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CryptKeeper54's Mr. Aqua 12 gallon long

49K views 90 replies 31 participants last post by  Grumpy1415 
#1 ·
And then there was one. I'm going to shut down all my tanks and make this my one and only. I'm leaning towards expanding on my river rock scape but my add some Iwagumi fusion to it. Time will tell. Gonna take this project slow.

Decided water evaporation was to quick on my previous nano tanks and hated the hard water lines it created. So I'm going sump. Got a Aqueon modular model 1 sump. Yes I know, could've made my own (which I have in the past) but with time contraints and family responsibilities, I rather just buy stuff now a days.

Got the Mr. Aqua 12 gal tank today from an LFS and water testing it for now. I saw an Aqueon 33 long tank and loved it but can't go away from the rimless look now. Kind of wonder why Aqueon doesn't get into the rimmless aquarium arena and make some extra bucks.

Notice the Eshopps nano overflow box is not meant for rimless tanks. The water level would be way to low so I need to build some sort of contraption to lift the overflow to a higher level.







That's it for now. Going to work on my master list of stuffs later. Still deciding on if I'm going with the Finnex Ray II 7k/7K LED fixture but I'm leaning towards that particular light.
 
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#3 ·
Not sure. I thought Mr. Aqua always made it like this. I'm loving the dimensions. Should be up and running in a month.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Will do. How is that finnex ray 2. I noticed you got it directly on top of tank. Are you running into algae issues? I've been reading your journal..... great stuff. Thanks for your contribution to the hobby.

Wow that tank is beautiful. I was looking at the tank cluster in the back at first. I was like.. That doesn't look like a 12g tank!!

Then I started looking around your pic, and I saw that mammoth.

Yeah that is on my list of wants! Can't wait to see what you do with it.

I have a long tank, and I would recommend two filters for increased water motion and more than one intake for cleaning.
Mammoth? That's funny to say about this tank cause I consider it to be a nano...lol, but I know what you mean. I'm loving this tank and hope I can make an aquascape worthy of it.

I'll be tinkering with how the water flow is when I get all my products. Going to devote all my time and energy into one tank instead of 7.
 
#5 ·
Wow that tank is beautiful. I was looking at the tank cluster in the back at first. I was like.. That doesn't look like a 12g tank!!

Then I started looking around your pic, and I saw that mammoth.

Yeah that is on my list of wants! Can't wait to see what you do with it.

I have a long tank, and I would recommend two filters for increased water motion and more than one intake for cleaning.
 
#7 ·
I prefer the anticipation, the journey not the destination, the build up, etc. Maybe because my end results usually suck but that's another thing. Anyways, just waiting on my sump now. I've planned the aquascape and mostly gonna work with my intuition on planting day.

I'm set on doing cheap RCS since I got an overflow and don't want to worry about expensive shrimp. So that leaves me to picking a schooling tetra that won't color clash with my shrimp and plants. Doing research now and hopefully updating my site with fresh content. Got to keep the dream alive.

I'm still contemplating on what to do with my eheim aquastyles, ADA Mini M and Schuber Wright tank. And not to mention my fluval tanks. Decisions, decisions, what to do....

Got the Finnex Ray II DS 7000k/7000k LEDs. This thing is nice and sweet.

 
#15 ·
I love this tank, cant wait to see what you'll do.
I can't wait to see it set up and see how the ray II does. I found this tank locally but I can't afford the $113 price tag for another one. Subscribed!
This tank is the bomb. They should make more rimless tanks like a 33 long, 20 long, just long tanks in general.
 
#11 · (Edited)
The process has been slow but today made some progress. Broke down my Scuber Wright tank, did some cleaning and tied a bunch of anubias nana petite to some river stones. My other two tanks are now waiting to be transplanted. I'm reusing my Aquasoil since its less then 6 months old. Still waiting on my sump as there was a delay in shipping. Will drill holes in the table for the input and output lines for a clean look.

Side note: this cabinet stand I bought from City Mill is a nice match for my Eheim Aquastyle 6 gallon (my future shrimp tank).







In the mean time, I'm studying the rule of thirds and aquascaping principles in general. Trying to take the next step of making a "contest worthy" tank.



This is the branch wood I had in my Fuval Edge 6 gallon. I'm liking that position and plan to put the other set of branch wood on the left 1/3 line, making it the main focal point of the tank. Or at least that's what I think its suppose to do.



Comments and suggestions welcomed. I want to get things done right. Anyone got suggestions on where I plan to place my sump overflow box.
 
#14 ·
Tank is way to small for discus.

I really love that wood. Makes the tank look larger than it is, in my opinion. What about putting the overflow box on the opposite side of the tank from the driftwood (left side looking at it). I'm worried if you put it on the right side behind the drift wood it would make that side of the tank look way too busy.
ADA branch wood is what my LFS calls it. Its great for nano tanks. Where the overflow is in the pic will go another set of branch wood to somewhat hide the overflow. That's the plan for now.
 
#17 ·
Bought a new toy from bulkreefsupply.com. A RO/DI system. I was sold on their advertising videos.



Added these standard shelving brackets from homedepot. At its highest point, the light is 16 inches away from the substarte. This set up should give me greater control of the light intensity. I plan to paint these the same color as my wall to blend in a little better. I'm liking the setup so far.



Working on the sump plumbing soon.
 
#20 ·
Added these standard shelving brackets from homedepot. At its highest point, the light is 16 inches away from the substarte. This set up should give me greater control of the light intensity. I plan to paint these the same color as my wall to blend in a little better. I'm liking the setup so far.



Working on the sump plumbing soon.
I love the use of the wall-mounted brackets to mount the light! Look forward to seeing what you do with this gem! :D
 
#18 ·
once you add the bulkhead on that overflow your not gonna have enough room for an elbow if thats where your leaving the tank. I thought about using that overflow before and once i measured it, realized i would need a hole right below it in the stand, though maybe theirs just enough if you trim the bulkhead down. I concluded if i ever did one of these tanks again i would simply drill a hole in the glass and use one of those nano overflow covers
 
#19 ·
True dat. I drilled holes in the table. Pics to come. The sump is gonna be a tight fit so I gotta make mods to the table. If anything, I'll just buy a new table. I was originally gonna do the gl*ssholes.com nano kit but chickened out of wanting to drill this tank. Didn't want to commit on where my overflow was going to be permanently.
 
#27 ·
yes. the ray 2 ds, 7k/7k lights.

x2. I like it way better than my hanging setups I made from conduit.
the hangers are okay. not as slick as ada pipes and wires but it will do for now.

subscribed. looking forward to this!
its a fun hobby and this is my most extravagent project yet. good times.

That is pretty cool, :icon_wink you selling any of your other tanks? :biggrin:
just breaking the tanks down and storing them away. been trying to sell a few locally, otherwise i got other projects in mind in the future.

nice hanging method! Is the water pretty hard? will you remineralize? or do a tap blend?
i wanted to have full control of water parameters. just adding GLA gh
booster and doing ei dosing and it has been working pretty good on my mini m tank.

My friend just bought that same RO/DI unit. He's a reefer in Mililani and tired of driving to sand island for water. Great looking set up!
cool..... the vids really sold me. sometimes its all about the advertising. i was also thinking i might do reefing one day so might as well start getting used to making my own water now.
 
#29 ·
That's good to know. What dose of those ferts (dry fert nano measurement, i.e. dash, pinch, drop/ or 1/4 tsp, etc.) would you estimate/ recommend for a 10 gal tank?

And what would be noticeble in my tank from this deficiency overtime?
 
#30 ·
Long day. Tranplanted plants, did plumbing broke down two tanks, made this 12 gal and a simple shrimp tank (check my aquastlye last post). Hard work but fun at the same time.



Used pebbles to way down hc carpets.



Scape 75% complete. Waiting on buces frm PNT member I just purchased. Gonna play around with adding a little bit more river rocks.

Tried to use the rule of thirds (can u see my red lines?). Focal point being my tallest branchwood and my erio on the right.



Critiques welcomed. Going to be a work in progress but I love the layout so far. I just hope my branchwoods on the right color up to be more brown/ wethered to match the left side. I bleached them a while ago, hope its not permanently "white" looking..... stupid me. Fingers crossed.
 
#36 · (Edited)
Sweet work. Time to add a black or white background.
Looks awesome! can't wait to see it grow in :)

I agree with Mark on adding a background. A black background will make that black box go away.
That looks great! I prefer the clear background look. ;)

Is that a aqueon sump? Did you find that at a store?
Thanks for the compliments everyone and for checking out my tank. I'm Loving this tank.

I actually prefer no background but I will experiment with it later on when I practice photographing this tank.

It is the aqueon sump, model 1. Got it from amazon. I actually like looking at it and showing it off so I bought this instead of building my own. Pricey but cool and gives me the option to convert it to a refugium if I ever go reefing. I'm still working on quieting the overflow.
 
#34 ·
Im a big fan of this stuff as a background, if you dont like it you can always peel it off, i agree with the black background to make the overflow less obtrusive. or relocate it to the far end of the tank.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_234077-7413...t&pl=1&currentURL=?Ntt=window+tint&facetInfo=

You might look into trying to seal up the intake side of the wet/dry as best you can. this will keep the tank from degassing the c02. If you want to hide the c02 diffuser, stick it in front of the intake on your sump pump, this will pump all the micro bubbles into the tank still, and give them a lot more turbulence in the water to dissolve more efficiently.

The scape came out great btw!
 
#37 ·
Thanks. I'll check out my local lowes for that stuff. I was even thinking of frosted which I think they sell as well.

I'm not to worried about the co2. I got the two diffusers in tank, and a gla atomic inline diffuser as well. Plants pearling and looking good so far.
 
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