A3M0N

I ran across this in my YouTube feed and thought about this thread. EDIT: The video isn't embedding. Link: EASY, Cheap, DIY Aquarium Light STAND! (youtube.com)

My favorite childhood anime is Voltron/King of Beasts GoLion, and the updated Voltron: Legendary Defender on Netflix is fantastic! My favorite anime genre is mecha. Most of the Gundam family are great, my favorite is probably 08th MS Team. Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of my favorites, but only mecha on the surface. It's more psychological and about human nature. Macross Plus is probably my favorite anime movie. I grew up on Robotech, and I've watched most of the Macross series. I like them, but not fully my cup of tea. But Macross Plus is rewatchable for me. I just recently got back into watching current/newer anime. Frieren: Beyond Journey's End has been great so far. Metallic Rouge, Jujutsu Kaisen, Seven Deadly Sins pop into my head. Other than anime, by far my favorite animated stuff has been the Star Wars shows. Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Bad Batch, just great stuff! I love it when older (I mean, I'm 42, not old right?!) Star Wars fans sleep on them because they're animated. Anyway, thanks for letting my inner geek escape!

I saw your first post and thought those are going to be waaaaay to strong for that 10 gallon, lol! Very nice! I'm a big fan of making something that isn't too difficult to save a ton of money.

Maker Pipe is great for making conduit structures. I'm planning to build a garden trellis with it this season, and upgrade my aquarium stand when I'm able to build my wife the terrarium she has been wanting. https://makerpipe.com/ My shop lights hang on a PVC stand I made a painted black. Not the prettiest, but works! EDIT: Picture of PVC stand

I've been looking at this on my desk for a few days now. Since it's upstairs, on my desk near the monitor, and over carpet I want to keep water changes to minimum. It's only 2.5G and planning on shrimp, so I'm thinking about trying the Walstad Method. I've watched the video KG Tropicals did with Diana Walstad a few times now and I think I have a handle on the concept. Here is my inspiration for the scape: If you're not an anime fan, it's a crashed Zaku II from Mobile Suit Gundam. I don't think it's a scene from the show, but it has an 08th MS Team feel to me. Anyway, I want to have a steep sloped bank on one of the narrow panes with the Zaku kind of embedded into it. I want some moss and epiphytes to root around the Zaku itself and something like crypts around the base. I also want some tall stems to give it a deep feeling, I have bacopa caroliniana in my 10G for that, I'd love for it to grow out of the top and flower. I have vision of some carpeting patches, maybe pearl weed kept trim low? I have frogbit for floaters. I've found several models on Thingiverse to print and paint instead of a true Gunpla model. There will be less hollows or voids to fill in with a solid print. I'm still looking for a good matte clear sealer, but right now it seems like the clear Flex Seal or Plastidip are good options. I'm not sure if I'll be able to pull it off, and it will be a long process due to my work/school/intern schedule, but this is my plan as of now!

A quick update! Still only my 4 little friends, 3 purple rasboras and 1 harlequin. I've run several rounds of hydrogen peroxide, but they were at least a week apart, so not as close together to really kill all the algae but doing a good job keeping it down. I got the DIY co2 rockin again. My first batch lasted about 2 weeks, not too bad. I'm still researching the best for my co2 solution, right now I'm content with the yeast/sugar method in a 1 liter bottle. I did get a drop checker to be sure of what's going on. I'll probably get back onto the EI fertilizer schedule soon too, the plants have shot up since adding the co2. Hopefully soon they can out compete the algae. Question: I still have plans to get a few otocinclus. Will they eat the dead algae?

Thanks! I have a vision for it already. There's some artwork from a show I like, I hope to do a sunken diorama kinda of think with it that will include some tunnels/hides for shrimp. I may look for mountains/boulders to print. More to come! This is what I'm thinking for placement. I work from home, for the rest of the calendar year at least, so I can have some shrimp keep me company while I'm working. The lamp also came from Goodwill, but a different trip. It has a warm bulb that came in the lamp right now, it'll have a daylight LED when all said and done. 2.5G of water weighs roughly 16lbs, I'm confident my desk can handle the weight. I'll probably paint the back and small back right panel black with acrylic paint. And I still need to clean it up.

Wow, free is a great deal. Around here I've only seen outrageous asking prices for used aquariums or thrashed equipment I don't have time or skills to fix on FB. I briefly thought about a betta or chili rasboras, but there really isn't enough room. I'll probably stick with shrimp. I like snails, I had a mystery snail in my 10G for a long time, but I'm not equipped to deal with snails breeding. I think shrimp breeding will be easier to handle, but I could be wrong!

I stuck my head into Goodwill the other day and found this odd shaped 2.5 gallon aquarium for $5, I couldn't just leave it there right? It's marked KollerCraft on the bottom. It's missing the light and filter that came with it originally, but came with a Tetra Whisper 4g. The filter works, a little noisy, but not terrible. I leak tested it overnight, all seems good. Just needs a good cleaning. I'm planning to keep cherry shrimp in it. Most likely will use black sand for the substrate. I hope just some easy plants inside, and 3d print some plant holders and grow something like pothos out the top. Not sure what I'll do for a light yet, or where I'll actually keep it. It's a very odd shape. This won't be a fast moving project. I'm swamped with family, work, school, and internship. I'm working 5 days a week, and interning the other 2.

Thank you! I told myself I wasn't going to do anything like co2 when I started the aquarium, too involved I said. Then I dabbled in the DIY co2 realm and it made a world of difference. Now it's looking sad again, not that I couldn't rescape with easier plants and lower light, but that's not what I want for this particular project. I've also seen figures where the material cost will eventually cost more than pressurized, but it won't do me any good if I can't find anywhere to refill paintball tanks. I really don't have room for a 5lb tank. I've searched the forum and seen several people have used the generators, maybe if I do end up getting one I'll start a thread chronicling my entire experience with it so it'll be there for others in the future. I think I've kinda already made up my mind, just wanted to hear some other opinions too.

I've stayed away from co2 since my DIY kit blew up a while back. I haven't been happy with the plant growth and algae issues since then. I lowered the light intensity a lot, but didn't like how dim it looked. I'm sure my algae problem is too much light. Another problem is all but one stem of ludwigia repens died, I hope to save my last one! I just started a yeast/sugar bottle that is running pretty well. I don't want to stay with that system permanently though. My first thought was to go with a paintball tank pressurized system. I can get a new 20oz tank around $25, and a regulator made for paintball tanks around $65. Not bad for around $90-100 in equipment. The issue is Academy sells tanks, but doesn't refill co2 anymore, and I'm pretty sure Dick's Sports doesn't either. I can't find any welding shop or gas service near me, and not sure they could refill paintball tanks either. I don't play paintball anymore, but I've ready they mostly moved to compressed air instead of co2, so even the fields/shops don't refill co2 anymore. I don't want to spend the money and not be able to get it refilled! My next thought is a steel co2 generator. They cost around the same as the paintball tank equipment but will require refilling every 4-6 weeks. The biggest difference is I know I can always get baking soda from Wally World and citric acid on Amazon. I know I can't afford a 5lb tank and regulator, and it's only a 10 gallon tank so it would be overkill. And I think the SodaStream route is too expensive for the replacement tanks. Anyone have experience with co2 generators? Long term use?

The 2 plants that have done best in my 10 gallon are java fern and bacopa caroliniana. When I had CO2 going ludwgia repens did really well, but not so much without it. If you go with java fern just don't bury it, I superglued the plant to a rock and put it where I wanted it.

I probably feed mine too much, but this is my approach. Also, I only have a few rasboras so they have the same eating habits. I turn off the filter pump for 5 minutes and give them a little pinch of flakes for "lunch", they usually eat that up pretty quickly. Then in the evening for "dinner", I turn off the filter again for 5 minutes, then drop a few floating nano pellets at a time and only give them more when they're all gone. I do this until they stop coming to the surface to snatch more food. This works well for me, I get to interact with the fish and make sure I don't overfeed them at the same time.

I've still been super busy, haven't had much time to be on the forum and keep my journal updated. I feel bad for not really looking at everyone else's and commenting too! The first obvious thing, I treated for algae this morning before I changed the water and cleaned the tank up. As much as I respect all the work that went into RR, I just didn't have the time or energy to pull all the plants out and soak them. So I took out the filter and ran 12ml of hydrogen peroxide for 15 minutes before changing the water, it looks like it dinged the algae good! I'll retreat again in the next few weeks if needed. 2nd big change, I finally cut and drilled the full length spray bar and the flow is great! Future plans to revisit DIY yeast/sugar CO2. I know it's best to go with a pressurized system but I just don't have the income for that right now and I need to fight the algae. I've also gotten back on top of fertilizer dosing, I had really fallen off on that. And still planning to refill with harlequin and purple rasboras and a few otocinclus. EDIT: My mystery snail died a few weeks ago, her antics are missed! I've been considering Malaysian trumpet snails to help keep the sand clean, but am afraid of them taking over.

Not a great picture, glare and reflections, but didn't want to wait until the evening to take a better one. Still have the brown algae, but it is much thinner where the reoriented spray bar is flowing. I picked up a new piece of PVC last week to extend it across the tank, that may help clear up the algae. I still have plans to fill it back up with harlequins and purple harlequins, I've been thinking about a few otocinclus as well. It's about time to thin out the frogbit again too.