Crazydaz's Square 200G RIPARIUM Strikes Back! NEW PICS 4/19-4/21!!!

[BeachBum2012]

That is looking really awesome! I love it.

[11f150]

Hey Don, been a while decided to see what you were up to on this forum. See that your into a house now...thats great! Ill be moving in less than a month into a house finally. I cant wait to get a freshwater tank again. I will be setting up a planted tank this time! I still have the nano cube its up and running still. Ill be following this thread, cya

[crazydaz]

Thanks BeachBum2012!

Good to hear from you again, 11f150, and I'm happy to hear that you are moving on to bigger and better things yourself! Keep me posted on your planted freshwater set up, and let me know how it is going!!

[c_gwinner]

I'm not sure if I missed it or it just hasn't been mentioned, but any idea on the fuana you gonna stock?

Loving the riparium setup you have going, especially the hangers attached to the driftwood. Love the ruellia where it looks like its growing right outta the wood

[crazydaz]

Hi Gwinner.....I'm not too sure yet. I was thinking Microdevario to go along with my tangerines and orange shrimp in the tank already. I have to think about it.

The ruellia will be a nice touch, especially as it fills in and blooms. I'm looking forward to it!

Will start backing off the updates, though there will be some major changes coming soon (additions). I'll try to post those changes before heading up to Michigan this weekend for my nephew's baptism. FINALLY, I'M going to be a Godfather! Muahh hah hah ha....

The water is clear, but tannin-stained....first three are of the front of the tank:






You can see the challenge of taking pics of this tank....if you look closely, you will see the photographer's knobby knees:


Left oblique:


Right Oblique:


Devin's riparium plants! Love these guys!! I will need to get some more to properly fill out the tank the way I want:


Top down.....gives you a better idea of the layout, and how it's coming along:

[Turtlemaxxx]

Nice tank!
I believe the outlet size of the FX5 is 5/8" ID tubing. Use the tubing from the filter to a DIY spraybar if you need to. PVC chunck shaved into a barb, 2 90's to hang over the edge of tank, one more to send it along the back wall, long bar drilled every inch for spray, 3 more 90's to hang over tank again, cap end. Scuff up the PVC and spray with Krylon fusion. FX5 spraybar that is 4' long, works like a champ. I did that in my 125 for my Oscar.

[11f150]

Originally Posted by crazydaz

Thanks BeachBum2012!

Good to hear from you again, 11f150, and I'm happy to hear that you are moving on to bigger and better things yourself! Keep me posted on your planted freshwater set up, and let me know how it is going!!

Yeah Im still working on closing so its going to be a few months before I consider getting a freshwater tank going. Yours is looking great so far keep it up.

[crazydaz]

Turtle....that's a pretty cool idea! I don't think that I would have enough room back there for a four foot spraybar, but I like the idea of that type of flow through the system. Do you have a picture? Why did you decide to do that for your Oscar tank?

Yeah, it's difficult to start one if you haven't even moved into the new place yet, huh? HA!! Give yourself time and start planning now. Let me know if you have any questions!

[hydrophyte]

That's looking great Don!

I'm glad those plants that I sent traveled well. Nice job planting them up.

[Turtlemaxxx]

I had to find the pictures Here they are. I originally tried to put the FX5 on my 75gallon discus tank but... too much flow. So i put the XP3 back on and put the FX5 back on the 125. I had to zip tie the end up since my great idea of making both ends the same, but capping one, came after I had it glued and in the tank. Oh well, that is what Rev. B is for.

[@marko@]

i keep staring at your tank. man, i wish i had a tank anywhere near that size.

[speedie408]

Lookin dope dude! This tank is gonna be magazine worthy pretty soon. Mark my words!

[crazydaz]

Devin--Thank you! It really is a neat ability to be able to put your planters and plants in there! It adds another dimension....I would expect to see more people start doing this in the future with their systems as well. If you can just have a little patience, and wait for the aquatic plants to grow up to cover some of the planter, the whole thing looks wonderful! Look at Nick's tank, for instance!!

Turtlemaxx--Holy Cow!! That's awesome!! That would be perfect for a huge tank to maintain nice surface agitation, aeration, and flow! It might not work for my current set up, though; I have too many wires running in and out for heaters and a CO2 misting pump. That sure is sweet! I wonder: how do you have your heaters set up with this? Are they in-line??

Marko--keep going to school, buddy! You'll get there!! It just takes a while, man! Makes it sweeter to get the more you wait for it. You are well ahead of me when I was going to college....I didn't even have a tank until I was 23 and out of school. Plants came about 1 or 2 years after that, and I didn't even know about CO2 systems until 5-6 years ago. Think of the set up you'll be able to do once you have been working for awhile and can get a tank of similar size, man! You've got skills!

Nick--Thanks buddy! I hope that it will be that nice! I just got in my grapewood and Tillandsia today. I mounted the wood, and the plants are soaking as we speak. I should also get more rock tomorrow and some more buces from Xue. I hope to be able to squeeze a few pictures in tomorrow night after I've had a chance to add the new Seriyu and Tillandsia plants.

[@marko@]

if this were a few decades ago, id have responded with "aw shucks."
those encouraging words really put a smile on my face as i read em. thanks, man.

[crazydaz]

Oh Marko....you can still say "Aw shucks!" My pleasure! I hope you stay with this hobby...it's nice to see young talent developing..."tomorrow's greats," and that sort of thing!

Quick update....my Tillandsia species arrived yesterday, and I got some extra stone and some additional buce's from Xue. The "tilly's" were soaked for about 4-5 hours yesterday in the tank and then stuck in the manzy branches overnight to dry out a bit. They are surprisingly colorful, which is nice! I Tilly-tacked them this afternoon, added the extra Seriyu stone and buce's.

Planning on getting a staghorn fern to put on the left "set" of branches, and I'll be doing some additional "polishing" over the coming weeks and months. The wife lost her job yesterday, which may slow down some of my plans a bit, but I have the time. What is amazing is that I keep adding Seriyu stone, and it never really looks like anything changes! That's what I get for having a square tank, I suppose. It's a good problem to have.

I'll try to get a few clear pictures of everything together tomorrow....did a large water change today before I leave for my soon-to-be godson's/nephew's baptism up in Michigan and a short work trip early next week. Things are still a bit hazy in the tank......

The pics are "clickable" for higher res shots......

From the left side:


From the front:


From the right side:


Looking from the right side to the left side, back of the tank:


A few shots of some of the individual species:
Erio-looking!


Here's a slightly different looking one...I like the pink tips:


One of my favorite ones...it was much more red after soaking last night:


Have a lot of iron in my substrate and plenty of light. My Hygro corymbosa seems to think so:


Like I said, I'll try to get a few pics of the whole set up tomorrow before I head out onto the road. Thanks guys and gals for looking!