Bert's 30G Planted adventure.

[Bert2oo1]

On gumtree some cheap ones come up every so often here. Some look pretty good (not a fan of metal stands so a bit fussy here since I'm just window shopping anyways). I wish we had dollar per gallon sales!

Haha I know right! I got 2 of my tanks off gumtree (the 125g and the 55g) both were an absolute bargin. The 55g (4 foot by 350mm) was $80 with 3 power heads 2 air pumps and a fluval 205 canister.

The 125g was $150 but it's 10mm toughened glass with 20mm of bracing all round. The guy said it cost him over $1000 to get it made.

I do love a good bargin

 

[TMaier]

What is gumtree?

 

[Bert2oo1]

What is gumtree?

Gumtree is like eBay but local for Australia.

 

[TMaier]

That's such a cool name.

 

[Delapool]

I think the US has craigslist or something?

Seen 10ft tanks in wood display cabinets cheaper than my 4ft.

 

[Bert2oo1]

I think the US has craigslist or something?

Seen 10ft tanks in wood display cabinets cheaper than my 4ft.

Yea u can get some really cheap stuff if u browse regularly. I've seen 6ft tanks go for $50

 

[Bert2oo1]

So this is the sort of thing I had in mind (roots over rocks but I think I would only go from the left side to use over the mid of the want with the DW. The wood would sit over a rock hardscape. There would be quite a large foreground to the right hand side.

You can see why I want a new tank as mine lacks width a is slightly short in length aswell.

I might be able to achieve it in the current tank but I'd be stripping all the substrate plants rocks etc. I don't have another tank to put the fish in while I rescape either (unless I get a divider and put them in with the goldfish) but I'm not happy with the filtration on that tank so I would be worried for the fishes health.

I want a tank that when someone walks in my door they go "wow that looks awesome" and I haven't achieved that yet. At the moment the aquarium just looks like a tank with plants.

Plants I'd use would be:
Moss of some kind (not sure yet)
Pogo
Anubias
AR mini
S repens
HC Cuba or Monte Carlo
Maybe Some sort of small Java fern

There would be no large stems in this tank as I want the wood to be the hero rather than the big tall stems.

 

[Fresh2o]

My fish as sitting in a 6.6 gallon tank (what's that like 25L?) along with the stem plants. Carpet plants are in a bucket.
I like the scape you are going for. Yes, roots emerging from ONE corner over the stones will look nice. Plant list very similar to what I have going on, though I might cave in and put some stems in there.

 

[Caliban07]

View attachment 292013

So this is the sort of thing I had in mind (roots over rocks but I think I would only go from the left side to use over the mid of the want with the DW. The wood would sit over a rock hardscape. There would be quite a large foreground to the right hand side.

You can see why I want a new tank as mine lacks width a is slightly short in length aswell.

I might be able to achieve it in the current tank but I'd be stripping all the substrate plants rocks etc. I don't have another tank to put the fish in while I rescape either (unless I get a divider and put them in with the goldfish) but I'm not happy with the filtration on that tank so I would be worried for the fishes health.

I want a tank that when someone walks in my door they go "wow that looks awesome" and I haven't achieved that yet. At the moment the aquarium just looks like a tank with plants.

Plants I'd use would be:
Moss of some kind (not sure yet)
Pogo
Anubias
AR mini
S repens
HC Cuba or Monte Carlo
Maybe Some sort of small Java fern

There would be no large stems in this tank as I want the wood to be the hero rather than the big tall stems.

That scape is pretty awesome. Very excited now[emoji846]

 

[Delapool]

That photo looks nice - keen to see how a build goes.

 

[Bert2oo1]

So not getting my hopes up but I was talking to my father in law and apparently he knows the guy who supply's most of the glass down here to the glaziers. So hopefully I might be able to get a cheap deal through him! Fingers crossed!

 

[Bert2oo1]

Bit of an update, 30g is looking really good apart from the on going BBA issues that keep popping up here and there.
Considering getting rid of the inline diffuser and building a DIY Griggs reactor.
I feel the pressure of my regulator just isn't quite enough to keep the co2 stable with the inline.

However I am going to wait and see if I can get this other tank built. If I can then I will be making one for that tank.

My 2g cube is starting to take off abit. I can see the roots shooting down into the substrate and the moss is growing nicely!

Pic of the cube, 30's still the same

 

[Fresh2o]

When do you think you will be flooding the DSM tank?
Looking forward to the DIY reactor. I wish clear PVC was not so expensive. Not only would you be able to see what's going on in there, you could make something that looks nice outside of the cabinet.

 

[Bert2oo1]

When do you think you will be flooding the DSM tank?
Looking forward to the DIY reactor. I wish clear PVC was not so expensive. Not only would you be able to see what's going on in there, you could make something that looks nice outside of the cabinet.

Will be flooding it in about 4-5 weeks still I recon. It's only been planted for 2 weeks so I think I'll wait the full 6 weeks to make sure the HC and moss grip really well.

I've seen the reactors made out of the tank syphon tubes, I'm guessing they would be very similar size. I was considering this as I'd like to know when it's all clogged up. You could even put a little LED behind it to really make it a feature

 

[Caliban07]

Bit of an update, 30g is looking really good apart from the on going BBA issues that keep popping up here and there.
Considering getting rid of the inline diffuser and building a DIY Griggs reactor.
I feel the pressure of my regulator just isn't quite enough to keep the co2 stable with the inline.

However I am going to wait and see if I can get this other tank built. If I can then I will be making one for that tank.

My 2g cube is starting to take off abit. I can see the roots shooting down into the substrate and the moss is growing nicely!

Pic of the cube, 30's still the same
View attachment 292122

Looks pretty awesome that bud. When you rescaping the biggie?

 

[Bert2oo1]

Looks pretty awesome that bud. When you rescaping the biggie?

Just waiting to hear back about the glass for the new one. If it ends up being too expensive then I'll rescape the current tank. Hoping I get the new one though I'll have to do a few beach walks with the dog and see if I can find the right piece of driftwood for the scape aswell.

Can't decide if I want to use lava rock or blue stone. Blue stone is free but the lava would cost me about $100. That's $100 that could be spent else where

I've decided on a final plant list aswell so I'll copy paste it in my next post.

 

[Bert2oo1]

So this is my plans for the new tank (or old one will be minus the hardware)

Filter - Aqua one 1200 - Aqua one 700
Lighting - makemyled 90cm tubes x3
Glass - 10mm low iron.
Timber stand- (maybe checker plate inserts)
Substrate -black Eco complete 2 bags
Rocks - lava rock or blue stone?

Measurements
876x496
900x500 x2
496x500 x2
10mm low iron glass.

Plants:
HC Cuba
Pogostemon helferi
AR mini
S Repens
Needle leaf Java fern
anubias pangolino
anubias barteri
Java moss or willow moss.

 

[Fresh2o]

I wish I could send you the first four plants listed.
I like the see through aspect of a reactor so that I can see what's happening (too many bubbles, not enough, are they being suspended, clinging to the tube walls, etc).
Do you have pics of the blue stone? Not familiar with its color and texture. Probably less contrast against the EC?

 

[Bert2oo1]

I wish I could send you the first four plants listed.
I like the see through aspect of a reactor so that I can see what's happening (too many bubbles, not enough, are they being suspended, clinging to the tube walls, etc).
Do you have pics of the blue stone? Not familiar with its color and texture. Probably less contrast against the EC?

Yea I priced up all the stuff for a cerges reactor today and it's gonna cost me about 50-$60 (using a clear house filter) however unless I upgrade to the new tank I have no room in my current cupboard to fit it. I couldn't find the right fittings to make a Griggs one.

I used the bluestone in the nano above so that's what it looks like. I 100% agree that the contrast would be a lot better if I went lava rock.
I'm trying to keep costs down as much as possible but I feel if I don't do it right from the start then I will end up unhappy with the finished result. I really want people to walk into my house and say "wow look at that!" And if something doesn't fit/look right then that won't happen.

 

[Delapool]

Was wondering what the blue stone is made out of? I've only heard it used for road base (basalt) but that looked like something else?