Okay, first serious foray into heavily planted aquaria in about 4 years, and the one 4 years ago was short-lived. Here's what I have and am planning...
115G Flat-back DAS tank, internal H-99 filter (Already own, former tropheus tank)
I have two 5-gallon buckets of a mixture of Flourite and small gravel (50 lbs. bag that I'm sure every knows.. it's Pool filter gravel) from a tank from about 4 years ago. Tank was only set up for about 4-5 months before I had to tear it down due to moving. I want to recycle this and add in enough additional to reach a 3" bed. Roughly a 50/50 mixture again for flourite and gravel.
Brother-in-law is a professional metal worker / welder. I am going to have a canopy made with two 175W 6500K Metal Halides on electronic ballasts, 3-5 DIY Moonlights from 5mm Ultra-bright LED's, and a pair of 4" fans in a push/pull windtunnel configuration. Canopy is going to be about 12" front-to-back and will have U-Shaped brackets on each end to rest on the inside lip of the tank. To the front and back, I want flat (1/2" thick or so) panels to cover between the light and the tank front/back. This way, I can pull the panels and slide the ligths forward or backwards to work on various parts of the tank.
I have a 10 lb. CO2 Bottle I got from a garage sale for $5. I want to add a regulator w/ dual gauges, solenoid, needle valve, pH controller set up that I recently saw advertised for $339 for a complete package. Basically, everything but a Light-Timer and the bottle (which I have). I think I can alter the plumbing of the filter in the internal filter to pump out to a CO2 dispenser (like the ones for sale in the For Sale forum) and still pipe back into the tank using the same return.
I have a single HUMONGEOUS piece of diftwood I'm going to try boiling in a 55G drum this weekend to see if I can get it to sink. Planning on boiling for 4-8 hours, dumping the water, refilling with cold water and repeating 3-5 times over the weekend. Combine that with the Flourite/Gravel mixture, some petrified wood, and some 'pagoda stone' to create a decent aquascape. If it doesn't sink, I have two pieces of 'Malasian Driftwood' I can use.
Once I have all the equipment, rocks, driftwood, etc in place, I plan on ordering the Plant Assortment Package #3 from Aquarium Driftwood to plant with. Proposed tank residents are:
Marble Hatchets
African Butterfly Fish (wife's request, I know he's gonna snag some meals)
2 Angels
Neon Dwarf Rainbows
2 German Blue Rams
Cardinals
Swordtails
Corydoras hastatus
L-138 Starry Night Pleco
Farowella
Lots of Ottos and Shrimp
Black Ghost Knife (Unless I can talk the wife out of it)
Local water is hard and high, but will be picking up a RO or RO/DI unit to make the water more acceptable.
I think that about sums up my current thoughts... Okay, where are my problem areas gonna be? What suggestions would you make?
115G Flat-back DAS tank, internal H-99 filter (Already own, former tropheus tank)
I have two 5-gallon buckets of a mixture of Flourite and small gravel (50 lbs. bag that I'm sure every knows.. it's Pool filter gravel) from a tank from about 4 years ago. Tank was only set up for about 4-5 months before I had to tear it down due to moving. I want to recycle this and add in enough additional to reach a 3" bed. Roughly a 50/50 mixture again for flourite and gravel.
Brother-in-law is a professional metal worker / welder. I am going to have a canopy made with two 175W 6500K Metal Halides on electronic ballasts, 3-5 DIY Moonlights from 5mm Ultra-bright LED's, and a pair of 4" fans in a push/pull windtunnel configuration. Canopy is going to be about 12" front-to-back and will have U-Shaped brackets on each end to rest on the inside lip of the tank. To the front and back, I want flat (1/2" thick or so) panels to cover between the light and the tank front/back. This way, I can pull the panels and slide the ligths forward or backwards to work on various parts of the tank.
I have a 10 lb. CO2 Bottle I got from a garage sale for $5. I want to add a regulator w/ dual gauges, solenoid, needle valve, pH controller set up that I recently saw advertised for $339 for a complete package. Basically, everything but a Light-Timer and the bottle (which I have). I think I can alter the plumbing of the filter in the internal filter to pump out to a CO2 dispenser (like the ones for sale in the For Sale forum) and still pipe back into the tank using the same return.
I have a single HUMONGEOUS piece of diftwood I'm going to try boiling in a 55G drum this weekend to see if I can get it to sink. Planning on boiling for 4-8 hours, dumping the water, refilling with cold water and repeating 3-5 times over the weekend. Combine that with the Flourite/Gravel mixture, some petrified wood, and some 'pagoda stone' to create a decent aquascape. If it doesn't sink, I have two pieces of 'Malasian Driftwood' I can use.
Once I have all the equipment, rocks, driftwood, etc in place, I plan on ordering the Plant Assortment Package #3 from Aquarium Driftwood to plant with. Proposed tank residents are:
Marble Hatchets
African Butterfly Fish (wife's request, I know he's gonna snag some meals)
2 Angels
Neon Dwarf Rainbows
2 German Blue Rams
Cardinals
Swordtails
Corydoras hastatus
L-138 Starry Night Pleco
Farowella
Lots of Ottos and Shrimp
Black Ghost Knife (Unless I can talk the wife out of it)
Local water is hard and high, but will be picking up a RO or RO/DI unit to make the water more acceptable.
I think that about sums up my current thoughts... Okay, where are my problem areas gonna be? What suggestions would you make?