[dru]

This is my first tank over 5 gallons

I am excited to have some freedom on livestock and more room for PLANTS!

Tank: Mr Aqua 17.1 gallons 'low iron'
Filtration: Sun Sun HW302
Light: ZooMed dual 24" T5HO with one 10,000k bulb and one 6500K bulb
co2: GLA paintball reg with 24oz tank, eBay sourced diffuser
substrate: Activ Flora black

Sitting on my $9 stand from Petco, I am probably going to be getting the Besta in the next week as this will be a bedroom tank and I have read the door really cuts down on the filter noise.

'low iron', looks better in person

I am doing driftwood in the tank, probably going dutch style. I am thinking maybe the piece on the right is too big for this aquarium.

The lighting brackets are pretty crappy for a rimless aquarium, it is pretty much just sitting on the edges unsecured. I am considering mounting it but I have read PAR values of ~50 @ 18" for the ZooMed. I am trying to stay in the high light category and mounting it high enough to have access to the tank might compromise this goal.

My substrate should be here Thursday. I had two bags of Eco-Complete but decided to use it on another tank. I like the true blackness of the Activ. I will be doing a leak / filtration / co2 test in the next couple of days.

 

[Ach1Ll3sH33L]

i would build hangers and suspend the light a few inches over the tank, looks much better, gives you room to mess around with the tank, and still plenty of light to grow anything.

 

[dru]

i would build hangers and suspend the light a few inches over the tank, looks much better, gives you room to mess around with the tank, and still plenty of light to grow anything.

I wouldn't even have to build hangers. This light comes with built in brackets and a suspension kit. I am considering it strongly.

Both bulbs on:

6500k:

10000k:

The reason I am using this light:

I also got several bulbs (10000k, 6500k, 5500k) for $4 a piece. I am considering just running two 10000k bulbs to start

 

[dru]

Got my overseas shipment: some acrylic pieces

Plumbing and SS prefilter, I may ditch the spray bar but I am going to see how it looks with a black background:

I have wood:

This is the front runner for placement, thoughts?:

 

[talontsiawd]

Is the acrylic for an auto dosing setup? I assume the others are for a glass top but wondering about that, as the tube going in. Pieces look really good.

As for hard scape, I like the one you consider the front runner. However, I like the 60P spec tanks with some separation in the middle, just to allow some room for high stems on each side. Maybe move the right side over very slightly and the left side to as far over without touching the glass. Just a thought, I am no hard scape master myself. Wood is awesome for that tank though.

 

[biotopium]

I like the front runner too and I also like how they're congruent in post #3. Looking forward to what's next.

 

[dru]

Thanks for the comments. Acrylic piece is for aquascaping tools.

Update soon.

I had to house sit for a friend last week. In the meantime my substrate came in and I am pretty much ready to rock.

The last piece of the puzzle is how I am going to suspend the light. I am not very handy so I may use 2 ZooMed lamp stands, but I am having trouble swallowing $40 to suspend a temporary $35 light.

Thought about bending some conduit, but don't know where to start or how to secure it to the stand (Besta).

 

[dru]

Decisions...

~$50

x2 ~$40

Or bend and mount some EMT and mount it to the stand. ~$40 after purchasing a conduit bender that I will more than likely use again in the future.

I finally got some decent planting tongs:

Also, trying a different piece of wood, I feel it is more complementary and the color is more similar to the bigger piece than the smaller piece from the previous pics:

 

[talontsiawd]

I like the second choice but DIY looks better than both options IMO, depending on how you do it.

 

[Tyrone]

If it permits, I say have it hanging from the ceiling, if it's low enough. Another option, which I went with is the DIY light hanging conduit supplied by Home Depot! Overall cost was a little over $10. I use the 1/2" conduit. Bender cost over~$30, but returned after. Screws, paint and fasteners/holders for the conduit to my Ikea Expedit stand.

The hanging kit is just awesome, in that it gives you a range of light intensity by way of lowering or raising the fixture. I'm sure you already know that though.

I also have that ZooMed 24" light fixture and I love it a lot! Even though it only holds 2 bulbs, the quality reflectors and spacing of the bulbs makes it pretty efficient in light output. I use PlantMax 6500k bulbs that you can acquire from any Hydroponics store. My plants pearl like crazy with these bulbs. On top of that you get more bang for you buck, about $9 each at my local Hydroponics store.

Can't wait to see your scape! Cheers!

 

[dru]

I went to IKEA to pick up a Besta stand but they were out of the glass top until next week

In the meantime I still can't decide on a scape

Ignore the rocks, just for propping the wood up.

 

[parrottbay]

Where did you get ALL that awesome WOOD!!!??? I am so jealous!

 

[MsNemoShrimp]

Where did you get ALL that awesome WOOD!!!??? I am so jealous!

I know! Pretty jelly too :hihi:

 

[OVT]

Awesome wood indeed...

For the light, 2 bookshelf wall brackets (~$5) or 2 hanging flower basket brackets (~$15) total will also work. Especially if the wall studs are in the 'right' location.

Edit: even though I like ZooMed light stands (I have 3) they most likely will not work for you: they are not tall enough to be placed on the floor and you would not want to place the tank on the bottom plates.

v3

 

[dru]

This tank has been on hold while I was working on other projects.

I have a 20 gallon long and a 40b that I am trying to piece together and several nano tanks.

I ended up getting the ZooMed light stands and they are tucked into a pop out shelf. In the meantime one of my ballasts went out and I had to get a new fixture shipped out. ZooMed customer service was great.

This may be the final setup. Another option is to put the 20 long on this stand (what this stand was intended for - dimensions) and use my SunSun 302 on the shelf underneath. I am trying to figure out what works best. I may actually get an Aquatek paintball reg because it would fit under the stand and I could secure the co2 cylinder.

 

[kman]

Look forward to seeing that bad boy filled!