my first 75 gal Aquarium Journal

[Joseph Huntley]

Picture 2: In picture 2 I see sliced parts of the cliff similar to the way I have mine started where I sharpened and rounded the jutting ends.

I also see the nice smooth top and moss again in this pic.

Picture 3: I see a couple items in this picture that is interesting.

First is that the broken out pieces are squared off and thick not thin and sharp and they have the smooth rock on top again. so this tells me I need to have some nice smooth sections of rock mixed in with sharp and squared off sections.

Second it also shows Various definitive geologic time periods. We have dark section then some lighter grey shades then some tan then back to grey etc so i will want to try and figure out a way to add various shades to my rock.

It tells me to paint different sections different colors then I can use an ink wash to highlight nooks and crannies. Ive been reading and after I am finished if I use a concrete sealer it will seal everything and wont affect my aquarium at all if I use ink wash.

Picture 4: in picture 4 I just see a closeup of what I would see in picture 3 and it shows me rubble, some cracks, and layer color changes

 

[Joseph Huntley]

Picture 5: Picture 5 I liked because of the vertical walls with an interesting pattern. you have layer color changes, nice vertical cuts in the rocks, and some moss.

This gives me ideas for the 2 small cliffs I need to make in the areas where my heater and filter will be.

Picture 6: this is just some more similar to Picture 3 but has been shot with a sun filter and it really brings out some nice details like the dirt and rubble on the little shelves. I like pictures like these because the filter really makes the details stand out. I just need to figure out how to recreate this as I am on a mission to try and make good rocks layout without having to use concrete then go through the leeching process.


well that is how i find and use my reference pictures to give me ideas​

 

[Joseph Huntley]

now I will start with foam but here is a message from our sponsor

WARNING DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!!! I have seen threads where people talk about cutting foam with a hot wire in their soldering iron.

White bead styrofoam is fairly safe to do this HOWEVER never use this on the blue or pink household foams. they can produce a cyonide gas when burning and make you very sick or worse. Aslo not all foams are the same so before you wire cut foam check to be sure that the foam is safe if wire cut.

We Now return you to our previously recorded program

 

[Joseph Huntley]

I had ordered my Eheim AEH2217370 Classic Aquarium Filter 2217 , 500 ml bottle of Prime, and my master test kit only $167.00 for all 3

 

[Joseph Huntley]

Ok some new items for the aquarium

 

[Joseph Huntley]

 

[Joseph Huntley]

one thing I noticed abt the aquarium now there is a background on it is that the front glass is pretty scratched up but I figure once water is in it will hide them somewhat and its not like I cant see the fish. I figure give it a year and if everything lives and looks good the wife will be very happy and I can replace it with a nice one and my stand etc and use this one for maybe breeder tank in the back room lol

don'ttell wife but over this winter I will be building my high end stand and hood out at dads then when it is done in the spring will say see we have a nice stand lets get a new aquarium that aint scratched since we have all pumps etc we just need the aquarium lol. in mean time ill make a nice 3D background use some concrete and then build a frame and use foam and plastic to make a water holding tank and over the winter leech out the concrete. someone said using concrete sealer they never had a problem with leeching but I will leech it out then seal it and then leech some more seeing if there is a difference.

meanwhile we will have this aquarium running nice while i sneakily work on projects for upgrading lol

 

[Joseph Huntley]

well I was looking around abt light and someone has confirmed my thinking abt wattage and lights. it seems I was right after all in that using wattage to determine enough lights for plants is kooky.

this thread explains in great detail lighting and instead of lumens he is basically converting the lumens to par which is the mathematical formula and way of measuring intensity of light over a given distance. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=184368

so after careful looking at his charts for lighting already calculated my lights come in right at 40 micromols of Par which is right in the middle of medium light category. I can boost it up abt 5 micromols and put it on the high end close to high lighting if I moved it right on top of my tank. I can also get a little higher lumen light as these are based on 6500k bulbs, however I don't want to get into CO2 and algae probs etc so i will stay with low light plants and maybe a few med light ones if I can figure out something nice looking.


It would be cool if there was a website out there with an aquarium and 3D plants and you can add plants and make a 3D layout before doing it for real hehehe

 

[Joseph Huntley]

ok I have to draw up a layout yet but I think I found a list of plants that will work with my medium lighting and no CO2 plus give me a small variety of colors and varying heights

1: Limnophila hippodromes

2: Rotala sp. ''green''

3: Limnophila sessiliflora

4: Microsorum pteropus 'Trident'

5: Marsilea hirsuta

6: Eleocharis sp. 'mini'

7: Taxiphyllum barbieri

8: Ludwigia sp.


they all look like fairly easy to handle plants and when put together i think it could make a really nice layout if I can find the plants locally will be nice or if they don't break my wallet which with wife only one working and xmas time lol almost anything will break the wallet lol

So anyone have any suggestions if these plants will work for med light no CO2 and beginner plant guy? if so any similar plants that can replace the above would be appreciated.

 

[Joseph Huntley]

Designed my stand and went to dads cabinet shop and cut all my wood