Noob photos

No I've got a longish airstone stuffed under the substrate in the middle of the tank.
 
Is it working? Are the bubbles small and slow to the surface or maybe delayed by the output's current?
 
Actually I moved the stone underneath the driftwood on the far left of the tank and I'm using the top of the arched opening to trap the bubbles before they're released. Sort of a cheap "bell". I may actually remove it and grab the dremel tool to open up a little bit larger area even. It'd never be seen from outside the tank but should capture the co2 perfectly.
 
Well some updates.

Tank just didn't have enough lighting and some of the plants were just getting shredded by some of the fish. I've since removed a portion of them and am working on some new projects to fix earlier shortcomings.

Tank as it stands now:

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Some progress pics of the new hood I'm building. It's going to have 4 - T8 bulbs from Hagen - Sunglo, Aquaglo, LifeGlo, and PowerGlo to completely cover the spectrum along with a dual 12" cold cathode light setup on an adjustable converter. DIY to the max.

Front plate clamped and glued
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Basic design with trim
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With doors on top of tank
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Interior shot (this is the tri-T12 setup I was going to run, getting replaced this week for the T8 equipment)
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Ordered up the cold cathode tubes today from ebay, stopping on my way home to pick up my fosters and smith order, the lighting ballast, and some extras to get everything mounted up. Going to have to fill some holes and move the bulbs a little closer together but I should have plenty of room still to fit everything. More pics tonight as I make progress.
 
Ordered up the ballasts today from atlanta light bulbs.

QTP3X32T8/UNV/ISN/SC
BALLAST, SYLVANIA 49945 OPERATES 3 F32T8 or 2 F40T8

for $17.07/per + shipping. Hope to have them here next week so I can get started on wiring them in.
 
Got my cold cathode tubes in on Saturday. Went ahead and wired them up temporarily, but mounted them permanently. Not going to be using the twist caps to hold them in place permanently.

Installed.
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Lit up at 9v
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Also went ahead and got the mounts for the T8's installed and ran some wiring for the grounded side of the bulbs.

Grounded side bulb holders.
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Positive side bulb hodlers - waiting for the ballasts to see how I want to wire this side.
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Grounding plate for ballast, reflective flashing, and ground wiring run (still have to drill hole to get wiring out backside, but waiting on ballasts to detemine the best spot to do this.
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Nice.
 
Was able to get some lighting together for it this weekend and finish it all up. Now on and operational. Will try to get some photos after dark but I don't have a camera that's very good at capturing it just yet. Here it is with 2 of the lights on and running just before I did a water change and planted some new plants. One 10,000k and one 5,000k.

Sorry all photos are with my camera phone as my digital camera is acting up.
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Here it is with the other 5,000k bulb and a 12,000k bulb in place (160watts total), and the new plants I picked up as well.
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Now I have to re-do the base to match the hardware and design of the top.
 
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