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I forgot to mention a few things...
Two additional upgrades were made at the same time the stand was being built. For my birthday I received a set of Cal Aqua Labs Glass Lilly Pipes and I also bought a Hydor 200W Inline Heater. Just an attempt to get as much out of the tank as possible.
Also, you will notice that there are a lot more plants in the tank! After scrounging around the swap-n-shop forums on www.plantedtank.net, I was able to get Blyxa japonica, Echinodorus tennellus 'micro', Hemianthus callitrichoides and Heteranthera zosterifolia. I also got rid of the Cryptocoryne spiralis, and replaced it with another tall Crypt that I have not yet identified.
The down side in all of this tank work? Green Peas Soup! My best guess, is that in doing all the re-planting, moving the tank, and adding all the new equipment, I agetated the tank enough to create an ammonia spike and leave me with green water. The above pictures are of the tank after I did a 3 day blackout. The plants were quite pale, but are starting to come back once again. Unfortunately, I had planted the Stargrass right before the green water struck, and seeing as they were sitting in a box for three days, then got re-planted, and then got blacked out for 3 days, they didn't make it. I pulled them our right after I took these pictures. New stems are on the way however!
Also on the way; an Aqua Controller Jr./DC8 as well as 2 APT SP-100 Peristaltic pumps for my new auto dosing system!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One last thing I did add was LED Lights to the inside of the stand. These were lying around the house, who knows where I got them... They use a small magnet that when removed turns the lights on. I plan on attaching a wooden dowell to all three magnets, so I can turn them all on and off at the same time. The lights are attached using double sided mounting tape. Here are some pictures:
I have been quite busy over the last month, which attributes to why I have not updated the blog in a while. All for good reason however, I did some major upgrades to the tank.First and foremost, I built a custom stand! I got tired of looking at my old beat up table that I was previously using as a stand. I wanted to create something that could house all of my equipment and keep the stand looking sleek. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera when I decided to build it, so I have no shots of the building process, only shots after it was completed.
The design of the stand was quite simple. I used a combination of 4x4s, 2x4s, and wood screws to create a basic frame the slightly larger than the perimeter of the tank. I next used 2' by 4' sheets of MDF to create panels for the top bottom and sides. The cuts to the MDF were made using a circular saw and therefore needed a little help to get the fit right via a belt sander. These panels once fitted were then nailed to the frame using finishing nails and an air gun. In addition to the piece of MDF on the top, I added a piece of birch with a wider perimeter to create a lip. Once this was attached, I drilled 3/4" holes on the right side of the tank where I would be running my tubing to go down into the stand. I also drilled a 1/4" hole on the left side for my CO2 line. I ultimately decided to keep the back open for the purpose of running cables as well as ventilation to the equipment that would be stored down there. The front panel was cut in the same manner as the others, but I used the hand saw to take out a proportional rectangle in the middle. This was a bit tricky to do with a circular saw, but againthe belt sander came in handy to clean up my cuts. At this point in the build, the entire thing got coated in black spray paint. I applied very thin coats, and went through 4 cans of spray paint before it was finished. The next thing to do was to figure out how to mount the front panel to the stand. I wanted it to be removable so I could have easy access to the equipment. What I ended up finding were these little clips that cost 89 cents at Home Depot. I used 4 of these to attach the front panel and after I added some cabinet handels the entire front panel was now easily removable. I then stapled fabric to the back side of the front panel, to create a textured look in the hole I cut out. This was purely for looks. I just didnt want a plain piece of wood to stare at. On the top surface of the stand as well as the floor on the inside, I used spray adhesive to attach 1/8" black shelf liner, which would keep the water off the wood thus avoiding water stains. Below are some pictures of the final product. The pictures are not that great, but I'll try to snap some new ones soon.
The inspiration for this new tank is coming from here. I absolutely love this tank, so I am trying to create something similar.
Just got done making this today. Basically I used a 1/4" female T and three 1/4"->1/8" hose barbs to split the CO2 line. I glued this to a Hammond PCB Board enclosure that I had from when I made a DIY headphone amp. Then I through mounted the Fabco needle valves to the front panel and drilled holes in the back panel for the CO2 tubing to come out. After that it was just a matter of hooking up the hosing. I am using this to control CO2 on this tank as well as my high tech 10 Gallon.
Checker and Drape-Fin Barb
Drape-Fin Barb
So I have finally gotten around to updating the old blog...
Here are some new pics of the tank. The Giant Hygro was replaced with Sunset Hygro and in the foreground Hygro. Low Grow was added. In addition to adding these plants, I found the coolest Barbs I have ever seen, Oreichthys sp. "high fin" or Drape-fin Barbs. I bought all the last 3 the LFS had. I am hoping they get more in soon. This tank might turn out to be an all barb tank (minus the Otos)...
