[Ashly Scott]

On a small scale, I finally took the plunge!

I enjoy the DIY stuff, so I built the wood base and canopy and installed a 36w compact. Those are fan filter guards, but there are no fans. I thought I would need them, but with the aquarium being an open top, the heat didn't build up as I was expecting. Keeping up with evaporate should be fun though.

Thanks to the generosity of Nickolay, I started with great plant material. It all came from Nickolay's tanks. Oh...and Mickey was the source of my start up bacteria. Thanks again to both of you!

I just mixed my first batch of DIY CO2. Once I start seeing some bubble action (tomorrow morning, if I did it right), I will begin phasing in the light starting with 5 hrs. per day.

Being the beneficiary of a club raffle prize at the last meeting, I have Seachem's N, P, and K on hand. I did purchase the dry chemicals earlier, but will probably stick with the Flourish products at first. Now, I just have to figure out when and how much. Everybody's question...right?

There should be a couple of pictures below.

 

[Sir_BlackhOle]

Wow I really like that tank! How did you make the stand and hood? Its really sweet!

 

[niko]

This must be the nicest hood and base for a 10 gal. tank that I've ever seen!

The aquascape may benefit from some more off-center composition but there is enough room to adjust that in the future.

Nice!

--Nikolay

 

[Piscesgirl]

I agree that is a beautiful stand and hood! Wow! I'm always so impressed with folks that can build things! (especially beautiful things).

 

[Rob G]

Very nice stand and canopy. I look forward to seeing more pictures of this aquarium as it matures.

 

[Phil Edwards]

That's beautiful woodwork Ashley and the aquascaping looks like it's going to live up to its surroundings. Could you take a more head on shot so we can see the whole design?

Best,
Phil

 

[Ricky Cain]

Nice layout

Ashley,

I think you have a good start with the design of your layout. It will look even better as time progresses. I too would like to see some more shots of the tank.

 

[Ashly Scott]

Thanks for all the nice compliments!

I know I need help with the aquascape. As Nikolay said, I need more off-center composition. I am looking forward to playing around with the layout as I go. I have attached a head-on picture as requested. Where do you think the aquascape should go from here?

As for the building of the stand and canopy, I used 1/2 inch plywood to wrap the top and bottom. I then trimmed it with pine and birch. I basically tried to mimic nice stands/canopies I had seen for larger aquariums. The stand even has a notched out groove for the bottom plastic trim of the aquarium to slide into so that once it is in place the wood meets up with the glass and hides the plastic trim. I painted it with black spray paint and topped it with a few coats of polyacrylic. I think the black looks neat, but I consider most of my paint grade projects to be prototypes. I like to then follow them up with a stain grade version. For fun I have also attached a picture of a 10g stand and hood I did a couple of years ago (stain grade).

BTW...The DIY CO2 seems to be going ok...I think. I am getting some minor pearling. I dosed a little KNO3 (5ppm), KH2PO4 (1ppm), and Flourish (1ml) yesterday and will again tomorrow. The light duration will be increased tomorrow to 10hrs. I have also added some a couple of Amano shrimp.

 

[SnyperP]

i think shrimp would be a great addition to the tank

 

[david lim]

Ashley
It might be possible to add driftwood in such a way as to make a new focal point off center from the java fern. But you would need to find the right piece(s) of wood :0).

It would be nice to learn how to build such nice cabinetry. Only if someone were to give a presentation about building cabinetry for a club meeting in Dallas/Fort Worth ** hint hint, wink wink** .

David

This must be the nicest hood and base for a 10 gal. tank that I've ever seen!

The aquascape may benefit from some more off-center composition but there is enough room to adjust that in the future.

Nice!

--Nikolay

 

[Rob]

Ashly,
I build hoods and stands for nano aquaria also. Man, it is like an addiction. I build a 2 1/2 nano reef with internal filtration at the beginning of January, and filled it up with little coral frags, and then I built a 10 gallon, and now I am getting ready to plant a 5 1/2 which I am fine tuning. All of them have oak hoods with AH SUPPLY lighting systems, and oak bases. The planted system has a DIY CO2 generator within the internal filtration, so it is a very clean system with nothing hanging off of the tank, and no hoses, etc. cluttering up things.

Anyway, if you would like to run a cabinetry session for the club sometime, we could do that, and bring examples. I have cut lists, etc, also, so maybe we could do a kit thing so that all of the cuts were already done, and all that would be needed would be assembly and finishing.

Your tank looks good, by the way.