The Planted Tank Forum banner

Crazydaz's Square 200G RIPARIUM Stikes back-The End Teaser shots of new set up 7-24

253K views 848 replies 191 participants last post by  leequan 
#1 · (Edited)
Just finished up with the move from old rental property to new home. Life sure has been hectic lately!

So, the Journal starts over, and as much as I hated to tear down the tank from this:


and this:


To THIS:


and this:


.....but it had to be done. To re-set and try to go with the same aesthetic would have been uncreative and boorish. Everything was sold or given away. Many thanks to Tlyons01 who spent a "fun" afternoon tearing the tank down with me. It only took about 7 hours. :D

Prior to that, the outside of the stand/pedestal was removed. It was made of 2x4's: very solid construction, but the outside was made of pressboard. A terrible choice, in retrospect, for obvious reasons. It had been warped and bubbled, and was a total eyesore. So, I stripped it down and threw it out.

Here are a few pics of the new pedestal:




That is red oak stained with walnut with iron hinges and knobs. We're going for more of a "rustic" old-fashioned look for the sitting room, and I thought that this would look nice. Eventually, the pendant above the tank will be redone either in black, or it will be done to match the pedestal. Probably happen in January. In the new design, I added side doors in order to make accessing the equipment in the back easier to do. It has been triple coated in poly on all sides to ensure water resistance, and almost "water proofing."

The day following the drain and dis-assembly, we moved the tank, lighting, and new pedestal to the new house. This was all done within two hours, which was faster than I had anticipated. The move went flawlessly, and I was ready to re-start the scape. So....

IN went custom made Manzanita branches that came from hydrophyte, plain kitty litter (about 30lbs), and that was topped by MTS made by DogFish. The Manzy branches are semi-poseable that will allow me to move the "joints" as needed in order to access equipment with relative ease, or to alter the hardscape as desired. You will notice screws in some of the future pictures; these are the "joints" I refer to....just a simple screw and nut assembly. Hydrophyte did do a marvelous job cutting the ends of the branches into simple fittings through which the screw passes through and is held on the other side by the nut.

DogFish sent six large Flat Rate boxes of MTS to me months ago, and makes about a two inch layer in my tank. Wonderful stuff!:





Sprinkled on the potash, pressed it into the MTS, and then topped that with some of my old tank's substrate. Added the Seriyu stone and the old stone from CraigThor's tank, and now this is how it looked:





Three rock "peninsulas" are featured in this set up for bucephelandra, anubia, and java fern species; the substrate will feature mostly crypts.

More pictures tomorrow!!
 
See less See more
10
#443 ·
No, I can't take the credit. It came from DaveMonkey. He felt the need to get rid of it as he wasn't sure he would be able to keep it thriving, so he PM'd me and asked if I would be interested in taking it off of his hands.

What was I to do, Aaron? ;)
 
#446 ·
Frank, I wouldn't have a clue at this point. I'm pretty sure that I have at least 18 different species of buce's alone, probably about the same for crypts, and maybe about another 18 species between the stems and anubia. That's being conservative, and that doesn't even begin to touch the amount of different species on top either. It's collectoritis.

Dev, it was recovering from a peroxide treatment. The growth put on by the background stems impeded my water flow a bit, and between that and leaving my CO2 off (by mistake) for a week, I got a little hair algae formation. So, I've had to dose peroxide a bit, and had a moderate amount of leaf melt. No biggie to those guys. They rebound quickly.
 
#450 ·
Re: Crazydaz's Square 200G RIPARIUM Strikes Back! NEW PICS 3/12!!

It's so clean... And pretty... And..the colors, the COLORS!!!

*DROOL*

OK once my glass finally decides to ship.. And i get it put together... Want to scape my tank??? Pretty please ^_^

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
 
#453 ·
Thanks lamiscool! I'm happy to give advice, but if I did the design, it wouldn't really be your tank. I think that you could come up with a better idea than my tank, in fact, I would want you to!! It's better for the hobby....a bunch of Don-looking tanks like this would become pretty boring, don't you think?

But thank you! I'm very flattered!! :)
 
#457 ·
uhh.....yea! sure....thats EXACTLY what it meant :icon_roll

really though, your tank is very inspiring, How much CO2 are you using per month for your tank if any? I'm planning a tank this year to house my arowana and Bichirs and I'd like to plant it as well. But after seeing this I might as well make a pond for them to live in lol
 
#459 ·
Thanks Tajaba! I do run pressurized CO2 at about a rate of three bubbles per second. A 20lb CO2 cylinder usually lasts me about 8 months, maybe a little longer.

Hey Brandon! The fogger is just a simple cool mist humidifier that I have attached some hosing to and run into an extra spraybar I had laying around. I think it was by HomeMedics or something. It's the same one that Lenny (Ibacha) used in his Borneo setup.
 
#461 ·
I have it positioned at an angle, basically at a diagonal angle with the holes pointed slightly downward. My spraybar has a removable top and bottom cap that screws on at the two ends, which makes it somewhat adjustable. However, I usually just leave those off. I noticed that if I screw the top on, I get too much condensation running back down the hose into the humidifier which stops the mist from forming.
 
#465 ·
....Don't copy me bro! :D I've seen a few tanks mysteriously pop up since this setup that have had Tillandsia. That deserves a slight eye roll. :icon_roll: Lol!
Pretty weak when people use one's ideas but don't give credit. I believe I was the 1st to use a track light system for PAR38LEDs. Would it kill ya to give some credit? Throw the dog a bone people :hihi:
 
#464 ·
Ahh im not gonna copy you, but i do want a few plants around my tank, i used to have planters hanging behind my 29 gallon. Ive been looking at doing orchids so im not gonna copy. But incorporate.
Im also looking at foggers for my daughter's terrarium. The reptile ones just look cheasy unless u wanna spend big bux. Shes 4, im not gonna buy a 300 dollar fogger.

I also have a very humid bathroom that a few tillandsias would do well in
 
#469 · (Edited)
Brandon, I'm totally kidding! ;) Actually, I approached Devin with the question of what might be able to grow on Manzy branches that would be low maintenance and hardy. I believe he actually deserves the credit for first bringing up the idea of "Tilly's" to me. I MAY be one of the first to have used a "square" tank for a freshwater set up four or five years ago, but that really isn't too creative as they already had cube tanks around.

And, "yes," we need to give Frank his due props, Han! Well done, Frank! :D

Tajaba--No, I don't do any testing. I can tell by what's growing well in the tank what the pH and hardness is around. It's a good enough for me. I'm not sure what you mean by "what is with" the plants and substrates? It's a very, very high light system that is well fertilized using mineralized top soil, some GroSoil and GroHumate tabs from Hydrophyte, and some EI as needed. I also use peat granules in the substrate, filter my water through peat granules, and don't change out any more than 5-10% per week with new water. There isn't anything that I'm doing that would be considered a "trick" or have some sort of secret to what I do. Truly, the only thing incredibly unique about this system may just be the amount of lighting and the bulb choices. Otherwise, it's a soft water, nutrient-rich system.

Yikes, Brandon! That's a LOT of CO2 your pushing through that system. I use a needle wheel impeller+spraybar which is incredibly efficient for spreading my CO2 around in the tank in "mist" form. If it ain't broke, though, right?
 
#471 ·
The sump! There it is. :D Still, a half-pound per day of CO2? Seems like that would get expensive. Would it make more sense to simply grab a needle wheel pump and inject it separately? Just straight into the tank? It would pay for itself in about 14 months just in CO2 refills alone.

A buddy of mine was going to use this system and force the water and CO2 mist through a water filter in order to achieve 100% dissolved CO2. I have to check in with her to see if she was successful. A system like that would be, theoretically, "sump-proof," agitation-proof, etc. and a 20lb CO2 cylinder would probably last someone like me for a year and a half. I would love to see that in action!!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top