[giga]

Tank-40Lx19Wx10H Custom 3/8" polished tank build by me
Lighting 250W metal halide
Filtration Ehiem ecco 2232

I started this tank a couple months back and everything is DIY. This is a rebuild and I've changed my design to make it riparium like.

This is what it-the tank looked like back in Nov. of 2010 was going more for a marine tank with mangroves


I torn everything down-got a new job-and now I'm setting it back up but this time a mangrove based marine planted/riparium type tank

First thing I had to do was build a new stand- also built a light tree at the same time- I copied hydrophyte on here becuase I loved his design so much:icon_mrgr

two four ft 1" square poles 1/8" thick


Because I didn't want to weld two pieces together I used these L brackets that can support about 400lb each


I then linked both pieces together to form a 1x2" tree that I can hang on


then I mounted it used 4 5.5" bolts through the 4x4-this is a shot of lining it up to drill


This is what you get-looks good no?


Rodi unit to make nice 0 TDS






And finally my giant of a dog that helps me with anything I do

 

[giga]

the mangroves
Black mangrove planted Sep 24 2010

Taken on 5/14/11-around 9" tall

6/9/11-around 14" tall

I was cleaning my house and I put all my plants outside to get them out of the way while I cleaned. After about 20mins I go outside to get the plants(including my black mangroves) and this is what I come to! Some stupid animal decided to chew the bark off all the mangrove on one side!!!!

from this side they look fine(stupid camera wouldn't focus on the mangroves)


The Dmg (hand was to focus)

At that point I'm was just praying that they would make it and survive. I know with some of my bonsai I'll remove the bark to get a deadwood aged look but not on saplings.

July 18/11 they survived and growing strong

July 21/11 First growth since the animal attack

 

[giga]

The red mangrove-when I got them July 18/11
Reds-little wilted do to shipping

July 21

Today august 21/11 lost a couple of them do to the shipping but some are thriving

 

[hydrophyte]

Wow that is really a cool tank. I like the shape a lot.

Where did you get these brackets?

 

[2in10]

That is one tank of stand, great work on the light bar. This will be great to see when you get it completed.

 

[giga]

I made some electrical boxes made with GFCI's so I don't electrocute myself


went from this


to this



also built a mini shelf to hold the ehiem

Shot at 2011-08-21

 

[giga]

a FTS- little messy as I was working on the tank

 

[giga]

I can't remember were I got those L brackets I found them surfing the web. I've had them for a while I have to look to see where I got them

 

[hydrophyte]

That would be great to know where you got those brackets. I have though that this other stand design that I have would look cool with a door made form that square tubing (or angle iron) and expanded steel mesh. I don't have any way to weld so those brackets would make it a lot easier to make the frame for the door.

 

[giga]

Found it after about a hour of searching and many search terms :drool:

http://www.eztube.com/connectors/connectors.html

 

[zachary908]

This is going to be one awesome set up, can't wait to see it filled up!

Have you given any thought to inhabitants yet? Where do you plan to have the water level?

 

[giga]

This is going to be one awesome set up, can't wait to see it filled up!

Have you given any thought to inhabitants yet? Where do you plan to have the water level?

The main inhabitant will be a mantis shrimp-with various crabs and other inverts for the mantis to chase around and eat-since marine fish are bigger and can only have a few I plan on having 4-5 smaller schooling fish-not sure what though. If you don't know what a mantis shrimp is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WWvulAC_zU


The tank is only 10" tall so I put the water level at about 7"- I tested this and I like the way it looks
I had to slightly modify this to get 7" though


Forgot to post this pic but it's my 250w underside-I plan on ordering a 8k from fishneedit for now then getting a XM 10k down the road

 

[hydrophyte]

Found it after about a hour of searching and many search terms :drool:

http://www.eztube.com/connectors/connectors.html

Gosh thanks.

 

[giga]

a big deal because someone on another forum asked for them too so I was already looking for them.

 

[zachary908]

Yes I'm quite familiar with mantis shrimp! I especially love peacock mantis shrimp.

 

[giga]

here's the black mangrove

all the growth up top is about two weeks growth

 

[giga]

Got around to some messy work today- The black mangroves where planted in a milk jug for about 6 months as a temporary hold till I get everything ready. The tank plan is to have one island where all the mangrove/plants/coral will grow and the rest open water. I finally got this down and I used two 6" PCV pipe pieces. The top piece is a cap flip over and filled my clay/sand/mud loam for the black mangroves. The bottom piece is hollow(for now) and will house the 3 maxi-jet powerheads and heater(more on this down the road). It will also be covered in expanding foam,rock, and epoxy to look like one chuck of rock. This way no equipment will be seen in the tank as many marine tank there are powerheads all over. I also worked on the black mangrove and used some bonsai techniques on them.

Mmmm tasty


Bonsai is a huge passion of mine as well so I figured I'd just combine the two! little risky but I went for it.This black mangrove I bonded the exposed wood together to make one. In time the part where the bark was chewed off with regrow and fuse together making one tree.



The next one was about 30" tall so I cut it down to 20" at the first pair of new growth and wired it to look like it growing right above the water surface. Again it will need to grow a lot before it will look good.You can also see the two pvc pieces in the shot

 

[Jeffww]

Do you think it's possible to air layer a tree that small?

 

[giga]

Maybe as It seems black mangroves are very very tough. I wouldn't try it just because these guys are a year old and I grew them from seeds. Plus black mangroves are hard enough to get a hold of

 

[giga]

Another part of this puzzle came in the mail. One of the few things that grow in a mangrove swamps is Acrostichum aureum commonly called mangrove fern.It's one of the few plants that can tolerate salt water. The planter will be out of the water so it won't be in the salt water though. So I ordered some and they came in today! Right now I have it planted in a plastic cup because my planter for this is not done. All thanks to hydrophyte


I'm pretty sure the mail man sat on my box.


I pulled the bag out and thought they were melted due to the heat.


All planted in the temp planter.


Close up


Birds eye