# curvilinear II



## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

Nothing like stumbling on your next project. I was at Marshalls killing some time waiting for an appointment and noticed these nice sized glass cylinders and decided I needed to bring one home, it's about two gallons. The stump was collected while out hiking with my son last fall & it's been soaking in bucket of water along with some oak leaves I use for my dart frog viv ever since. The glass cylinder & the little stump looked like they were made for each other. I have a bucket of black sand somewhere that I had planned to use, but it was no where to be seen, so I decided to try out the white sand that had been recently removed from my son's Gecko tank (after a good rinse). I did a base of peat & a handful of the pre-soaked oak leaves, then covered it with the white sand. The plants are Anubias Nana Petite & Java fern with a little bit of Christmas moss. The lighting is an MR16 fixture with a 5 watt 6000K LED lamp. I'm hoping this will end up a low maintenance/low tech pico tank, but it may be a bit too much light. I've got another 3 watt LED I might use if needed. I'm thinking a few CRS would make a good addition for livestock and maybe a couple of male Endlers. Let me know what you think ...

-Rick


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## fishsandwitch (Apr 20, 2008)

looks good, maybe add some marsilea minuta for ground cover and some small stems for the back?

You'll need a filter, though for anything but a betta or a couple RCS


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## GlassCat594 (Mar 20, 2009)

Did you add the oak leaves in order to get some organic nutrients in the substrate?


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

fishsandwitch said:


> looks good, maybe add some marsilea minuta for ground cover and some small stems for the back?
> 
> You'll need a filter, though for anything but a betta or a couple RCS


I like the idea of using marsilea minuta as a ground cover.



GlassCat594 said:


> Did you add the oak leaves in order to get some organic nutrients in the substrate?


Yes, that & to kick start the biological process in the sand. The oak leaves had been soaking in a bucket of water for months and have their own little bio-eco system going and are culturing springtails for my dart frog viv.


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

Slight re-scape today

Added 1 red cherry & 1 Green Caridina Shrimp. Just wanted to try them out to see how shrimp do in this tank, hopefully one or both will do well.

-Rick


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

I really llike that litte stump. In the long run I think you will need a powerhead for some water movement though.

Craig


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

Craigthor said:


> I really llike that litte stump. In the long run I think you will need a powerhead for some water movement though.
> 
> Craig


Hi Craig,

Thanks for the comments ... :biggrin: ... As soon as I saw the little stump laying on the ground I knew I had to start a project to highlight it.

I'm really considering a nano HOB filter or small canister filter, since I want to have a small number of both shrimp & fish. 

-Rick


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

A little more re-scape & added frogsbit for a floating plant.
Frogsbit is also also supposed to :help: suppress algae growth. 

-Rick


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## ddtran46 (Jul 8, 2008)

What light is that? Looks nice


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

ddtran46 said:


> What light is that? Looks nice


Thanks

The light fixture is a MR16 halogen fixture I pulled off an old display fountain, then I a wired on a 12 volt power supply. 
And the bulb is one superbrightleds.com Seoul 5 Watt 6300K LED.
If you do a search for picture lighting some similar fixtures come up.

-Rick


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## bigboij (Jul 24, 2009)

very cool i was thinking of a cylinder shaped tank just the other day, you said you got it a marshals?, was is listed as a vase of some sort?


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

bigboij said:


> very cool i was thinking of a cylinder shaped tank just the other day, you said you got it a marshals?, was is listed as a vase of some sort?


The Marshals I was in had a whole isle of different sized glass vases &/or candle holders. The one I bought was their largest size of glass cylinder and it was only $9.95. Marshals is pretty hit or miss because they buy overstock items, but you can pickup good deals when you find something you like. I think craft stores or even the craft area at a wallymart might have something similar.

-Rick


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

I made up an Aqua Lift sponge filter for the tank so I could have more shrimp & maybe a couple of fish to make the tank more interesting. 

Here is a link with more info & pics.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/equipment/92486-aqua-lift-sponge-filter.html

-Rick


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

Updated pic
I have been dosing 0.5 mL of Excel daily & 0.5 mL of Flourish micro trace supplement every other day


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## itzjustjeff (Apr 27, 2009)

beautiful tank!


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## aelysa (Oct 20, 2006)

Very cute!
My cat would love to drink out of that.


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

itzjustjeff said:


> beautiful tank!


Thanks Jeff


aelysa said:


> Very cute!
> My cat would love to drink out of that.


Our cat used to do exactly that, but unfortunately he got out of the house a few weeks ago and we have not seen him since. I assume he became a coyote dinner ...:icon_frow... I actually saw a coyote trotting down our sidewalk at dawn one morning a few months ago. 

-Rick


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## DCMarathoner (Sep 10, 2009)

Very nice!


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## GlassCat594 (Mar 20, 2009)

did you change your filter?


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

DCMarathoner said:


> Very nice!


Thanks DC



GlassCat594 said:


> did you change your filter?


I still have the filter, but I felt the auto-water changer uptake & return were out of scale with the tank (and ugly too). I made new supply & return tubes out of clear rigid 5/16" tubing. I slide some silicon airline tubing inside the clear rigid 5/16" tubing to keep the tubing from collapsing, then I heated it up over my propane grill & bent it into the shapes I wanted. Then I connected the sponge filter & my Aqua Lift pump. It's working fine & much less noticeable than the old way. 

-Rick


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## Nate McFin (Mar 19, 2009)

What a great project. The stump is perfect and the frogbit just works. It looks like Dagobah. (Where Yoda lived if you dont know the reference) 
The new filter lines look alot better. Are you heating at all?


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

Nate McFin said:


> What a great project. The stump is perfect and the frogbit just works. It looks like Dagobah. (Where Yoda lived if you dont know the reference)
> The new filter lines look alot better. Are you heating at all?


yes Padawan, sharp be your sight. The Stump be from a Gnarltree, I believe. Imported from distant, mist-shrouded swamp planet, it could be.

No heater to be used here


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

updated pictures



















Dageti Killifish as well as a couple of plants added to the tank 
New plants are Patamogeton gayi & thin leaf Java Fern 

-Rick


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

I really like how your tank has progressed! It is very cool!


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## FrostyNYC (Nov 5, 2007)

Looks really neat. You arent afraid that the killies will jump?


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## Cocobid (Feb 25, 2007)

Nice Tank!!!!


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Hmmm those fish and plants look familiar LOL. This pico looks so clean and uncluttered with LED light and clear pipes. Looks very natural great job.
Rick, I think we should crown you the master of DIY over at the SCAPE forum.roud:


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

MARIMOBALL said:


> Hmmm those fish and plants look familiar LOL. This pico looks so clean and uncluttered with LED light and clear pipes. Looks very natural great job.
> Rick, I think we should crown you the master of DIY over at the SCAPE forum.roud:


Hey Victor ... Thanks ... :hihi:

-Rick


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

FrostyNYC said:


> Looks really neat. You arent afraid that the killies will jump?


Frosty I would be worried, but I have an 7" tall clear plastic sleeve cut out of a big pretzel container that slips on top of the tank. I added the plastic sleeve when the fish went in and have it on a lot of the time, but of course I remove it for pictures. I figure if the fish (or shrimp) can jump higher than that then they are clearly aiming for heaven ... :angel: ...
-Rick


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

Cocobid said:


> Nice Tank!!!!





JakeJ said:


> I really like how your tank has progressed! It is very cool!


Thanks Coco & Jake


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

*update 4.12.2010*

It's been a while since I posted any updates. This tank has been super low maintenance. I've only done one trim of the HC and Patamogeton gayi in the last few months and no water changes, just top-offs. The last picture shows a plastic dome top with the center cutout (McDonald's salad cover) to prevent the male Dageti Killifish from jumping out. It has worked well so far. Every once in while I hear him bouncing off the cover while jumping at some bug (real or imagined).


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## MARIMOBALL (Mar 18, 2007)

Beutiful tank and great idea to use that salad bowl top. No heater?


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## jreich (Feb 11, 2009)

it reminds me of a giant planted slurpy


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## tuonor (Nov 26, 2009)

Awesome nano -- I really like how the project has matured. 

Can you post a few details on the filter? I'm assuming its basically a pump with a sponge on the intake tube...but can't see the sponge. Did you pull it for the pics?


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## AshleySix (Dec 18, 2009)

Love this tank. 



ALIFER said:


>


Nice Snail.


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## AlexXx (Dec 1, 2009)

man so amazing! i have that same exact cylinder i need to do something like this with it!


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

MARIMOBALL said:


> Beutiful tank and great idea to use that salad bowl top. No heater?


I went all winter with no heater in the tank and the Dageti Killifish and the RCS survived. The water temps averaged in the low to mid 60's F over the winter. I cut down feeding to once per week until the water temps went over 70 F. Now I'm feeding fruit flies every other day to the Killifish and sinking food couple times a week for the RCS. 

I have a small 1 gallon planted tank outside on my patio table with a few RCS and they also survived the winter with no heat. We did have a mild winter here with night temps rarely dropping into the low 40's F.

Rick


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

jreich said:


> it reminds me of a giant planted slurpy











You are so right about that!


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

tuonor said:


> Awesome nano -- I really like how the project has matured.
> 
> Can you post a few details on the filter? I'm assuming its basically a pump with a sponge on the intake tube...but can't see the sponge. Did you pull it for the pics?











Here is picture that shows the Aqualifter filter (and also shows the HC before a trim), but yes I had the filter removed for the pics I posted earlier. I moved the sponge out of the tank and into the Aqualifter pre-filter.

Rick


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

AshleySix said:


> Love this tank.
> 
> Nice Snail.











I just noticed the weird glow showing above the stump, which is actually the reflection of a tank behind where a female Dageti Killifish resides.

I'm still crazy about the shadows that you get from LED lighting that just don't happen with fluorescent lights, like the shadow from the snail on the stump or even better is the shadow created by the Killifish as he makes his rounds around the surface of tank.


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## tuonor (Nov 26, 2009)

ALIFER said:


> Here is picture that shows the Aqualifter filter (and also shows the HC before a trim), but yes I had the filter removed for the pics I posted earlier. I moved the sponge out of the tank and into the Aqualifter pre-filter.
> 
> Rick


Thanks for posting that. This is a neat idea for a low flow cannister filter for a betta. Is the aqualifter setup noisy at all?


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## King Friday (Mar 29, 2010)

tuonor said:


> Thanks for posting that. This is a neat idea for a low flow cannister filter for a betta. Is the aqualifter setup noisy at all?


Ditto on that. I also wonder if you could illuminate for us how the cannister section is constructed?


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## houstonhobby (Dec 12, 2008)

Wow that is a nice tank! And the light fixture swooping over just makes the design. Wish I had some frogbit.


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

tuonor said:


> Thanks for posting that. This is a neat idea for a low flow canister filter for a betta. Is the aqualifter setup noisy at all?


Aqua Lifters are really built just like airpumps, except they they have two diaphragms instead of one. One is to pull in the water and the other to push it out. They also tend to sound like a quiet airpump. 



King Friday said:


> Ditto on that. I also wonder if you could illuminate for us how the canister section is constructed?


It's just a Aqua Lifter Pre-Filter with a sponge inside.
http://www.marinedepot.com/Tom_Aqua...ow_Boxes-Tom`s_Aquatics-OE1140-FIOFOA-vi.html


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

houstonhobby said:


> Wow that is a nice tank! And the light fixture swooping over just makes the design. Wish I had some frogbit.


THANKS ... roud:

The frogbit was given to me by a local who grows it in his outside fish pond. It grows really quickly and works great for excess nutrient export. I've had zero algae problem (knock on wood), and I would like to think the frogbit had a lot to do with that. 

Rick


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## King Friday (Mar 29, 2010)

Aha. I thought it might be a DIY cannister, like others I've found on TPT. Thanks for the clarification!

Beautiful tank. This little gem is one of my biggest inspirations for my own system.


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## Morainy (Feb 8, 2010)

It's gorgeous!


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## ALIFER (Jul 22, 2005)

did some re-scape ... pulled out all the tall plants, sank some Riccia stones, thinned out the HC. 
Really reminds me of summertime in an overgrown meadow. The plants look kind of random, competing with each other for space. 

-Rick


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