New Starfire 79 gallon tank build

[charlie]

Well after quite a few years of taking on the challenge of growing different & difficult plants in various tanks, that joy has petered out.
This has led to the desire to do one main planted tank with my all time favorite plants so i can continue to enjoy this fabulous niche of the aquatic hobby -"Planted aquariums"
This thread will be dedicated & updated to the build as i go along .
Big thanks go out to Nerine & Fishnut who kindly made the trek with me to Toronto to get the tank & also indulge in some great aquarium store hopping
Also thanks to Jetstream & Fischkopp who have been giving me tips on the mock up hardscape while i was waiting for the tank, hopefully this weekend will see the final presentation when the 2 fine gentlemen put their minds together to aid me in the final hardscape.
I can`t say enough about Aquainspiration(Toronto) for their customer service & fantastic store, i was impressed from the very first time a group of us visited them at their old location & fresh endeavour  into the store front business, they have since improved in all areas with the new store, Kudos to you guys, just wished you were located here  .
Stay tuned if your interested i will update time permitting with photos.

[sas]

Awesome! Can't wait to see this unfold.
You've set the bar so far in planted tanks, so I'm sure this will be
interesting to say the least.
Thanks for sharing .

[Nerine]

It's an AMAZING tank and I have tank envy!!! WOW I really can't wait to see it fully set up!!!!

[pm]

Nice!!!  That has got to be one of the biggest if not the biggest Starfire tanks AI has.  Please keep us posted with pics of the progress.  You give us newer planted tank guys something to aspire to.

[charlie]

Nice!!!  That has got to be one of the biggest if not the biggest Starfire tanks AI has.  Please keep us posted with pics of the progress.  You give us newer planted tank guys something to aspire to.

Actually AI has a 72 x24x24 for around 1500.00 real nice tank

[charlie]

Here goes some quick snaps  first set is some mock ups of the hardsacpe yet to be refined hopefully this weekend, probably add some more wood
The stand had to be slightly modified to accommodate the deeper tank - 1/2 inch pink Styrofoam was layered on the new top since the new tank is flat bottomed, also went the DIY light hanger system for a total cost of 35.00, still needs some more work when the new fixture is in place

[charlie]

After researching substrates for quite sometime & having used eco complete & flourite with good success  i wanted to try the soil based substrates,read all the hype & good qualities of the ADA magic  , but due to it`s almost non existence in our neck of the woods i decided to try the new kid on the block Fluval Planted Startum in my 20 gallon long, after several months it has proven to be good enough for me, despite all the con`s i read on line to this day it is still doing well & buffering like the first month of use. this persuaded me to go with it, also the pro of being readily available locally, i`ll be using 5 X 9 KG. bags
in the picture it shows 1 bag of black flourite, that has sinced being switched out by a 5th bag of Fluval Plant Stratum.

[charlie]

Here is the Glass box that will house everything, it was picked up from Aquainspiration on Kennedy road Toronto.
This tank is a knock off of the ADA cubes & caught my eye a while ago on a visit ti AI @ their old location, the want one dream started then
pics will show it on stand wrapped , levelled & filled for leak test & level under load.
You will also see my DIY tech light  which will soon be replaced by a 4 bulb Tek light

[daworldisblack]

Pretty excited to see ow it will turn out Errol! I see now why you cancelled on us this weekend! BIG plans Waiting to see the rest of the progress in the coming weeks!

[Cheebs]

Awesome so far! I too am excited to see how this will progress!

[charlie]

I`m now at a crossroad regarding the background, initially my plans was to apply Vinyl as the back ground, mainly for 2 reasons (1) it makes a beautiful dark not knowing illusion where the back ends (2) from previous experience with rimless tanks & aquascaping water tend to seep over the edge leaving  water stains between the paper B/ground & the glass, applied vinyl eliminates this issue.
But in using a black board with a 1 inch space between the back glass & the board as a mock up background has literally turn a light bulb on ........ that flash is to use the 1 inch space to insert a background light, but that raises the issue of seeping water & stains, i`m thinking of placing a narrow strip of glass/plexiglass with a thin strip of silicone to seal the seepage gap, i`m aware silicone & plexi don`t bond well, but the question is will it bond enough to act as a light water seal?
Added some pics to help illustrate my idea & question on the sealing of Plexi & glass with silicone, the first pic shows the space between the back glass & the back board, back light & the styrofoam @ the top mimics the galss/plexi strip to act as a seepage barrier.
The back light used is only for illustration & would not be used if i go forward with is idea,consrtuctive criticism welcomed

[Consigliere]

Nice looking tank CHarlie.  Starphire is a very nice glass.  Where are you getting your substrate and how much?  Looks like it could be a good middle of the road option (price wise) for a planted tank.

[Cheebs]

I like it! I'm no pro with silicone, but basically as long as it's good enough to fill in the gap, I'd think you are safe... Nothing will be knocking it around back there, so I say go for it! Cool idea

[charlie]

Thanks guy`s.

The Fluval plant stratum are 8 KG bags & i got them form Big Al`s  East for approx 45.00 per bag, it has to be special ordered but the turn around is less that a week, in my case a few days.

[Toss]

I like the board option. You have the option to change the background with no fuss.
Nice tank Errol!

[jetstream]

We'll see the tank's pictures at 2012 AGA aquascaping contest? Before, if you enter AGA contest, AGA will automatically put your entry into the ADA contest! 

p.s. results of AGA 2011 contest will be published next week or end of Nov!

Cheers,

[charlie]

We'll see the tank's pictures at 2012 AGA aquascaping contest? Before, if you enter AGA contest, AGA will automatically put your entry into the ADA contest! 

p.s. results of AGA 2011 contest will be published next week or end of Nov!

Cheers,

Highly doubt this build will see any contest, i`m not a fan of contest rules & restrictions on how many species etc, this is more for my pleasure & long term evolution 

[pm]

You mention the DIY light hanging system.  I can't tell what you used.  I assume conduit tubes, but are they PVC or something else (they look like they have been painted).

I like the simplicity of them, and for some time have thought of doing something similar.  The nicest ones I have seen were made of copper, but the copper rippled where they were bent, detracting a bit from the presentation.

[charlie]

Hi Peter , the DIY lighting rack is made from 1/2 inch EMT conduit, it better if you can have it bent from one length of conduit, but i did mine with individual pieces - 2x 90deg bends, 4 couplers, 2 lengths of conduit all from home depot, it is painted the same colour of the wall to try & blend it in, here is a thread i read before i did it.
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/diy-aquarium-projects/38593-hanging-my-tek-over-my-75-a.html
Regards

[charlie]

I should add a few tid bits of where i`m going with this tank & equipment that will be used etc, at least this is the plan i started with , who knows what will be the final result  , here goes
This build will be more of a fusion of the Nature & Dutch style aquascaping, this unfortunately does not lend itself well for competitions, at least from the people that judge  

The equipment list should be as follows
Tank - 48x20x20 starfire ADA style tank
Substrate - 5 or more Fluval Plant Stratum 8 KG bags
Hardscape- Redmoor wood (after research this wood is not the same as the popular Manznita)
Lighting - 4 bulb 48 inch T5 HO Tek light
Filtration - 2X Eheim 2026 Pro II
Intake & Return - glass lily pipe
Nutrients -
(a) Pressurised CO 2 injected via a Sumo twin needle valve Regulator @ 2 points in the tank, one via a DIY in line reactor driven by a Eheim compact 200 + pump & the other a passive in line UP atomizer.
(b) Macros & Micros will be salts from the Hydroponics via the Estimative Index

Heating - 300 watt Hydor ETH In-Line Heater
Controller -Reefkeeper lite 3
UV sterilization - Coralife twist 9 watt
Livestock - BN plecos,Amano shrimp,Cherry shrimp,possibly some Crystal shrimp, Kuhli loach, Otto cat,Sterbai corie, SAE,Assain snail, Cardinal Tetras.
Plants- whatever i like & colourful  

Well that is the plan at least for now