Jake's 45-F - High-Tech Guy Goes Low-Tech

[driftwoodhunter]

oooh. Nice lava rock!

[somewhatshocked]

Okay, it's been decided. Ordering a second 45-F since my current one is being used for coral frags.

Also going with Amazonia for substrate. With my tap water and the buffering, parameters should be perfect for Tigers and Neos.

Gonna place the order today.

Now just have to settle on a light fixture. The 45cm fixtures at AFA are sold out, so I may go with one of the others on eBay. Tank wil be low light, so it won't need anything fancy. Just has to look nice - like the Archaea telescoping 45cm fixture - because I can't really suspend anything over the tank. Prefer the top of the tank to be primarily free of obstruction so I can jab my hands and tweezers and such in there without having to move a fixture around.

[somewhatshocked]

Ordered!

And the countdown to madness begins... Finally.

[Green_Flash]

Great! One can never have too many tanks. (famous last words)

[somewhatshocked]

Anyone have thoughts or tips on a potential light fixture I may be ignoring or not thinking about?

[somewhatshocked]

It's official - I'm giving up in record time. On the lighting, that is. Don't feel like waiting and waiting and waiting on a fixture to be in stock at AFA or waiting a month for something to arrive from Hong Kong with no warranty.

So I'm going to get a 16" Fugeray and go through the hassle of suspending it above the tank. Woo. At least I'll have more options if I decided to use CO2 in the future.

[somewhatshocked]

Greeeeaaaat - now I want a Kessil Amazon Sun because of this journal.

It's a shame it would have to be mounted about 10,000 feet above this tank in order to be used.

[somewhatshocked]

Got the 16" fixture, though, I feel misled (again) because it's really just a 12" fixture in a 16" body:




Meaning I could have spent less money on a shorter fixture.

There's significantly more of the body used in the 20" version (that I use on a 10gal):



This is the end of me buying rebranded fixtures.

Like other fixtures, the power cord is so short it's useless without an extension or some expensive electrical work.

At least it works and will produce sufficient lighting. Likely not going to use it for the 45-F unless I can't get my hands on something else. Not because of the four inches of wasted space but because it just doesn't look that great suspended. Probably gonna stick it on a 5.5gal in my tank room.

Now I'm excited to see what the fixtures I bought on eBay are like.

Update: Other lights arrived, so will have some photos hopefully later.

[somewhatshocked]

In addition to the various mosses and Hydrocotyle tripartita, I'm now thinking about other plants.

Other than C. parva, what should I consider that's maybe no on my radar?

I always use C. parva, Anubias nana 'petite', S. repens and various Bacopas. Those are my go-tos. Time to stretch boundaries. Ready for opinions.

[SomeCanuck]

Marsilea, maybe? Good and easy carpeting plant without being too lawn-like, even without CO2 or high light, from what I've been told, read and seen.

I got my hands on some emersed marsilea quadrifolia as the only stuff available to me, but it's the tallest of the three (hirsuta and crenata being the other 2 that I personally think grow in nicer and more compact), so it's been growing mostly every way but how I want it to. Would also probably be easier if there were no Turbo the jerkwad Apple Snail tearing through my little field and uprooting half of them every 5 damn minutes...

[somewhatshocked]

I've got Marsilea minuta in several tanks currently, so could easily move some over.

Guess it's also one of my go-tos but that's a good idea.

Now I just need to get my hands on one of those ZooMed filter hangers so I can make this thing work with my stand...

[somewhatshocked]

That moment when your shipment of a bunch of ADA tanks, soil and goodies arrives... I am in it right now.

Updates later.

[MABJ]

Originally Posted by somewhatshocked

That moment when your shipment of a bunch of ADA tanks, soil and goodies arrives... I am in it right now.

Updates later.

I love receiving packages. It feels so good, I feel so giddy. I got a package of shrimp Wednesday

[Couesfanatic]

That light being way short is dumb. That doesn't even look right. Finnex needs to fix that.

[somewhatshocked]

Got a black background on, Garden Mat cut, tank positioned.

Here's a look - just ignore the fixture that won't be used:



The piece of wood I think I'm going to use after cutting it down and repositioning some stuff:



Gonna have to break out the Dremel and band saw tomorrow.

Also have tons of upon tons of stumps and random manzanita pieces like this:



Along with all the black lava rock I bought (if I got a wild hair and went the pool filter sand route - don't think I will).

Waiting on a hanger to come next week so I can put the ZooMed 501 on the back.

Working out plant options in my head.

This should be fun.