# The Lagoon: 150g shallow riparium



## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

*The Stand*

Here's the full build thread: My knock-down/flat packable aquarium stand

A pictorial summary:


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## dewalltheway (Jan 19, 2005)

Wow! Nice wood working skills! Love the base.


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

*The Aquarium*

Here's the full build thread:

DIY 150g all glass aquarium

A pictorial summary:


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

*The Filtration*

I'm using a semi-coast-to-coast overflow on this tank with "BeanAnimal" style drains. It's an awesome design that's silent and fail-safe and it performed wonderfully on the test run on this setup.





































(note that the airline tubing to convert the open channel to a siphon channel is missing in this photo).

I'm using a 40g breeder as a sump and am going with a fairly simply design: 










200 micron filter sock
Big 4" slab of 10ppi Porett foam
I'll probably throw in some extra biomedia that I have left over from previous canister filter setups.

My return pump is a Laguna Max-Flow 2000. This is a really serious pump that puts out a lot of water so I'm going to plumb a ball valve into the return to choke back the flow a little.


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## ua hua (Oct 30, 2009)

I will be subscribing to this one. Your old paludarium was amazing and I'm sure this will be also after seeing the stand and tank build. You are very talented for sure.


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## tattooedfool83 (Mar 15, 2013)

The stand alone is amazing man. True craftsman ship


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## mot (Sep 17, 2011)

Your build is amazing! Im very jealous of the overflow.


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## frenchie1001 (Jun 23, 2013)

amazing!


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## tizzite (Mar 28, 2010)

Very cool! I think the portable stand is a great idea haha. Good for nomads.

The overflow is also really cool. There's so much you can do with sumps.


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## Frank Abagnale (Jan 31, 2013)

Looking good!


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## SlammedDC2 (Jun 4, 2011)

sub'd


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## OVT (Nov 29, 2011)

Me 2

v3


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## thelub (Jan 4, 2013)

How the heck did I miss these threads? I saw the stand build, but that tank is a work of art worthy to be sitting on such a well thought out and handsome design. 

You are doing pretty much exactly what I want to do with my 200. I'll be following along closely. Thanks for sharing.


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## Calivivarium1 (Aug 31, 2013)

Nice handy work! I was happy I could just sand/paint my stand, much less build something as complex and good looking as yours!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Wow! I recall seeing the stand post a while ago. Glad to see it's moving along. I'll be following this for sure!


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## andyl9063 (Oct 22, 2010)

nice stand!!!
i wish i had craftsmanship skills like yours.


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## primo (Jul 28, 2013)

Freakin' awesome.

Subbed!


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## lamiskool (Jul 1, 2011)

After seeing your first work with the riparium setup I cant wait to see how this one will end up looking. Looking forward to it.


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

Ok time for another update.

*The Lighting*

This is still a work in progress so this post will have to be a sort of placeholder for the finished product. 

Here's the build thread where you can see some of the issues I've run into that have been slowing things down: Broad spectrum, fully controllable LED shoji lantern

I designed the light in the style of a shoji lantern to match the style of the stand



















The guts are:

13 X cool white Cree XT-E
13 X warm white Cree XT-E
2 X 660nm "deep red"
2 X 475nm "deep blue"
2 X 495nm "turquoise"

The white strings are powered by separate Meanwell LDD-1000H drivers and the colored LEDs are run by Meanwell LDD-500H drivers, all of which are independently controlled by the cool little LDD socket/controller combo by O2Surplus. 










The LEDs are mounted on aluminum C channel attached to the top of the housing










I'm still working on the hanging mechanism and due to a stupid mistake in initial wiring I need to get some replacement drivers, but here's a quick teaser of the lamp with just the warm white string powered up


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## AaronT (Apr 11, 2004)

Wow, this build is amazing. I love seeing stuff like this. If you're planning a reparium style background will the LEDs hang up quite high? You might consider using optics if so.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

I am completely blown away by that light. Original, and absolutely stunning! Wow!


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## DTDPlanted (Apr 2, 2012)

This tanks stand and light are epic alone! What perfect style! I can see this setup feeling like part of the room and decor. I can't wait to see it stocked! On a side note, your Paladarium was simply amazing! I have never seen archer fish in a home aquarium setup what awesome fish! Thanks for all the great ideas and updates


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

Thanks for the comments! I'm pretty excited about this update - it's time to reveal the centerpiece that this whole setup was planned around.

*The Hardscape*

Several years ago I acquired an awesomely huge and dramatic driftwood stump. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it, even though it was way to large for any of my aquariums. I've been lugging it around as we've moved from apartment to apartment across various states, waiting to set up a tank for it.

The slightly unusual dimensions of this tank were selected to showcase this epic piece of driftwood.

Here's the driftwood as I was testing out some possible layouts on a piece of plywood. It measures roughly 50" from one end to the other, about 30" from front to back and stands about 24" high in the current orientation. 










I collected a bunch of river rocks from a riverbed in Virgina. The rocks look to be some sort of metamorphic schist and are predominantly grey with some flecks of mica. Not quite seiyru stone but quite nice looking nonetheless.

I wanted to wait till I had the light set up so I could better photograph the assembly of the the hardscape but I got impatient so you'll have to make do with these dark pictures.

Here's the stump in the tank supported by a "tripod" of rocks. I used long zipties to attach the stump to these rocks to prevent it from floating.



















More rocks added










I'm using a simple sand substrate. I tried to find pool filter sand but none of the stores around me had any so I settle for this paver sand. It took quite a bit of washing to get it clean but I think it worked out quite well. There's a mixture of grain sizes, which looks quite natural, and it's a nice tan color, which I supplemented with a little bit of light brown, dark brown and black colorquatrz sand to get a very natural looking blend.



















and a quick shot with just the cool white LED string fired up


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## Allentan97 (Jul 1, 2012)

.......................... i dont believe this.. one 300 gallon pludarium and then this?


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## ADAtank (Jul 26, 2011)

keep those pics coming!


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## tattooedfool83 (Mar 15, 2013)

You are Master of the craft. Truly awe inspiring


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

tattooedfool83 said:


> You are Master of the craft. Truly awe inspiring


That's quite the compliment! Much appreciated


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## raven_wilde (Jul 12, 2006)

Sub'd, can't wait to see what you do with this!


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## I<3<*))))>< (Jun 10, 2013)

*Is speechless* roud:


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## rickztahone (Jul 20, 2009)

It has been mentioned but I will echo it again, your craftsmanship and sharp eye for beauty is beyond reproach. Subscribed and on my way to see your other tank.


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## kryton2005 (Sep 13, 2013)

Can't wait to see this in its full glory


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## shift (Jan 7, 2013)

Beautiful job! i cant wait to see it filled


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

Nice! Saweeeeeeeet set up!


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## Luminescent (Sep 13, 2013)

This is absolutely gorgeous. I love the stand. Subbed and anxious to see the final design.


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

Wow on the edge of my seat...subbed


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## furnfins (Dec 30, 2011)

You do beautiful work, very talented. Can't wait to see it done!


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

This is gonna be an awesome tank!


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

The tank is filled and plants have been added so it's time for an update. It's probably also time to reveal my dirty little secret:

I have some skill with putting together aquariums... 
I have some skill with aquascaping...
I have some skill with housing delicate fish...

but I actually kind of suck at growing plants underwater 

At least I've historically not been very successful at it. Hopefully this time around will be different. 

Here's an overview of the tank just after the first round of planting










Here's a focus of the underwater portion from this evening










Left side










Right side










The plant list:

Bunch of java fern trident at the surface around the stump
Some bolbitis on the left hand side
Bunches of anubias nana clustered on various branches
One large anubias barteri
Cryptocoryne wendtii green in the mid/background
Cryptocoryne willisii/lucens around the rocks in the foreground
Sagittaria subulata in the foreground
Red and green tiger lotus in the back right

I have a bunch of hydrophyte's Gro-soil tabs tucked into the substrate around the crypts, sag and lotus and I just started dosing the water column with a macro/micro mix from aquariumfertilizer.com

The crypts have been in there for a couple of weeks and started putting out some new leaves so I'm happy about that. I only just put in the dwarf sag and lotus. 

As you can probably see, I'm having some issues with brown diatoms on the ferns and anubias up top but I guess this is pretty common with newly set up tanks and will hopefully go away over time.


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

Riparium plants and supplies courtesy of hydrophyte/Riparium Supply

Right side:
Lysimachia nummularifolia
Oplismenus hirtellus
Cyperus gracilis










Left side










Echinodorus cordifolius 'Tropica Marble Queen'
More oplismenus and cyperus
Pilea cardieri and grandifolia
Cryptosperma johnstonii (unfortunately looking pretty dead right now)

The stump

Bunch of interesting mosses courtesy of forum member Jellie


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## Qwe (Jul 8, 2013)

Beautiful setup.

Just one question: aren't archers notorious jumpers? How do you keep that from happening with such an open top?


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

Nice coming along saweeeeeeeeet.


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

Qwe said:


> Beautiful setup.
> 
> Just one question: aren't archers notorious jumpers? How do you keep that from happening with such an open top?


Thanks. 

I've heard about archers jumping but none of the ones I've owned have ever shown any inclination to jump. The biggest one I currently have lived in a tank for several months where the lid was usually open and I never had any trouble. I guess I'll have to wait and see.


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## frenchie1001 (Jun 23, 2013)

that looks amazing!


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## samwoo2go (Apr 27, 2013)

Qwe said:


> Beautiful setup.
> 
> Just one question: aren't archers notorious jumpers? How do you keep that from happening with such an open top?


They can jump, but aren't notorious for jumping like Hatchetfish or African Butterfly. They developed the spitting water thing precisely so they don't have to jump.


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## Ashnic05 (Jan 7, 2013)

Are those the same archers from your 300g paludarium?


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

Ashnic05 said:


> Are those the same archers from your 300g paludarium?


Sadly, no. I was tank-less for a while after I broke down my paludarium so I didn't have anywhere to house them. I really liked the somewhat unusual spot patten on my old archers and I've been trying to find some new ones with a similar pattern but have so far been unsuccessful.


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## husonfirst (Sep 12, 2009)

You got some mad handyman skills!


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## skanderson (Jul 25, 2010)

where did you find the cryptosperma? ive been looking for that for a year. hopefully i can keep it alive. i bet yours will perk back up once it gets over the moving shock.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

I find plants far more forgiving than fish at times. Your passions come across very clear in this journal and sharing your efforts in documenting the process is most appreciated. Are there any more details on the sump? will you be using that area as a possible refugium as well?


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

Thanks guys



skanderson said:


> where did you find the cryptosperma? ive been looking for that for a year. hopefully i can keep it alive. i bet yours will perk back up once it gets over the moving shock.


I got it from hydrophyte. I'm hoping it perks up though I'm a little worried about it. Definitely a really awesome plant.


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

acitydweller said:


> I find plants far more forgiving than fish at times. Your passions come across very clear in this journal and sharing your efforts in documenting the process is most appreciated. Are there any more details on the sump? will you be using that area as a possible refugium as well?


Thanks Albert. 

The sump is a really simple design:










40g breeder tank with no baffles
200 micron filter filter sock over the outflow
Two blocks of 4" 10ppi Poret foam

I do have a little space between the two blocks of foam that I'm currently using as a refugium of sorts (a grow-out area for a fish that I'm trying to target feed).

The return pump is a Laguna Max-Flo 2000. Fantastic pump that's quiet and very energy efficient. 

On the left hand side of the stand you can see that I built a little shelf to hold my Ranco temperature controller, which I wired up to a powerstrip to control twin 200W heaters. The thermostats on the heaters themselves are set a couple of degrees higher than the Ranco so they can act as a failsafe in case of an emergency but in general never have to switch on reducing the risk of failure.


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## laurenjane (Sep 1, 2013)

Beautiful! *drool*


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## tizzite (Mar 28, 2010)

I think it looks great, it's just hard to see when the water is colored like that.

Are you sure it's diatoms? I wanna say it's tannins from the driftwood. Have you considered using purigen?

I'm a newb aquascaper, but I think sloping the substrate some would give your scape some depth.

Fantastic work!


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## tizzite (Mar 28, 2010)

And, aren't archers the ones that blast insects into the water by spitting water??


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

There are some tannins from the wood tinting the water, but the diatoms I'm referring to are coating the leaves and wood itself.

A sloped substrate would probably look nice. I actually tried to slope it a little initially but it levels out over time facilitated by the current and the aquascaping aspirations of the fish. 

Archers are indeed the fish that spit water to blast insects. Very impressive little fellows. This tank isn't currently the ideal setup for them to exhibit that behavior, but here's a video of my archers in my old paludarium:

http://youtu.be/7_JADPuZ0zc


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## Ashnic05 (Jan 7, 2013)

the_deeb said:


> Sadly, no. I was tank-less for a while after I broke down my paludarium so I didn't have anywhere to house them. I really liked the somewhat unusual spot patten on my old archers and I've been trying to find some new ones with a similar pattern but have so far been unsuccessful.


I didn't think they were as I assumed you were without a tank for the move but since I saw these, I had to ask. Good luck in finding those unusual spotted ones!


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## tizzite (Mar 28, 2010)

omg, that archer video- coolest fish ever. makes me want a paludarium now


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

Time for an update:










The riparium plants are all growing really well (except for the Cryptosperma johnstonii which unfortunately rotted away)










Things are getting a little leggy and might need a prune



















The Alternanthera reineckii is growing well but unfortunately the new growth is no longer red. I guess my lighting is not bright enough or is missing some part of the spectrum. I'm currently only using a 50/50 mix of warm white and cool white LEDs.










There's slow but steady growth happening underwater too

The red and green tiger lotus in the back corner are putting out new leaves










I'm still having algae/diatom issues with the anubias but I'm getting new leaves there too










Some shots of some of the inhabitants

SAE










Steatocranus tinanti



















One of the my three Synodontis flavitaeniatus who are really hard to photograph because they're reclusive and also blend into the rocks and wood really well










Archers and my really cool hybrid synodontis


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Nice work! That _Steatocranus_ is cool. Those fish are really entertaining the way they swim forward a little bit then sink back down to the bottom. Those _Synodontis_ are pretty nice too. Where did you get them?

Your riparium plants look like they are coming along. You ought to get a big sword or something to use as a riparium centerpiece to add some more vertical dimension. That's also good to see the _Anubias_ and other underwater stuff growing. 

Does your camera have white balance adjustment? I bet you can get better color rendering if you tinker with the white balance.


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## drewsuf82 (May 27, 2012)

Such an awesome build!


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## husonfirst (Sep 12, 2009)

That is nice. You've got some nice handyman skills!


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

I've been leaving my computer at work so I've been remiss in updating this thread. Here are a couple of pics of the above water growth from a few weeks ago:


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

the_deeb said:


> I've been leaving my computer at work so I've been remiss in updating this thread. Here are a couple of pics of the above water growth from a few weeks ago:


Nice, is that trident java fern in the water in the 3rd pic or just needle java fern?


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

It's trident. Here's a picture of the fern during a water change.


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

the_deeb said:


> It's trident. Here's a picture of the fern during a water change.


Very nice, the plants on top of the tank or water are those supplied with humidity or do they just grow at normal room temp?


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

I guess the big body of water under them adds some extra humidity, but otherwise it's just regular room conditions. It does limit the range of plants that I can grow.


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

the_deeb said:


> I guess the big body of water under them adds some extra humidity, but otherwise it's just regular room conditions. It does limit the range of plants that I can grow.


Yea, I have one of those metal plants coming out of my tank an it's growing very well but the leaves seem dry an die off sometimes also had some little white balls looked like little Popsicles on it so I'm guessing it's very healthy cuz I never seen anyone else with that plant with those growing on it.

This is a pic of mine.


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## tommypham (Jul 10, 2012)

very nice tank WOW


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## Jonnywhoop (May 30, 2012)

Amazing tank!


FTS please


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## izabella87 (Apr 21, 2012)

what an amazing project !


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

FTS from a few weeks ago:










Some of the inhabitants:

African knife fish









African arowana (always on the move so hard to get a clear shot)









Leopard ctenopoma


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Whoa, those are some cool fish in there. 

Your plants look good too.


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## LuckyCharm (Jan 20, 2014)

I want one!


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## newbieplanter (Jan 13, 2013)

the_deeb said:


> Thanks Albert.
> 
> The sump is a really simple design:
> 
> ...


Do u have a better pic of how this is set up, tha return pump?


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## zgibbs (Feb 13, 2014)

Your stand and light is so sick! Great job! So is the tank of course


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## mopani (Oct 29, 2013)

i got 8ft long, and this is exactly how I want, tank is soo sic I got a disease man. Gonna do a light like that as well SIC


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## Shipmonkey (Sep 7, 2009)

Not worried about the aro jumping out?


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## Crazy4discus (Jan 30, 2014)

Skills! Very nice!


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## ChadRamsey (Nov 3, 2011)

beautiful tank. GREAT fish choices:thumbsup:


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

These plants look really happy. It would look to cool to add a cat palm or some other plant to reach up a bit higher. Have you seen any flowers on that _Ruellia_ yet?



the_deeb said:


>


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## Menace (Jan 15, 2014)

Custom tank, custom stand. This is like top tier Aquarium dreams.  Very nice.


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## pgtanks (Nov 28, 2006)

amazing builds! can we get a picture of the the stand, tank and light? show us the whole ambience.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

Any update on this tank?


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

Nice tank set up. I have to be honest, I would like to see this as more of a submersed setup with some growth coming out the top as opposed to focusing the attention on the upper growth and the bare riparium underside. Keep the upper growth to cover the been animal overflow and built the setup to work from front to back. That driftwood is under appreciated the way you have it set in my opinion. Let that light penetrate that water column and get some wild plants in that baby. But this is just me...

None the less, if you are happy and it gives you pleasure then that is all that matters. Especially if it captured your vision when you started this build.


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

Hi all, I've been long overdue in updating this journal. Here a youtube video from about a year ago:

https://youtu.be/UgPb7iKpQvA


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## Daisy Mae (Jun 21, 2015)

*Showpiece*

That's a beautiful set-up. I'm envious, enough said.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

daisy mae said:


> that's a beautiful set-up. I'm envious, enough said.


qft.


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## Yuuki_Akitsuki (Jan 15, 2015)

This tank is very soothing. You've done an excellant job. I absolutely love the shoji style doors and light cover!


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## Nazdaq (Mar 25, 2015)

This is amazing, will keep an eye on this one for sure


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

the_deeb said:


> Hi all, I've been long overdue in updating this journal. Here a youtube video from about a year ago:
> 
> https://youtu.be/UgPb7iKpQvA



I'll add my appreciation for the beauty of this tank... It's the whole package... I hope you don't mind that I may take some inspiration from this tank for my upcoming shallow wide riparium...

Is this tank no longer up and running?

I can't wait to see some updated pictures of the riparium section...


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

hey, how's the tank doing?


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## overgrown (Dec 30, 2015)

I'm loving the sump set up. I'm looking at that tank and realizing how big it is after seeing a 40 gallon breeder (my biggest tank and one I consider to be "big" at times) look like a baby 10 gallon tank. Inspirational.


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## DigityDog70 (Jan 20, 2017)

the_deeb said:


> *The Filtration*
> 
> I'm using a semi-coast-to-coast overflow on this tank with "BeanAnimal" style drains. It's an awesome design that's silent and fail-safe and it performed wonderfully on the test run on this setup.
> 
> ...




Is that the consensus, to use an over powered pump and throttle the flow using a ball valve? I'm just wondering since I don't know? Are there other types of valves or would two valves be more efficient? 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## the_deeb (Mar 19, 2009)

Haven't updated this thread in ages. The tank is still running, and the stand performed well when I had to break down the whole setup to move it to my new house. Emersed plants are unfortunately not doing so well because I keep getting recurrent thrips infestations that wipe out most of the plants. Right now it's pretty much a monoculture of taro, which seems to tolerate the pests and puts out new growth at a rate that compensates for having to remove the old damaged leaves.

Stock is mostly a mixed corydoras community:

https://youtu.be/La66Ldg7FM0


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## hitmanx (Jun 24, 2012)

I just wanted to let you know that your tank build gave me a lot of inspiration for my tank setup! Mine's half the size but still big enough, although I definitely should have made it bigger as the plants have grown bigger than expected!

I love shallow wide ripariums... I haven't had thripes yet (knock on wood) but aphids have been a problem for me, but nothing bad enough to wipe anything out other than emerged hygrophila angustifolia... oddly enough taro has been one of the plants I can't keep alive...

What's the ambient humidity in your tank room?


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