Tank Design ideas

[plantbrain]

Some ideas I'm kicking around.

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=1544070&uid=855345&members=1

Fun stuff!
No plants even....yet

Regards,
Tom Barr

[punch]

Hardly wait to see when its done! Thats going to be an awsome
looking tank!

[djlen]

Tom, what size tank is that?
Len

[plantbrain]

A modified 75 gallon that had the top trim removed and then I glued the glass slats on.

It has a Wet/dry, about 4-5 inches of onyx, CO2 etc and electronic Blue line ballast for the MH's which I use 4300K temps.

The yellow color is less harsh than the 6500 or the 5500K temps and match well with the adjacent lighting better and the bulbs are 1/3 the cost ans available locally like the wood, plants, rocks and fish etc.
Everything will be from the area except the filter/gravel etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[djlen]

You're lucky you have all that material locally. It would cost a fortune to find knees like that in New Jersey. Or petrified wood for that matter.
Len

[Sumpin'fishy]

I had a question about why you are going to use a wet/dry on this setup? I'm assuming that you will have to add alot more CO2 to compensate for the loss through airation in the wet/dry. Am I right? I thought most people who did serious plant tanks don't do wet/dry's? Am I wrong? Especially with a 75 gal (which I plan to get), it shouldn't be difficult to use say two canisters. I have noticed you said you had an overflow in this aquarium, so maybe that's the reason for wet/dry?

Anyways, it looks like a beautiful, unique setup and hope it gives you much pleasure.;)

[tyler]

i hope you're using that phallic piece... ;)

[The Gipper]

Tom, what type of return are you going to implement from the wet-dry?
I'm finally setting up a 120 (24x48x24) with similar equipment (MH with e-ballasts, wet-dry, CO2 including one of your reactors!).

I'm thinking of a spraybar for a return placed near bottom along back (see below). the return would come over top lip of tank with pvc elbows, go down towards the bottom of tank, and then 'T' into a spraybar with caps on both ends

______________________ top of tank
..............||
..............||
..............|| return going down into a 'T' to the spraybar
..............||
....______||__________
....| ________________| spraybar (capped on both ends)

_______________________bottom of tank


How close to bottom would you place it, or do you like a different type of return

Thanks...Mark

[Mr.Jingles]

I really think the cypress 1 has a promising outcome, not that the others dont, but I would go with that layout.

you could cover the really tall sticks with a lot of anubnias sp. and crypt sp. and the like. Let the plants run wild all over the longs. the ground could have grass at the base of the logs and gloss as a carpet...

just looks like a good idea to me.

although you could use the skinny sticks and hang spanish moss from them, giving it a feal of a marsh or something. get some archer fish and then flightless flies...or something...not that archers can thrive in freshwater...

anyways. good stuff.

[The Gipper]

Didn't mean to post a question above without commenting on yours!

I like the cypress 4 setup. Just saw Lord of the Rings - Two Towers. The monolithic look of craggy mountains in the cypress 4 design reminds me of several parts of that movie fantasy.

[plantbrain]

Gipper:
The spray bar design is perfect. I use the same type.
You can scuff the pvc up good with very course sandpaper and cover it with java moss etc to hide it or simply have decore and plants hiding it.
I have mine sitting on the gravel's surface.

Wet/dry filters remove no more CO2 than other filters if set up right.
Most of the CO2 lost occurs in the overflow due to splashing etc.

See George's Booth's, Steve Dixon and my discussion of the APD or elsewhere about that. We all use wet drys and never have any issues. Don't inject air into the biotower etc. The biotower does not degas the CO2 if sealed. It' actually fills with O2 during the day and with CO2 during the night.
But this is mainly from the plant's action, producing O2 in the day to excess levels above 100% and the bacteria in the sump producing CO2 as they use the O2.
CO2 is cheap and easy to dose, even if a little was removed.
The surface skimming takes oly the tank water with the least amount of CO2 into and the then returns only CO2 enriched water since folks use the CO2 reactor in the sump which feeds directly into the return pump's intake.

I can cover all the wood with plants etc but it's not the design I have in mind.
There's plenty of plants in store as it is.

Recall these are empty non planted tank right now:-)
That will change.


Regards,
Tom Barr

[125gJoe]

Very unique.. I also can't wait to see the progress! Hope you will follow up with future pics.

[Sumpin'fishy]

Thanks for clarification on the wet/dry's and CO2. Good to know you can do both. Best to you on your ideas!

[plantbrain]

Well I am building a pair of 10 inch cubes for the wire end stands next to the tank that will have bonsai Bald swamp Cypress trees which do very well indoors.

I call these "satellite" microcosms/aquaria.

I will have native killifish in there. No filter etc, just main tank water exchanges every 3-4 days and fish feeding.
There will be about 4-5 inches of onyx sand and 3-4 inches of water in these 4 gallon tanks.

The light from the MH's will give adequate light for these and other plants I intend to have near the tank, on the wood etc.
I'll also have a plant tray behind the stand outside where there will be a row of tropical foliage growing up and behind the tank, better than a black background and will hide some other items.
You will not see the planting tray, only the plants growing up and towards the light.

Regards,
Tom Barr