Planted tank for tetras (slow burn)

[Advanced Aquarist]

I'll start this thread with some pictures that don't appear to be related to fish keeping at all but their significance will be apparent later on . . .

scrap sheets of acrylic, 12mm thick, it looks like glass because it's actually glass effect acrylic (don't ask me why). I bought it four years ago because the acrylic fabricator were forced to move premises due to rising rent, so they decided to liquidate the old stock of plastic they had in storage and they had these green tinted sheets that their customers never used in their projects, so it went for cheap. I decided to obtain them, asking them to cut it down to 58cm x 40 cm sheets for easy storage. Even so, these are pretty heavy, and I've been meaning to use them but never got round to it. They were originally meant for a sump I've been meaning to make.

I took some of the sheets back to the fabricator and got them to cut them down again to dimensions I wanted.

process of gluing with hole already cut, will be apparent later on.

plumbing parts for the filter under construction

My favourite rotating spray bar. Made by Deltec for use in one of their filters. Bought it as a spare part. With proper use these rotating spray bars do NOT stop. The two nylon rings comprise the hydrostatic bearings, so when in operation they create a thin lubrication of water between them. Very clever design. I use two of these on my wet/dry filter for the 6' tank, and they've been running since 2008 and have not stopped spinning.

That's it for now. . .

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I like how you are making it all by yourself! Keep us posted.

 

[itiwhetu]

I'll start this thread with some pictures that don't appear to be related to fish keeping at all but their significance will be apparent later on . . .

View attachment 128459

scrap sheets of acrylic, 12mm thick, it looks like glass because it's actually glass effect acrylic (don't ask me why). I bought it four years ago because the acrylic fabricator were forced to move premises due to rising rent, so they decided to liquidate the old stock of plastic they had in storage and they had these green tinted sheets that their customers never used in their projects, so it went for cheap. I decided to obtain them, asking them to cut it down to 58cm x 40 cm sheets for easy storage. Even so, these are pretty heavy, and I've been meaning to use them but never got round to it. They were originally meant for a sump I've been meaning to make.

View attachment 128460

I took some of the sheets back to the fabricator and got them to cut them down again to dimensions I wanted.

View attachment 128461

process of gluing with hole already cut, will be apparent later on.

View attachment 128462
plumbing parts for the filter under construction

View attachment 128463

My favourite rotating spray bar. Made by Deltec for use in one of their filters. Bought it as a spare part. With proper use these rotating spray bars do NOT stop. The two nylon rings comprise the hydrostatic bearings, so when in operation they create a thin lubrication of water between them. Very clever design. I use two of these on my wet/dry filter for the 6' tank, and they've been running since 2008 and have not stopped spinning.

That's it for now. . .

I'll start this thread with some pictures that don't appear to be related to fish keeping at all but their significance will be apparent later on . . .

View attachment 128459

scrap sheets of acrylic, 12mm thick, it looks like glass because it's actually glass effect acrylic (don't ask me why). I bought it four years ago because the acrylic fabricator were forced to move premises due to rising rent, so they decided to liquidate the old stock of plastic they had in storage and they had these green tinted sheets that their customers never used in their projects, so it went for cheap. I decided to obtain them, asking them to cut it down to 58cm x 40 cm sheets for easy storage. Even so, these are pretty heavy, and I've been meaning to use them but never got round to it. They were originally meant for a sump I've been meaning to make.

View attachment 128460

I took some of the sheets back to the fabricator and got them to cut them down again to dimensions I wanted.

View attachment 128461

process of gluing with hole already cut, will be apparent later on.

View attachment 128462
plumbing parts for the filter under construction

View attachment 128463

My favourite rotating spray bar. Made by Deltec for use in one of their filters. Bought it as a spare part. With proper use these rotating spray bars do NOT stop. The two nylon rings comprise the hydrostatic bearings, so when in operation they create a thin lubrication of water between them. Very clever design. I use two of these on my wet/dry filter for the 6' tank, and they've been running since 2008 and have not stopped spinning.

That's it for now. . .

Keep us posted interesting project.

 

[Advanced Aquarist]

I like how you are making it all by yourself! Keep us posted.

I'm pretty advanced when it comes to wet/dry filter design. That will be apparent when this thread progresses.

Even at a young age I wanted to find out ways to make acrylic filter systems and ended up with using Tensol 70. It was actually toxic stuff but I managed to build a wet/dry filter in my late teens. I also worked out the water flow equations for the syphon boxes and overflow barriers, so in that sense I know much more than the average fish keeper.

I only advanced my acrylic fabrication abilities about 10 years ago, after doing it on and off for some time. I had to improve because the filter I got my acrylic tank maker build wasn't of the standard that I wanted, so this prompted me to look into gluing acrylic more. Now there are plenty of good threads and videos on youtube on how to weld acrylic, most of it is 95% preparation and 5% actually gluing it!

 

[Advanced Aquarist]

I like how you are making it all by yourself! Keep us posted.

I'd like to be able to make the pump but that's beyond my resources and present abilities. I wouldn't mind looking into it more, but don't have the time for it. I had an Abyzz A100 lying around so I used that instead.

Here are a few sketches of the filtration system I did. You need careful planning with this kind of thing.

main sump with the bracket for the syphon box. Now, I could have made the syphon box but decided not to, one in order to save time, and two my design would have used U tubes and probably wouldn't look as nice. So I bought a Reef Octopus one instead, it was cheap!

sketch of the proposed trickle tower, sealed design with the hole for the rotating spray bar in the pictures above.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I'd like to be able to make the pump but that's beyond my resources and present abilities. I wouldn't mind looking into it more, but don't have the time for it. I had an Abyzz A100 lying around so I used that instead.

Here are a few sketches of the filtration system I did. You need careful planning with this kind of thing.

View attachment 128471

main sump with the bracket for the syphon box. Now, I could have made the syphon box but decided not to, one in order to save time, and two my design would have used U tubes and probably wouldn't look as nice. So I bought a Reef Octopus one instead, it was cheap!

View attachment 128472

sketch of the proposed trickle tower, sealed design with the hole for the rotating spray bar in the pictures above.

Looks far to advanced for me...

 

[Advanced Aquarist]

construction of trickle tower.

edge was not perfectly flat so had to make supports to bend it back slightly.

four sides done

checking bottom piece for flatness. those side supports are for the egg crate to hold the wet/dry media.

bottom and top glued. Rotating spray bar in place to see how it fits. Note that there is some persistent plastic protective layer still in place, this is because over time it hardened and could not be removed easily, it literally stuck on hard to the acrylic that I had to use hot water and a razor to get it off!

This is the actual wet/dry media I'll be using. It's Flex Rings and I had it in storage for over 20 years!! Came from my old wet/dry filters I bought (now all gone, they were rubbish anyway!). Because of the age and the dirt I had to totally bleach this lot out, took days to clean it to this. 42 litres total, which is a lot of media.

 

[eatyourpeas]

Your bookshelf looks like my daughter's!

 

[Advanced Aquarist]

is she a language major or a maths major?

 

[eatyourpeas]

Quantum materials (linguistics and chemistry for fun).

 

[Advanced Aquarist]

Now the main sump

To most people the trickle tower and the sump don't look that particularly advanced, but that's mainly because you don't know what it is that you're really looking at.

You see, back in 2008, after using commercial sumps for some time I took the step that everyone who was designing sumps wouldn't take: I decided to make them have a proper lid or cover. This might not sound much but it was a major advance - even if I say so myself. All the sumps at the time were "open" (and most still are for some reason). My way of making it sealed was not so good, but it was a good for a prototype that I still use on my 6' tank. Later on, in 2014, I got word that Royal Exclusiv were producing a new prototype sump design they called the "DreamBox":

Nano Dreambox filter sytems

Nano Dreambox filter sytems Dreamboxes Dream box Royal Exclusiv

royalexclusiv.net

So they too have decided on the sealed lid design. This time they use PETG for the lids and a rebating for the lid covers, this was a much better idea than my using flat pieces of plastic sitting flush onto the surface, so I adopted their rebated lid covers as you can see in the photo.

You may be all asking why I want the sump and trickle tower sealed. Simple, I want to limit or stop condensation so the insides of the cabinet can be dry so I can place sensitive electronics. It also makes hard water creep less likely since the condensation inside the sump and tower will maintain a moist environment that will prevent any marks from forming, so in effect the sump cleans itself.

With that out of the way here was how the tank looked. I did a dry start method: planted the tank with damp aquasoil and left it for 6 weeks for it to grow in.

As you know, ADA aquasoil leaches ammonia for a few weeks, hence the dry start. Photo taken after I filled it with water and connected my Eheim 2217 with filter foam. There is also a powerhead there with the CO2 connected. Looks pretty awful with some green hair algae on the wood. The wood also stained the water. I had green water also.

This is the tank three weeks after the previous photo. At this stage the pymy chain swords were taking off, along with the crypts. The Blyxas were getting bedded in too. Most of the algae were receding and I felt confident enough to introduce fish, in this case just 12 otto cats. I was thinking of some shrimps and SAE but though better of it. There just wasn't that much algae.

close up of the above. You can see the little otto on the glass. Plants growing in nicely. Not much algae to be seen at all. I have some Buces and mosses I tied to the drift wood.

The use of the Eheim 2217 was a temporary measure. The wet/dry filter wasn't ready yet, so the tank relied on the Eheim in the meantime.

 

[eatyourpeas]

Nice growth. I am following this thread to educate myself. I could never dream of having a tank that large, but the engineering behind it is quite fun to watch. Thank you for sharing the process.

Out on a tangent: Moss Green or Deep Sea green? I couldn't help but notice the FC and Iroshizuku bottles (among others), as well as the notes in the pictures.

 

[Advanced Aquarist]

Faber Castell Moss Green. I don't actually like this ink that much but I have an Graf von Faber Castell Elemento fountain pen so decided to get the ink to go with it. It's still a very expensive fountain pen, but I don't recommend it unless you want to own it for its looks.

The Iroshizuku inks are really good.

Notebooks are actually Hobonichis with standard covers that I'm filling up.

 

[eatyourpeas]

I see. Spotted a Traveler's Journal as well. Hobonichi are great, as are Leuchtturm and Mnemosyne. Great papers for fp. The FC inks are a bit more watercolor-like. Iroshizuku have a more uniform distribution of pigment. That pen is very tanky, I prefer lighter ones since I have small hands (Ebony Anello is a better fit). I mostly use dip pens and make my own inks, but it is fun to try what is out there.

 

[Advanced Aquarist]

They were leather Midori notebook copies I got from etsy. I hardly use them, mainly for storing bits and pieces like stamps and contact details of various people and sites.

I don't like Leuchtturm that much. Quality is good but I prefer Tomoe River paper. I have some Mnemosyne too. And a tonne of Rhodia, only because I got it really cheap. Looking to fill these journals and papers completely.

Some people do find the Elemento tanky, with its cap on I think it looks stunning, very unique design. I was with Waterman once, and had some Parker Duofolds. I think the Waterman Edson is a fabulous looking pen. I had a few but could not live with them, so I sold them all and that was that . . .