Whole Hog 38 gallon VOTE FOR ME PLEASE, see last post

[thesawguy]

My brother in law has given me this 38 gallon tank and stand and I've decided I want to set it up the best way I can afford. On my other tanks I've cut corners but feel like splurging on some luxuries for this one. A desire I can blame this forum for. Though this will require me being patient as I only have a biweekly allowance of $150 dollars to put towards it.

I want to go high light with pressurized CO2. I've been given a 10 lb tank and need to buy a regulator kit, I'm thinking of the GLA Choice Regulator ($185.95), though I am tempted here to save some money and get an aquatek for $65 putting me around two weeks closer to a fully set up tank.

The other extravagance I'm on the fence about is substrate. I have one tank with dirt and sand but with that I feel a little trapped into keeping things the same so as not to release a bunch of filth into the tank, which I've done anyways. So I'm thinking 5 bags of eco complete via Petco ($89).

And another big expense that I feel pretty justified about is an eheim 2215 with inline heater and atomizer and glass lilly pipes. About $200 all together. I really like the idea of having all this equipment out of the tank as the tank only has a 12 inch depth.

For the light I was thinking of a 156 Watt quad T5 no name light from ebay for $89. The tank is 20 inches tall. Is this a good amount of light?

And the final expense would be a reverse osmosis filter as I have hard water and think it has hampered my ability to grow some plants. And I also might like to try keeping appistogrammas. The enterprise portable unit from bulk reef supply for $79.99 is what I'm thinking. Would my life be miserable if I don't get a nicer RO unit? My tanks are fairly small.

Looking at the various pieces they all seem justified and worth the cost but the grand total is around $650 before even adding fish and plants. It will take two months for me to afford it all. Can I wait that long? Tell me it's worth it and I'll get years of satisfaction from it please.

Well here's the tank. It's ten years old but in pretty good condition aside from the silicone having some chunks missing. I'm thinking of trimming it so it looks straight.

[2in10]

I would suggest getting a 2 bulb fixture to make it easier to avoid algae issues from too much light.

Otherwise it sounds like a good plan.

[thesawguy]

I guess I was thinking Watts per gallon, but I did some reading on that sticky post in the lighting section which I think set me straight. This will save a few bucks too.

[Hilde]

Originally Posted by thesawguy

I want to go high light with pressurized CO2.

Info on DIY pressure Co2 here.

Originally Posted by thesawguy

With dirt and sand I feel a little trapped into keeping things the same so as not to release a bunch of filth

I don't have that problem with my dirt substrate, even when I moved the substrate up. I topped with river sand though.

Originally Posted by thesawguy

Eheim 2215 with inline heater and atomizer and glass lilly pipes.

Might be cheaper to get a used Eheim 2215 on Ebay. I love the Eheim. It is so quiet. Another cheap alternative is a AquaClear HOB filter.

[thesawguy]

So some things are starting to come in.

I hope to be setting this up in about two weeks. I'm going to need put livestock from my 20 in this to make room for some kribensis fry I need to separate from their parents soon. I am running the filter on my 20 gallon right now to seed it with bacteria for a couple of weeks. I was thinking if I also put about ten gallons from the twenty in the 38 when I set this up I won't need to cycle? Any thoughts on this plan?

I've been making some drawings for this with the idea of using large rocks at intense angles.

But since I got so much eco complete I think I might want to try and make something with high sloped sides and a little valley in the middle with lots of small rocks.

Some of the plants I allready have in other tanks like the African Onion Plant and Rotala indica and hygrophila aungostifolia, but I'll be looking around for more dwarf hairgrass, dwarf baby tears giant hairgrass, rotala macranda, staurogyne repens, and ludwigia inclinata vesticilata cuba. Let me know if you have some extra.

[Hilde]

Originally Posted by thesawguy

Attachment 53226

Is that the 20G on the rolling table? I am shocked that the wheel spindles are holding up all of the weight.

[thesawguy]

Originally Posted by Hilde

Is that the 20G on the rolling table? I am shocked that the wheel spindles are holding up all of the weight.

Yes that is a 20 gallon. It was kind of a risky move looking back on it.

[thesawguy]

I have the day off and am close enough to finished with the bathroom to spend some time getting ready to set up this tank.

I started with trimming the excessive and chewed up silicone:


Then I did a test fill and cleaned the glass inside and out:


I bought an etched glass window covering and applied it for a background:



The I built an inline CO2 reactor based on plans for the Rex Griggs I saw online here but I had to use a lot of different parts due to what was available at my local home depot:

[Gnomecatcher]

That window covering is a nice touch. It'l be great for diffusing the light and making everything a little brighter.

[thesawguy]

I just got back from the woods with my second batch of rocks. The first batch was light colored with a couple cool peaks and I spent about an hour trying to arrange them without being happy about any configuration. I went back to the woods to get the backup batch of darker rocks I had collected and tested with acid and within 15 minutes of rinsing them off I had a layout I liked. It's probably too many rocks and as plants grow out and I collect more they will probably gradually disappear.

I might play around with this some more since I'll have this picture to refer back to if I don't come up with anything I like better. Any suggestions as to an overall shape, which rocks should stay and which should be excluded, repositionings...?

[thesawguy]

It may be shocking to some but I painted the stand. My first idea was to re-stain it a darker color that would match my existing woodwork, but after testing a small area in the back I realized what a bother it would be to sand it all down with the slats and grooves.

Then I did a test on the back with this liquid sander stuff and primer but it didn't help the paint go on any better so I just went at it with the color.

After a second coat:

[beastoise]

The paint looks great to me. Sort of modernizes the stand a bit, imo.

[thesawguy]

Originally Posted by beastoise

The paint looks great to me. Sort of modernizes the stand a bit, imo.

Thanks, my wife picked the color, I would have just painted it white, but this will brighten up my living room. I was hoping it would modernize it some. It's still very casual looking though I think. It would fit in well in a cabin by a lake.

[thesawguy]

The tank arrives in its new location:

The tank is partially filled with water from existing 20 gallon

The rough outline of plants

Water Sprite added for temporary hiding and nutrient absorption.
Fish from 20 moved over, some also moved from a thirty gallon upstairs, a new panda and a new pair of Orange Australe Killi

20 gallon gone to the basement for rearing a brood of kribensis juveniles


Lighting: Odysea Dual T5 fluorescent 8 hrs a day
Filter: Eheim 2215
Heater: Hydor inline 200W
CO2: GLA Choice regulator 1 bubble per second
Ferts: PPS Pro

Fauna:
Panda Cory X3
Sterbai Cory X2
Ambrocius Cory X2
Silver Hatchet fish X6
Orange Australe Killi X2
Lantern Eyed Killi X2
Rummynose Tetra X7
Gold Ram X3
Keyhole Chiclid X1
Gold White Cloud X2

Flora:
Rotala indica
Cryptocoryne spiralis
Cryptocoryne balansae
Cabomba
Hygrohila augustifolia
Heteranthia zosterfolia
Limnophila aromatica
Filigree Frill
Anubias
Bacopa
Contortion Val
African Onion Plant
Water Sprite (temporary)
Baby Tears

[thesawguy]

Updated Flora:
Rotala indica
Cryptocoryne spiralis
Cryptocoryne balansae
Hygrophila 'araguaia'
Hygrohila augustifolia
Heteranthia zosterfolia
Limnophila aromatica
Filigree Frill
Contortion Val
African Onion Plant
Pogostemon erectus
Baby Tears
Staurogyne repens
Ludwigia red