Amano New Year Build!

Was getting worried you were lost in a freak steel working accident, good to see you are still alive and kicking.

 

I've been super busy at work lately and haven't been able to give my hobbies enough time.

 

Reinforcement is done!

I turned the middle shelf into a rear wall to add lateral stability (the basic skeleton is very wonky without some sort of brace - since it was cut perfectly it was a no-brainer). Added a double floor so the sides are supported from below, and it has a double top for same, with reinforcing bars all round. It is VERY sturdy now and I'm satisfied it will hold.

I still need to strategically add four more corner brackets but need the paint to dry first because I want to silicone the joins to help against the inevitable spills.

Tomorrow I move it into its final resting place (the castors I bought are now wasted but w/e), cut foam and place the tank to see what's what. The frame isn't 100% square even after all the bracing but it hasn't been leveled with any weight on it yet so I'll see. I also need to sand down my horribly wavy jigsaw work, paint the external un-edged edges and figure out how I will route tubing and power.







I did all this in my bedroom and it's as filthy as I am. Shower time!

 

It's been two months and two days, and the end is in sight! Phew!

Final resting place; 20mm neoprene foam base, I am not taking any chances! Tomorrow I'll give it a lick of water and level it.

I'm still deciding whether to make the back panel black or not. With the white wall at the background it's a bit glarey.

 

Great work on that cabinet! It really does the tank justice

As much as I love my black background, I've been listening to some of the pros opinions. I have to agree with them, black highlights "mistakes", be it in your aquascape, hardscape, plant health and even algae issues.

The common thread along most of those beautiful, high end aquascapes are either light screens or the ADA foggy background. The reason being is it keeps the contrast, but is also more subtle which helps hide any imperfections.

The ADA foggy screens are like 500 Nelson's which is think is a complete rip off and light screens are a couple K. But maybe you could find that same thing in an opaque window sticker of sorts ?

Just my 2c on the matter. If you're keeping it simple, black looks great and works well. If you're really going all in (you've got the light to do it), the foggy background could be a big winner

 

@LukeJHB thank you for the compliment! There are many small details that sorta annoy me because I know they are there, and if I had to do it again I would do a number of things differently, but I'm pretty happy with the result.

Plumbing and routing for water, CO2 and electricals up top is done! I used a plastic file spine to clip the light's wire onto the tank rim. RELISH IN MY GENIUS!






How cute is my drop checker? ❤️



I used the black conduit from a CCTV camera to hold and hide all the wiring.

 

Oh! Does anybody have any tips for sticking suction cups to the outside of the tank? It seems spit doesn't quite do the trick. I was thinking something like a drop of cooking oil or something like that. Thanks!

 

The Cube of Contemplation, and I'm lost all of a sudden as to go about scaping it. None of my previous ideas seem to work, seeing the tank in the flesh, filled and lit.

I'm also not sure I like the visual quality of the light. It's very bright, for sure, with a slight greenish surrealism that is reminiscent of scenes from the Matrix. But my biggest issue is that it is very diffuse. It's like it is everywhere and doesn't throw shadows. Of course, there is nothing in there to throw shadows yet, but it makes no caustics and is almost pervasive, like sitting in a cubicle at the office.

I grew up staring at my dad's marine tanks and the almost nuclear glare of metal halide lamps and this has a completely different, almost artificial quality to it. Perhaps I am judging it too quickly and need to get some plants in there before I jump to conclusions.

 

Your plants will look super green and vibrant under that bad boy. It's not going to give you a soft natural look though

 

looks awesome!

 

I placed my ball of floaters in the ada and... I dunno. There's an almost sterile clarity to the look which I guess is the ADA hallmark. The plants look greener compared to the blackwater they came from but at the same time paler because there's less contrast overall. I guess I can always swap the light if I'm not happy in the long run. For the time being needs must.

"Water? Never touch the stuff, fish f*ck in it" - W.C. Fields

That's kinda how I feel about it - there's a zen-like minimalism to the empty tank with the bubbles rising and now I want to go and spoil it by adding stuff that shits and eventually dies

 

I've been digging in the dirt again. I have some mopani wood pieces, some spider wood, and five pieces of pelindaba rock. Random assortment of rose quartz, washed pebbles and so on.

But now, convince me not to use this: A very old and weather-beaten piece of railway sleeper. There's a lot of FUD surrounding it regarding creosote treatment and whatnot and everyone says NO but nobody actually admits to having tried it and killed their livestock. There are two amazing pieces and I'm sorely tempted.



The Peli rocks are interesting, but very heavy and I don't have any egg crate. The largest piece is easily 10-15kg on its own, but it does have a flat bottom. The bottom glass is 6mm and while I have plenty of foam to cushion it, it bothers me. The other pieces are roughly the same size and really I need the big piece if I'm going to use them.




EDIT: I broke a piece of sleeper and it revealed the most beautiful rose-coloured teak. Sacrilege! I had a few deep schniffs at the break, and while it doesn't smell of tar or anything like that, there was a definite scent and I'm now a bit stuffy. And that makes it a no-no. Peli rocks it is!

 

Today has been a SHITTY tank day. I have a 120L plastic tote on wheels and set it up to start draining. Since the tote has more capacity than the tank I just left it. 5 minutes later I walked back in to a flooded lounge. The tote had a crack in it and I had to clean up probably 30L of water before I could carry on.

Then, when I had scaped and soiled and graveled, I was filling the tank with the garden hose. As it neared full I twisted the nozzle the wrong way and instead of shutting the flow I blew a great big crater in the middle of the scape and there is crap EVERYWHERE now. And I had been so careful to get a nice, even, neat layer of gravel Messrs. Penn and Plax to the rescue ONCE AGAIN.

And to add insult to injury, I broke the glass co2 u-tube that goes over the rim. Luckily I bought spares but bloody hell. And I spent an hour washing the gravel outside and the water is still cloudy. But it's not too bad. At least I have one small victory, and that is using foam and a ceramic tile to support that beefy rock.

 

Where's the scape?!

Can't tell us that cool story and leave us high and dry in suspense ...

 

Love that rock! Used it in my previous set up, it makes the tank instantly look aged. Good choice

 

Getting there. Da feesh all survived their harrowing ordeal and this morning are all present and correct. I left a night light on for them to avoid nocturnal panic jumps.



^^^ This photo does not convey the sense of life and movement that dinky light gives the tank with caustics and godrays in the still cloudy water. I prefer this look by far.



^^^ This is with the ADA light on. I'm seriously not a fan. It gives the tetras a yellowish cast and makes all the fish go pale. Everything goes flat and lifeless and it's not even installed overhead (the pen plax is in the way atm). The light substrate is probably also to blame but it's what I had because I had a scape idea in mind that is now gone with the wind.

I will get some black sand to tone it down, and I think more ground cover will work wonders. The fish also don't like the ADA light and huddle in the the shade of the floaters. I'll see how they adapt. The shadows are a bit ugly atm because the light is pushed towards the rear of the tank. Early days still. I certainly don't think the plants look any better, the rotala pink in particular look pale. The tetras also sometimes give a beautiful royal blue flash under different light - that is no more with the ADA light

I am pretty pleased with it. They also have plenty of cracks and crannies I can jam my mosses into without fussing with glue or netting. The front piece is very characterful and it even has a hole through it.



All this is giving me a lot of anxiety though. Whatever else could be said about that culterra pond mix, the plants did EXCEPTIONALLY well in it and I have changed my mind about it - if you can deal with the compromises it is VERY good for growing plants. I had to physically dig the plants out because root formation was extremely robust. I now used a different soil substrate and it remains to be seen if the plants adapt.



This is a bundle of rotala stems I rescued from an LFS - they were clearly not going to make it but a few days stuck in that pond mix and voila.



^^^ This guy (I have no idea what it is) was a tiny little frag with one leaf on it.



Mr. Anubias is doing very well and grew himself a buddy too!

 

Don't stress about the light too much, a lot of the light is being scattered by the dust particles floating in the water. Once the water clears and your plants have settled in it will have a completely different look.

 

Thank you for the encouragement. I think there is lots I can do to improve matters and the light gravel isn't doing me any favours, and that's entirely on me. For now my biggest concern is whether my plants will melt - that would be a disaster and would break my heart.

There's now a love-shaped hole where my little toilet laboratory used to be and I do miss it

 

I feel the same about my light sand, bits of soil get released every time I move a stone (Which I think is about once a week). Will definitely go the black sand route at some point. I was hoping the monte carlo will cover it, but it is taking forever.

 

Lesson learned, don't leave your tank when draining or filling.

Last weekend, I was doing a 50% water change using a 25L water bottle. Being lazy, I kept spilling water every time it filled up because I insisted on squeezing in that extra 5ml.