Fishykid's 15G Self-Built rimless - Self built Fun

[fishykid1]

You would think 3 tanks is enough in the 12X13 foot bedroom of mine, but nope. I enjoy my aquatic friends way to much to keep it there.

This tank won't cost much at all to setup because I already have all of the equipment, just need the substrate.

The goodies:

Tank: Home-built rimless tank (24X12X12) - great demensions
Filter: Fluval 205
Light: DIY LED fixture (12X Cree xpg CW, 5X Cree XPE RB- will be dimmed) or 2X24W t5 (I have both)
Substrate: For now Seachem Flourite from other tanks. I will likely switch to mostly black diamond sand later

Planned plants:
C. petchii
C. wendtii 'green'
C. Wendtii 'bronze'
C. parva
Staurogyne Repens
Moss - can't decide which sp.


fauna -
10X Rummy Nose Tets
1X Male Featherfin - I need a couple females
~XX Red cherry shrimp

This is the tank I built before I brought it inside - hadn't cleaned up any edges - filled and sat for 5 days - no leaks


I still need to build the stand for it, but it's going to be a simple 2X4 stained stand...nothing fancy like the last few I've made.

[.Mko.]

looks good cant wait to see you set it up =)

[fishykid1]

Won't be running till after Christmas, but there will be setup pictures.

[Da Plant Man]

Yay! I think my 15g is the same dimensions. I picked it up for $10 at a thrift store, I derimmed it, and now I am going to make it into a terrarium

We gotta have more pics than it just sitting outside. Can't wait!

[fishykid1]

Originally Posted by Da Plant Man

Yay! I think my 15g is the same dimensions. I picked it up for $10 at a thrift store, I derimmed it, and now I am going to make it into a terrarium

We gotta have more pics than it just sitting outside. Can't wait!

Building it was a good experience, took a lot of patience Don't worry Caton, pictures will come.

[pagemee]

Building you own tank is brave. I would always doubt my seams, but looks good. Post your progress for us learners. My tank requires feedback, no advice yet. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ta...ed-pretty.html

[Da Plant Man]

Originally Posted by fishykid1

Building it was a good experience, took a lot of patience Don't worry Caton, pictures will come.

Thats cool. I would have rather built mine for the experience rather than buy it. Yours looks great! :thumbsup

[fishykid1]

Originally Posted by pagemee

Building you own tank is brave. I would always doubt my seams, but looks good. Post your progress for us learners. My tank requires feedback, no advice yet. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ta...ed-pretty.html

I was extremely careful to ensure that the seems were solid. By putting a little to much silicon on the seems and having it seep out on both sides pretty evenly, I pretty much ensured a solid seem. The only thing I was slightly disappointed about was that the bottom pan of glass was about 1/16" off which makes it stick out about 1/16", go figure.

[HolyAngel]

T5's will be waaaaay too much light on this tank unless you have no reflector and have them raised a foot+ off the top.. I'd honestly go with t8's instead, or led's, but less LEDs than you stated. I have a 15gal with this exact size with similar setup and ya, even with pressurized co2 2 t5's is asking for an algea farm. Other than that the tank and rest of the setup sounds good, good luck!

[fishykid1]

Originally Posted by HolyAngel

T5's will be waaaaay too much light on this tank unless you have no reflector and have them raised a foot+ off the top.. I'd honestly go with t8's instead, or led's, but less LEDs than you stated. I have a 15gal with this exact size with similar setup and ya, even with pressurized co2 2 t5's is asking for an algea farm. Other than that the tank and rest of the setup sounds good, good luck!

You didn't have enough co2 then if you had problems with algae with no reflectors and a foot above the tank.

Secondly, I'm not using the t5's on this setup. The LED fixture that I'm using will be controlled by an Arduino that I'm building and programming to run from dawn to dusk and I can control the brightness via code. I will also control the signal for the co2 solenoid via the arduino, so if the arduino looses power, neither the co2 or lights will come on. Total cost is about 40$ and a few hours of simple programming ( I already use the arduino programming environment for work.

This is an experiment, btw.

[knuggs]

Are you still working on this tank? I love crypt jungles! I did it with my 40b main tank Nice job building your own tank!

[fishykid1]

Originally Posted by knuggs

Are you still working on this tank? I love crypt jungles! I did it with my 40b main tank Nice job building your own tank!

Hey knuggs, yes I am! I finally got it planted properly about 2 weeks ago. No crypt melt what so ever on this tank. Guess crypts don't always melt...

Pictures soon!