# 75 setup (warning 56k)



## Ne-1 (Feb 22, 2008)

Recently got a camera so I thought I'd share my setup. Everything was built from scratch (except the tank itself, who has been sitting on it's side for 2 years)

Unfortunatly there are no shots before this planting. In this hot the tank has had water and going through 90% water changes for about a month but plants have been in for 6 days. 








So that was February 24th. and today it looks like this...
































That bald spot you see in the HC 'cuba' was due to me ripping out thread algae. Started dosing KNO3 today but lack of patience made me rip it out instead...


----------



## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Love the tank. You know if you ever kick up a lot of that substrate it'll be toxic gasses ahoy...

Your house will have the air quality of Mexico City down-town @ rushour...

Otherwise though, very nice tank I love it


----------



## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

Wow... do i even wanna know what lights you have?

LOL

I just love this tank! How did you do the background?


----------



## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Nice setup. You probably need a bit more plants to prevent the algae from setting int though. As Pablo hinted, you seem to have a very thick layer of substrate though. Good for planting, but not too sure if it's a good thing in the long run though.

*Never pay again for live sex! | Hot girls doing naughty stuff for free! | Chat for free!*


----------



## Ne-1 (Feb 22, 2008)

Thanks guys... I know the substrate is thick. that was by design. Every personal tank i build usally has some experiment factor with it. This one deals with a plenum. Which was created more out of the fact water is retuned by undergravel jets. There is also a pipe with a sealed lid which allows me to get ferts under the substrate or let it become aerobic (or at least less anaerobic) if need be. I think it looks thicker because of the layer of lavarock on the eggcrate.

The lights are 4 2xodno. The fixture is made out of rain gutter with a 1" U channel scrap metal I found to house the moonlights. You may notice in the first picture there is a piece that is a little more grey than the rest. That is a rubber strip I got from active surplus. It is glued to the edge with contact cement. I found after I made the fixture, light was leaking from the bottom, the rubber was enough just to close it in.

It is still early in the planting. I think March 14th is the magic date


----------



## Ne-1 (Feb 22, 2008)

I forgot to answer the background question.....That was carved out of styrofoam then covered with a number of layers of 2 part epoxy mixed with powered tempra for the colours and covered with sand to dry (1 colour per layer, fresh sand per coat). This was then locked into the bottom eggcrate and siliconed to the glass


----------



## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Looks good, and has a few interesting aspects to it!

May I also suggest adding some fast growing stem plants to start off with to help combat algae. You can remove them afterwards, but it takes a lot of pain out of the beginnings of a tank! Damn diatoms...


----------



## Ne-1 (Feb 22, 2008)

You know, it's funny, you ignore a tank for a week and BAM! bga. whoda thunk it?


----------



## Ne-1 (Feb 22, 2008)

I took this shot a few days ago,, hadn't had a chance to post 'til now. I knew the cherry shrimp were reporducing since I had seen babies. Actually I though they had all died cause I hadn't seen any adults for a while. Well really I still haven't seen any. But I was very excited on Wednesday when I was looking at the tank and these 3 guys swam by,








I had noticed the big round belly on the molly but I didn't figure that I would have seen fry. I guess I didn't put 2 and 2 together. 
Sorry about the water spots


----------



## Pablo (Mar 27, 2006)

Ne-1 said:


> I took this shot a few days ago,, hadn't had a chance to post 'til now. I knew the cherry shrimp were reporducing since I had seen babies. Actually I though they had all died cause I hadn't seen any adults for a while. Well really I still haven't seen any. But I was very excited on Wednesday when I was looking at the tank and these 3 guys swam by,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Forgive the ignorance-- what am I looking at??

I just see plant water and background


----------



## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

I see babies!

As for your BGA, it is usually due to low circulation. I hate that stuff - but mucho respect, probably the oldest lifeform around!


----------



## Ne-1 (Feb 22, 2008)

Good eye Chris  yep there are 3 babies in that shot. You are right about the circulation, but I don't think that is the cause in my case. I had left the NO3 levels at 0 for about a week. I think I am blaming that. If you look close in the BGA pic, just to right of the crypt by the base of the driftwood, you can just make out the tip of the undergravel jet sticking out. I would think this is causing enough circulation in the affected area.


----------



## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Well, who knows then! Hard to really pinpoint a cause - solutions often go along the lines of adding more CO2 or, in the case of cyanobacteria, cutting back on phosphorus.


----------

