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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!!
 
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#291 · (Edited)
Aaron---that's great news! That's about as fast as I can handle!! :D

Philip, no worries! Like I said, I should have taken a pic before I had planted it. Maybe I'll send you some in a few months. ;)

Hey Bill....thanks! Webcam of my tank.....not a bad idea!! lol!! Feel free to PM me to get more info and my opinions on the Hygrolon. I'll be happy to discuss it with you more!

Thanks 2in10! Nice to see you pop in again bud!! It's been a while!

Keith.....look forward to grabbin' a bite to eat on Tuesday. I'll let you know about the Staurogyne, but it will be a while.

I agree with you about the tank. It should get better and better as time goes on. There should be buce's, thread-leaf java fern, and anubia species covering most of the Seriyu stone and going up the submersed manzy branches, tons of mature crypts and various stems either filling in the background or growing above the water line and flowering, and the Sag should form a nice natural looking lawn. At least, that's what I'm hoping for! It's not as hard as it might seem, though....sure, there are (and were) some hard days with setup, re-planting or rearranging, and stuff like that. But, the "top" part requires little maintenance except for daily watering of the "non-epiphytes" or twice-per-week misting of the epitphytes....that's not too hard. The "bottom" of the tank requires daily feeding, some ferts in the water column, and maybe a twice-per-week five gallon water change. Some minor trimming every so often. Nothing that hard, really. Maybe an hour or an hour and a half every week, I would guess.

Compare that to my last set up where I would spend up to 8 hours in one day doing massive trimmings, plant packages, re-plants, and so on. This system is easier in many ways!!

Last set up pictures for a little bit. I'm getting the camera fixed. My lovely wife accidentally dropped it, and it broke one of mirrors in the camera, so we are trying to have it repaired. I may just have to get a new one, I guess. ;)

Feel free to comment and critique, and thanks for taking time to look everyone!!

One of my favorite parts of this tank are the "valleys" between the Seriyu stone peninsulas. Here is the one on the left side, by the Red Metallic patch:


Here is the other one on the right side....you can see the newly planted "true" Sagittaria subulata:


Shot of the Alternanthera along with a Tilly and a micro fern in the background:


Shot of the left side of the tank:


Nurii mutated:


Dischidia sp. "Geri" flowers:


Right Oblique:


Closer in:


The "undergrowth"....one of the coolest parts of the tank, but it doesn't photo well unless you are zoomed in on it:


The branches on the right side....you can see the obvious differences between those who have Hygrolon and those who don't. I think that most will have Hygrolon on them as time progresses....:


Top down (my perspective and eye level):


Macro lens shot of Hygro polysperma "sunset":
 
#294 ·
Hi Devin! Thanks for pointing that out....I fixed it. I just turned in my camera to get it fixed so I won't be able to take pics of it for a little while. But I will! There are blue flowers on it on both sides.

Thanks Marko! It doesn't really need to be trimmed to often....about a "handful" comes out every few weeks. In my last set up, it needed more attention!
 
#299 ·
infamouz23--Thank you!! House comes first, then hobbies! Are you a Detroit transplant too? Whereabouts?

kwheeler--Thanks for the advice, man! :hihi: That's my secret...I just plant another half-dozen of everything in between photo ops. lol!! Frank's MTS and Devin's root tabs are some pretty powerful things!! I have the easy job....just some minor tweaking from time to time.

2in10! I hear you...it can be difficult to remain so intense about anything. Glad that you took a break from it for a while. Now, get back to it!!!

Noodle-- :D Thank you kindly! It has plenty more to go, for certain! I could use that Sagittaria to fill in some of those blank areas around the crypts...and as much I like the Seriyu stone, I really got it so it would fill in with buces.
 
#300 ·
Wow! Unreal tank! The colors are out of this world. Need to read through the whole thread.
 
#306 ·
Thanks Rainbuilder! :D I thought that the Spanish Moss would add some additional interest to the layout. Glad that you like it! Keep checking back...this tank should keep getting better and better without me really having to do much else other than fertilizing and doing some minor trim work. Just has to keep growing! I do have additional plants on the way for both the top and bottom this week, so I look forward to adding those.

zzrguy! Thank you!!
 
#311 ·
NWA---nope, just corner-bracing. I wish that I didn't even have that, but it sure beats Euro-bracing!!

Pweifan---I'm not quite sure what you mean by my filtration. The tank is filtered using an FX5 filter, but like most filters, it's really there for water circulation, too. I also circulate the water using two Hydor Korelia pumps, and I run water separately through UV sterilizer and a CO2 needle wheel pump. So, in addition to the FX5 and the riparium and aquatic plants keeping the water "filtered" and clean, I also have a total of five pumps providing water circulation, which is key.

The terrestrial plants are kept moist by me manually either misting them or pouring water over them using a bottle. I usually pour water over anything that is growing on LFSphagnum moss once or twice per day if I'm at home, though this is probably "overkill"; and I mist the plants when I mist the Tilly and Bromeliad species once or twice per week. SOME branches have a sheet of Hygrolon that I've attached which does a great job of wicking tank water up and keeping those areas appreciably damp. I will be re-doing additional branches using the Hygrolon as well.

I suppose that I could add a MistKing and/or a fogger and likely wouldn't have to manually do any watering. May be a project for down the road. We'll see!
 
#314 ·
Bob---talk to Toksyn; he carries it now.

Wei---my pleasure! Bill suggested that u set up a fogger using a humidifier like Len did in his set up, so I may steal the idea for my own! It may mean that I won't have to constantly be pouring tank water on my plants everyday.
 
#317 ·
Thanks a bunch 11f150. We could meet up at AC...you should think about joining up with TankOutlaws.com; we're arranging for a meeting up in Clarksville sometime in March. Would be great to see you!
I joined tankoutlaws back in December and just have looked around a bit. Ill post more on there and probably start a build thread. Im on MTRC right now with my thread, just have to decide if I want to have 2 going lol
 
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