Dominic
Member
This thread was started on another forum, however I will copy and paste everything up to date. It has been running for nearly a month now. My inspirations are Bigtom's Bucket of mud, Alistair's Chocolate puddle series, and Don's 200gallon Square.
Hope you guys like it
I hereby apologize in advance for my lack of experience in carrying out tank journals. I hope to be able to reach the standards of the likes of other people on this forum
Here is my empty tank, which arrived last saturday, (picture was taken on the day, sorry for the rubbish photo) in which i have been carefully planning, researching, collecting, and gathering for, for over 6 months now. Like i posted previously on another thread- I was sick, and tired of just 'making do' with all my tanks that i have ever had, and with the provision of a job to me around 5 or 6 months ago, and being 17 (18 in may) living with my parents,still being in study, without a car, without any taxes to pay, and some free time, i thought to myself- 'hey, I can do whatever the heck i want now!' after being in the fishkeeping hobby for years, beginning from a very young age where my late dad took me to the fish store one day and brought back a small, 2 foot long tank with him. His love for nature has definitely been inherited by me as one of my qualities. He would spend days and even nights on the riverbank, with a couple of fishing rods cast out into the river hooked up to a bite alarm, sitting in his little deckchair, smoking a cigarette and taking in the beauty of nature. I am hoping to recreate a similar imagery in this tank.
I am going to be doing a lot of work today to it, and hopefully it might be planted by the end of the day. This will be my first 'proper' planted tank.
I will keep you guys updated, but for now- here is my (messy, for now) tank. Here's the spec-
Tank- Custom made 900x900x370, holding roughly 300 litres.
Cabinet- DIY, made by my gramps for 100 quid. Not bad for a good sturdy cabinet.
Lighting- 2x 38w T8's with a DIY light stand and fittings. This gives me just over 1wpg.
Filtration- Fluval 305 filter loosely packed (to prevent clogging) with sponges, ceramic rings and broken up bits of lava rock.
Circulation- 2x newave 1600's- on the lowest setting (I'd rather not blow my tank to pieces haha)
CO2- 1x 5kg canister with up aqua atomizer. Gonna crank up the co2 for the first few weeks to help plants grow in, then tone the co2 back down once fish are added.
Substrate- John Innes No3 compost, capped with kitty litter/moler clay.
Fauna- I am considering Chocolate Gouramis, Rosy loaches, Chili Rasboras, and a bunch of cherry shrimp. It is undecided yet.
Flora-
immersed- Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis, Lilaeopsis Mauritana, Eleocharis s.p, Parvula and Acicularis, Sagittaria Subulata, Anubias, Microsorum Pteropus trident and narrow, a bunch of crypts, predominantly wendtii brown, green, and beckettii.
emersed- Not sure yet. Will note as the journal goes on.
It also has a built in fog system which goes around the back perimeter of the tank to help provide my terrestrial plants with some humidity. I bought a 6 litre humidifier from ebay, and it is on 24/7. It normally lasts 3-4 days before I have to refill it again. I spray the terrestrial plants twice a day.
[DOUBLEPOST=1399919288][/DOUBLEPOST]The first thing i did was I checked my co2 system for leaks- I attached the regulator solenoid etc, and tightened everything as tight as i could. I then opened the valve, which made the pressure go up to around 60. I put a pen mark on it's position, and then turnt the valve off again. I left it for 8 hours to check whether the pressure had gone down (this would mean that there is a leak) but it was still in the same position! So thats all good!
I then waterproofed all the piping and hooked it all up. I used hot glue gun, as i tried to use silicone, but it did NOT hold well. And i found that hot glue was 10x better. I glued all the joints together and used pipe clips to hook everything up and put everything into position. All the filter's piping is DIY.
I then took it outside and did a test run to make sure everything was watertight. And then hooked everything up into its final place.
I then pushed the tank into it's final position- and started scaping. I wanted to use lots of lava rock to help create a slope. I used lava rock to help prevent the substrate from becoming stagnant and anaerobic. So i piled up all the lava rock, and then added a 2-4cm layer of John Innes No3 Soil over the top, and then a 3-5cm layer of moler clay on top.
I finally started playing around with a few hardscape ideas- and this is all i have come up with so far. I am hoping to create a little island in which i can grow terrestrial plants on.
Also, i had previously made a background for the tank. I covered wood with pond liner to waterproof it, and then stuck hygrolon onto it, which is a material that is apparently very good at holding moisture and is very good for growing plants on. I will add some moss mix onto it- i am hoping to have the whole background covered with mosses with some plants growing onto it.
Thats all for now. Finishing the hardscape and planting and filling tomorrow!
[DOUBLEPOST=1399919549][/DOUBLEPOST]these pictures were taken as soon as i finished planting- i still need to put loads more plants and stuff in, but i just thought i'd do some update pictures
enjoy
Hope you guys like it
I hereby apologize in advance for my lack of experience in carrying out tank journals. I hope to be able to reach the standards of the likes of other people on this forum
Here is my empty tank, which arrived last saturday, (picture was taken on the day, sorry for the rubbish photo) in which i have been carefully planning, researching, collecting, and gathering for, for over 6 months now. Like i posted previously on another thread- I was sick, and tired of just 'making do' with all my tanks that i have ever had, and with the provision of a job to me around 5 or 6 months ago, and being 17 (18 in may) living with my parents,still being in study, without a car, without any taxes to pay, and some free time, i thought to myself- 'hey, I can do whatever the heck i want now!' after being in the fishkeeping hobby for years, beginning from a very young age where my late dad took me to the fish store one day and brought back a small, 2 foot long tank with him. His love for nature has definitely been inherited by me as one of my qualities. He would spend days and even nights on the riverbank, with a couple of fishing rods cast out into the river hooked up to a bite alarm, sitting in his little deckchair, smoking a cigarette and taking in the beauty of nature. I am hoping to recreate a similar imagery in this tank.
I am going to be doing a lot of work today to it, and hopefully it might be planted by the end of the day. This will be my first 'proper' planted tank.
I will keep you guys updated, but for now- here is my (messy, for now) tank. Here's the spec-
Tank- Custom made 900x900x370, holding roughly 300 litres.
Cabinet- DIY, made by my gramps for 100 quid. Not bad for a good sturdy cabinet.
Lighting- 2x 38w T8's with a DIY light stand and fittings. This gives me just over 1wpg.
Filtration- Fluval 305 filter loosely packed (to prevent clogging) with sponges, ceramic rings and broken up bits of lava rock.
Circulation- 2x newave 1600's- on the lowest setting (I'd rather not blow my tank to pieces haha)
CO2- 1x 5kg canister with up aqua atomizer. Gonna crank up the co2 for the first few weeks to help plants grow in, then tone the co2 back down once fish are added.
Substrate- John Innes No3 compost, capped with kitty litter/moler clay.
Fauna- I am considering Chocolate Gouramis, Rosy loaches, Chili Rasboras, and a bunch of cherry shrimp. It is undecided yet.
Flora-
immersed- Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis, Lilaeopsis Mauritana, Eleocharis s.p, Parvula and Acicularis, Sagittaria Subulata, Anubias, Microsorum Pteropus trident and narrow, a bunch of crypts, predominantly wendtii brown, green, and beckettii.
emersed- Not sure yet. Will note as the journal goes on.
It also has a built in fog system which goes around the back perimeter of the tank to help provide my terrestrial plants with some humidity. I bought a 6 litre humidifier from ebay, and it is on 24/7. It normally lasts 3-4 days before I have to refill it again. I spray the terrestrial plants twice a day.
[DOUBLEPOST=1399919288][/DOUBLEPOST]The first thing i did was I checked my co2 system for leaks- I attached the regulator solenoid etc, and tightened everything as tight as i could. I then opened the valve, which made the pressure go up to around 60. I put a pen mark on it's position, and then turnt the valve off again. I left it for 8 hours to check whether the pressure had gone down (this would mean that there is a leak) but it was still in the same position! So thats all good!
I then waterproofed all the piping and hooked it all up. I used hot glue gun, as i tried to use silicone, but it did NOT hold well. And i found that hot glue was 10x better. I glued all the joints together and used pipe clips to hook everything up and put everything into position. All the filter's piping is DIY.
I then took it outside and did a test run to make sure everything was watertight. And then hooked everything up into its final place.
I then pushed the tank into it's final position- and started scaping. I wanted to use lots of lava rock to help create a slope. I used lava rock to help prevent the substrate from becoming stagnant and anaerobic. So i piled up all the lava rock, and then added a 2-4cm layer of John Innes No3 Soil over the top, and then a 3-5cm layer of moler clay on top.
I finally started playing around with a few hardscape ideas- and this is all i have come up with so far. I am hoping to create a little island in which i can grow terrestrial plants on.
Also, i had previously made a background for the tank. I covered wood with pond liner to waterproof it, and then stuck hygrolon onto it, which is a material that is apparently very good at holding moisture and is very good for growing plants on. I will add some moss mix onto it- i am hoping to have the whole background covered with mosses with some plants growing onto it.
Thats all for now. Finishing the hardscape and planting and filling tomorrow!
[DOUBLEPOST=1399919549][/DOUBLEPOST]these pictures were taken as soon as i finished planting- i still need to put loads more plants and stuff in, but i just thought i'd do some update pictures 
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