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Boah, 5 entries to reply to

In order:

tetratech - Haven't thought to consider heat as a selection limiter for the glass, thanks. I alread have the plastic strip and hinge (from the AGA top, I believe they can be purchased seperately as well) and as such will require only glass, which is good.

illustrae - Yeah, I have; every time when I throw away a bucket of clippings I do so. Selling this stuff would be possible, but create a logistic nightmare. When is the right time to trim - just before sending it out and not on a schedule as needed. Do I have packing material? I also could not trim on Saturday anymore as the post office to send the packages would be closed. And so forth...

Robyn - My LFS does not make tanks, but supposedly there are other places that do. I don't know if the glass would have to be anything that a regular glass place cannot provide, I will think about that. Thanks

Garofoli - What did I pay? I may have to check with my brother-in-law (who may be your neighbor), but I would assume that it is about the weekly allowance of a kid from Darien, CT.

Bensaf - Jumping fish aren't a major issue - True, but jumping kids and a curious cat are

Thanks for all the input,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I don't know if the glass would have to be anything that a regular glass place cannot provide

I wasn't meaning that you might need special glass. More that it might be good to deal with a fishy type person (rather than a glazier), who understands the reasons why you don't want the hinge in the wrong spot & can make good suggestions for the best layout for the openings to be etc.

'Cause you've had glass tops previously & probably know excactly the design you want, this may not be an important factor for you. Would be good for me though, when I get around to it.

Anyway, good luck with finding what you need.

Cheers
TW

Why bother with a top at all. Be a good European - go topless

Gotta love it!

I would love to make my 72g open top, but with these AGA tanks and the thick black support bar IMO it takes away some of the beauty.

My Scapes

I may have to check with my brother-in-law (who may be your neighbor), but I would assume that it is about the weekly allowance of a kid from Darien, CT.

You know someone who lives in Darien? Also i dont really get an allowance i need to earn it. All my tanks were my own money.

Chris

Robyn - Yeah, the fish glass guy may know what I am talking about, but in the end he probably gets his glass from the regular glass guy as well and adds a few $$$

Garofoli -

You know someone who lives in Darien?

Shocking, I know! I am up there once a year, so sometime soon I can stop by and check how you made use of all the advice you got for your one-liner questions

Have fun,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

yeah, I Guess you could maybe stop by... Also whats the persons name?

Chris

Sorry Chris,

No names

Most people prefer to maintain their privacy. This probably counts even more for people that have nothing to do with FP or fish (except food) in the first place.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ok, after a few backs and forths with Jeff, via e-mail and over the phone, we found what we were looking for. This is the wood I ordered (I guess showing the photo is ok as technically I am now the owner of the content and I am sure Jeff does not mind).

Simply looking at the way he arranges the overall 9 pieces is already worth $50 in educational fees. I know that my tank will not live up to the expectations that this wood creates, but I will try.

Ingo

Attached Image:

The AGD - ADA Wood

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Oh no, I have wood envy again. Very nice, but that was to be expected. What's that glowing around the wood? Is it radioactive or should I call "Ghostbusters"?



My Scapes

Yeah,

I told Jeff that I probably would not be able to replicate the halo around the wood once it is in my tank .

I assume he did that because it was coming out a little dark in the image and he high-lighted these areas so I can see the wood structure better.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Beautiful pieces And brilliantly arranged too, probably took him all of 2 minutes to come up with the that arrangement - hate him

Good choice, kept trying to tell you before that several small pieces are better then one big one. You can make it look like a much bigger piece but you have far more placement and arrangement options.

I'm jealous, I can alreadu see a really nice 'scape with that wood. I'd know exactly what I'd want to do with it.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Thanks Bensaf,

I can already see a really nice scape with that wood

Yeah, me too. But then again, so far I have never been able to translate what I can see into what I can do

I'd know exactly what I'd want to do with it

My vision are a few rocks within the branch groups and maybe one or the other on the plains. Generally, the tank will have only foreground plants (hair grass or glosso, or HC - if I can get my hands on it) with Anubias Nana and maybe Nana Petite at the wood and some medium sized plants there as well (maybe taller grassy, or small leaved stem plants). Also maybe some small groups of taller plants on the plains. What is your vision?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

What is your vision?

Very similar.

A few rocks between the wood, some with moss. Narrow leaf Java Fern, a few Anubias, maybe a grassy type like Cyperus behind the smaller wood pile. Agree generally low plants, something like Crypt Wendtii in the corners. Keep the front clear apart from the branches of driftwood protruding and a scattering of small stones. Light colored substrate at the front for a beach effect.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Light colored substrate at the front for a beach effect.

Oh you just opened a can of worms

My Scapes

bensaf,

Thanks for sharing your vision. I think you may have missed the part where I mentioned that this tank is viewable from all sides, as such there is no front or back, heck - there are not even sides as each glass panel will be - when the observer stands in front of it - be the front of the tank.

I know this will make my task much harder, but hey, there isn't a challenge that I would not be willing to take on (and fail at it ).

Ingo

PS: yeah tetratech - he did, but I was toying with the thought of a play sand surrounding anyways

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

PS: yeah tetratech - he did, but I was toying with the thought of a play sand surrounding anyways

Oh your going to divide the eco with the light sand?

My Scapes

Oh your going to divide the eco with the light sand?

It is a thought, although a scary one. I would have to form a white sand beach all around the tank, varying in width from really narrow to maybe a few inches between the two main wood/rock groups. I have seen quite a few tanks that have been setup like that just to lose it after a few months.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Looking at that wood, now I know why I take breaks from coming on FP - serious serious tank envy Can't wait to see how you fill it out, LF

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Back in the saddle!

Thanks NowherMan6,

I don't mean thanks that you are having tank envy, but that you seem to like it (being my driftwood advisor from way back).

I believe that this wood puts a lot of pressure on me not to mess up the tank .

And I don't like it when you take breaks from FP, your input is too valuable and greatly missed .

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ok,

Just some impressions so you may get a feel for the tank and its position.

Here is a shot showing the cabinet in its current function, storage. I think during the course of this week I will go ahead and start to set up some stuff, like affixing the wiring from the outlet over the ceiling into the cabinet.

Attached Image:

The Cabinet

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Here is shot taken from the side where the 125G is located. Actually, I am standing right in front of that tank and between these two is a couch and a small coffee table. The power cord will be tied to the pipe on the right, coming from the ceiling. The boxes on the left contain the Eco.

This will be the main view of the tank, hoses and stuff will be coming into the tank from the right short side.

Attached Image:

Main View

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Here is a look along the tank from the other side, facing into the basement with the 20G QT on the counter. Sorry that the image seems a little out of focus, a better shot of the 20 will follow in its own log in a few minutes (in the aquascaping forum).

Attached Image:

Tank from on right side, facing the 20G

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Last but not least, if you look at the last shot and imagine that you step forward until you are in front of the tank, and then turn and stare into the tank, this is what you would see behind it.

The rather empty spot on the right next to the 125G, that is currently having a round shaped chair, will be the spot where the 29G from my office will go.

I guess the room will then qualify as a fish room, won't it .

Attached Image:

View through 40G into 125G

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Yeah, when I started to view the latest pic "Fish Room" came into my mind. Now I have LF Envy and he's got the wood too.

My poor tank is stuck in my kitchen. It's certainly not a place of escape where I could play with my tanks. I guess I'll have to wait to the kids go to college, although I have an office in the house where I'm debating where to put my darkside setup. Bedroom or office.

My Scapes

Seriously nice pieces of wood Ingo. Look forward to seeing what you do. I've seen p[ics of tanks with the beach effect. I can't quite imagine how you prevent the lines being intermingled when you gravel vac & what not. How is that managed?

Cheers
TW

Thanks you two, and don't worry tetratech, I may have the wood and the room, but you still know much better on what to do with it

Robyn, I believe the vacuuming of sand does simply not happen (again a thing where tetratech knows more about this than I do). You just move the hose over the sand so it removes lose debris from the top. Maybe tetratech should explain it to both of us.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Meanwhile in a different thread about smoking


LITTLE_FISH :

I guess my wife could get me to quit is she would let me have 4 more tanks

make that 3 more now

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

Alex,

You sure are paying attention there

Well, to defend my smoking habbits, I actually wrote that entry when the tank in itself was already purchased. So I guess the count would be still "4 additional tanks" .

Good one,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo,

So when are you going to start charging people to come visit this community aquarium your building!

Rick
See all my pictures at Google Web Albums

So when are you going to start charging people to come visit this community aquarium your building

For you my friends I will wave any fees

As long as you bring a six pack, something to talk about, and a clipping from one of your plants.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ok Gang,

It's time for some more concerns,

1) This weekend, the main tank (125) is ready for some pruning, actually it has to have some pruning. I cannot add any clippings to other tanks as the 20 is under Ich treatment and the 29 is pretty full (floating is also not so good as it would shade the rooted plants too much).

Do you think it would be feasible to take a plastic container, fill it with gravel that I have left over from the big tank, set up the 40 with water, light, and CO2 only, and then place that container in there? This would be in case that I don't have everything together (wood and new glass top) this weekend, and I don't know if I will have time next weekend to set up the tank.

2) I guess it would be too daring to set up the 40G from the get-go with low grassy plants (and the like) only, without going through a fast-grower phase. I thought about that because you often see new setups that have the grass arranged in bushels with gaps for grow-out between them.


Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

As long as you bring a six pack, something to talk about, and a clipping from one of your plants.

Well, since Im a Miller Lite fan I doubt you'd pat me on the back for bringing that over, since it's like water (or worse ) to anyone from outside the States

As for your other concerns, I don't see much of a problem with it if you don't want to wait for another round of clippings. Personally I wouldn't start it fully up right away, but growing some of these stem plants out of a little patch of gravel seems a decent comprimise for now. I would stay away from setting down any substrate on the actual tank bottom because it'll be a royal pain to clean that stuff up once it comes time to add the EC. Just IMO of course, as always

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Back in the saddle!

NowherMan6,

Better that beer than none at all
Or maybe I will give you one of mine, good ole German Beer.

Yeah, the idea would be to put the gravel in the plastic container, and not on the glass directly, exactly for the reason you mentioned. Maybe I will try that this weekend.

Thanks,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

You guys would be gold medallists for your respective countries in the "making things more difficult then they need to be" Olympics

What makes you think the plants will need gravel ? Does it have magic properties ?

Plants can and will take all their nurient requirements from the water column. Substrate is a last resort for plants and it's main function is anchoring.

Fill the 40 gal with water, just go barebottom.

Takes the clippings and make bunches then simply weigh them down with lead plant weights or by tieing a stone to the bottom. Plop them in the water and they will do just fine. If you are also adding light, co2 and nutrients they will grow just as well as in any other tank with substrate.

Lots of folks do this for stem plant as a norm , it's handy for getting stems in places where the substrate is hard to get at or simply to create illusions of height.

I've grown tricky plants like Ammania, Wallichi etc for long periods without them ever being in the substrate. You've seen the pics they grow just fine.

Or simply put them in plant pots with gravel if you really insist on using the "magic" gravel. Plop these in the tank and are easy to remove when set up time comes.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Yeah, I won a gold medal .

Actually Bensaf, this time around I was not thinking "complicated", I was thinking practical:

and it's main function is anchoring

Exactly - I don't have plant weights and even if I would have them - Star Grass does not like them. I have gravel, so why not use it for anchoring? That was the sole reason I thought of adding the gravel in plastic containers.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Stones tied to the plant bottom will do.

For plastic containers cut the bottom from soda bottles or small house plant pots.

The gold medal is in the post

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Thanks Bensaf, the medal will get a special space in my "fishroom", how about under the bottom of my tank stand

Anyway, I will try the plastic bin/gravel option as I am not that good at tying thread on rocks and skinny Star Grass stems. That all will happen only if I can get a new CO2 bottle on Saturday morning as the last 5lbs was empty when I bought the 10lbs for the 125 (didn't notice until I was already back from the store, plus they didn't have a filled 5lbs at that point anyways).

Thanks again,

Ingo


Uh - to talk about the option of having a sand area around the Eco. What do you guys/gals think? Sounds like a lot of work as I assume I would have to make a beach all around the tank, given that every side is viewable.

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Uh - to talk about the option of having a sand area around the Eco. What do you guys/gals think? Sounds like a lot of work as I assume I would have to make a beach all around the tank, given that every side is viewable.

You could use different things to separate the eco from the sand (plexiglass fitted or just use rocks nicely fitted. Did you mention you were going to use play sand? If yes, I would seriously consider the pool filter sand it looks like sand, but it's a bigger grain size and will stay cleaner. Some beaches are black sand so you could also use onyx sand and this way if some eco get's mixed in it will not be a problem. Eco has multi-grain sizes in it, but you never know. When I first had eco the majority of it was larger grain like gravel, but when Carib-Sea sent me replacement bags it was mostly sand like.

BTW - You know the trick to gravel washing sand, right. When you stick the gravel wash in the sand and when the sand ends up toward the top of the gravel wash part you simply squeeze the tubing. This will cause the heavily items to fall back into the tank.

My Scapes

No tetratech, I did not know that trick, thanks for informing me about it.

Overall, I think I will have my hands full just to try to get this tank going nicely, I think I will pass on the beach front. I much rather have the tank turn out nicely with a black, non-planted, strip of Eco around the edges.

Tetratech, Someone just today informed me about the fact that Eco cannot be vacuumed as it is sand like. Do you use that squeeze method to clean yours?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club