Alright time for more info and pics on the build.
The tank and stand are the Aqueon 15 gallon kit which comes with a very basic fluorescent light, heater and filter. I am going to keep the heater and filter stock but am hiding them behind a PVC overflow and then behind the rocks so you won't see anything. So the filter is an Aqueon Quiet flow 10 (100 gph flow) and Aqueons 100 watt heater.
The fluorescent light that the tank comes with has the ability to light up the tank and that's about it, so that got ripped out and was replaced with 2 LED lights that are basically the same LEDs that come included with the aqueon evolve 8 tank (which I also have and will be setting up as a nano reef tank at some point) which is actually pretty nice. Though the two lights I have are made by aqueon they have been rebranded to a Pro Clear Aquatics 5 gallon desktop kit that ended up failing (I don't think you can find the tanks anymore) but I managed to get a hold of two tanks for really cheap, threw the tanks out (it was a really cool idea to put a small built in sump underneath a tank but they screwed up the overflow and the tank leaks easily) but I kept the lights and pumps for future use for something and they turned out perfect for this tank. Each LED is about 4X as bright as the fluorescent included with the tank and combined they are about 8X brighter (using a very basic light meter app on my phone, the fluorescent gave around 25 lumens per square foot, while with both LEDs on it was reading at around 200 lumens per square foot at the bottom of the tank) and they are a pretty good spectrum so I should have good luck with plants in the tank. Anyway here's a pic of the LEDs, I had to mount them with some screws and bolts but it turned out nicely.
The overflow for the tank is just a PVC pipe with slots cut out with a dremel, I did have to cut out a larger hole for the filter pump (aqueon likes to put their pumps in the water which takes up a little bit of space) and then I sprayed the top of the PVC with a black krylon fusion to give it a nice even color.
Next up getting some rock and breaking it up into smaller pieces.
Then attaching it to the back of the tank and the overflow which should hold it up pretty well. Using the same silicone that Aqueon uses to manufacturer their tanks, Momentive RTV. It has a very strong hold and due to the size of the tank and the amount of rock I'm not worried about the weight of the rocks attached to the glass Causing any problems. Though it took longer than I thought it would for the silicone to completely dry.
After it dried I did a water test to see how much water volume I lost, the tank holds a little over 13 gallons now, and with some of that being behind the overflow I'm treating the tank as a 12 gallon display tank now.
Then let it run for several days, fill the bottom with EcoComplete, and let it cycle in for a while.
After about two weeks of cycling I added in a group of random tetras (neons, albino neons, glolites and some green fire) from one of my other tanks and I moved a couple crypts over as well. I will be moving some crested java fern onto some of the rocks, everything else will have to wait a little bit. And thats where I am at right now, more updates to come later on.
