gray_
Seedling
"Can you put a shelf up so I can put some plants on it?" the missus asked me, gesturing at the alcove next to the chimney breast in our typical 1930's West Midlands house. This was sometime in February 2019.
Looking back, I should have just said, "Yes Dear, no problem." If I'd known then what I know now, I likely would have had that shelf up in ten minutes flat. But I didn't, instead in a halfhearted attempt to avoid yet another DIY project from the missus I found myself deflecting with, "What about a fish tank with some plants?" I don't even know where that idea came from.
"What do you know about fish?" she asked?
"Nothing."
"What you know about plants underwater?"
"Nothing." I blathered on then about how ambiently lit colourful underwater plants gently swaying in an unseen breeze would look cool. My mouth ran away without my brain and I found myself selling the idea.
I sold the idea. I sold the dream. To her and to myself.
Before I knew it we were in the local fish shop without a clue. What I did know is the alcove was 83cm wide, so a tank would have to fit that space. I saw this:
The Fluval Roma 125, complete with everything I would need in one simple, single purchase. Just add fish! At 80cm it would fit in the alcove perfectly. £310 did seem a tad expensive, at the top end of what I wanted to spend on this entire venture, but what the hell, fish are cheap and wouldn't have to pay out any more money because this had everything right? Everything I would need. After much gnawing of fingers and pacing around the shop, I brought it. Even the missus signed-off on the stand colour. There was some mumbling about the cost.
When I got home I started reading up about planted tanks on the Internet. I read for the next month.
First thing I learned was that the design of the Fluval Roma is, by today's standards, very 1980's. Stunning aquascapes on the Internet seemed to be most often presented in rimless and braceless tanks, with in-tank glassware and artfully designed lighting attachments. No bother, I had to work with what I had, and in any case, this Fluval package had everything I needed. It seemed I would need a lot more knowledge to correctly pick out all the components required for a modern looking aquascape. Fluval had me covered and had done all that hard work for me. I was in safe hands I was sure.
The second thing I learned was that this Fluval package did not contain everything I needed. Not even close.
Lush colourful swathes of plants are more quickly achieved with the addition of CO2 I discovered. I'd sold the dream to the missus. If I was to avoid her complaining that a "shelf with plant pots" would have been better, I needed to deliver that dream. I needed CO2.
I grasped the nettle and resigned myself to the fact that budgeting was now out of the window. I brought a CO2art Pro-SE kit and a couple of 2kg fire extinguishers.
The CO2art kit came with tubing, drop checker, inline diffuser and regulator with integrated check value and bubble counter, all for around £135. It seemed to have favourable reviews from many corners of the Internet.
I picked up a couple of fire extinguishers off ebay for £20 each. Connected it up in the kitchen:
The missus did raise an eyebrow when she walked in on me doing, what appeared to be, plugging a fire extinguisher into the mains electricity. "Do you know what you're doing?" she asked.
"I think so" I said, twiddling the dial of the needle value.
She just walked off. No doubt to shield herself from the expected explosion.
The co2art kit came with an inline diffuser. A what now? The internal filter that came with the Fluval tank didn't have any pipes to connect this diffuser too. I ordered a Fluval 206 external canister filter for £88.50 off Amazon immediately to rectify the situation.
With newfound knowledge I had begun to suspect that the light that came with the Fluval tank was pretty much only good for growing mushrooms, it certainly wasn't going to cut it with my new high-tech vision. I ordered a Fluval Plant 3.0 LED at an eye watering cost for a few LEDs in a plastic box, £170 from Amazon. A telescopic thing supporting 61-85 cm tanks, great.
By this point I had begun to perfect the art of not thinking about the mounting cost. It was horrendous.
Gravel, I needed gravel. I wasn't surprised to learn that the gravel I had decided on also cost a fortune. I ordered two 20kg bags of Caribsea Eco-Complete, £63.90. I know. For gravel.
Rocks. I went to the local fish shop and checked out the rocks. No. Just no. Although I'd given up counting the cost, the price of rocks from the fish shop was simply offensive. The prize was crazy when I thought it was per rock, when I realised the price was per kilogram I went immediately to the local garden centre and brought 25kg of rocks for around £15 instead.
Plants. This seemed more complicated, I needed to give this some more thought. However, keen to get water in the tank at least, I popped to the local fish shop and brought a plant. Cryptocoryne Willisii. It was something like £5. For one small plant. I shuddered at the thought of a fully planted tank, but that was a problem for the future.
By the time I got around to considering how exactly I was going to connect everything up I realised I had totally overlooked the fact that different products can have different specifications for the required tubing. By sheer luck the Fluval 206 supports 16/22 tubing, which I’d learned means 16mm inner diameter and 22mm outer diameter, and so did everything else I had ordered. I ordered 4 meters of 16/22 tubing off Amazon for £15.
Lastly, a tank background. I went with some generic black background from ebay for £9.95.
Tank, filter, light, heater, gravel, rocks, CO2 and a plant. I was set. I was in aquascape Nirvana, Takashi Amano would be proud. On 27th March 2019 the tank was launched! Tada!
Even this embarrassingly bad setup wasn’t without two fundamental problems.
The first problem was that I discovered that the Fluval Roma tank doesn’t support the use of the Fluval 206 external filter, nor any external filter for that matter. If it wasn’t clear to me before, it was certainly clear to me now, this tank is very firmly aimed at people who want to buy a tank, drop in some fish and leave it there. I had the wrong tank for the job. By now I was going to make it work if it killed me, I was in too deep, had forked out too much cash, I just couldn’t face buying a new tank on top of everything else. I got the blowtorch and some metal pipe...
The problem with the tank and an external filter is that the tank has a fully enclosed lid and that lid does not have space to feed the external filter tubes through into the tank. It does have a couple of gaps between the rim and the lid at the back, but these are sized to fit power cables and such, no good for 16/22 tubing.
I heated up some metal pipe and melted the existing power cable holes to enlarge them. Brutal? Yes. A bad idea and a messy finish? Yes.
After some melting and complaining from the missus about the smell, the tubes fit flush.
The second problem was that there wasn’t enough gravel. After spending over £60 on gravel this made me want to cry a bit. I chose to defer this particular problem, giving myself time to forget the cost of the first batch of gravel.
So, tank launched! Me and the missus stood back to assess the work thus far.
“What are those ugly plastic pipes?” she asked.
OK, they had to go. I ordered glass lily pipes from Amazon for £20.
“What’s that shiny tube?” she asked.
The heater. For some no doubt good reason Fluval had coloured the heater metallic silver. It reflected the lights and shone like a beacon of failure blinding her to my vision of aquascape perfection. I ordered a 300 watt inline Hydor external heater for £50.
I had now replaced everything that came with the Fluval tank package, except the tank, by the day I even first filled the tank with water. Even the tank I had to brutally modify. Lesson learned.
The missus wasn't impressed. I get it. It wasn't pretty. Not only was it not pretty but I had a sneaking suspicion that I couldn't be far off £1000 by now. The missus also had a sneaking suspicion. I was trying not to think about it. She had an expression on her face which wouldn’t have been out of place if I was a puppy who had just dragged a half chewed cabbage into the living room.
“Honestly,” I said, “it’s going to get a lot better.”
Bless her, she didn’t say anything about plant pots on a shelf.
Looking back, I should have just said, "Yes Dear, no problem." If I'd known then what I know now, I likely would have had that shelf up in ten minutes flat. But I didn't, instead in a halfhearted attempt to avoid yet another DIY project from the missus I found myself deflecting with, "What about a fish tank with some plants?" I don't even know where that idea came from.
"What do you know about fish?" she asked?
"Nothing."
"What you know about plants underwater?"
"Nothing." I blathered on then about how ambiently lit colourful underwater plants gently swaying in an unseen breeze would look cool. My mouth ran away without my brain and I found myself selling the idea.
I sold the idea. I sold the dream. To her and to myself.
Before I knew it we were in the local fish shop without a clue. What I did know is the alcove was 83cm wide, so a tank would have to fit that space. I saw this:
The Fluval Roma 125, complete with everything I would need in one simple, single purchase. Just add fish! At 80cm it would fit in the alcove perfectly. £310 did seem a tad expensive, at the top end of what I wanted to spend on this entire venture, but what the hell, fish are cheap and wouldn't have to pay out any more money because this had everything right? Everything I would need. After much gnawing of fingers and pacing around the shop, I brought it. Even the missus signed-off on the stand colour. There was some mumbling about the cost.
When I got home I started reading up about planted tanks on the Internet. I read for the next month.
First thing I learned was that the design of the Fluval Roma is, by today's standards, very 1980's. Stunning aquascapes on the Internet seemed to be most often presented in rimless and braceless tanks, with in-tank glassware and artfully designed lighting attachments. No bother, I had to work with what I had, and in any case, this Fluval package had everything I needed. It seemed I would need a lot more knowledge to correctly pick out all the components required for a modern looking aquascape. Fluval had me covered and had done all that hard work for me. I was in safe hands I was sure.
The second thing I learned was that this Fluval package did not contain everything I needed. Not even close.
Lush colourful swathes of plants are more quickly achieved with the addition of CO2 I discovered. I'd sold the dream to the missus. If I was to avoid her complaining that a "shelf with plant pots" would have been better, I needed to deliver that dream. I needed CO2.
I grasped the nettle and resigned myself to the fact that budgeting was now out of the window. I brought a CO2art Pro-SE kit and a couple of 2kg fire extinguishers.
The CO2art kit came with tubing, drop checker, inline diffuser and regulator with integrated check value and bubble counter, all for around £135. It seemed to have favourable reviews from many corners of the Internet.
I picked up a couple of fire extinguishers off ebay for £20 each. Connected it up in the kitchen:
The missus did raise an eyebrow when she walked in on me doing, what appeared to be, plugging a fire extinguisher into the mains electricity. "Do you know what you're doing?" she asked.
"I think so" I said, twiddling the dial of the needle value.
She just walked off. No doubt to shield herself from the expected explosion.
The co2art kit came with an inline diffuser. A what now? The internal filter that came with the Fluval tank didn't have any pipes to connect this diffuser too. I ordered a Fluval 206 external canister filter for £88.50 off Amazon immediately to rectify the situation.
With newfound knowledge I had begun to suspect that the light that came with the Fluval tank was pretty much only good for growing mushrooms, it certainly wasn't going to cut it with my new high-tech vision. I ordered a Fluval Plant 3.0 LED at an eye watering cost for a few LEDs in a plastic box, £170 from Amazon. A telescopic thing supporting 61-85 cm tanks, great.
By this point I had begun to perfect the art of not thinking about the mounting cost. It was horrendous.
Gravel, I needed gravel. I wasn't surprised to learn that the gravel I had decided on also cost a fortune. I ordered two 20kg bags of Caribsea Eco-Complete, £63.90. I know. For gravel.
Rocks. I went to the local fish shop and checked out the rocks. No. Just no. Although I'd given up counting the cost, the price of rocks from the fish shop was simply offensive. The prize was crazy when I thought it was per rock, when I realised the price was per kilogram I went immediately to the local garden centre and brought 25kg of rocks for around £15 instead.
Plants. This seemed more complicated, I needed to give this some more thought. However, keen to get water in the tank at least, I popped to the local fish shop and brought a plant. Cryptocoryne Willisii. It was something like £5. For one small plant. I shuddered at the thought of a fully planted tank, but that was a problem for the future.
By the time I got around to considering how exactly I was going to connect everything up I realised I had totally overlooked the fact that different products can have different specifications for the required tubing. By sheer luck the Fluval 206 supports 16/22 tubing, which I’d learned means 16mm inner diameter and 22mm outer diameter, and so did everything else I had ordered. I ordered 4 meters of 16/22 tubing off Amazon for £15.
Lastly, a tank background. I went with some generic black background from ebay for £9.95.
Tank, filter, light, heater, gravel, rocks, CO2 and a plant. I was set. I was in aquascape Nirvana, Takashi Amano would be proud. On 27th March 2019 the tank was launched! Tada!
Even this embarrassingly bad setup wasn’t without two fundamental problems.
The first problem was that I discovered that the Fluval Roma tank doesn’t support the use of the Fluval 206 external filter, nor any external filter for that matter. If it wasn’t clear to me before, it was certainly clear to me now, this tank is very firmly aimed at people who want to buy a tank, drop in some fish and leave it there. I had the wrong tank for the job. By now I was going to make it work if it killed me, I was in too deep, had forked out too much cash, I just couldn’t face buying a new tank on top of everything else. I got the blowtorch and some metal pipe...
The problem with the tank and an external filter is that the tank has a fully enclosed lid and that lid does not have space to feed the external filter tubes through into the tank. It does have a couple of gaps between the rim and the lid at the back, but these are sized to fit power cables and such, no good for 16/22 tubing.
I heated up some metal pipe and melted the existing power cable holes to enlarge them. Brutal? Yes. A bad idea and a messy finish? Yes.
(photos taken at a later date)
After some melting and complaining from the missus about the smell, the tubes fit flush.
The second problem was that there wasn’t enough gravel. After spending over £60 on gravel this made me want to cry a bit. I chose to defer this particular problem, giving myself time to forget the cost of the first batch of gravel.
So, tank launched! Me and the missus stood back to assess the work thus far.
“What are those ugly plastic pipes?” she asked.
OK, they had to go. I ordered glass lily pipes from Amazon for £20.
“What’s that shiny tube?” she asked.
The heater. For some no doubt good reason Fluval had coloured the heater metallic silver. It reflected the lights and shone like a beacon of failure blinding her to my vision of aquascape perfection. I ordered a 300 watt inline Hydor external heater for £50.
I had now replaced everything that came with the Fluval tank package, except the tank, by the day I even first filled the tank with water. Even the tank I had to brutally modify. Lesson learned.
The missus wasn't impressed. I get it. It wasn't pretty. Not only was it not pretty but I had a sneaking suspicion that I couldn't be far off £1000 by now. The missus also had a sneaking suspicion. I was trying not to think about it. She had an expression on her face which wouldn’t have been out of place if I was a puppy who had just dragged a half chewed cabbage into the living room.
“Honestly,” I said, “it’s going to get a lot better.”
Bless her, she didn’t say anything about plant pots on a shelf.
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