It's been a long, slow road, but I've finally made enough progress on this build that I think it deserves its own tank journal.
Almost everything about this setup is DIY and I have threads scattered all over the forum so I'm going to try to consolidate everything into this thread.
I'm using a semi-coast-to-coast overflow on this tank with "BeanAnimal" style drains. It's an awesome design that's silent and fail-safe and it performed wonderfully on the test run on this setup.
(note that the airline tubing to convert the open channel to a siphon channel is missing in this photo).
I'm using a 40g breeder as a sump and am going with a fairly simply design:
200 micron filter sock
Big 4" slab of 10ppi Porett foam
I'll probably throw in some extra biomedia that I have left over from previous canister filter setups.
My return pump is a Laguna Max-Flow 2000. This is a really serious pump that puts out a lot of water so I'm going to plumb a ball valve into the return to choke back the flow a little.
Is that the consensus, to use an over powered pump and throttle the flow using a ball valve? I'm just wondering since I don't know? Are there other types of valves or would two valves be more efficient?
I will be subscribing to this one. Your old paludarium was amazing and I'm sure this will be also after seeing the stand and tank build. You are very talented for sure.
How the heck did I miss these threads? I saw the stand build, but that tank is a work of art worthy to be sitting on such a well thought out and handsome design.
You are doing pretty much exactly what I want to do with my 200. I'll be following along closely. Thanks for sharing.
I designed the light in the style of a shoji lantern to match the style of the stand
The guts are:
13 X cool white Cree XT-E
13 X warm white Cree XT-E
2 X 660nm "deep red"
2 X 475nm "deep blue"
2 X 495nm "turquoise"
The white strings are powered by separate Meanwell LDD-1000H drivers and the colored LEDs are run by Meanwell LDD-500H drivers, all of which are independently controlled by the cool little LDD socket/controller combo by O2Surplus.
The LEDs are mounted on aluminum C channel attached to the top of the housing
I'm still working on the hanging mechanism and due to a stupid mistake in initial wiring I need to get some replacement drivers, but here's a quick teaser of the lamp with just the warm white string powered up
Wow, this build is amazing. I love seeing stuff like this. If you're planning a reparium style background will the LEDs hang up quite high? You might consider using optics if so.
This tanks stand and light are epic alone! What perfect style! I can see this setup feeling like part of the room and decor. I can't wait to see it stocked! On a side note, your Paladarium was simply amazing! I have never seen archer fish in a home aquarium setup what awesome fish! Thanks for all the great ideas and updates
Thanks for the comments! I'm pretty excited about this update - it's time to reveal the centerpiece that this whole setup was planned around.
The Hardscape
Several years ago I acquired an awesomely huge and dramatic driftwood stump. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it, even though it was way to large for any of my aquariums. I've been lugging it around as we've moved from apartment to apartment across various states, waiting to set up a tank for it.
The slightly unusual dimensions of this tank were selected to showcase this epic piece of driftwood.
Here's the driftwood as I was testing out some possible layouts on a piece of plywood. It measures roughly 50" from one end to the other, about 30" from front to back and stands about 24" high in the current orientation.
I collected a bunch of river rocks from a riverbed in Virgina. The rocks look to be some sort of metamorphic schist and are predominantly grey with some flecks of mica. Not quite seiyru stone but quite nice looking nonetheless.
I wanted to wait till I had the light set up so I could better photograph the assembly of the the hardscape but I got impatient so you'll have to make do with these dark pictures.
Here's the stump in the tank supported by a "tripod" of rocks. I used long zipties to attach the stump to these rocks to prevent it from floating.
More rocks added
I'm using a simple sand substrate. I tried to find pool filter sand but none of the stores around me had any so I settle for this paver sand. It took quite a bit of washing to get it clean but I think it worked out quite well. There's a mixture of grain sizes, which looks quite natural, and it's a nice tan color, which I supplemented with a little bit of light brown, dark brown and black colorquatrz sand to get a very natural looking blend.
and a quick shot with just the cool white LED string fired up
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