lanceduffy

I was thinking about getting out of the hobby. Then my wife gave me a 60p for my birthday. I have slowly been collecting the materials needed for the setup. I am starting this, my first journal, because I just finished my DIY ADA stand. I am pretty happy about it. I need to stain and seal it and I am looking for thoughts about that. I am pretty new to working with wood so you can't be too basic. I know I need to protect the wood, I think there are different ways to do that but I don't know what they are. I want stick with the natural wood but would like opinions on what color to go with. Most of the wood in my house is dark. I have wood floors, you might be able to see their color in the photos. I do like the natural light color of the wood right now. It is birch.

I have made a hardscape that I am pretty happy with and would like your thoughts. I collected the rocks in Cascades of northern Cali. I set one in white vinegar for about a week and no bubbles etc so I think I'm OK.

Substrate will be ADA Powersand Special S, 9 liters of New Amazonia and probably 3 more liters of Amazonia 2 that is in a year old layout. The hardscape pictured is with the 9 liters of New Amazonia.

The filter will be a 2213 with the pump disabled and a blue line 10HD handling the water movement. Lily Pipes for in/out. I will be using Bio Rio and Purigen in the filter. I will probably upgrade the filter for the extra bio media capacity of a 2215 later on.

I have a regulator and pollen glass for the CO2. I might try an inline CO2 atomizer though. Heat will be hydor inline.

I am undecided about lighting. I am probably going to get a fish-need-it light. I really like the suspended look so I am thinking about going MH. I can't decide on 70 or 150. I am leaning towards 70 because I don't want to futz with pruning all the time. I have not seen to many scapes using the 70 so I am looking for opinions. I would love to see photos of how your suspended 70, 150 MH or 2 and 4 bulb T5HO look in the room they are in.

I will plant with dwarf hair grass, glosso and HC. I have the dwarf hair grass but I am looking for glosso and HC. Thanks for looking.

Full View

bryfox86

tank and stand both look excellent!!

lanceduffy

Thanks bryfox68!
I have been looking at stains and sealers this week. This weekend I will pull the trigger and finish the stand.
Plants are in the mail and should be here this weekend. They will be a mix of plants coming from my other tank and some I bought off the forum. Glosso, HC, Hairgrass, and some Rotala Green will be in the mix. The Rotala will likely serve as a nutrient sink in the setup stage then be removed.
I am also looking for a local source of Otto's and Cardina Japonica for the clean up period. I may have to drive 2 hours to the next big city to find them. The pleasures and pains of small town life
I hope to have more pics by the end of the week end.

jemminnifener

I'm pretty new to the hobby so can't offer much advice but your hardscape and stand look beautiful. I like the clean lines of the stand and the stone formation you've set up looks very natural. Are the door(s) hard to open on the stand? I don't see a ledge or groove anywhere for a nice handhold .

lanceduffy

Jemminnifener, the door is actually quite easy to open. Just grab the corner and pull it open.

I have been struggling with the color and finish of the stand. As I mentioned earlier, after working with the wood, I became fond of its unfinished color and texture. Most of the wood furniture in my house is dark. But I think that keeping the stand light stays true to the ADA ethic that puts the focus on the design INSIDE the glass box. I think that the dark colors might draw too much attention to the stand itself. Also, I plan on suspending the light fixture which always casts light on the wall between the light and the tank. I think the light color of the stand will complement the brightness above the tank. Who knows? If you are wondering why I just didn't laminate the thing. The boss won't allow. And I almost agree with her. If it were completely up to me it would be white laminate... maybe.

I will be finishing the outside of the stand tomorrow afternoon. So please give me your input.

Here are my color tests on scrap. Clockwise from top left: (#1) 2 coats mahogany 2 coats satin poly, (#2) junk, (#3) 1 coat cherry 2 coats satin poly, (#4) 2 coats cherry 2 coats poly, (#5) 2 coats poly (#6) 1 coat natural stain 2 coats poly. Leaning towards #5


Inside of the stand with 2 coats of satin poly. Note: Since I built with birch ply, the color and grain of one side of the ply was different from the color and grain on the other. I used the most consistent and uniform wood grain and color on the outside of the stand. The wood on the interior is darker than the exterior.

AaronT

Nice looking stand.

My favorite way to hang my lights is to use the wires that attach to the ceiling above the tank. I've used the light stands made from 1/2" conduit for years now and I just recently decided to hang one from the ceiling. It looks so much better this way and it's only two little holes to patch if you ever move it.

Robert Henry

Very nice. Good job on the stand! I say go with stain #5. But I wouldn't set it up in front of your door!

lanceduffy

Haha thanks Robert, I reconsidered and will not be setting this up in front of the door!

This tank is replacing an older AGA aquarium. At 2:30 today I got to work. I tore down the old tank! I moved the filter and fish to another tank while I worked so that I could preserve the bio filter.

I put in the powersand. Topped it with 1 cm of aquasoil amazonia from the tank I tore down then began scaping. A little new amazonia, thenthe rocks, then more soil, then the plants. Finally the cleanup. Agrr the cleanup!

I planted the front with glosso. There's a little HC in there too for fun. If a glosso vs. HC war starts out that could be fun to watch. In back of the rocks is hairgrass. There is also some blyxa tucked behind the big rocks, if it turns out OK then I'll keep it there. I don't have high hopes that it will look good, its mostly there to suck nutrients up. I threw in a little frogbit for the same reason.

I am interested in seeing how long the ammonia stays around for. I have an established bio filter (2 liters of bio rio in a 2213), to that I added 1 cup of carbon and a bag of purigen. Daily water changes start tomorrow!

Sorry for the crappy iphone pics. I took some with my SLR but after 5 hours of aquahobby work I can't be bothered to upload from that. Those picks will come later.

Thanks for looking.

lanceduffy

I have been emailing with Simon at FNI. He said they are back to using dimpled reflectors on their 70 W MH light. I am still undecided on whether to go with their 70w MH or the 4 bulb t5ho. From what I read the 2 bulb T5ho is all I need. But that fixture does not work with their hanging kit and I need to hang this fixture.
Over to the lighting forum to ask a question...

lanceduffy

I am seeing new growth in the glosso and hairgrass. I saw a tiny bit of dust on the rear glass as well. For the past 4 days I have been doing lights and CO2 for 4 hours.

I am not new to photography but I am new to off camera flash and aquarium photography.

This shot is how the eye sees it under my 6500K bulbs. Handheld, 50mm f1.8 1/50, Canon 30D. Not the best shot but it is the reference of how the tank looks in the room. At first the shadow on top part of the main stone bothered me. However I now think it adds drama.


This shot is done at 2pm with light coming into the room from a window on the left and one behind the camera by 20 feet. No light above the tank. Camera is on a tripod, I am using two off camera Canon strobes firing through soft boxes from above at 45 degrees from the waterline plane. I don't love this shot but I am learning from it. The first thing I wanna do is see how this works at night time.


while photographing. I noticed a small cherry shrimp in the center along the glass. It must have rode in with the Blyxa. I put an established filter on this tank. With additional carbon, purigen and daily 30% H2O changes the ammonia levels are still high. Quite surprised to see the little guy in the tank. Wish him luck.