[ChemGuyEthan]

Hello hello all fellow plant-enthusiasts!

I wanted to post my new tank! I bought the tank several weeks ago and have finally acquired everything necessary to start 'er up!

WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES AHEAD

So to start off... Specs!

12 gallon long, 36" long, 8" deep, 9" tall
[STRIKE]Aquatop DF-200 canister filter[/STRIKE] Now an Eheim 2215 with glass inflow and outflow
Hydor ETH 200W inline heater (with Finnex temp controller cause I'm paranoid about frying everything after the mixed reviews on these bad boys)
GLA inline CO2 connected to a paintball tank
El cheapo drop checker
36" Current Satellite Freshwater+ (literally the perfect light for these tanks)
Under tank squishy matt
Aquatic fundamentals 30/38/45 gallon tall stand (top is 37" by 13", good, inexpensive stand if anyone is looking for one for these tanks)

Substrate: ADA aquasoil amazonia, sand is some "natural" sand from my LFS
[STRIKE]Rocks are Ryuoh I got from a local shop[/STRIKE] Now dragon-scale stone

On to the pics from the build!

So here's the tank.


Applied a frosted glass backing


Here's just a few pics of my preliminary rock setups until the last one I decided on. I thought about doing a wide mountain range type of setup, but ended up settling on a "two peaks and a valley setup." My inspiration was something like this http://www.hdwallsource.com/mountain-valley-backgrounds-29913.html







The third is the one I settled on. I wasn't entirely opposed to the second one, but my original thought was two hills, so I combined the two for the last picture.

Here's the power sand dumped in the back (1 x 3L bag)


Next comes the normal sized aquasoil


Then the powder




Recieved a TON of HC grown immersed from a guy on here (many thanks beviking), it was literally the perfect amount for this tank.


Covered and filled!




I think I need to trim some of those scraggly bits off, but for now I'll leave them.

Maybe pearling? Haha, probably not.


Could also just be from all the CO2 collecting on the leaves. I have it cranked right now since it was grown immersed, about 5 bps through oil. The drop checker is at yellow at the moment. I'll slowly be dialing it down over the coming weeks while the tank cycles. Light period is six hours from 3pm to 9pm with the sat+ set to about 80% brightness with the whites and full red LEDs.

I'm planning on adding some hydrocotyle sp. japan to grow around/between the rocks (just posted a wanted ad here which has now been answered ). I also want to add some moss-covered rocks around the larger rocks to give the "pine forest" look around my mountains.

Please give me your thoughts and opinions!

Thanks for looking through the long post! :thumbsup:

 

[Dragonxflare]

Tank looks amazing so far!

 

[ChemGuyEthan]

Tank looks amazing so far!

Thanks! I'm hoping things only go up from here!

 

[Zoidborg]

I'd like to say... She's a purty tank.

Can't wait to see the carpet

 

[BuddhaBoy]

Looks great!!! Can't wait to see how this progresses

 

[ChemGuyEthan]

I'd like to say... She's a purty tank.

Can't wait to see the carpet

Looks great!!! Can't wait to see how this progresses

Thanks! I'm excited to see how it turns out too! I've never really carpeted anything until recently, and that was just hairgrass...which is basically a weed anyway, haha.

Hoping it turns out well. :biggrin:

 

[pewpewkittah]

Looks great!! I am starting a 12 long soon! May I ask where you got your rocks and tank? I am still waiting for marine depot to restock..
I think the HC looks fine for now, but I would trim once it gets established to influence growth .

 

[tylergvolk]

Be careful HC can be tricky. See my journal in my signature to avoid mistakes.

 

[ChemGuyEthan]

Looks great!! I am starting a 12 long soon! May I ask where you got your rocks and tank? I am still waiting for marine depot to restock..
I think the HC looks fine for now, but I would trim once it gets established to influence growth .

Thanks! Look forward to seeing your build soon! The rocks were from a local shop here that orders them from ADA. It was nice to be able to hand pick them though. You should be able to order them from ADA online, I haven't checked to see if they're actually still available... The tank was local, found on CL.

Be careful HC can be tricky. See my journal in my signature to avoid mistakes.

Thanks for the heads-up! I checked out the thread, I'm sorry to see all your hard work with the DSM go up in gooey melted plant mass... :icon_sad: The restart is looking good though!

I'll do my best to learn from your experience and others on here. Starting by dosing some phosphates and micros (might also add extra potassium, but not a nitrogen source as the aquasoil provides that) once or twice a week and cranking dat CO2 while cycling.

Fingers crossed and knocking on wood. Now where did I put that lucky rabbit's foot...:confused1:

 

[burr740]

Looking good. I love these 12L tanks.

 

[jbig]

I have the exact same set up as you. and by the exact same set up, i mean the tank, light, co2, and stand. looks great though! good luck with the HC carpets, i'm currently working on a micro sword carpet myself.

 

[ChemGuyEthan]

Looking good. I love these 12L tanks.

Thanks! I was also a big fan of them, so when one finally popped up on CL, I had to jump on it.

I have the exact same set up as you. and by the exact same set up, i mean the tank, light, co2, and stand. looks great though! good luck with the HC carpets, i'm currently working on a micro sword carpet myself.

Thank you! I think I knew early on that the sat+ and a paintball setup would be the simplest way to go, and I looked around for a while to find a stand. That one seems very well suited for this tank. It feels quite sturdy as well. I really am hoping the HC does well. Drop checker still yellow as of last night (didn't look this morning and I'm at work now). I'll maybe dial it down a smidge at the end of the week after things have settled a little more. Good luck with your micro! Hope to see pics of your setup soon!

 

[pewpewkittah]

Quick question, are you using the 36-48 inch current led+?

 

[ChemGuyEthan]

Quick question, are you using the 36-48 inch current led+?

Yep! Covers the whole tank nicely. roud:

 

[pewpewkittah]

How long is your tank? I know the Mr. Aqua 12 long is 24 inches..

 

[pewpewkittah]

Nevermind! I looked at your specs lol

 

[ChemGuyEthan]

How long is your tank? I know the Mr. Aqua 12 long is 24 inches..

You may be thinking of their 11.4 gallon?

Both the GLA and Mr Aqua 12 gallon long aquariums are ~36".

Mine measures 35.75" long, to be precise.

Oops, didn't see your second post after the question. Well there's the exact measurement anyway, haha.

 

[tylergvolk]

I wish you the best of luck. Keep us posted. I'll stay tuned.

 

[ChemGuyEthan]

I wish you the best of luck. Keep us posted. I'll stay tuned.

Thanks! Will do! Nothing really to report at the moment. Some growth, trimmed the HC scraggly bits to hopefully encourage horizontal growth instead of vertical growth. I don't really want to up my lights at the moment while the tank is still cycling... We'll see how things go in the next week.

 

[ChemGuyEthan]

Quick update, no picture at the moment. HC is definitely starting to fill in and I added some hydro japan which is still getting established.

Struggling with some thread algae, started half dosing excel to try and combat it.

Still not quite done cycling, but I suspect it will be done later this week as ammonia is zero and nitrite is just barely registering. Once I am, I've got some extra amanos in my other tanks to transfer over to go to town on any leftover algae.

Any more tips for the algae will be appreciated.