My journey towards a state of Amano!

[RebeccaB]

First off I should say that I wasn't really sure if I should post this under the DIY section or the plants section.  I opted for plants since the Plant Master himself, Takaski Amano, is my inspiration and the end goal is a wonderfully aquascaped tank for my discus.

Okay, this is my first post about my actual fish/plant fetish on the forum.  I am going to share with you my journey moving towards an Amano-esque tank with hints of Tom Barr's latest tank!  This journey includes building an Amano inspired stand, lighting setup, tank and of course aquascaping...thus the rationale for my Tropica group order!

First off, I should mention that my new set-up will be the new home for my four discus which are currently totally crowed in my 40 gallon planted tank  .  I have purchased a new 58 gallon frameless tank (48"x18"x16") which I intend to keep open topped. I have purchased a sleek aluminum pendant light with 4x39 watt T5HO and added a hacked moonlight LED system.  The light I purchased from Aqua Tropicale in MTL....thanks for the suggestion Charlie!   The problem with the light was that it had two switches to operate the two sets of T5HOs, but only one power cord!  I didn't like this, so I hacked apart the lighting system and added a second power cord so that each set of two T5HOs can be set to two timers.  The bulbs I am using are a 3500k, Geisemann Midday, Geismann Aqua Flora and one 10,000K bulb.

My filtration system is an Eheim II Pro with an in-line Hydor Theo heater (highly reccomend this heater...less equipment in the tank).  I also use a Red Sea Paintball CO2 setup with a solenoid valve set to a timer.  I use an Aquacal bubble counter and a glass Aquacal CO2 diffuser both of which I purchased from Brite Cube Aquariums in BC.  Substrate will be black Eco-Complete and black Flourite sand (for foreground plants to easily establish roots).

Okay. I now have most of my supplies, so over the past week I started building the new stand.  I have knack at hacking Ikea items and re-purposing all kinds of ikea things into something better!  For my stand I purchased a couple of white ikea Besta shelves and dramatically started reinforcing it with 2x4s etc.  The pictures below are in order of what I am writing....I am not sure how to insert pictures between paragraphs!

After putting the shelves together, I decided that I wanted this set-up to have wheels...so I bought appliance casters, each set of two (I used four total or two sets) can hold up to 1200lbs each.  They were a bit wide for the shelves so I took them to the Rona cut shop where the guys cut them down to the right size for my shelves.  My next step was to add the wheels to the shelves, so I used PL construction adhesive, waited for the glue to set and then set the stand right side up and set the tank on top to apply pressure so that I would get the best possible contact between the stand, the wheels while the glue cured.  I was quite happy when I set the tank on the stand, as the tank fit EXACTLY!

Once the basic stand was assembled with wheels, it was time to start working on the lighting system.  The goal was something that slightly resembled an Amano set-up, but the #1 goal was a set-up that looks sleek (I am into modern design  ) I needed a way to suspend the lighting system but without fastening it to the ceiling or walls.  So again, I modelled my set-up after Amano's "garden stand" with suspended lighting.  I decided to use 3/4" extruded aluminium to create "arms" from which to suspend the lighting system.  I bent the pipe with a "pipe bender" from Rona. To keep the look simple and clean, I ran the power cords through the pipes.

So after several days and lots of work I am now at the point of contemplating my layout.  I have purchased a couple of dramatic pieces of wood from BAs (I was too lazy to go out and search the forests!).  I would welcome any feed back on the two variations of the same layout.  I think that the long and low piece just might be too much.  Thoughts?






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[Brine]

I really like the bent aluminum extrusions, nice work. As for the driftwood layouts I like the second one best as it draws my eyes from left to right and the other layout seems to clash because my eyes want to go left to right but the long low piece draws my eyes back right to left....my two cents there. I'd like to see it without the long low piece at all just to see if it is too much.
Whatever you do it looks like a fantastic start to me. Bravo

[charlie]

Fantastic start, for me the 2nd layout does it, i would suggest trying the second layout without the 3rd piece ( smallest one) & moving the 2 pcs further apart for comparison.
I see you have altered the power source from the ceiling , getting ideas of a location change  , Can`t wait to see the end product.

[smalltownfan]

I am looking forward to updates on your project. Seeing and reading what you have so far has got the wheels turning.
At the moment my choice is #2 (most likely without the small piece) but I won't know for sure until the substrate is in.
Great project.

[RebeccaB]

Thanks for the feedback! It's great getting feedback from others in the hobby.

Just to clarify, currently there are only two pieces of wood in the tank, the tall one that sticks out of the tank and the other is the long and low piece with a strange piece attached to the end. I think I would remove that stump-like piece on the end if I decide to keep the long and low piece in the layout. My goal with the tank is to have a rich carpet of HC in the foreground. I wanted to mix in some rocks too, but I think I am making the layout too complex with the long and low piece.

I would appreciate as much feedback/input as you are willing give!

Just one other note. I wasn't planning on layering the substrates, I was going to put the flourite sand in the foreground for the HC and put the ecocomplete in the mid and background sections. Thoughts?

[RebeccaB]

As suggested, I have taken two additional photos of the wood layout.  One with the long and low further to the right, and one with the long and low completely omitted from the tank.  Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...

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[charlie]

For me the the origanal version of the 2 pcs running left to right works better 

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[fischkopp]

I think this is a very neat project, well thought out. The only thing that worries me are the wheels. The stand and the tank together are quite tall but not very wide, the center of gravity will be very high up. One unfortunate situation could make it slip and tip over. I am no expert with these things, just a though ...

For aquascaping: I would reduce the amount of wood in favor of more plant space. On the other hand, if you can really manage to limit yourself to 2-4 species (I tried, but can't  ) that it should work the way it is.

You don't need to mix eco and fluorite; I had good success growing HC just in eco alone. A bag of eco is filled with many different grain sizes, you could sieve it to get out the bigger pieces for the back/bottom and will be left with the finer gravel for the foreground. I am just starting to experiment with fluorite sand, my first impression it that the famous cloud is the worst I have ever seen. Also, it seemed to be quite compact initially. I didn't get around to plant anything into it yet thought.

[fischkopp]

Based on pic 2: you could also move the big piece to the right, while leave the other piece where it is. Less dramatic, maybe more harmonic?

[mesner]

awesome write up!
i'm looking forward to seeing this setup!

[RebeccaB]

Okay, I agree that layout #2 was the preferred layout, but I wasn't sold on it.  So I took back the long and low piece and exchanged it for a new piece.  Let's call this layout #3.  I look forward to your feedback.


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[dan2x38]

Very nice project Rebecca awesome effort well thought out. I agree with less is more. Amano type tanks often have the eye flow to the left. It is suppose to be a more natural feel more comfortable. If you are interested here is a link on the golden ratio and couple tips (if you weren't aware of them already): http://www.freshwateraquariumplants.com/aquascapingprinc/aquascaping101.html

I like lesser wood larger piece to the left. Either way you do it I'm sure it will be nice!

[charlie]

Okay, I agree that layout #2 was the preferred layout, but I wasn't sold on it.  So I took back the long and low piece and exchanged it for a new piece.  Let's call this layout #3.  I look forward to your feedback.

For me it does not have the same impact as # 2, it does however offer a lot more planting area 

[Brine]

Amano type tanks often have the eye flow to the left.

That is because the Japanese read from right to left (actually it is often top to bottom and right to left, that is to say page 1 is to the right of page 2 and the text is top to bottom). We read from left to right so many designs here flow in that direction. I think the most important thing in this application is the flow, not necessarily the direction.

And I have to agree with Charlie I like #2 best

[RebeccaB]

Looking at the pictures, I do agree that #2 had a better more cohesive zen-like feel.  However, there wasn't enough room for planting!  Perhaps a couple of you experienced aquascaper-guys should come over to my place to help me nail this design! 

Any volunteers to help out!  You can also help me out with my plant selections at plant mania!

[jart]

Have you considering leaving one of the pieces out until the tank is somewhat established with lots of fast growing stems? After a few weeks you could rethink the layout and perhaps add the remainder of the wood. A bit more work perhaps...

Nice set up BTW.

[RebeccaB]

Hi all.  I have tried another couple of layouts with rocks.  My preference so far is #1 but it could look more dramatic if I work "hills" into the design with the rocks.  Let me know what you think.



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[smalltownfan]

#1 but with:
The left most rock closer to the wood focal, just barely overlapping. Keep the leaning rock to the right and the little guy centred on that.

[RebeccaB]

Not sure what you mean by (font in red) "Keep the leaning rock to the right and the little guy centred on that."

Rebecca

[smalltownfan]

Not sure what you mean by (font in red) "Keep the leaning rock to the right and the little guy centred on that."

Rebecca

>The far right stone points to the peak of the main feature
>The centre stone points upwards but with the crevasse towards the left to draw the eye up and to the left
>The left hand stone ("the low stone" kneels at the foot of, but still leans towards the focal point)