darkG Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 (edited) Actually, I said it. While I have been looking (shyly?) at the aquarium stuff for a long time, I just recently committed. Never had a tank before. So yeah, trying this forum for advice, admiration and laughs 🤨 Edited October 23, 2020 by darkG 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alesha Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 Welcome! Glad to have you here. Best of luck with your new adventure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted October 22, 2020 Author Share Posted October 22, 2020 The kick in the butt was the upcoming holidays and no sensible gift ideas for my daughter of eleven. We've been talking in passing about fish and aquariums. So, I looked into it and decided to go for it. (And who can honestly wait for Christmas!) Anyhow, while I hope she will have ideas and so on, it's pretty much, in effect, my tank and responsibility for now. I found a used 220 liter (yes, I'm with metric, I'll convert sometimes, not always folks) tank and an affordable fluval external filter. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L.W. Wetarm Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 (edited) 43 minutes ago, darkG said: I found a used 220 liter (yes, I'm with metric, I'll convert sometimes, not always folks) tank and an affordable fluval external filter. I just divide by skinny 4 and call it good 😉 Edited October 22, 2020 by L.W. Wetarm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveSamsell Posted October 22, 2020 Share Posted October 22, 2020 2 hours ago, darkG said: The kick in the butt was the upcoming holidays and no sensible gift ideas for my daughter of eleven. We've been talking in passing about fish and aquariums. So, I looked into it and decided to go for it. (And who can honestly wait for Christmas!) Anyhow, while I hope she will have ideas and so on, it's pretty much, in effect, my tank and responsibility for now. I found a used 220 liter (yes, I'm with metric, I'll convert sometimes, not always folks) tank and an affordable fluval external filter. I think this post is awesome. Not every hobby seems to bring families closer together, but sharing an aquarium & learning together about fish, plants, water chemistry, etc. lends itself to good family time. In this stressful world today, aquariums are indeed bringing folks closer together, one gallon\liter, at a time. Welcome to the Forum & fish-keeping...😎 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted October 23, 2020 Author Share Posted October 23, 2020 Thanks all for the nice reception, I appreciate it! I enjoy the technical and diy side of this aquarium business, so I aim to exploit that beyond the strictly neccesary. When it comes to the fish and other life, I am considering various fishes, plants and, likely, snails. I have nice tap water; high alkalinity, a bit hard, pH on the high side, non-chlorinated. Currently I am awaiting a heater and an air pump. I've (more or less) gotten lights sorted. I had led tubes at hand and managed to 3D-print a simple fixture. I have also begun making a foam background. Lots of fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted October 23, 2020 Author Share Posted October 23, 2020 Current (half of) background. Foam polystyrene is glued, cut, hot air gunned and a first coating of a cement based product, not sure what you'd call it. Later coatings will have dark pigments mixed in. I plan not to clear coat it, not 100% sure that is wise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted October 23, 2020 Author Share Posted October 23, 2020 (If or when I write awkwardly it's either because I don't master english or because I enjoy being out there. Likely both. Sometimes Autocorrect is to blame, lol. At any rate, I'll welcome criticism and pointers regarding use and abuse of words and grammar. Thanks!) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted October 24, 2020 Author Share Posted October 24, 2020 (edited) The right part of the background. I didn't cut it much, relying more on hot air (+ the shape the piece already had). This softer foam shrinks away quite willingly. I think I'll sculp it up a bit with cement instead where needed. It still looks a bit too much like the packing material it is... Edited October 24, 2020 by darkG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 (edited) Finding my roots The blob to the right is a rock that I got with the tank. It really looks more like beat up styrofoam than the beat up styrofoam does in this photo. Edited October 25, 2020 by darkG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted October 25, 2020 Author Share Posted October 25, 2020 (edited) This is the sand I am strongly considering. Related: learned the word esker. Edited October 25, 2020 by darkG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted October 31, 2020 Author Share Posted October 31, 2020 Made "night lights"! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted November 30, 2020 Author Share Posted November 30, 2020 Slowly making progress, I think. I have put magnets in the backgrounds for easier replacement or service. I had an idea to try a kind of supplementary bottom filter thing - I'll drop that for now. I finally got the heater and an air pump, currently trying to make sense of filter intake and output arrangement, I have an external filter. And I try to hide the tech, so it's a bit of a hassle honestly. Self inflicted, but still. Anyway. I am looking at black mollies, guppies, dwarf neon rainbowfish and kuhli-loaches. I try to figure out sensible group sizes (though I am aware that the livebearers will have their own opinions on that). 55 gallons, planted, some snails and possibly cherry shrimps - how many kuhli-loaches and rainbowfish seems reasonable? Starting number of mollies and guppies? I guess the first fishes will be the livebearers, one or the other. In addition to the rådasand mentioned I got some "ECS nano" substrate, a variety of sintered clay I think. I actually found a similarly looking product in my pre owned Fluval canister filter. Speaking of which I threw out a satchet of activated carbon since I consider it a short time medium and substituted pieces of Scrub Daddy-sponge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 Bits and pieces; I printed a structure I found in different scales and broke apart and glued to rock, kind of hide-out and plant- and moss modules. They look pretty natural imo. Also glued my long piece of wood to rocks since it doesn't want to sink. I also printed a shrimp cage, but I reckoned it might become a kuhli loach trap so I repurposed it broken apart to small "moss fasteners". I actually got me some weeping moss, growing on the windowsill for now. Tank is not started... I scrapped the external filter (afraid of leaks, dissatisfied with noise level) and am instead going for small pumps built into the background. It's a mess, but it's my mess. I have also routed air lines in the background for convenience. Until things start to fall apart, then it will be pretty inconvenient 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 For no good reason I made a bottom similar to the background (styrofoam+cement). Might save me some substrate or whatever and safeguards against rocks falling onto the glass. Likely to complicate planting. I plan to plant sparsely in substrate anyway, we'll see... possibly, if I keep that bottom, it can be used to partition plants or whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted January 5, 2021 Author Share Posted January 5, 2021 (edited) Final(ish) state of background (and bottom) Edited January 5, 2021 by darkG 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanked Posted January 5, 2021 Share Posted January 5, 2021 On 10/25/2020 at 11:14 AM, darkG said: This is the sand I am strongly considering. Related: learned the word esker. Now I learned the word Esker. Thankyou! Did you use that sand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted January 5, 2021 Author Share Posted January 5, 2021 (edited) I have decided to go with it, aquarium not yet started 🤪 It's 0.5 - 1 mm Rådasand, I think it will be good. I also got some clay (instead of root tabs) and some "sintered clay" style granule substrate (ECS nano it's called) to mix it up a bit. But I feel like mounting or floating or emersing the bulk of the plants. Plants are the hardest to plan, I feel! I want to be flexible in that regard. I mentioned that I already got some Weeping Moss. The half of it left in the 1-2-grow cup developed some mold, I am curious to see if I can save it. The drama! Edited January 5, 2021 by darkG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sashi Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 I'm excited to see how this turns out. Thanks for bringing us along for the ride. Stocking wise the only thing that might be an issue is the Cherry shrimp. Not impossible, if there are lots of places for them to hide, but they might get snacked on here and there. Amano shrimp might be better, as they get bigger, but you lose the fun of finding babies. It's all a learning experience and it is above all things your tank, so do what you feel is best! Hope to see more 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted January 10, 2021 Author Share Posted January 10, 2021 Thank you, yes, I realize the shrimps may be, well, eaten. I kind of knew that but then kind of seemed to forget it after a while 😎. I was just reminded elsewhere. I have been looking for pebbles to make a pile for shrimps to hide in, It's oddly hard to find basic rocks though. I have some incoming, a bit smaller than I first wanted, we'll see. While making the foam/cement backdrop I also, just as a distraction, made a few fake rocks. I'm not sure about them either. One turned out kind of like a cave, so that one might be something for the loaches. I choose to listen to Lucas of LRB aquatics, so I currently believe that neocaridina is the better match for my water. Also they are cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted January 16, 2021 Author Share Posted January 16, 2021 So this is the end of the beginning, I guess - I threw out the useless bottom, put some blobs of clay on the bottom, then a little ECS*, then a bag of rådasand 0.5-1.0 mm. Mounted seven small Anubias (nana "bonsai") on the wood and on the back, and some wads of weeping moss too. More moss on hold. I also got some stem plants, lemme see, it was several shoots of an orange Rotala rotundifolia. Yay. * Easy Care Substrate, some light clay-based inert supposedly plant friendly stuff. Sand is not deep, so it won't matter much I think. I don't like the small smooth rocks. https://youtu.be/4yq5GC4CMKI (brief sweep) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kearmstr Posted January 17, 2021 Share Posted January 17, 2021 I love the amount of work and detail that you’ve already put into this tank! Congrats on the planting part. I’m still learning a lot, but regarding the mosses...I’ve noticed that mine thrives where it’s getting good flow. If it’s tucked in corner or dead spot it is much slower to grow. I’m looking forward to seeing the “beginning of the middle” steps of your tank! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted January 17, 2021 Author Share Posted January 17, 2021 (edited) Thank you 🙂 I think the best way to learn things like this is by experience, but I don't really live by that wisdom. The weeping moss I want to place not to low for it to, well, weep. It will be interesting to see where it grows the best. I am very much married to the idea of small Anubias + moss on the wood. Flow is interesting indeed, and we'll see how it all works out. Especially slow growing plants not getting totally covered in algae would be nice, lol. The basic idea in the tank is that water is sucked in in the middle and pushed out at the sides. My over-complicated setup didn't work exactly as planned, though to some extent this is what happens. I do have noticeable flow at the lower left, I might try some moss there. I keep some of the moss on the windowsill in shallow water mounted to pieces of plastic (strands simply put through holes), so this "fastener" can be tied to or glued to the hardscape or whatever. Edited January 17, 2021 by darkG 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kearmstr Posted January 17, 2021 Share Posted January 17, 2021 59 minutes ago, darkG said: I am very much married to the idea of small Anubias + moss on the wood. I love that combination too. This is only a few months along. The small amount of algae on the Anubias wasn’t getting taken care of by my Cherry Shrimp so I got 5 Amanos last week and *poof* All Gone! 1 hour ago, darkG said: I keep some of the moss on the windowsill in shallow water mounted to pieces of plastic (strands simply put through holes), so this "fastener" can be tied to or glued to the hardscape or whatever. I love this idea! I’ll have to try this next. I’ve learned that I enjoy keeping most plants “modular” so I can rearrange as I like. This would be great to have it on hand, ready to go! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkG Posted January 19, 2021 Author Share Posted January 19, 2021 Looks nice! What species is the strands coming in at the top? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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