Jeffrey's "Big Boy"---120g Planted: Updated 8-17-2010 w/ pictures

[Regloh]

Yay... the fun part is starting

[pianofish]

All I can say is wow, and I thought my brain hurt when I took geometry tests. Pshaw this has taken the cake. The planning and precision that you had to take to do this must have been great, and it shows. One day when I have a house of me own, hopefully I'll be able to do one of these setups. And you are right this is just like legos just a "wee bit" more complicated. This has been a great read, and has fried my mind just as much as a good set of math problems (which happens to be my fav subject). This project looks like a real beauty. Can't wait to see it completed. And remember, have fun!
Your pal,

[lauraleellbp]

Seriously impressive.

Can't wait to see where it goes from here!

[CL]

What a nicely sized tank! Great dimensions.
Setting it up is going to be hard to beat, fun-wise at least, IMO haha

[jmhart]

Now I get some action.

I went to the Stone Center of Georgia, picked up about 100 lbs of river rock for $20(can't beat that) and brought it home:




Couple of hits with the sledge hammer and I get some good stuff to work with:





Before I block it from view, here is a shot of the completed spray bar and intakes, covered by substrate. I've got some black intake sponges coming that will cover the unpainted portion of the intakes.






And now, it begins. Here is where I ended up for a hardscape. I welcome all suggestions.







I feel like the driftwood positioning needs tweaking.

Let me know what you think.

[Craigthor]

Maybe you could tilt that center piece of wood the small one in the back up slightly. Not much maybe an inch or 2. I love those rocks can you deliver me some...

[billb]

Hey Jeffery,

Nice progress! I am not the best at design but wondered what other plants might be going in? If you will be putting in something tall / large on the right hand side, that will change the dynamics. Nice peices of wood!

Bill

[londonloco]

I've been waiting for this day since you're first post back in 11/09. I must say, well worth the wait. I love the scape! Can't wait for it to fill in.

[jmhart]

Originally Posted by billb

Hey Jeffery,

Nice progress! I am not the best at design but wondered what other plants might be going in? If you will be putting in something tall / large on the right hand side, that will change the dynamics. Nice peices of wood!

Bill

I haven't quite figured everything out yet. From left to right, I'm thinking of some taller crypts all behind the central rock/wood island, kind of following the general shape of the island + 6-8" of height. Then, dropping it down low and back up high for the far right side. Then a mixture of anubias, crypts, bolbitis, and java fern all as midground and covering the hardscape, and finally a strong dwarf hairgrass foregound, maybe with some c.parva thrown in, but I'm not sure about the last bit.

I had those few anubias on hand, so I stuffed 'em in. I received a shipment of plants Friday which included some crypts, the DHG, and some barclaya longifolia. Those will get thrown in, all to help cycle. I plan on picking up a lot of plants at our clubs spring auction on March 7, so the real scape will happen after that, and finally filling in some holes with selective purchases through the SnS and AB.

[jmhart]

Originally Posted by londonloco

I've been waiting for this day since you're first post back in 11/09. I must say, well worth the wait. I love the scape! Can't wait for it to fill in.

Thanks for the compliment!

[jmhart]

The tank is finally in a semi finished position. I've got all the electronics hooked up and the programs setup on the controller. Lights are installed, canopy is in good shape, co2 is pumping....and I even got some plants in there.

This is my no means "scaped." I just put it some plants I had around and a few from a small order that came in on Friday. I plan on picking up a fair amount of plants at our club auction on March 7, and then the real scaping will happen.















Here you can see the TEK fixture mounted in the canopy. For now I'm only running 2x54w of light.



I still have to figure out how/where to mount my power supply, but for now it's resting comfortably[sic] on top of the cannister filters. The wires look all spaghettied, but they are actually, mostly, all organized. Everyone has a drip loop. As soon as I mount the PS, it'll look a lot cleaner.



Here is the mini float valve. I like to think of it as my personal flux capacitor... you know, the thing that makes time travel possible. It's lets me feel safe when I'm away(not to mention the controller cutting off power to it after an hour).






I have a 15 rpm peristaltic pump in the house, and I'm expecting another 30 rpm one to come in today. After that I need 2 gallon bottles and then I'll be plumbing in my automatic dosing setup. I was originally going to wait for a while to do this, but we're taking a big 3 week trip here in about 2 months. We'll have a house sitter, but I didn't want to make the responsible for the tank.

[lauraleellbp]

To me the DW is pointing the wrong direction.

[jmhart]

Originally Posted by lauraleellbp

To me the DW is pointing the wrong direction.

I think you are right. The prettiest face of the DW is what is currently exposed, so to have the DW point to the center, I'll have to scoot the whole thing over to the right. I'm doing big water changes every couple of days to help cycle the AS, so next time I drop the water down, I'll probably get in there and change things around.

[epond83]

Looking very nice. I was wondering how the float shut off was mounted and wired?

[jmhart]

Originally Posted by epond83

Looking very nice. I was wondering how the float shut off was mounted and wired?

The Fishbowl innovations float switch comes with two suction cups, so it's attached to the glass inside the tank.

I then wired it in series with the refill solenoid and controller so that I can turn power off to the whole thing to prevent disaster in case the float switch fails.