# Mr. Aqua 17.4g - Iwagumi, DIY ADA Stand upgrading



## RunnerUW (Mar 26, 2013)

A few months ago I decided it was time to upgrade from my ten year old 10g low-tech planted tank to something I was proud to display in my living room. It's been a painstakingly detailed build with countless forum searches and many trips to the hardware stores and it's now time to start a journal. 

As the post title mentions I'm starting with a Mr. Aqua 17.4 gallon rimless tank (60cm equivalent). It came ridiculously packed from Marine Depot (packed 1000 times better than my online lily pipe purchase...they all came broken...but that's another story).


















I'm going pressurized CO2, already have the tank and regulator but it's on my 10g now until this tank gets set up. Purchased an Eheim 2217, Finnex Fugeray LED, will be making a DIY CO2 reactor, 12L of ADA AquaSoil Amazonia and ultimately going for an Iwagumi style.

Step 0: Obtain all sorts of packages in the mail
Step 1: Time to build a stand. 

I really like the look of the DIY ADA stands people have made so from many owners pictures I made my own plans, sketched everything out in MS Excel and started the build. Here's a quick list of the major parts:


3/4" Plywood (one 4x8 sheet)
Sheet of laminate (they only had a 4x10 in the color I wanted...this allowed me to laminate both the inside and outside)
Wood glue and screws
1" flush laminate bit
A variety of power tools (table saw, circular saw, jigsaw, dremel, router)
Wood files and sandpaper
Hardware for the doors
Many trips to HomeDepot and Lowes

I took a few pictures along the way to document my first woodworking project since junior high shop class 16 years ago. There were definitely a few bumps in the road but all in all I'm happy with the finished product.

1. Here's the wood already cut to size and the roll of laminate acclimating to the same temperature and humidity in my house.









2. The sides, bottom and back were glued and screwed together. Now it's time to get some laminate on the inside walls.









3. A few more pieces are glued on and lots more laminate installed. The cutouts for the power and filter hoses took a bit of ingenuity over here but I'm really happy how they turned out.

















4. The finished product!



























It's level too!









5. Here's the tank on top. It's a dead perfect fit, exactly the width and depth of the tank. Note, the Iwagumi formation is still a work in progress, some more Ada AS for height and adjustment of the rocks and I'll be ready to DSM this tank.









I'm not embarrassed to share a few of my learnings for this build:

Keep the router bearing clean. If it doesn't spin freely it can burn your laminate edges that are already installed.
Accurately label all cut pieces of laminate. I incorrectly glued the wrong side pieces (those cut for the outside were glued on the inside...oops). This meant I had to get creative with the laminate for the outside-sides. A 4x10 sheet is just barely enough to laminate all the inside and outside of a 30"x24"x12" stand which meant I didn't have any extra pieces to fix this error.
Account for the additional 1/16" thickness of the laminate on all cuts. I read this previously and said "yep, I did that". Well I didn't on all pieces. I had to cut and glue a small 1/16" strip of plywood on the front outside edge of the top to get everything flush.
Ensure a perfectly level top. This is especially important for rimless tanks. A little wood filler ensured this was the case for me.
A straight edged piece of plywood was a godsend to ensure straight cuts of laminate and wood. This was especially important for the inside pieces of laminate that couldn't be cut oversized and just routed off.
Painters tape can sometimes help to prevent chipping. Sometimes.
Contact cement requires a warm environment to dry. 45 degrees does not count as warm. Follow the can directions. For me this meant painting the contact cement on in the garage and then carrying the glued pieces upstairs to dry.
Fill countersunk screws before laminating. Otherwise the router will find that small hole and you'll have a very small divot in your laminate. Lovely.


As this journal progress I'll showcase the rest of the setup. I'm waiting for a new shipment of knock-off lily pipes to replace the broken shipment. In the meantime I've picked up some acrylic to attempt some DIY lily pipes as well. My DIY CO2 reactor was almost ready to build but I've changed course and want the clear 2" PVC. I know it's not necessary as plain old white PVC will work just as good but I want to see the bubbles! I've already spent more money on this tank than I care to admit so what's another $20 if it makes me happy, right?!
Once I get the rocks to a position I like I'll be planting some glosso for a carpet using the dry start method. Give that a few weeks to grow and hopefully by June I'll have this tank full of water, cardinal tetras, otos, shrimp and my SAE.


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## GMYukonon24s (May 3, 2009)

You did some nice work on the cabinet!


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## RunnerUW (Mar 26, 2013)

Thank you! 

Couldn't pull the trigger on the 2" clear PVC last night. $10/foot + $10 shipping didn't make sense to me. I wanted to see how well the CO2 was dissolving in a Rex Griggs Style reactor...with a 2217 I worried it'd be a decent amount of flow that could potentially carry a few small bubbles of CO2 back to the tank before they dissolved. I'll just build a longer reactor. Heck I've got about 24" of available room in my stand, may as well make it a 2 foot CO2 reactor.


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## Brian_Cali77 (Mar 19, 2010)

Mighty fine work on the stand! Congrats on the new tank too!


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## RunnerUW (Mar 26, 2013)

Well, it's been a few weeks since I've journaled my progress. Mostly just a lot of prep 
work to get ready to plant. New 10# CO2 tank to replace the 2.5 pounder I had. The 
regulator is still hooked up to the 2.5# tank on my 10gallon. It'll get moved over once 
it's time to CO2 inject the 17 gallon. 










Purchased some plants at the Greater Seattle Aquarium Seattle (GSAS) plant auction. 
Floated them in the 10G until it was time to dry start the 17G. It's pretty sparse in 
the tank so far so I'll either get some more glosso or just be really really patient 
while it fills in. In the back right corner is some Marsilea hirsuta to add some darker contrast leaves to the brighter glosso color. 



















The new filter and filter media are currently cycling with my makeshift rubbermaid tank on the kitchen counter. It was a great leak check for the CO2 reactor, hydor heater and some plumbing. We are currently sitting at ~5ppm of NH3, 0 NO2 and 0 NO3 at 86 degrees F. But given how long it'll take this glosso to fill in I'm sure this filter will be well cycled before the tank is finally filled.










And then to suck away more of my free time and money I went to a "how-to homebrew" class yesterday. Apparently I don't pick the cheapest hobbies


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## Green_Flash (Apr 15, 2012)

Nice job on the stand, it is also organized well. I assume the grey cylinder is the CO2 reactor?


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## MrAlmostWrong (Jul 16, 2012)

Wow, beautiful job on the stand. Could you give a rough estimate on the cost of materials to put this together? I'm trying to present a case to the Lady that it is more cost effective for me to give woodworking a shot than spluring a godly amount on a premade stand.


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## Jahn (Apr 26, 2013)

that is awesome. I'd love to find a stand that fits my CO2 tank (and maybe future CO2 reactor and canister filter too?) and aquarium just right like that - I guess custom-made is the only way to go right now, sigh!


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## blue1delta (Jan 8, 2013)

nice start! I love my 17.4


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## DvanK (Feb 27, 2009)

RunnerUW said:


> ...


I love the anal attention to detail under the hood! Nice Job.


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## RunnerUW (Mar 26, 2013)

Thank you all. My friends thought I was crazy bothering with all the details of this build. I'm still cycling the filter and dry starting the tank so not much progress on the tank that is worthy of pictures. For the fishless cycle I tried just ammonia with starter bacteria from my mature tank but I may have overdosed the ammonia to somewhere between 4 and 8 ppm. After 3 weeks there was no change in the ammonia (4+) and zero nitrite. I saw suggestions for a dead shrimp to get the cycle started so I did a big water change on my temporary tank and got the grocery store to give me a free shrimp. They were right! After just a week of a shrimp I'm seeing nitrites  Now I just need my glosso carpet to get growing sideways.

Some approximate costs for materials (what I can remember or take a guess at)
-Plywood $50
-Laminate $120
-Glue and screws $10
-Contact cement + cheap paintbrushes $25
-Hinges $20
-Magnetic long throw door latches $15
-Touch up paint $5
-Wood filler $7
-silicone to fill in the tiny gaps in the laminate seams $10

Then I don't know what you have for tools but I used:
-table saw for the big cuts
-a circular saw for smaller cuts and for the laminate (needed to buy a fine tooth blade for the laminate...$15)
-dremel with planer attachment
-palm sander with various sandpaper grits
-router with 1" flush tip bit
-jigsaw for the cutouts
-drill and drill bits

The laminate is the significant cost here but I'm really glad I went that route.


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## Vermino (Jun 14, 2012)

updates? I want to see this thing FILLED! :icon_smil


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## binbin9 (Jan 31, 2012)

Great journal, nice build and I like that you dont waste anytime cycling the filter. Thats a great idea.


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## RunnerUW (Mar 26, 2013)

Thanks for the press for updates vermino, I know I haven't been diligent enough about updating this journal. Since my last post I've started a new job and am in the beginning stages of selling my house so I'm actually kind of glad the tank isn't filled. It'll be much easier to move when the time comes for that step 

The grow out of glosso has been painstakingly slow. I see very little new growth. I hope these buggers are laying down some crazy root systems since they obviously are not concerned about spreading themselves out. I've since been adding new plantlets when I find the time. 

Finally the filter has cycled. That shrimp was the key. Now I keep adding a couple of drops of ammonia throughout the week to keep the bacteria happy while we wait to move the tank.

I'll try to add some more plants in the upcoming week and take a couple new photos. It'll look like a lot of new plants from the pictures above but it's just from me adding new stems, not from new growth.


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## RunnerUW (Mar 26, 2013)

Good news...the glosso finally started to grow. Some sideways, some upwards, some every which way. I probably could have "trained" them to grow sideways with some selective pruning and/or encouragement. But I'm just happy they finally started to grow. My first DSM, mostly a success.

Bad news...I'm moving in a few weeks which means the tank has to come down  Sad! But hopefully the second time around is much easier. Given this is a rimless tank I have to take down everything...I'll bag the plants, take out the rocks and support structures under the substrate, bucket the aquasoil and start over again. 

Fingers crossed it all goes well in a few weeks!

From the top:









Lots of humidity in this tank.


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## RunnerUW (Mar 26, 2013)

Wowzers, I broke this tank down in August and shame on me for not getting it going again for 6 months! Can't believe it has been that long since I've been without an aquarium. I forgot how much I enjoyed this hobby until this week when I started a 'scape but the perfectionist in me wasn't feeling it so I pulled it down and started again. I'm really happy with how this one is started.

Seiryu stone in place, makeshift substrate supports from the craft store and dwarf hairgrass planted.









5 pots of hemianthus callitrochoides (aka HC, Cuba, Dwarf baby tears) may have been overkill but they looked healthy and it's better to have too much than too little, right?! After an hour of painstakingly removing the wool and separating into small plantlets I think I have a very good looking start to the carpet of HC I've been dreaming of!









Finally a front on view that I'm happy to watch grow!









I plan to give this approximately 10 hours of light from my fugeray with 6 hours in the middle of extra light from 2 14watt CFLs. I'm patient so I'm OK waiting at least a month before I flood this. That should be enough time to get these two sets of plants enough time to root and start growing. I'm not expecting much growth from the hairgrass as I've heard it does better submerged. But I expect to see the HC make a decent carpet before filling. I think I'll add some taller plants to the back corners once flooded, but I haven't decided what to put back there yet.

Excited to see how this progresses! More updates to follow!


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## Couesfanatic (Sep 28, 2009)

looks nice, I will be following.


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## RunnerUW (Mar 26, 2013)

It's been a few weeks so time to document the growth.

The first image below is the starting point, 2/21/14. Then a couple of weeks later we have the growth at 3/6/14. Then 3/10/14 and finally 3/13/14. 

The HC has been filling in well. I'm seeing a few yellow leaves here and there but I think it'll survive just fine while it waits to be filled. 

The dwarf hairgrass growth has been nearly non-existent. Root growth looks excellent and I'm seeing a few new shoots through the substrate tonight. A little bit of browning of the hairgrass but again, I think it will survive and flourish once the aquarium is filled. I understand hairgrass grows better submerged versus emersed.

Getting the CO2 system ready to go by running the tubing inside the stand...I'm a bit detail oriented about having a clean inside of my stand so it's a few clips here and there to keep all the lines mostly out of site.

2/21/14









3/6/14









3/10/14









3/13/14


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

HUGE fan of the double-door ADA stand for a 60P... looks great. Want to build me one?


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## RunnerUW (Mar 26, 2013)

I'll get right on it  

That is one of those projects I look back on and think wow, did I really do that?! (fiberglass subwoofer enclosure in a little cubby under the rear seat of my Toyota Tacoma also comes to mind). How much time I spent on those two simple little boxes amazes me. But they both came out better than expected!

Nice to hear you like the doors. They were an unintended consequence of incorrectly cutting the laminate but in hindsight I think they look amazing and actually give me more placement opportunities. I can have the doors open and still pass between the stand and the piece of furniture across from it!

I see about 10-15 little tiny DHW shoots appearing! I think I'm less than two weeks away from filling this thing!


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## RunnerUW (Mar 26, 2013)

Woohoo, finally filled this thing! Things are going OK. Had some stringy fungus like material on the HC that I've been working to clean up. Oh, and totally filled the aquarium will a bunch of little white flakes from the filter tubing. I'm guessing it is a sort of biofilm that builds up in the tubing. If I ever notice my tubing is white again, I'll put a net in front of the filter discharge to catch anything that blows into the tank when I restart the filter.

Filter is still cycling so no fish yet. I had a good nitrite spike that is now testing zero so I think I'm almost there. Added some ammonia this morning so I'll check tomorrow morning to see if it has all been converted in 24 hours.

I had a Fugeray on the tank, which I suspect was completely capable of growing what I want. And then I went to the LFS, saw the 24" Planted+ in stock and lo and behold I'm coming home with a new light. Needed? Not a chance. Wanted? You betcha. I really like it! On paper it is brighter. In person and I find it just more pleasing to the eyes. That red and, when I feel like turning it on, the blue is nice to see, especially in the sparkle off the water.

I'm busy testing a lot (Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, pH and Phosphates). Struggling to keep phosphates at a measurable level so I've been adding KH2PO4 every other day to 2ppm, only to see it go to zero by the next day.










Some algae is beginning to sneak in. My rocks are pearling  Yeah, maybe not, it's the algae that is beginning to grow on the rocks. I've been using a toothbrush to scrape that off each night. 

In the picture below you can see some brown algae covering some of the HC. It is removed pretty easy so I just pick it up with some tweezers or vacuum it up. Lots of brown specks on the HC leaves. Almost looks like fine aquasoil specks, but I think it is more of the brown diatom type. I do have some green diatoms growing on the glass too.


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## RunnerUW (Mar 26, 2013)

Added some critters today. 2 tiger shrimp and 2 otocinclus. I acclimated them floating in their bags for 4 hours, they seem pretty happy right now. I hope they like all the algae growing in the tank. 

Something brown is spreading fierce across the HC. It scrapes away pretty easy so I've been doing that every day. Hopefully it is just something that comes with a new tank.


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## RunnerUW (Mar 26, 2013)

Did lots more reading on algae and I came to discover:

1) I likely had too much light when starting this tank from emersed to submerged. Light period was 9 hours with a Finnex Planted + and CO2 on at 4 bps 1 hour before lights on to 1 hour before lights off. I have cut back the photoperiod to just 6 hours now. I also slowed the CO2 down to 1-2 bps since I added the fish and shrimp.

2) I think my algae problem is BGA. Not technically an algae but it sure looks like one. I came that conclusion based solely on smell. My tank has a kind of musty/earthy smell and when I pick up a little of this growth on my HC, it smells pretty rank. I guess my options now are a blackout or antibiotics (Erythromycin).

3) I don't know the ultimate source of the BGA outbreak but my water movement seems pretty minimal at the substrate level. I have a lot of movement near the surface but I can hardly see the leaves of the HC move. I moved the outflow of my 2217 (should be more than enough flow for 17 gallon!) to see if that helps. Even though it's a new tank, I might still take apart the filter to ensure it isn't full of something nasty.


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Looks great!

Have you considered trying the one-two punch method for algae control? I've been pondering giving it a shot myself...


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## RunnerUW (Mar 26, 2013)

One two punch complete. I'll let you know if it worked.

I pulled out the shrimp and otos so that they could avoid the H2O2. With the fish out I felt comfortable doing the 4 tbsp/10 gallon and added a total of 6 tbsp for 15 gallons of water. I added a 600 gph circ pump, turned that tank into a washing machine! While that was going I rinsed the filter pads in some tank water (filter was pretty darn clean already). The filter smelled of that earthy/musty smell I'm associating with BGA so for the final 5 minutes of the H2O2 treatment I hooked the filter back up, media and all and ran punch #1 through it. I'm sure it affected some of the good bacteria but I'm willing to risk that since I have such a tiny bioload in the tank. I'll monitor the water parameters and will be ready to do some water changes if necessary.

Did a 50% water change after the H2O2, refilled with tap water, added prime and then punch #2 with 7 mL Excel.

I'm acclimating the otos and shrimp to their "new" tank right now. 

Oh, I also took out the vals I had because I heard they can be sensitive to Excel. I'll add them back in tomorrow morning when most of the Excel has hopefully worked on the DHG and HC.


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## DieFranz (Feb 20, 2013)

Hey, another Mr. Aqua 17.4 in its beginning stages in Seattle! Nice. Except I have the Ray II so I'm sure I can expect extra algae problems. 

Subbed!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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## RunnerUW (Mar 26, 2013)

Hey DieFranz! Best of luck with your setup. I've seen other 60p tanks using a RayII successfully without an algae problem. I'd say be generous with the CO2 with that powerful of a light. I really like these Finnex LEDs. 

Do you have a journal started? 

Here's today's latest update. I bought some blyxa at the GSAS auction because I don't really like the vals I had planted in the corners. I really only had the vals because they were readily available and I wanted something faster growing than my DHG and HC to help keep algae at bay. I got a huge bag of the blyxa at the auction and crammed as much as I could into the tank. I'll probably remove all of the vals at some point but for now I stashed them all to the left. Hoping the blyxa grows a little taller to add some height to the tank on that right hand side.

BGA is starting to show up again. I'm trying (again) to pick out the majority of it before it spreads and I'll spot treat the stuff at the substrate level with H2O2 as needed. I'm speculating that it is a combination of uneven CO2 levels and some poor circulation in that corner of the tank. I think the CO2 levels are due to a dying check valve, or I'm bumping my needle valve. I came home today to a blue drop checker and maybe 0.2 bubbles per second. I've been targeting 4-5 bps since the fauna seem to be OK.
As for circulation I'm messing with the location of the lily pipes to find what works best. All up front corner, no different. All in the back, seemed a little better. Currently at back inlet and front outlet. Doesn't seem to be cutting it. I'll go back to the all back corner to see if I can get better flow up in the front left corner.

Speaking of pipes, I've added a Borneowild stainless intake. I like how it has little holes throughout the length to get debris that is floating at different levels of the tank. I don't like that I usually have to shut off the filter for a water change because the water level will get below the first set of holes making the filter suck in air. But that's OK, life will go on. Having a 2217 means I have an 17mm inlet and it is tough to get an intake that large to fit. I had to make a trough in the back corner of my tank to "bury" the intake without surrounding it in substrate. So far so good.


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## DieFranz (Feb 20, 2013)

Looking good!

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


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