jamesbarr

simple and clean, I like the look. I find the terra cota pots add a nice touch.

I had the contents in my 33 gal in Oct. Moved to a 60 gal and was hoping it would have filled out more by now but, alas, here I am I need driftwood and more high growing plants.

I figure that it would be pretty easy to coat the inside as part of a change in plans. For now I just wanted to get it up and done since I had some time off and I had been procrastinating

Alrighty. So here we go to wrap up the build of my sons stand and mostly complete my corner unit desk. So last night I left you guys with the almost complete frame of my stand. I ran out of screws (blast!) and had to quit for the day. Too bad, I was on a roll. Any who, Here is the completed frame work for the stand. Sheeted. I didnt get any pictures of the process, my son came out to 'help'. Hes 3 so if you have kids you know how that went. To fill in the blanks, I took my full sheet of plywood and laid it on the stand corner to corner. I screwed the sheet to the visible corners to hold it square and used a router to trim off the rest of the sheet. Im pretty picky with how the sheeting meets up at the corners and I dont have a table saw to make perfect cuts. This trick is one that works great for me, every time. I followed this up by doing the opposite side, then the top, then the front. In hind sight, I should have done the sides then the front than the top, but it looks good to me any ways and I cant see seams from the front of the unit. It should be noted that if you do intend to follow my example with the router trick you will need to watch for crappy corners on your 2x4. If you dont pay attention and you place a 2x4 that may have came from the outside of the log it will have a round or bumpy edge. Your router bit will follow these attributes and the sheeting will look like poo. After I had it all sheeted, I unscrewed the top and painted it separately from the rest of the unit ridding me of any chance for dribbles on my sheeted stand. I couldnt resist the urge to set the rest in place to see how it fit. This revealed on under sight of mine in the planing process ( I think there will always be one ). I forgot to account for my sheeting in my measurements. Luckily for me, I had planned on making a trim for the other tank to hide the seams from the addition of the second 'walls'. This will make up for my mistake, phew! Black top attached. I think it looks nice. Close up of the black top. All that is left to complete my corner unit is to build and attach doors for the cabinets and put a nice top on the desk side. I also intend to build a tool rack on the top back of my desk for hand tool, drawing things and a charging station for cordless tools. Thanks for watching!

So the new fun and games has begun. Time to build my sons tanks stand. Its for a 20 gal yet to be set up. Here we go. Went to the other, measured up the size I need. I plan to get the stand to match up to the other side by side ending at the corner of the wall. Went outside to set up my work station. The bench was my tank stand for the 33 gal that was in the beginning of this thread. All work together by accident. I lament not having planned it that way, but here I am with it any ways After drawing up my plans, I have figured out all the lengths I need and go about cutting them all. I like to get things all cut at once, then put it all together at once. Keeps me organized and thinking in a step by step fashion. Things just go smoother for me that way. Beginning construction of the 'walls'. Ive chosen to keep my pattern from the previous build with 'walls' and 'decks'. Keeps things streamline. Like with my previous build, I have sheeted the base 'deck' right away. This way the sheeting isnt a problem to put in later on when the 'walls' are attached. Rear and side 'wall' framing complete. Front is not the way it will be when complete. This just gives you the rough Idea. Ive run out of screws and intend to finish assembling the whole thing in the morning. After which I will sheet the 'walls' and finally the upper 'deck'. You may notice that I have chosen not to paint the base 'deck' sheeting. I did this in the previous build for a water repellent as I had intended to put my canister in the stand below the tank. However this 20 gal will be HOB so the interior will stay dry, nothing to worry about However I do intend on painting the top with the same black oil based paint as I did in the other build. Finish this in the morning. ttfn!

sweet, thanks for the recommendations all. Ill have to mull it over. I think Ill wait a week and see how I feel then. For now, plants arent dying so im content

There was a previous post about salt. I changed the whole thing since I had figured that it might actually be a deficiency in my column. However, in thinking more about it, and looking harder at them this morning after my w/c, I do once again think it was the salt. However I dont think it was the salt quantity so much as the application of the salt that caused the problem. When I dosed the salt in my tank, I just dropped it in. It dissolved on the bottom of my tank. I figure that I burned them. When I looked at them a little harder this morning, I found that the out leaves are the ones that are yellow, the inner ones seem unaffected. Next time, Ill dissolve the salt first....total rookie move. At the moment, I have a low tech setup. Id like to keep it that way. I have no Co2 and a single ballast t8 for a light. I have play sand for my sub. I am interested in something to use for my tank as a low tech, low maintenance boost for my chains. Im not really into a continuous supplement system that I will have to worry about dosing or doing lots of w/cs. I realise that means slower growth but im ok with that.

. oops compu blurp

ok, so im in a small town and our lfs has no aquarium ferts (also no live plants) I have heard of the miracle gro option but have been leery. What kind of fert are you buying (20-20-20?) and is there a per gallon quantity to put in? I mean do you only break up one stick for your tank or do you use a formula?

Updated tank pic. Now have in there 7 serpae tetras, 10 white cloud minnows, 3 rainbows, 3 albino corys, 2 ablino hifin plecos, a couple dumb guppies, and a platy. waiting to get that 'perfect piece' of DW for height and something to tie anubius to. I also want to get some angels and a school of rasboras.

Hey, My chains seem to all be yellowing. Not too sure why. All my other plants are fine. My fish are doing well too. Has anyone had experience with this happening in their tanks? Ive had them about 3 months. Only recent change was an increase in stock. I put a school of white cloud minnows, and added 4 serpae tetras. Did the usual remedy, w/c. Any thoughts?

One of the biggest things is don't try to copy a picture +1 I find it to be the most fun when I go to a store knowing the size of tank I have and having a general idea what I am going for. The idea inevitably evolves into something that wasnt the picture in my head initially. Once I took my tank and upgraded and since the water I transferred was from an old tank, it was cloudy (sandy and what not), so I had to blindly place my hardscape in my tank using my imagination. I did the same with my plants (exceptions; pygmy swords which were later smattered about). In the morning, I found that my tank looked quite different from what I imagined, but I wound up leaving it as it was I think that aquascaping is all about the fun of making something look nice in your own way, making it different than other peoples tanks.

Actually tomatoes are self pollinating I have a really interest in what you are doing here. Hows it been going?

has zeo come down in price at all? i looked at it a few years ago, but it was so expensive! the salt is really nice tho.

looks great!

i dig. looks good

:cry:

Ok, Ill have to keep that in mind. I get what neko is saying about the ambient temp of the room effecting the reading. Makes sense and I hadnt thought of that at all.

Hey, I have 2 thermostats on my 60 gallon. Both are strip kind that have adhesive on the rear. I have a heater that turned my tank into a bathtub. The heater is obviously crapped out (took it out), but Im wondering if the fact that my thermostats both say my tank is 86 degrees is something that I should count on? I have one of the strips at the top and one at the bottom to measure the difference in temp closer to and further from the heater. Any experiences with these?

I hope so, I have a hydor submersible heater that just about cooked my tank, I emailed them, hopefully they help me out too :S

nice

so wait, the spring auction next year is in feb instead? is that what Im understanding?

pictures are all gone!!

cool. thanks for the great compliment! I just find that the ones at the store are so expensive. and if they get wet for long enough, they bubble, which isn't very nice. Plus, I guess there is some joy in doing it yourself

29 tanks! wow man, thats an intense w/c day! :rofl: