[ALIFER]

This project started out when I went to Petco to pickup kitty litter for my wife's cat & I saw these little Betta tanks on sale for $5., so I picked one up.

The little tank was collecting dust until I went to a black-friday sale at the mall and saw a fountain on a $5. sale table and the idea came to me to use the fountain with the Betta tank.

The fountain was pretty small so I picked up the wood bowel from the same $5. table. You see a theme here?

I cut out a hole in the wood bowl to insert the fountain base.

I then siliconed everything together

I also added a Simple Battery Powered Air Driven Auto Top-Off to prevent the bottom sump from going dry.

I wired in a power supply along with rechargeable battery's for pump power.

I drilled the bottom of the tank to insert a fitting to attach the pump.
The fitting has to be water tight to prevent the water from leaking out of the tank and flooding the fountain base if the power is turned off.

The 1st test with water.
You can see the water overflowing the front of the tank.

the lighting is a 3 Watt MR16 12 Volt LED lamp on an old MR16 light fixture for lighting.

Unfortunately the fountain pump died during testing, so I replaced it with a small power head.
Sorry about the poor picture, but I'm also placing a small heater in the fountain base.

I created an island using a mix of peat moss & silicone around a tiny manzanita stump . Talk about a messy adventure.
I have the water overflowing the back of the tank on this picture.

-Rick

 

[DonaldmBoyer]

Umm....am I to understand, Rick, that this is an overflow to the base type of system? If so, that is WAY COOL! So the water puposefully overflows around the sides?!? I couldn't even tell! Excellent job, and a very neat journal!

Do you have any pics when you were adding the plants? Do you add any sort of fertilizer? Have you thought about adding plants to the base of the system, like mosses and anubias and such?

 

[Sunstar]

This is a unique idea. I like this.

 

[ALIFER]

Yes, the water overflows the tank, so it's always completely full of water. I have it overflowing the back side of the tank for now.

I added plants over the weekend. I planted the island with Anubias barteri var. nana 'Petite', Riccia sp. ''mini'', Dwarf hair grass, Christmas moss & terrestrial mosses from my yard.
I also placed Christmas moss under black mesh on the bottom, and then sank some tiny oak leaves on top of that. I'm hoping the Xmas moss grows up thru the leaves.

-Rick

 

[jargonchipmunk]

nifty! I have a couple acrylic cubes that I might have to do something similar with. (my girlfriend collected beanie babies or some such when she was a kid and had the "collector's cube"s left over from them. One of them will be for a carniverous plant setup (flytraps, etc) the other one I should do something along these lines! Thanks for inspiring

oops. lightbulb just went off... I should do ONE setup with both cubes... one with carniverous plants with a tiny river running through the middle, spilling into the other cube with aquatic plants.... holy crap it's all coming together now! BWAHAHAHA hehe.

+1 for style here!

 

[Tex Gal]

This is just WAY TO COOL!!! Amazing!! Any fish in there? Can we see a px inside the tank? ... a close-up px?

 

[ALIFER]

Not much plant growth to see inside the tank yet. I'm hoping the Xmas moss will start growing up from the bottom and also grow hanging over the edge of the island.
No fish or shrimp yet. I'm concerned that they would pour over the edge with the water.

-Rick

 

[jargonchipmunk]

pour over the edge with the water... that is a valid concern lol. I was sitting here thinking of the design for my "eternity island" inspired suspended double-cube thingy I mentioned before, and decided to get some more inspiration/ideas by re-reading this journal. Gotta figure some fishy-barrier out now.... Obviously, doing a partial rim around the edges would completely ruin the purpose of the open top overflowing-ness of it all... hrmm...


off to ramble around for ways to get around that... thanks for the inspiration by the way! I'm horrible at remembering to journal ANYTHING, but I'll try to this time, and I'll definitely link back here to my "source" :-D

 

[Sunstar]

possibly plastic canvas mesh set inside of it.

 

[ALIFER]

Here is a picture with a light color background so you can see more detail

Dark background

-Rick

 

[ALIFER]

I don't know if you can tell by the pictures, but part of the water output from the pump flows out from under the stump and over the Riccia sp. ''mini''.

-Rick

 

[Sunstar]

That will look wicked given some time. Keep us posted.

 

[Tex Gal]

Love this idea. I feel like the stump under the water needs plants... perhaps mini pellia or close growing moss?.... Just looks naked.

 

[Darksome]

Wow, I'm amazed that you turned this into a masterpiece and the fact that the main things were acquired for 5 bucks!

 

[ALIFER]

updated pic 2-18-09

 

[ALIFER]

Love this idea. I feel like the stump under the water needs plants... perhaps mini pellia or close growing moss?.... Just looks naked.

My original intent was to have the island look like a tiny piece of land that was the only thing left after a flood had washed thru a woodland area, but I have to agree the water views are not much to look at.
The Xmas moss is starting to grow up a little from the bottom & I added a small unknown (to me) Anubias which helps.
I was beginning to get a lot of algae growth around the base of the island so I started dosing with Excel a few days ago and the algae has is melting away.
I also replaced some of the front stones with mosses & tiny plants to give it a little more natural look.

* There is also a colony of eel worms that have popped out from something and swim around, so the water is not totally devoid of animal life.

-Rick

 

[Valthenya]

thats wicked awesome!!

 

[gravy9]

Awesome, Rick.

 

[ALIFER]

Wow, I'm amazed that you turned this into a masterpiece and the fact that the main things were acquired for 5 bucks!

hey Darksome, we both live in north county. I'm hoping to see the end of the bike race in Escondido.
-Rick

 

[Sunstar]

Very excellent. I am enjoying this little pico.