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3 feet tank now planted and scaped! Day 59

Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

Well better not count the chick before it hatches. I'm still waiting for the replacement tank. For all I know it could be just as bad. My Stainless steel light stand has been done though. Waiting to be collected in a few days time. Hopefully this time they got it right. Will update the journal as I go along. Might need to spend some day travelling to the east to buy the woods and rock needed for aquascaping. Or maybe just buy random stuff and get them delivered here and see where my creativity landed me.
 
Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

Tank, light stand, ADA substrate, ANS I-Flo lily pipe for 17mm tube arrived last night.

The substrate includes
ADA Power Sand M (2L) x 2
ADA Aquasoil New Amazonia (9L) x 3
Bacter 100 (100g) x 1
Tourmaline BC (100g) x 1
Clear Super (50g) x 1
Penac W (200g) x 1
Penac P (200g) x 1

For the price of 150 quid for ADA substrate, I think I'm fairly happy with the overall. The light stand is still not exactly what I wanted but I think this will do for now. Will be getting the rocks and wood to start the hardscape soon. Might either get dragon rock, Kurokinryu to go with BorneoWild Driftwood. Will post the picture of all the equipment tonight. By the way, does anyone know how to cut cable wires and seal the cut end? I've had multiple injury last night trying to cut them up... and yet I still fail to do it nicely.
 
Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

My final fish tank
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ADA substrate
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My little babe
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Customised stainless steel stand
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Side view
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Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

looks delicious :) play time
 
Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

woohoo... exactly what it should look like.. :D . although i think you should have made a taller light stand.. in case you want to use halides..

Edit: oh wait i think those are halides :lol: i feel stooopid
 
Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

The halide lamp :) First time ever using halide lamp. Can anybody recommend what distance should I suspend the light over the tank? It's only a 150W + 2 x 24W T5HO. Currently it's at 30cm height. I can move the light stand higher if I want to but I'll need to drill holes onto the pipe.
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My feeble attempt to try to organise my cabinet. a 3 feet cabinet is not enough to fit everything I need in it! Half my gadget are still in the store room! And the chiller had to sit on the side due to the heat it will produce... Sigh now I'm starting to miss the weather in the UK. At least a heater is not as bulky as a chiller.
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Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

i asked this exact same question on barrreport and Tom Barr said he hung it 20 inches high heres the thread http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.ph ... -over-90cm

i also had the same question answered in my journal heres the link.... its near the bottom http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f= ... 4&start=20

i think in these cases its only the metal halide without the t5ho's its usually 50cm or more

Edit: my chiller is in my cabinet though... my cabinet has two big holes at the back for ventilation, also i see you're using those timers .. i dont know if they are the same one they sell here. but mine requires constant readjusting... so i opted to use the electronic timers instead which cost a lot more but are definitely more accurate although not 100% accurate
 
Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

I got those time when I was in the UK and brought them with me just for the sake of it and thank god for that. I got them for 2 quid each and here they were asking for 7 quid for a crappy china made one! I've used them previously without any problem. what kinda of readjusting that you had to do for yours?

I was going to put the chiller in the cabinet initially but I wasn't sure if the heat will possed an issue. The cabinet has been design so that the door doesn't seal shut and instead it left a gap of 2 inches between the door and the lower board. I will post a picture tonight to illustrate what I meant. I was told by another vendor that even this gap would not be enough for the heat so I've ended up putting it outside the tank.
 
Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

i think the guy at the vendor was right, i have big holes for ventilation at back and even then it still gets pretty hot or rather warm inside... here a pic

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and this is the space from behind... theres definitely quite decent ventilation but like i said still warm

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with just two inches of space and no ventilation at the back i personally wouldn't dare putting the chiller in the cabinet... unless you make your own holes... its an option, just hope you haven't filled your tank

also the mechanical timers move a little to fast.. in two days it goes by an extra 30 minutes... which is really irritating
 
Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

Finally got all the tubing ready and all the parts connected to start cycling the tank. In the mean time, I have staurogyne and crypt wenditii brown and crypt parva growing in full sun emersed on the window sill awaiting harvest in a few weeks time (hopefully!)

Well the connection and testing the tank was more of a nightmare than fun. Leakage everywhere! The prefilter chamber was leaking as if there was no seal so it's got to be removed until I apply some silicone around the leaking joint.

The 16/22 clear hose is too loose to have a firm grip on the lily pipes and as a result, lots of tiny bubbles get sucks into the system and churned out of the other end as gush of bubbles to no end!
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The bubbles that seeps through the tube and the pipe
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Leaky outflow pipe. Does anyone know what I can do to secure the leak? I was thinking of using jubilee clip intially but I'm concern that the clip might crack the lily pipe! Was thinking of using a ring of silicone on the hose end and let it set. Then push the lily pipe through it. Anyone has an easier suggestion?
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The whole system is connected through a tetratec 1200 and the flowrate was further augmented using a hailea external pump rated at 1700L/hour. I know it's a bit overkill but the chiller need to work with at least 1000lph.
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Picture of the chiller.... The ambient water temperature was 30 degree! This is going to cost a bomb to chill to 24 degree. Decided to keep it at 26 degree instead...
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The 2 inches cut from the cabinet floor as I previously mentioned.
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lit by 2x 24W at 1 feet above the tank.
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Lit by 2x24W with 150W MH. Hmm not very much difference besides the shimmering effect...
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The rock that I was going to use for aquascape. Is this dragon stone? The seller haven't a clue...
 
Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

You think the 2x24 watt will be sufficient? and woops i just realized i hijacked your thread sorry you should delete those photos... also wat do you think of da heilea chillers i get restless whenever i think about it scared they might fail... im saving extra cash on hand in case they need to be sent for maintainence and i need to purchase another one.

Sent from my LG-P990 using Tapatalk
 
Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

Antipofish said:
Hi mate I am pretty sure that is NOT dragon stone. Take a look at it here to see what it looks like...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110761636298? ... 1114wt_920

(no thats NOT my listing, lol)

It could be dragon stone, it comes in different colours.

I've had grey bits, brown bits and reddish bits all from Aqua Essentials. Once all in the same order.
 
Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

JohnC said:
Antipofish said:
Hi mate I am pretty sure that is NOT dragon stone. Take a look at it here to see what it looks like...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110761636298? ... 1114wt_920

(no thats NOT my listing, lol)

It could be dragon stone, it comes in different colours.

I've had grey bits, brown bits and reddish bits all from Aqua Essentials. Once all in the same order.

Im not convinced. I was going more on structure rather than colour.
 
Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

looks like Dragon stone to me as well.
 
Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

I was going by the fact the OP's bit didnt have any of the little bits that look like they've been scooped out by an apple corer (for want of a better description). I thought that was a feature of dragon stone ? So you can get it without that structural make up too ?
 
Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

if you look at the bottom there are two of the holes and the indent in the top was probably half a hole when it was joined to some rock. some bits have less structure, some more, it just depends on the piece.
 
Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

stuworrall said:
if you look at the bottom there are two of the holes and the indent in the top was probably half a hole when it was joined to some rock. some bits have less structure, some more, it just depends on the piece.

Kewl :) If I was to get dragon stone I would want it to have plenty of the "crater" features as in the pic I linked to. That, to me, is the whole allure of that particular rock. But at the end of the day, whatever each individual likes and wants in his tank, it doesnt really matter what it is or what its called. (Although its nice to know). I recently bought a bit of wood for my tank. I thought it might be redmoor, and it transpired that it probably is redmoor, but I would have bought it anyway because I liked it :)
 
Re: New 3 feet ADA mimic tank setup. (Pic heavy)

hmmm I think looking at the other picture, it is a dragon stone. This piece is only tiny and the rest of the stone that came with this one was actually a lot bigger with similar structure to the one that was posted on the ebay link. Think it's time for me to work out and carry those stone back here with me. :(
 
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