64 replies to this topic

[Alfred]

I don't know if anyone is interested, but I thought I'd share how I setup my new tank.

I first used silicone to glue on the foam back ground.



Next I wired up the lights. This one is setup with 8xT5s, 6500K



All the ballast are below in the cabinet, so yes, that is alot of wire!

[Alfred]

Opps, duty calls, to be continued!

[Alfred]

I decided on a 3 layer setup, so the first down was a $3.00 bag of screened topsoil from one of the garden centers.



Once that was in place and leveled, the next layer went on, 2X15 litre bags of Water Lily Compost from a pond centre. $5.00 each.

[Alfred]

Once I had it all level, I took my plastic scraper to pull the edge away from the glass. This way when the gravel goes in, it will fill in that area so that when you look at the tank, you will not see the different layers.



Here is a picture that I hope will make it clearer. The gravel to the right of the picture is in place and that is all you see fron the outside. On the left, is the yet to be covered topsoil and water lily potting mix.

[Alfred]

The gravel is all in place now. At this stage, even before water is added, there is 150kg of stuff in the tank. Needless to say, it will not be moved from this position!



The gravel BTW is .5- 3.5mm graded river gravel also from a pond center, $10 per 25kg bag.

[Alfred]

Next the wood went in and I 1/2 filled the tank and drained it to clear any loose gunk in the substrate!



When you work with a layered substrate, there is lots of loose gunk, so the fill and drain is to help clear as much of it as possible.

If you look close, you will see that I use a shower head to fill the tank. I have found that this is the best chlorine degassing devise available.

[Alfred]

While I was waiting I started to sort all my plants and to start cutting off all the roots, to encourage faster regrowth.



From this point on, I got busy planting and didn't take any more pics, but I will over the next few days. I am waiting for the bacteria bloom to develop then clear before adding any fish.

[Alfred]

This is currently what I have in the tank.

30 x Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae

20 x Cryptocoryne crispatula Retrospiralis

10 x Cryptocoryne wendtii "green"

10 x Cryptocoryne cordata var. blassii

30 x Cryptocoryne Lucens

10 x Cryptocoryne Spec C

1 x Aponogeton madagascariensis

1 x Aponogeton boivinianus

1 x Aponogeton capuroni

5 x Anubizs nana

some Ludwigia Glandulosa

some Rotala Macranda

some Rotala Wallichii

[Blakey]

With the 3 layer bottom setup... the soils and compost etc etc.... is this commen practice for alot of aquariums?

I just thought you put gravel in there and wham bam thank you mam!!!!!

Oh and your tank looks frciking insane man, alot of work gone in to that by the looks and it is looking absolutly amazing!
great work!

[Alfred]

It is usually 2 layers, if you can get the good stuff. I did mine 3 layers as I have no clue what is in the topsoil and water lily compost.

It is a poor man's way of setting up. Woulsd be great if you could use Eco Complete alone, but for a tank this size that would have set me back about $400-500 or so.

This cost me $73.00 but you risk a massive attack of green water.

[KrUsTy]

nice tank, how much did all those lights cost and what do you use in the way of ferts?
cheers
Justin

[Graeme]

Looks good Alfred,
cant wait to see the pics as they keep coming.
What fish you thinking of adding?
What are you using for filters?

Why am i so nosey?

Graeme

[Alfred]

With that much soil in there, I will most likely not add any ferts for about 4-6 mths, but will continue to monitor. The last time I did a tank this way, it went 18 months without ferts.

Cost of the lights? Errr.... my wife from time to time will lurk on this forum too, so......... they were really, really cheap! No kidding.
Think the E ballast here are $50 each x 4, tubes are in the range of $22 each x 8, reflectors are available mail order for about $ 25 each factor in some extra$ for postage, 100m spool of wire about $55, plugs are $2 each x 4, timers at Bunnings for $13 a pair x 2.5, clips $2 x 16, endcaps $2x 16 and err. that adds up to about that much! LOL

Here is a pic of all the electronic bits. It is all mounted on a separate panel that is not part of the cabinet, so the entire thing can be removed from the cabinet as one unit.



Bacteria bloom has started, so now the waiting game begins! Water cloudy, so no point taking any pics. Will post as it starts to clear.

Fish? Haven't decided yet, love Cardinals and 600 of the little suckers would be cool but the wallet would need a major overhaul if I did that!

Filter - Atman CF 1200 supposed to be 1500L/H but I doubt it!

Media - 3 liters of sintered glass

CO2 with a 2 stage reg and solenoid - on 30 min before lights on and off when lights off.

Lighting hrs at the moment is only 3 hrs a day with an hour's increase daily till it hits 8hrs then I will evaluate the situation from there.

Expected problem - Green water and possibly hair algae, but I am keeping my fingers crossed. Problem is that direct sunlight is hitting the tank in the afternoon. :cry:

[Brett]

Very impressive Alfred, cant wait to see how the plants settle in.

That sure is a nutrient rich substrate, wish I had the courage to do that

Really like your tip about the gravel up against the glass, makes it a lot neater. 8)

Talking about neat, did you see that wiring :shock: :shock: :shock: , you got OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) or something And 5 timers, I thought two was a bit excessive !!!

On a more serious note, do you plan to use any fast growing plants in the initial phase to soak up some of the nutrients?

Great project
Cheers
Brett

[Alfred]

I wish I had some fast growing plants, but I can't find any!

I have learnt that with that many bits of electrical equipment, neatness counts, especially when it comes to trouble shooting. I got lucky this time round - everything worked from the word go. One minor hiccup was one of the timers was way slow and that meant a trip down to the local Bunnings to swap it over.

I am hoping that this thread will start other folks posting about their setups. I find forums very useful for gathering info that can be used later.

[Alfred]

I am going to post the mistakes that I made in setting this up, so that anyone planning a project along the same lines will be able to avoid them.

First big mistake when I made the cabinet and lighting hood. I was thinking along the lines of a regular cabinet and not one specially built for a fish tank.

I wanted the ballast units to be outside the hood to reduce heat and that is why they ended up in the cabinet but now I end up with a cabinet and hood that will always be connected by wires! I can take the hood off, but can't take it far from the cabinet!!!


What I should have done is either of the following options

Have the ballast in the hood and install 2 fans to pull the heat out. If I did this then I would only have power cables coming out of the hood and that is easy to disconnect, now I have 16 sets of 1mm sq twin core wires going from cabinet to hood!

OR

Have the ballast units in the cabinet, but behind a side panel that can be removed. This way I can separate the hood and cabinet without disconnecting all the wires.

At this stage I am thinking of soldering up a printer connector, but that has only 25 pins, I need to find something with 32 pins!

The other option now is to still put the power panel on the outside and build a slim case over it - only thing is that it will look odd, like an after thought that it is!

[Alfred]

Update.

Looks like I might have 150 gals of vegetable soup! Stuck a thermometer in the tank and horrors, it was 29C!!! Forgot to calibrate the damn heater!

The plants should be ok. I hope.

Some of the crypts are melting on cue and some new leaves are starting to appear. Can't really tell the condition of the water as the lights are not on yet. It's day 3 so it will be up to 5 hrs today. If the green water is going to appear, it will start soon.

PH stable at 7.

[KrUsTy]

hey mate, looks great. just wondering where you picked up that background and whether it was cheap or a bit hefty on the pockets? is it one that you can put plants on and let them root in?
cheers
Justin

[Alfred]

The background foam and will not allow thr plants to root in.

It is 24X18 inches, so there are 4 pcs there. $15 each. Got them in Singapore but they are a pain to carry back and would only do so if i had enough orders for a whole box of it. Ask Jerome, he might have them available for sale.

In the past I have taken a sheet of poly and took a blow touch to it then painted it with epoxy paint.

Here is a tank pic. The bacteria bloom has kicked in and the only thing that seems to have good growth is the batch of MMs.

[Alfred]