# Sexy 10 gallon - Stage Two



## Ahkuma (Dec 5, 2004)

http://photobucket.com/albums/v308/Ahkuma/?action=view&current=tank028.jpg









When I was over at Mr. Barr's house he had all these cool nano tanks that ranged from like half a gallon on up to this 10 gallon size. The 10 being a 2 footer fits perfectly in this narrow space I have in my hallway. 

Since this tank is in public viewing space in the living room I didn't want to go with traditional lighting. Pop's and I built a nice 2 foot stained box and attatched it to the underside of my cabinet. Installed in the box are 3 -20 watt halogen pot lights. The box is 7 inches above the aquarium wich I was hoping would eliminate any heat issues but it still warms the top of the tank by about a degree per hour up to 4 or 5 degrees. I'm not sure what I'm going to do to address this. 

Question 1 : I would imagine even with regular PC hoods there will be some heat issues. What would you consider a acceptable variance from lights?

Question 2 : Does any body know the real world length of a ash supply 1 x 55 kit? The web site says 22.5 in length needed and I have 22.6 or 7.

For the backround I went to Wallmart and bought a yard of felt for three bucks. I attatched it to the back of the tank with 3/4 inch ACCO binder clips and then took off the metal butterfly part just leaving the plastic clip on the back of the tank to hold it.

The Filter is an AC 20. This thing is puny. As a kid in the hobby I don't remember these things being so cheaply built. I dont think this little filter will be eough for the tank and I definitely need more circulation.

I originally bought 50 lbs of pool Filter sand that looked great in the store but in the tank it looked like compacted mud. Tore that out and bought some basalite pea gravel from Home Depot for around 3 bucks. Now I guess I'm going to go with more of a river look. I would like to get some dwarf pygmy cories down the road and I'm not sure if this will be the best substrate for them. Seems kind of ruff and maybe hard to find food in.

There are no plants or fish in the tank at this stage. I'm still trying to come up with a look. I went to a local stream and found some rock and wood but the look of the tank will change as I find better items more to scale. 

I'm thinking of getting a small school of tiny fish like maybe neons or white clouds, a few dwarf pygmy cories and maybe some otto's.

Any suggestions on plants and whatever would be appreciated. The only thing I have tested so far is the ph after the water was filtered for 48 hours. The ph reading was 7.8 wich is alot higher than I was expecting.


----------



## mshaeffer (Nov 29, 2002)

looks good!! I like the wood and rocks they look like the fit well together


----------



## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

That is a sexy tank. Strange the way the acrylic walls channel light to the bottom edge of the tank. Kind of like fiber optics.

I have a 15g with similar rock substrate. It's a bit awkward for planting, but the plants I do have (crypts and hygro mostly), do okay where I put em. I can't get much to spread around though.

I'd keep the emergent piece of wood. I really like it.


----------



## Ahkuma (Dec 5, 2004)

unirdna:

Thank you for the kind words. One of the things that drew me to this tank is the fact that it's glass. I dont have to worry about it getting scratched and yellowed but it still has those cool rounded corners.

Do you have any pics of your 15 gallon? I didn't see that listed on your sig with the rest of your tanks?

On these open top tanks where you keep the water level down a bit how do you keep water deposits from making a line across the front of the tank?


----------



## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

Ahkuma said:


> Do you have any pics of your 15 gallon? I didn't see that listed on your sig with the rest of your tanks?
> 
> On these open top tanks where you keep the water level down a bit how do you keep water deposits from making a line across the front of the tank?


I found the 15 gallon journal, but it was so old that the photos were lost during the forum change :icon_frow . I'll sniff around my harddrive and see if I still have em. 

RE: the water lines. First off, my tanks are not as pretty as the one you have. They have a plastic frame at the top and bottom. Although unsightly, imo, this frame effectively hides the water line at the top. That aside, I found that those deposit lines only occur in my non CO2 tanks. Seems that the low pH (6.6) and GH (3) in my planted tanks work to keep those line away.


----------



## depthC (Oct 9, 2003)

Looks like a good start Ahkuma. The right side of the tank does look pretty dim, im not sure if its just the camera angle or what.

Also may i suggest Rasbora maculata for the tank. They are tiny 1" rasboras that i think would look good in this tank with a dark substrate. Good luck and keep us updated with this interesting tank.

Andrew


----------



## Ahkuma (Dec 5, 2004)

depthC said:


> Looks like a good start Ahkuma. The right side of the tank does look pretty dim, im not sure if its just the camera angle or what.
> 
> Andrew


*The right side of the tank is most certainly dim !*

I spaced the lights correctly, got the the light box pretty darn close to matching the tank so I'm at a loss. My two theories are 1, that light on the right is gimpy or 2, the white wall is enhancing the light in center and left while the right portion where my filter is doesn't have a wall behind it because thats where the wall takes a corner to go to my kitchen.


----------



## Urkevitz (Jan 12, 2004)

Looks good without plants!!! The only thing I can picture in the tank is moss.


----------



## Thanks (Oct 9, 2004)

yeah, moss sounds great, and maybe some dwarf hairgrass. sweet tank, what are you gonna put it? some cherries would be awesome


----------



## littleguy (Jan 12, 2005)

Where did you get the tank - what brand is it? I really like that clean look - no seams, no glue, no plastic frame....


----------



## John P. (Apr 10, 2004)

You might like this brand--they have them at a LFS here in SoCal--great stuff:








http://commodityaxis.com/ProductDisplay.aspx?id=19


----------



## Ahkuma (Dec 5, 2004)

littleguy said:


> Where did you get the tank - what brand is it? I really like that clean look - no seams, no glue, no plastic frame....


I bought the tank from Tom who is a member on this site aka, plantbrain. 



plantbrain said:


> I found a place that has sets of 5 tanks, all rimless, framless open top.
> These are 10,6,4,3,2,1 gal sizes, they have bent glass fronts like most acrylic tanks. The 10 is 24L, the 6, 18" L, 12, 10, 8L
> All great sizes! If you are close to Sac or the Bay area, you can get a set!!


You might want to PM him to find out the specifics. 


I leave for vacation at the end of January and when I get back I'm going to finish the tank then. I think I'm going to try some moss as per Urkevitz, Thanks and littleguy. 

There is that new wood fungus going on right now in the tank. I hope it clears up by the time I get back from vacation.




depthC said:


> Also may i suggest Rasbora maculata for the tank. They are tiny 1" rasboras that i think would look good in this tank with a dark substrate. Good luck and keep us updated with this interesting tank.


Are Rasbora maculata hardy enough to try to cycle the tank with? Are these relatively inexpensive?


----------



## depthC (Oct 9, 2003)

I dont know if they are hardy enough but i sure wouldnt use them for it. Try a fishless or just forget the cycle and throw some plants and fish in.

Im not sure if youll be able to find those tiny rasboras in your area but if you do your lucky. They would look great in that tank, say a school of 20. Theyre tiny so dont think youll be overstocking your tank, your not.

Andrew


----------



## mrk442 (Oct 25, 2004)

That is sexy  I love the wood and the rocks my dwarf Cory's rock but don't stick to the bottom quite as much as other Cory's but they do school great and would look fantastic in that tank. Since you already have the sand maybe you could find a way to work it into that tank that way the Cory's have some. a beech or under the wood like it had collected there from stream flow? I have seen silt and sand collect in eddies and what not around rocks and wood in the "wild". 

A school of Cory's and a school of pygmy rasboras would compliment the tank well. i know azgardens has the Pygmy's from time to time right now they have 
Dwarf Emerald Green Eye Rasbora "Rasbora dorsiocellata-macrophthalma" which are quite pretty in person and would look good.

Looking good post pics as it progresses i am really tempted to get one of those tanks from tom.


----------



## littleguy (Jan 12, 2005)

Thanks John P.


----------



## Marc (Oct 13, 2004)

Ahkuma- are you able to disclose the price to public? I saw him post a while ago on http://www.sfbaaps.com/ board- havent really been following it.

Marc


----------



## Ahkuma (Dec 5, 2004)

Marc said:


> Ahkuma- are you able to disclose the price to public? I saw him post a while ago on http://www.sfbaaps.com/ board- havent really been following it.
> 
> Marc


If I remember correctly I think he said the whole set is a hundred bucks. I was only interested in the ten gallon and he broke up the set for me for fifty dollars.


----------



## Marc (Oct 13, 2004)

hmmm sounds tempting- can you tell me how long the tank is? 
Im going to PM Mr. Barr if this is still available.

Thank you


----------



## Ahkuma (Dec 5, 2004)

Marc said:


> hmmm sounds tempting- can you tell me how long the tank is?
> Im going to PM Mr. Barr if this is still available.
> 
> Thank you


The tank is 23.5 inches long so a standard 2 foot light will fit on it and it's 8 3/4 inches wide.


----------



## Ahkuma (Dec 5, 2004)

I changed the tank from gravel to sand. I had to break down and buy the expensive sand from the LFS because it was the only stuff I could find with the larger grain size I wanted. Also the piece of wood on the left was taken out and put in a similar style piece of emersed manzinita. 

For the plants I just went down to PetCo and bought some cheap stem plants, 4 bunches of hornwort and 3 bunches of anachris.

I also added a Aquaclear powerhead to the tank because I felt the Aquaclear 20 wasnt giving me enough circulation. Originally I wanted a nice, clean look for the tank but I seem to be adding more junk to it all the time.

As you can see I aslo put in a Hagen C02 unit. I tried the packets that came with it but I was only getting about 2 bubbles per minute so I mixed up some home brew tonight and will try that. I noticed on the ladder there are 3 places where you can put the tube, I put it in the middle but which one is ideal for a ten gallon?

I'm cycling the tank with 4 White Clouds. I realy like this fish. They are not shy, you can work on the tank and do whatever and they hardly seem to care. Although I have one small one that keeps getting sucked into the Aqua Clear 20 so I had to put a net over the intake.


----------



## depthC (Oct 9, 2003)

Well the tank looks nice and has the clean effect your going for. I like the driftwood piece on the left but the right one looks out of place. Maybe reposition it. Plants i assume are temporary until you figure out what you want where but it looks like things are coming along nicely.

For the bubble ladder im unsure if the different slots will do any good. I put mine in the bottom to get the best diffusion so its probably best put there.

Andrew


----------



## Ahkuma (Dec 5, 2004)

I put a cup of sugar, 1/2 Tsp red star yeast and a pinch of baking soda and the hagen is cranking out the bubbles now! I'm getting one every six seconds vs the 
2 every minute with the packets that came with the thing. I will move that tube down to the bottom of the ladder also for better diffusion. 

I threw in those cheap stems until I can get the tank established then maybe I will try some moss next.

My suicidal White Cload croaked this morning after the third time going thru the filter. I should have put that net around the intake sooner I guess. The other three I have are larger and don't have that problem. I will have to make sure the ones I buy in the future are bigger.

So far it has been fun forging ahead into the unkown.


----------



## mpa90 (Aug 16, 2004)

Anyone know who makes these tanks or wher to get them online. I really like the looks but cant find them.


----------



## Marc (Oct 13, 2004)

Capitol Aquarium in Sacramento has them OR PM Plantbrain (Tom Barr)


----------

