[SteveMcQueen]

I'll use the top of the first post to put a picture of my most recent progress.

I started planning this tank at the midway point of Petco's 'Dollar A Gallon Sale'. It's been about 2 years since I had a planted tank of any magnatude at all and after selling some things I had a decent amount of money, however...I only wanted to spend $250 dollars on a high tech planted tank setup and the rest on a new motorcycle and truck. Am I a dreamer? You damn right. That cost wont include the flora/fauna/chems/or C02 fills.

Planned on using as many things from my old tanks as I could, and selling what I couldn't in order to recoup some of the money. I will be using the paintball setup from my old tank, but for the most part, thats it.

List of equipment:

Stand - Unistrut
Tank - 40B
Light - Odyssea 156w T5HO running 2 6500, 1 10k and 1 17k lights (thinking about peaking one set of lights)
Filter - Odyssea CFS700 (w/sterilizer)
C02 - GLA paintball setup diffused into filter intake
Substrate - Miricle Grow Natural Soil capped with leftover AS and two bags of Fluval Statum
Some Manzita from PC1

Planned Fauna/Flora
- Plants: Used a lot of stems on my last tanks, want to go with something different, some dark, leafy greens should look good together with the black background and thin manzy. Been doodling what I've been planning with these plants all day. Should have something soon.
Blyxa Japonica
Anubus Minima
Crypt Wendtii
Pygmy Chain Sword
Orchid Lilly
Cryptocoryne Spiralis

- Fish
4-5 Bolivian Rams
10-12 False Harlequin
5-6 Ottos
~TBD~

Day 1, collection of things:

Day 2-7, measure and cut all strut to size with 1/2" overhang. Sand, clean, dry. 2 coats of etching primer and 3 coats of brown paint.

Day 8, TASTY PACKAGES FROM CHINA!

Oh, well...that filter box is quite large, must be a lot of padding in there...

OH MY GOD. :icon_eek:

Day 9, Make sure this behemoth fits. It does, only just.

Staring into the UV light is not recommended

Day 14 (Today), Dry fit everything, make a thread, ask questions. Do not mind this scape, it's not the scape you are looking for.

- Using the strut to clamp up all the equipment, should make for a cleaner appearance, as well as a bit safer.
- You can clearly see the tubing kink from the rear of the tank to the clamp to the filter. Those kinks were there out of the box, I'm hoping with time and water they will relax.
-I'm going to Ikea Sunday to pick up some brackets to mount the lighting fixture.
- Once I confirm this dry fit works, I'll start working on a scape.

Questions:
How do you like this setup? More importantly, do you think it will work well?

What is the best way to run C02 into this filter? I'm worried with the pressure of the filter (This thing freakin flows!) it would blow a line out.

If you need more pictures/higher res I have a imgur album here : http://imgur.com/a/wjCiI/all

Thanks for looking, will update ASAP.

Edit: For those interested, I am currently $50 dollars over budget, I can attribute most of that to the Fluval Stratum and cans of spray paint, which I forgot to budget for. I will be slightly more over budget after ikea. About 8 dollars.

 

[Doc7]

How did you build your slope? Is it all soil or did you use another means of creating hills?

Subscribed! Lots of $1/gallon 40 breeders starting up!

 

[TeamTeal]

any details on the stand? It looks nice

 

[Higher Thinking]

Make it hail! Baller on a budget! HAHAHA, great Tosh skit.

 

[SteveMcQueen]

Doc7 - It's all soil. Miracle grow seems to pack well and stay pretty loose once you get the clumps broken up. Its the first time I'm not using AS or some other aquarium marketed substrate. I'm pretty excited to see how it goes! Seeing as a lot of the plants I want have lots of root mass, I need the depth, and dont have money for lots of expensive substrate.

TeamTeal - The stand is made of unistrut, its a metal framing system the company I work for reps. All made in the USA. You can see the load charts here: http://www.unistrut.us/index.php?WP=cat_detail&S=S02&P=P1000 You can see it will support this tank quite easily. I was considering building this stand and then skinning it with plywood, and may still, but it would put my over my budget in a major way, and I like the raw, almost industrial look of it.

 

[150EH]

It looks nice and the budget was low so I thought you might break it, I can't wait to see it stocked. I have never seen that type of filter before, do they work good, quite, etc??

BTW I'm thinking some beads and a disco ball to dress up the stand!!!

 

[SteveMcQueen]

Layout Time

Front:

Side:

Question:

What do y'all think of this?

Is it ok to bury the tip of a heater in the substrate? I'm trying to keep it vertical, but it hits dirt all along the back.

Thanks!

 

[AngelfishKid]

Looks sweet!! I wouldn't let the heater touch the dirt. IMO, I would be worried it would get a hot spot and explode.

 

[RipariumGuy]

Nice! The setup over all looks promising. Please, please tell me how you like the Odyssea. I also have a super low budget 40g breeder (also from the $1/gallon sale!) and am in need of a new light...

Also, have you checked the equipment section of the forum for the mods people are doing to their CFS filters to keep them safe? (ie, replacing stock O-ring, clamping input/output, etc)


As far as you questions go.

What type of heater is it? And how much is under the substrate? As long as it isn't a whole lot, you should be good to go.

Your layout looks superb.




Good luck! I really look foreward to your setup.

 

[2in10]

Looking good so far

 

[SteveMcQueen]

Today I spent learning about wall anchors and plasterboard walls.

$8 from Ikea

Ta-Da!

I'm not satisfied with Odyssea's hanging kit, I'll be doing something different soon.

Then I talked to a plumber.

Lookit' all them reducers! This will be plumbed into the intake hose, so I don't have to look at it in the tank.

Thanks for watching!

 

[jkan0228]

Very nice. Makes me wanna do that to my lights too.

 

[monk E]

great work so far, can't wait to see it with some water!

 

[150EH]

It do look good, but that filter is scary, scary, scary, I just read the review and I'm not sure the price is worth the peace of mind, but I wish you luck.

 

[SteveMcQueen]

Woke up with an awesome cold, no matter. Today I laid substrate, put in the heater, and plumbed the tank.

I used the extra AS in the middle and back, so when it breaks down and shifts it wont be as noticable. It's really too bad I had to use any of this, as I liked the natural brown color of the soil more. I'm pretty sad, but it obviously has to be done. Apparently researching soil tanks you want an inch to two inches of substrate over the soil. NOT TODAY!

This layout should make for the freest flow possible. The C02 is plumbed behind the tank, out of view. Those kinks are driving me bonkers. Any idea how to get rid of them? I was considering just blowing the budget a bit and buying some solid black 1" line for Dr's, hopefully they dont crush theirs in packing like Odyssea.

This is another thing making me angry. I think in a month or two I'm going to get a baller heater. Something short, because this one is far too tall. I'm afraid to bury it, even though I think the thermostat is in the top. Oh well.

Thanks for the kind words so far, 150EH, nice bike, I think the filter isn't top notch, but I also ran it in my tub for 3 days, then in an empty tank full of water for 4. It works perfectly. I personally think people are hamfisting these filters, it's not a Eheim, but it's not made out of glass either.

 

[2in10]

Great work, why not place the heater horizontally if it allows it?

 

[SteveMcQueen]

Eh, just aesthetically I think tanks look better if they follow either a horizontal or vertical line in uniform as far as equipment goes. You are right though, if I was to place it horizontally behind the branch it would be out of the way and covered up. Thanks for the advice, I'll take it into consideration!

 

[150EH]

I had never seen one (Odessy) until recently, so I read the review and they seem to be a great value with food flow but with some of the issues with the lid and hose connections, I get a little freaked when I see them over a hardwood floor.

The tank looks good and I wish you all the best with the filter, you might try a hose clamp for the kinks, just to make it round again but you may have to use some thin cardboard or just double up some paper so you don't dig into the plastic, then after a week or so remove it and see if it sticks.

Thanks on the bike, I love to ride but who doesn't like being on vacation?

 

[SteveMcQueen]

This week I haven't had a whole lot of time to do things. Mostly small projects in preperation for filling and planting.

The good thing is, the floor has a heater duct that has a hole in the bottom, so if something horrible does happen, it all drains into the basement, that has its own drain to outside.

Switched to some stainless, slightly heavier guage wire. Finally leveled out.

Got myself a gift.

Installed 90's on the bends, so I don't have to mess with the kinks, and I'll be able to snug the tank against the wall, I need to, the light isn't centered in the tank.

 

[freph]

I wish there was a mounting system like that for the 24" light fixture that I use. Darn you Odyssea.