New meeting location for the 2023/2024 Season will be at J.A. Dulude arena.  Meetings start at 7 pm.

Hello Everyone :)

Started by wading_in, March 03, 2017, 09:14:33 PM

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wading_in

Hello Hello!

Here to introduce myself and meet everyone. I am new to the planted tank life and looking forward to joining in on discussions and getting some great advice/info from you guys. I have been thinking of going large scale aquarium for a long time (like years here people) jumping from 0 to 90gal in a single leap.

A DIYer by nature I have been doing research and endless google searches on do's and dont's, tips and tricks and thought I might get a better insight if I could get some face to face time with seasoned Aquarium fanatics :)

I made my decision 2 months ago while browsing Kijiji and saw a 90gal w stand for $350 Incl Marineland 360 Filter all media a BIG bag of pool filter sand and some fantastic Granite slabs. He was also offering 8 yellow labs and a mature pleco but I had nowhere to house them so declined.

The Stand was a DIY made from Cedar (blech soft wood) and looked like an unfinished box. The doors were falling apart, there was water damage et al. I got the set up delivered and went to work "fixing it up
Sanded, conditioned, stained and reworked with some deco trim and I have the final product with which I am super pleased All in all an additional 40$ was spent to complete this project (sorry for the blurry images)
Just an FYI I live in a 2 bdrm and it is the middle of winter so all of this was accomplished over 5 days in my kitchen.
I have a VERY understanding Hubby.

Now it is time to get started on the real work.

Going for a "Hardscape" dirted tank with a sand cap. Mostly mosses and foreground coverage. The slabs will be built up to create a beautiful stepped mountain with small trees to create the distance perspective and the right corner will house a larger fantasy tree made from the perfect piece of driftwood yet to be discovered. Planning on stocking Corydoras (love them) some lovely digging snails and looking at either rainbow fish or tetras of a bright variety for some eye catching friends.


I am also looking for local plant suppliers that offer quality for reasonable pricing, maybe someone here has plants they'd like to part with?

I will also be setting up my lighting which I am very excited about!
I know that by now you are all probably no longer reading this but whatever, what are forums for but to go on and on!

For my lighting I will be using the Marineland LED kit that came with the tank (36") as a foreground light to accentuate my little fishies and lovely greenery but, Knowing that a 24" depth is hard to get any growth out of I have invested in some pretty awesome grow lights I found on Amazon

They are an all in one ballast LED full spectrum that you can literally attach to anything in anyplace and can be set up as a series.
LOVE IT!
They are super light and very bright and for the price you cannot go wrong. The only drawback is no switch but that's what timers are for right??
I have two that my hubby bought me for Valentine's day that I am sure will be more than enough.

I will be picking up an unfinished pine shelf from Home Depot and some brackets to mount above the aquarium creating a place for my lighting along with a shelf for my equipment. SO HANDY!

I will also be checking out CO2 systems if anyone has some helpful DIY suggestions it would be appreciated.

As I go along I would love to share my progress if anyone is interested in following my triumphs and failures and offer suggestions/constructive criticisms on where I am headed.
I appreciate any feedback good or bad as I really have no practical experience with this.

Super looking forward to this guys! I will look for your comments and thoughts and Great to meet you all!
To place importance on ones self over the lives to which we are charged is to fail completely in our mission.

charlie

Hello and welcome to OVAS, glad you found us.
As i mentioned we have a group of planted tank enthusiast within the club that get together every now and again, the group is coined "Plantacholics". from the looks of it you would be a good fit  ;).
Please continue to sharing your progress in the "freshwater tank build "
http://ovas.ca/forum/index.php?board=69.0
Here are a few links that will give you a bit of history of this long standing club in our backyard.
http://ovas.ca/forum/index.php?topic=10022.0
http://ovas.ca/forum/index.php?topic=57819.0
http://ovas.ca/forum/index.php?topic=60234.0
Looking forward to your progress and meeting you.
Regards .