6th tank, sage advise needed

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Low light, whatever's easy that I can find. My LFS has garbage for plants. I want to do melon swords and Vals for sure. Probably some water sprite. Depends on what I can get.
 
I've got some water wisteria, a regular sword, and a compact sword I could part with if you were interested... I've also got some anubias nana. Just so you know, they've been living in a bucket with a desk lamp, so it doesn't get much easier than that haha


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Is the castle part of the background or midground? You could do some cool aquascaping with mosses and riccia as grass, bushes, and trees. The castle could also hide your filter, heater and bubbler if you carefully positioned everything.
 
Yeah it's monstrous takes up a good portion of the tank. I definitely want to get some moss creeping up the sides.
 
It's a gorgeous piece of art. My only caveat is this, with something that big, you effectively reduced the amount of water in your system by at least 10 gallons. You need to take that into consideration when calculating your bioload. It will also affect what fish you can stock it with. Fish like large discus, and angels run the risk of scraping its side on a corner.

One more thing, attach a piece of insulation to the back and bottom of the castle. You are going to run the risk of cracking your tank if there isn't any protection. I've seen a tank crack from a small scratch created by sand. It was a 55, no one was in the room, and it drained in less than 45 seconds.
 
Thanks timber. I left the bottom straight foam, and have a foam base under the substrate and an extra piece to wedge behind it to buffer it from the glass. I keep coating it to smooth it out plus I'm going to do a couple of coats of sealant. I definitely don't want to injure anyone. I'm only planning on kuhlis and cherry barbs for the time being so even if reduced by ten gallons I think I should be okay. If I end up not liking it in the tank, I can always use it for something else so no harm in it. Although I must say getting cement in wounds is quite unpleasant.
 
Almost done. Have to whack the castle with some paint and then seal it up. Does anyone have a good sealer suggestion? My boyfriend has some krylon clear epoxy something or other he said he thought I could use. I just want to make sure I'm fully covering any foam board in case cement didn't get into all the cracks.
Also, would it benefit to add sand in to the sealer so that it's not super glossy? Reptile sand?
 
Why does it need painted?

Personally I would use a dark gray or black stain and antique it. This procedure would leave the darker stain in the nooks and crannies of the piece while leaving the higher surfaces the original color. I would then use a lighter stain and lightly dry brush the top of the castle. Giving the illusion of light shining from above. I prefer to let my fish and plants be the stars of the tank and downplay the amount of stuff in the tank, to the point that the only visible hardware is glass inflow and outflow pipes.

You may be able to find a YouTube video that names a good sealer.

Just be careful and make sure that the paint is not toxic.
 
Timber, that's exactly what I'm planning on doing. Hit the cracks with a dark wash and dry brush the "stones" with a lighter color. Nothing crazy, just some subtle coloration. The cement dried a little lighter than I liked that's all
 
Timber...?
I reread your post and could tell immediately you were from PA :p
"Why does this need painted..."
So many people made fun of the way I talk when I lived out in fombell haha.
I didn't do much in the way of paint but it came out ok I guess.
I barely made clearance in the tank with this thing. Woops!

Fresh- I think I already posted in there but I'll take another peek haha.
 
I live in PA, but not from here. My roots are in the USAF and I claim Montana as home. I've lived in 8 states, and 4 countries; from the Caribbean to the Canadian shield.
 
Awesome! Thanks for your service...and of course all of the advice :)

Will krylon color master clear acrylic work?
 
Got the tank fully booted...some sweet plants from RadMax, a few others I bought (pennywort, vals, wisteria)
Used a seeded sponge filter and put in some odessa barbs and banded kuhlis. Loving the fish!
 
Yes yes!
Ok so the panda garra I got from Ned's to go into this tank, but I haven't committed to putting them in there yet. They're in a temp tank.
The 8 kuhlis and 4 odessa barbs I got from Waterbury Aquarium, I'm going back next week to get more barbs (I bought the only ones they had), and stuff for other tanks.
Plants are 2 pennywort from Ned's, a sword I had, two swords, wisteria, and anubias nana from Max, some scarlet temple and (stupidly) mondo grass from Waterbury. The mondo is going to have to come out since it's not aquatic.
Anyway here's some pics - excuse the sponge (it's not there to be pretty) and the low water level, major evap and going to do a WC tonight.
Not at all what I envisioned but I'm happy with it.











 
Well if anyone is still reading...update...moved my aspidoras into this tank and put the garra in the 35 instead. Got three more kuhlis as well. More barbs next week methinks.
All params checking out seeded sponge is doing it's job. The aspidoras are already way more active and acting like a dither for my barbs, they're all going bonkers swimming together...crazy fish.
 
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