the bottom. I believe that's probably because of the decor. The log are just tipped over and guys we haven't even begun to scape these tanks.

This is just basically temporary holding tanks until we can get to the scaping part. What are you doing? Look at that mouth. You can see that he has some teeth. That's to be grinding at wood. They're very much a wood eater. That's my most annoying fish that I have by far. The Uaru that was injured, I no longer know which one it was. He healed incredibly fast. Clean water changes and a good diet, less stressful environment, I kept the lights off and these guys are looking fantastic now. Look at Timmy. Timmy is never, ever, ever going to grow. Timmy's the reason why I don't have a piranha right now.

I can't have a piran, just Timmy, they'll kill him. Timmy's holding everything together. We have the Barb and Angels, you name it. These tanks look so different under this light. They look so much clearer, don't they? The quality of the water hasn't changed. It's just, they look a lot different under this light. Maybe I could squeeze over here without everybody flipping out, the Exodons. These guys look really sexy. This isn't their finer tank, this doesn't even make sense for them but the Exodons, honestly, maybe this tank or something wooded, because they are from the Amazon. Maybe even that end tank there.

We will be having to move some stuff around. I'm down to only three loaches. Kidding. They're all in this thing. If I can get an angle-- Look at them all, moving around there. They're in a log. That's why I added it. The big old Sunshine Plecos in there. The last of the plants. Actually, I do have some more plants here. We got this mother plant. I'm going to split this up into a bunch.

Okay. Anyways. I guess we can look at these guys for the last time because this is the next tank to go. We have the Tropheus as well as the Bass. Then of course under that brook, this right there. I have some exciting news and revelations of some upcoming plans. I don't know if I want to make a video of it because as soon as I make a video about it, you guys hold me to it. I hold myself to it because I opened my mouth about it. I need a few days to think about it, maybe even I'll just sleep on it but once I know some of those plans you guys are going to go nuts for some of the plans that I have for these tanks. I know it.

All right, the 2000, doubling as it's[unintelligible 00:06:09] some storage here for eco-tech battery back up in some logs, but let's give these guys something to eat. Come on, guys, chill out. They didn't even get in the water. My dragons. My beautiful gorgeous dragons. Blood Red, Blood Red, Cross Back. Gorgeous, gorgeous fish. I'm going to give them a little bit more. When I say I'll give them a little bit more it's literally as much as I can fit in a handful. You know who else is hungry? It's those Vieja. They haven't eaten since they've been added to that tank. I need a cameraman. I am getting sick and tired of being everything. I just want somebody to hold my camera. Apply within. Hiring now, but you have to live with me.

You have to like pizza. I have very little needs and wants, but you got to like that stuff. Get it. Get it, guys. Get your nyum nyums. Come on little one, do you need me to get away from the tank? Look at the leaves that we added a long time ago. They were buried under that substrate. Uaru just going nuts, so upset that they never got to eat them. Man, I put so many leaves in here. They're just so much different looking under here, aren't they? Everybody is.

These lights are making such a-- Lighting makes such difference. Look, you don't have to get this. Just experiment with your lights. Maybe lower them, raise them, bring them closer to the front and darken the background. Maybe highlight your background by pushing them back. Go play with your lights today. I'm telling you, it could change everything. Maybe dim them a little bit or brighten them a little bit. Whatever you have control over, play with it. Just because it looks good now doesn't mean it can't look a lot better if you don't mess around. Okay.

With the lights installed-- I also tried to see what radion G4 freshwater version would look like over this tank just in case I want to do some high-end plants or some CO2 injection and need better lighting or what-not. Of course, this light is far more powerful than these AI primes. Anyways, in order to get these installed into the ceiling, remember when I talked about all these marks on the ceiling? I want to repaint this entire building here shortly. That's from trying to get wood and scaping materials into the tank. That's how tight of a fit it was. Just absolutely destroying everything in here trying to get them in.

That's no longer a problem. In order to get these in here-- You guys know I used butterfly clips but you got to drill a hole into the ceiling first. I couldn't find a proper drill, so I'll just show you a little trick that I used. I use a knife and I stab the ceiling. I create a little star in the ceiling, and then the butterfly clips just push right through and you can install those lights and no problem. That's basically how I did them all.

Yes. It's feeling a lot different out here and I'm really excited to-- I've been thinking. I know I need to clean out here. I know I do. I know that I need to clean, but I've been thinking about something really important. Vieja are staying, Uaru is staying. I know a lot of people are attached to the Tropheus, the Bass, the [unintelligible 00:09:38], et cetera. I almost feel like we should almost start from scratch. Well not with all empty tanks, we'll keep the key players or the ones we want to see develop the most. I almost feel like we should start at least six of the aquariums empty, do their scapes and then choose the fish and go from there. How should we attack this?

To put this into the perspective of why I'm asking, I asked how should I do all this and somebody in the comments, I can't remember their username but they told me to start from here and move my way back. I was going to start way over there. I don't remember if you guys have been watching all of the videos from the Aquarium Gallery's renovations but I was going to start over there and move this way. Seeing that comment, I was like, "Man, that guy's a genius." Start here with empty tanks. It was great to leave your comments. I love to hear them. On the topic of comments, maybe we should check out what you guys have been saying on my latest video. Maybe I'll answer a few of your questions.

Okay, we won't do many and as you can tell these are-- I just uploaded the video so this is just within minutes. Joey as long as I've been watching you sort of become family to me. This from Charles. I tell the family to leave me alone, it's Joey time. Oh god, they must hate me. If I was in Canada, I would help you lift those beastly aquariums, I was yelling at the screen, "Let me help you." I bet you were. Here's the thing, Charles. I have help, and I have people to help me, but nobody has the ability to like just do it when Joey feels like it.

Because at the end of the day, we're also filming this. I have got to be in the mood to be on camera. I got to be the cameraman, set up shots, make sure everything's-- It's not exactly simple to create a video all of the time. A lot of the times also, I'm a father, I'm with my kids during the day, clean the house, do laundry, et cetera. A lot of times I don't have time to dedicate hours of being out here until it's late. It's really difficult to get that help on demand. Jalil says, "I could've sworn you said that you had help moving the tanks before even started. Please be careful, man." Jalil, same thing. I'd love to have help but at the end of the day, it's selfish of me to expect everybody to work on my diva-like schedule."

Joey flexing on us, "I could barely get my arm in here as he's moving the Vieja." It's not because-- I'm not big at all, it's because I'm up on a ladder and I couldn't get my arm down into it. I couldn't fit into, my arms are eight inches wide or six or whatever. It is because I couldn't get my arm into it at all. Now, I still can't but if I get on a ladder, I could touch the bottom as is. I can't touch the bottom of this tank on a ladder or not with the canopy removed. I just can't get up high enough and get the leverage to get in.

Same with this one. I'm stuck. I have to try to stick my head in through here. I got a big head it's not going in through there, it's uncomfortable, I can't touch the bottom of either aquarium. This entire Gallery's existence has existed without me being able to touch the bottom of my aquarium, arrange rocks, make it look pretty, make an effort. I'm basically dropping things into place using a net to push it around, those days are done.

Let's try somebody else. "Or you could take your shirt off finally." Mandy? You're probably referring to me complaining, "it's hot out here." Nick says, "Whoa, chill Mandy." "No, I won't chill. I want Joey to chill." Yes. Now it makes sense. You want me to be able to cool off from the-- No, I just change the temperature. I did it tonight too and it's awesome out here. I love it out here now. No shirts are coming off.

"Looks like your wrists are starting to act up. Hope you give your body time to rest. I know you want to get it done, but I don't want you to injure yourself in the process. Love the video. Keep us all on edge waiting for the next video." Jean. I have ongoing issues with this wrist. This hand and wrist are great, but I get like 50% strength from it. There are two reasons. One, I don't know if you can see it. Maybe I got to be in different lighting but from here, all the way to here is the scar. I got a plate and screws in my wrist. When it's like muggy out or raining, I have a tremendous amount of pain in my wrist. I broke it when I was like 19. Fun side story.

It's not that fun, it's mostly embarrassing and I wish I had a much cooler story, but the reason I broke my wrist was, if you guys watched the video "Aquarium saved my life", you'll know that at around the age of my teen years I was in jail. In jail, the basketball nets outside in the yard, if you're lucky enough to have one, are higher than regulation if they're close to a wall, for obvious reasons. You don't want Joey jumping out of there, climbing up on the rim and jumping out. I wanted to dump the ball anyways. I got this friend of mine to get down on his hands and knees, and I was gonna run, jump off his back, dump the ball. That's not what happened. I ran, jumped off his back, grabbed the net, my feet went out from under me and because I was so high up I let go and I went down upside down onto my wrist snapping it in half. I didn't get the ball rolling.

That story goes on for a while, it is a horrible experience and because I was locked up you're not allowed a cast-on. I was only allowed some sort of a support system. I had to get surgery and everything still wasn't allowed-- Anyways, that's why I was holding my wrist, it bothers me all the time. At 18, 19, I thought it I bulletproof so I didn't need rehabilitation. Worst mistake I ever made in my life. I'm going to be crippled and have issues with my wrist for the remainder of my life.

Ava says, "I still can't believe you started out like me, a very small YouTuber. You really inspire me." It took me two years to get 25 subscribers, two years of continuously making videos. I started 11 years ago. I've been making videos for a very long time. 11 years ago, there was no monetization, there was no aquarium niche or anything like that on YouTube. I was doing it because I loved sharing my hobby. I eventually discovered a bit of a niche on here, brought all kinds of people to YouTube, inspired others to start up channels and it just snowballed into that. To be honest with you, it took me two years to get 25 subscribers, I think it was 3 or 4 years to get 300. It's been a long time.

I know people look at me now and they see a million subscribers, and, "Joey does this for the subscribers. Joey does it for the money, and Joey--" Where were you for the first six years when nobody was watching and I didn't make a penny? I did it because I love it and I still do. Although, it's nice to make money, it's nice to have people actually watching. The money part is like helping pay for it, so that's fantastic.

"There are people that would literally fly to you and help you do this in two hours." noisynerdman, a noisy nerd man. Oh, noisy nerd man [laughs]. I can't be the only person that didn't get that. That's the scary thing. If I asked you guys for help. I bet there would be people that showed up. I just feel like I'm taking advantage of you guys. I wouldn't do that. "1.2 million subscribers and none of us clued into the fact of cooling the room temporarily while you're in it." Simon, I was thinking the same thing. That's why it's like pointed that out. It's crazy. Maybe somebody did say it though and we just didn't see the comment.

L.K. Aquatics, "Just in case you guys didn't know his name is Susan, and the gourami's name is Joey." Oh, I shouldn't have read that. Alexis. "As a Hispanic, it's fair to say that I love the way you say Vieja." Or Vija is the way I began to say it in my original videos when I got them at first, Vieja, of course, means old lady. I hope I'm pronouncing it right, Alexis. The big reason and this is such a huge exposure on myself. Change the camera angle. The reason I started saying Vija instead of Vieja is YouTube and Google considers the comments as part of what it's searching for and uses it to rank videos and whatever you're looking for, et cetera.

It's going to also consider the comments, the tags, the title, the description, but the comments are also extremely important. I know, based on my past experience, pronouncing words wrong you guys go in the comments and spell it out correctly. Over and over and over again, 100 times. I knew how to say Vieja. I think Vija is funny, and it was a bit of a troll on my part, for weeks I did it, but it was fantastic for rankings. You guys just kept spell it, I was like "heck yeah. I'm just got to keep saying it." Eventually, I was like-- Guys I have been keeping fish for 17 years. I know how to say it. Although, a bit of my Canadian does come out every once in a while and I mispronounce things.

That's it for now guys. What did we even do? Read comments. Next thing is to rip this racking system down. Perhaps I'll do it tomorrow. I got to clean up out here. I got to build more stands to hold more of the aquariums.

I think within two weeks we're ready to do new fish, and new scapes, et cetera, and truly move forward. I also want to give it a new coat of paint out here, a new look. I want it to look crisp and fresh out here to match the new tanks and just give it a whole new look, a whole new feel. If you guys want to come along for that ride and you're not subscribed to this channel yet make sure you do so don't miss any of these videos.

About King of DIY

Joey is THE King of DIY, and when he built his gallery of aquariums he chose the Custom Aquariums rack system with 120-gallon tanks...a lot of them!

Joey Mullen is also known as the king of DIY, uarujoey or the DIY fishkeeper on social media. Providing education and inspiration for aquarium enthusiasts on YouTube, he is also the author of The Ultimate DIY Handbook; for the DIY Aquarist. His channel is about educating all levels of fish tank hobbyists who are passionate about caring for fish and keeping an aquarium of their own. Joey's aquarium rack systems were custom made by our professional fish tank engineers, here at Custom Aquariums.

Please watch the King of DIY's videos for some helpful information and great tips on diy aquarium keeping.

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