another tank aesthetic question

[JPKeenan]

Lots of species like hiding places. Caves, cubby holes and the like, as well as plants.

How many of us have some sort of decoration that is mostly there just for looks or a theme factor?

Reason I am asking is I have a few idea I might build and place on e-bay or aquabid.com

Living by the largest body of freshwater in North America I also have access to large amounts of driftwood and stones.

Edit: yeah part of my ideas are stuff to hide air lines and sponge filters and some of the less attractive stuff we need to have in some of our tanks.

 

[mgamer20o0]

none.... everything in the tanks are for something be it wood or plants...

 

[mfdrookie516]

i used to get all that junk from petsmart, then once i got pfs and figured out that natural, functional stuff looked better, i gave it all away...

 

[JPKeenan]

A lot of the stuff I was thinking of a natural look. Like hollowing out some driftwood to hide the air hoses and such... as well as some of the more whimsical ideas.

Sort of have two classes of stuff I want to make. The natural look and more ornamental.

Sort of struck me that when I was arranging some rocks in my tank into a hidey place to maybe have a natural stone monolith , like a stone henge type deal.

I would also like to hollow out, use a dremil or router for hide my air-lines. Some of the prices I have seen for driftwood are outrageous.

Plus just looking for a way to make an extra buck or two.

 

[mcgrady7761]

i think thats a great idea.

 

[DragonFish71]

JP,

I agree with mcgrady. That does sound like a good idea. Put a few things up on select sites, start small, local only kind of thing.

 

[JPKeenan]

yeah. I liked my ice igloo, can see it in my gallery. Got some people saying it was worth selling.

Like I said might just be nice to make a buck or two every week. Asked a friend of mine and her daughter if they come up with an idea to run with it (they don't have tanks).

Mostly now I am thinking of trying to hide some of the stuff in my tank.... The air hoses (have air stones in both tanks), I have a hose going to a CO2 generator in one tank. Maybe hide the heater and a sponge filter (with those will still need decent flow through for the heat and filter).

The bio ball post, as well as wanting to help seed some new tanks got me thinking about making the plastic pot scrubbies a bit less ugly... but heard they were awesome for bacteria seeding.

Sort of make two/three categories. One just decorative, one for hiding places (placos, cichlids, and other fish that like to hide), and hiding the techno-tank elements.

I am trying to get enough coffee in me to wake up. The LFS is on the way to the beach, so I want to enjoy this nice day and get some rocks and diftwood so I can get some ideas going.

The rocks I have already tested and are pH neutral but I still make rock soup and boil them. I heard you have to boil driftwood for an hour or two. Better to be safe than sorry.

Some driftwood I am thinking of just offering to folks here (since they have been a huge help to me) for just the cost of shipping. Sort of my way of saying thank you for the help.

 

[Mystery]

If there was a product in the market that hid an airstone, or better yet a submersable filter, in natural drift wood I would totally buy it.

 

[mfdrookie516]

If there was a product in the market that hid an airstone, or better yet a submersable filter, in natural drift wood I would totally buy it.

I think most of us would i hate the way my filters look just hanging down in the back. I dont use airstones, but when i did, i always had a hard time finding somewhere to hide it, especially the airline

 

[Mystery]

And it would be double-plu-good if it had a sponge filter option to make it fry and shrimp safe.

Be sure to tell us when you have product! I ordered one of those whisper filter hobs that was meant to be hidden in a natural looking wood like thing. It was fugly and much bigger than I expected so I couldn't use it

 

[mfdrookie516]

It was fugly and much bigger than I expected so I couldn't use it

I didnt know anybody else used that word! thats the best word since hecky-dern... jp, ill buy one if you make one...

 

[JPKeenan]

I didnt know anybody else used that word! thats the best word since hecky-dern... jp, ill buy one if you make one...

get some pics of the stuff you wish to hide and I will see if I can think of anything. And of course fugly is relative too *lol*.

I must have about 30lb of stone and about the same amount of driftwood I picked up. Got home way too late to boil them all so might not even be able to start till next weekend.

*lol* heard a good way top sterilize the driftwood (for pieces that can fit) was to throw it in the dish washer without any soap. Some of the pieces I will boil with the stone.

 

[mfdrookie516]

ive heard of the dishwasher before, but if i decided to do it, i think i would have to let it run a couple times empty first to get all the residue out, and they say not to leave dw in there for the dry cycle cause it might crack the wood

 

[JPKeenan]

most likely will leave it outside to dry in the sun.

Once again wishing I had a yard or a patio to dry the stuff on.