My DIY Planted Tank

[divy]

Hi all!

I havnt posted on here for ages since i stopped breeding betta's but i still come on here alot to check out what you all are still doing and decided to show you what ive been up to lol

I started this tank because i really like CRS and CBS shrimp and wanted to start breeding them but i also wanted a planted iwagumi layout ever since i saw one

i started with the DIY'ing, if you remember my betta barracks you will remember i love to build things myself

I went for a ADA style cabinet cause i like the sleek look of them

here it is in MDF primer and sealer

next i started on the hood, it has 4 24w T5ho lights which get pretty hot so i installed two fans to keep them cool and a lcd fan temp reader and controller to be a lil different

top view of the fan grilles, i made them flush because i wanted everything to look as clean as possible

heres the lcd temp holder inplace and smoothed at the front

this is the fan controller before i pulled it apart to install it in the hood, i also moved the speed dials off the unit and put them behind the hood with the other switches again cause i wanted i smooth look

i made 2 moonlight bars for the bottom cover of the light hood

Edited August 15, 2010 by divy

[gulp]

Awesome! Cant wait to see the end result, keep the pics coming!

[Yanagi]

Oh hey, I've seen this tank before on another forum! I just lurk over there though, mostly in the classifieds section. Pretty cool tank, can't wait to see how it turns out.

[divy]

heres the hood almost finnished, its been painted in mdf sealer and then a few coats of primer

pic to show how the fan grilles and lcd screen look once smoothed and primed

the bottom

painted

some of the wiring and the back of the hood with vents for the heat to exit and switches for the lights also dials for fan speed

it works! lol

Edited August 15, 2010 by divy

[delyall]

Looking awesome! Keep the updates coming! :D

[Sarah]

Cool. Can't wait to see how it turns out! :)

[divy]

Thank all for the nice words,

here it is after i finnished planting it all

filled with afew months of growth

i have a few microrasbora kubotai in it with 5 ottos 10 crs and 5 cbs but in a week or 2 ill grab another 15crs and 10 cbs

[Yanagi]

Verry stylish! I love it. I guess I missed the final pics in the other thread, lol.

[Bettarazzi]

OMG DIVY!!! I am gobsmacked!! The language part of my brain seems to have gone to jelly and the only thing I can think to say is, WOW!

[gulp]

:o

:applaud:

[tracey6565]

Divy that is one AMAZING piece of work. If I had a hat on I'd take it off to you. :applaud:

[littleangel]

What an amazing job! It looks great!

[brettc777]

About time you posted this up! lol. I have been watching this progress for quite some time. As always Divy your all about detail, very good job!

[Chuckie]

What a gorgeous tank! And what razzi said :worship:

[Bettarazzi]

But you know it wouldn't hurt to have a gorgeous halfmoon in there. It would be like some great mythical beast flying over the mountains, lord of its domain and master of all it surveys. The shrimp will be like peasants working the fields. And occasionally being Betta chow. *lol*

[divy]

Thanks again for the kind words guys and B'razzi that would be some pricey betta food lol

I seem to not be able to move away from bettas and i just went drown the street and saw a new petshop opening on friday and as i peeked in i saw alot of cube tanks (people setting up were looking at me weird maybe cause there was drool coming from my mouth lol)

So my mind is allready ticking away on a design for a planted 30cm cube for a gaint HM and some cherry shrimp for him to play with

HMMMM.... another DIY stand and hood

Oh also just bought another 10 CBS woohoo

[Neffy]

He would be TROGDOR BURNINATOR OF THE PEASENTS !

[jo oakley]

Oh Divy,

I want your tank.

And where did you get your Otos from?

[divy]

I got my ottos from livefish.com

and the rasboras from someone

[Bettarazzi]

Trogdor is a brilliant name! Trogdor Flametongue, Burninator of Peasants, Guardian of the Grey Mountains.

[jo oakley]

Divy, how many shrimp do you think you can in your tank?

What sort of grade have you started with A?

I was told that Otos didn't ship to well,

did you lose any in transport?

[divy]

Since its a shrimp only tank except for the otto's i think i could fit a 150-200

the filter would have no problems with the bio load cause i have a 2215

yeah ive started with all A grades 10 A grade CRS and 15 A grade CBS

I think thats a good number to start off with, ill just leave them be and wait to see if they breed and hopefully ill get a large colony in there

but if a decent deal for a few more crystals pops up on AL ill probably grab them lol

I was told too that they dont ship well and even if they do make it you'll loose some in a week or two in the tank thats why i got 5 of them, i was guessing i would loose 1-2 but all of mine are fine even abit fat lol

hows your shrimp doing?

Edited August 20, 2010 by divy

[jo oakley]

I thought you would be able to keep a lot of shrimp in your tank

I am still learning about the grading,

your shrimp looked like A grade to me, so I must be learning something

have you seen that some one has Tiger shrimp for sale at $20 a pop.

if only I had a tank set up.

I have been looking for Otos,

I am very unsure about getting the shipped to Morwell,

then the drive home(40min)

With Otos a fat tummy =happy Otos

I have found Planaria in my RCS,

I have noticed that my shrimp seemed to be vanishing

I have/had a lot of berried females and only 3 shrimplets

Manual removel of the Planaria has not worked,

so I have got hold of some No-Planaria.

I hope it works.

I got some new shrimp and plants so I am not sure how I got them(Planaria)

I suppose I could have had them already.

I have to remove all the snails before I treat the tank

[divy]

Im the same as you jo about grades, im learning as i go along

all i know is i want a tank full of hino's lol

My otto'd are pigs! there was 4-5 shrimp in one place so i just dropped a piece of Shirakura food in front of them i minute ago and i just turned my head and 3 otto's have taken over

why eat algae when you can have shrimp food lol

I understand what you mean about having them shipped, is there a LFS around that can order them in?

I know someone has them aswell but again you would be in the same boat if they survive shipping

LMAO again im the same as you, i saw the tiger shrimp for sale and was thinking damn if only i had another tank set up, im still thinking of setting one up for the tigers

I had Planaria too and snails, i dosed no-Planaria for 3 days i think and all the Planaria was gone,

it killed alot of the smaller snails but the larger ones are still around

i left some shrimp food in the tank and forgot to clean it up and the next day some planaria showed up so at least i know now not to keep uneaten food in the tank over night or the planaria will show up

that sucks about the vanishing shrimp, are you sure there gone not just hiding?

even with my iwagumi scape with not alot for big plants my shrimp hide very well, most of the time i count 7-8 but if i look hard enough and move some HG around i find most of them

[wishne]

it is perfect jop, i love it too much You have done very good things handmade and away from the monotony :)