Nikolay's 240G question - Dallas Ft Worth Aquatic Plant Club DFWAPC

Praxx42 · 03-11-2005, 08:59 AM

Hey Nikolay, what LFS is this tank in? I thought I knew all the DFW area LFS, but I don't recognize this one:

Okay, I stop posting for today. Maybe.

niko · 03-11-2005, 04:47 PM

Hey James!

Nice to see you here!

The tank is at a new lfs in Plano intersection of Custer and Parker, "Exotic Aquatics". When I took care of the tank it look like this but it quickly deteriorated after that.

How about pictures of your monster tank!

--Nikolay

GillMan · 03-12-2005, 12:37 AM

Did you do the foam background yourself? Can you go into detail on what you covered it with, and where to get it. I've been wanting to do that for eons, but never got around to trying because I never knew where to get the resin, etc. Also, other than the plumbing, were there any unforseen problems that arose in making, installing and then maintaining it? Really cool looking, too bad it went downhill from there. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks.

niko · 03-12-2005, 03:41 AM

GillMan,

I didn't make the background. The tank with the background added in it was manufactured by DAS.

The closest DIY thing to that background may be what Jay is describing here.

Also as I've heard you can order the backgrounds separately custom sized but they are pretty expensive.

The plumbing - that tank was not meant to be a planted tank because the background and the gravel basically formed an undergravel filter. The background is glued to the sides of the tank, suspended about 3 inches above the bottom. Powerheads behind the background discharge the water in the tank. The water goes back to the powerheads only after going through the gravel.

The foam background itself has one single maintenance issue - if you get algae on it, especially BBA, it is very hard to clean, big plecos being the best way to do it

. Other than that it is very much impossible to distinguish the fake wood and rocks from real ones. Also some people loath the foam background because it's fake and because once you have it in the tank you can't change things around too much.

--Nikolay

Ricky Cain · 03-13-2005, 08:23 PM

Where's the picture of that tank with all the plants in it?

GillMan · 03-14-2005, 01:15 AM

Thanks for the information. I knew there were some disadvantages to this type of background, but even so, someday, I will try something like it. It's what many public aquariums have done for decades to get those great backgrounds.

niko · 03-14-2005, 03:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ricky Cain

Where's the picture of that tank with all the plants in it?

Picture.

--Nikolay

Praxx42 · 03-14-2005, 04:59 AM

I stopped by that tank this weekend. They've really let it go... all their marimo balls have been flattened by a lack of care or penetrated and destroyed by hygro air roots. Tons of BBA... I felt like pointing out nerite snails to othem, but that's not my place. They've even having a hard time keeping sword plants living in there. Makes me wonder what happened.

Oh and Nikolay, I'll be posting some images today. I don't have this weeks pic of the MonstahTank out of the camera yet, but I'll post some from before Xmas.

chrilleus · 07-07-2005, 09:55 AM

Hi guys,
You can read more about the background, and how they make it here: http://www.on-the-rocks.se/index.html

Nice tank you have there BTW