Grendel's DIY ADA 90P

[Grendel]

Here's my progress thus far...

Comments, questions, and especially critiques appreciated!

 

[Kezzab]

Skillz.

 

[cookie.dou]

Realllly like those round river stones/pebbles! Nice variety in size =)

 

[Nelson]

Brilliant .
Are you going blackwater .

 

[zozo]

Very nice!! KISS to the max.. Love the doors and the light idea..

 

[Tim Harrison]

Welcome to ukaps.
Great design, I like your choice of materials they fit together nicely, the scape is looking good as well.
Don't forget to keep us up to date

 

[Grendel]

Brilliant .
Are you going blackwater .

Not totally blackwater, but definitely blackwaterish: lightly planted at the substrate, but with a pretty big mass of plants growing emerged at the surface. (I have some mesh "islands" already set up that I'll post soon.). Amazonian fish like tetras, cories, and checkerboards will be going in as well.

 

[Grendel]

Realllly like those round river stones/pebbles! Nice variety in size =)

Thanks. Still looking for some tiny pebbles that match to help ease the visual transition from stones to sand.

 

[Grendel]

Very nice!! KISS to the max.. Love the doors and the light idea..

Thanks. This is the first time I've been able to make a DIY aquarium project that matches my vision 100% which feels great. Lots of these ideas were cribbed from others' projects from over the years too - I'm definitely not reinventing the wheel.

The wood for the doors was actually salvaged from the urban farm site my wife operates - it's somewhere between 100-150 years old (pretty old for the States) but was just headed for scrap before I grabbed it. I was going for a mix of organic/not + old/new with the stand and I like to think I achieved that.

 

[nduli]

Looking good.
Like the use of the ikea lamp. Are you intending to drop in a specialist plant growth bulb?

 

[Grendel]

Looking good.
Like the use of the ikea lamp. Are you intending to drop in a specialist plant growth bulb?

I've got some 5000K PAR38 bulbs in there right now. Hopefully they work well enough.

 

[Grendel]

UPDATE:

Filled.

Leaves and wood are adding some tannins to the water - ended up adding more manzanita sticks to the mix. I wasn't sure about it all, but my wife really likes the root look (first time she's ever been remotely enthused about a fish tank). Next step: start cycling and get some plants!

 

[aaron.c]

Really like the look of this! The stand is great


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[dw1305]

Hi all,
The tank and stand look fantastic

Next step: start cycling and get some plants!

You can just plant it and leave it.

I like a relatively long (~6 weeks) tank grow in and establishment period, but you can add fish much sooner if you want to.If you plant (and have floating or emersed plants), you don't need to add ammonia to the tank.

There are a <"few threads on the forum">, but the basic reason is that the microbial assemblage you get in a low ammonia tank is <"very different from the one you get under higher ammonia loading"> and much more diverse.

cheers Darrel

 

[CooKieS]

Beautiful setup, can't wait to see it planted.

 

[MatusG]

Really nice setup! I love it as it is cant wait to see more, good luck.


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[Grendel]

Thanks for the positive feedback, everyone. I appreciate it.

Hi all,
The tank and stand look fantasticYou can just plant it and leave it.

I like a relatively long (~6 weeks) tank grow in and establishment period, but you can add fish much sooner if you want to.If you plant (and have floating or emersed plants), you don't need to add ammonia to the tank.

There are a <"few threads on the forum">, but the basic reason is that the microbial assemblage you get in a low ammonia tank is <"very different from the one you get under higher ammonia loading"> and much more diverse.

cheers Darrel

Thanks for this, Darrel. In all honesty, I only ever went through an ammonia cycle on a tank once (first tank, fifteen years ago) - ever since then I've just used previously established filter material to when starting things on a new tank.

It looks like the advice is go slow, add fish gradually... I was planning on making one big order for fish (30-40, of small species) to be delivered later this spring, since the local places don't really have what I'm looking for. How would you suggest I get the tank ready for that? Will it take care of itself through me growing plenty of plants? Or would you NOT recommend that plan at all?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

ever since then I've just used previously established filter material to when starting things on a new tank

Best method.

Just move the filter media over a soon as you plant the tank. The suggestion that the filter bacteria will die if they aren't fed a constant stream of ammonia isn't true, the assemblage will change to reflect the nutrient supply, but you won't lose the nitrifying organisms.

I was planning on making one big order for fish (30-40, of small species) to be delivered later this spring, since the local places don't really have what I'm looking for. How would you suggest I get the tank ready for that? Will it take care of itself through me growing plenty of plants?

Yes, let the plants grow in and then it should be able to deal with a bigger bio-load all in one hit.

You can feed the plants if they need it, from <"Do I need to cycle...">

I'll use the <"Duckweed Index"> as an indication of when to feed, but other people will use some fraction of EI, it really doesn't matter.

Also because I don't have any fish in the tank I don't worry about the nitrogen source in the fertiliser, and I'll use what ever liquid feed I have to hand (usually what was <"remaindered in Wilko's">). If it has urea (CO(NH2)2), ammonium sulphate ((NH4)2SO4) or ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) as the nitrogen source it doesn't matter. It just needs to keep the plants growing.

If there were fish in the tank then then I would advice using KNO3 as the nitrogen source.

I would add a bit more surface agitation (or laminar flow etc) when you add the fish, but just for for belt and braces. Oxygen is the prime metric in nitrification, and a higher bio-load will have a higher <"Biochemical Oxygen Demand"> (BOD).

cheers Darrel

 

[Grendel]

Thanks again, Darrel. I appreciate your expertise (and links).

I've been out of the aquarium game for a couple years now, so it's a new filter this time around (hence my uncertainty around cycling). I'll work on growing plenty of plants for the next couple months (I've previously used a modified EI method, with decent results), and hopefully that will be adequate.

 

[Wendal_spanswick]

Cracking effort, I really like the look of it even without the plants. Masterpiece as it is. Congrats.