# Ach1lL3sH33L Branched 12G Long FTS 12/5/12



## Overfloater (Jan 12, 2004)

Cool tank. I love this size. I have the 48G Mr Aqua and I like it a lot.


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

Added a better pic of the scape itself!

This tank has been rescaped about 10 times, think im gonna leave it like this for a while, the dimensions are great on this tank!


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## OiZO (Feb 2, 2010)

Looks nice. The glosso is going to over take the tank though if your not really on it. I like the stand a lot too. Did you custom build that?


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

OiZO said:


> Looks nice. The glosso is going to over take the tank though if your not really on it. I like the stand a lot too. Did you custom build that?


The stand is an ikea headboard i modified.


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

Small update
Added an airpump to the inline diffuser, got tired of raising the lily pipe every night to help with a bit of surface scum, but of gda starting up so hopefully that helps with it a bit as well


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## swoof (Jun 30, 2010)

Nice setup, looking forward to progression pictures.


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## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

Join the 12 Gallon club


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

Ive actually changed this up quite a bit, need to post some updates!


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

Bit of a teaser


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## nosebleed (Apr 2, 2012)

man I wish I had some skills for this


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

Mocked up a jet style outflow, much happier with the flow throughout the tank, just need to make an intake which will be relocated to the other side.

thanks nosebleed. Im in no way an expert, only been at this for a little less than a year!


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

testing out this new app called flixel


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## mattrt09 (Jun 12, 2010)

whoa flixel is cool


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## Chizpa305 (Feb 13, 2011)

I like the new setup better


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## ADA (Dec 31, 2010)

Awesome tank.. subscribed


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## jingleberry (Mar 1, 2012)

Nice tank! How'd you shape the pipes?


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## yellowsno (May 15, 2011)

subscribed


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## JMex (Apr 8, 2012)

This is very good! I love the look of the 12 gallon long tanks


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

Bit of a setback, the hc I planted was pretty sad and had some hair algae but I decided to try it anyway, as you can probably guess, the hair algae took over, so I replanted some better looking stuff. Added some large hair grass to help change the focal point of the scape. Added some riccia and hybrid stem,pretty happy with how it's turning out, going to let it fill in a bit before I change a few things.









Shot of the equipment










Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## swoof (Jun 30, 2010)

Ach1Ll3sH33L said:


> Bit of a setback, the hc I planted was pretty sad and had some hair algae but I decided to try it anyway, as you can probably guess, the hair algae took over, so I replanted some better looking stuff. Added some large hair grass to help change the focal point of the scape. Added some riccia and hybrid stem,pretty happy with how it's turning out, going to let it fill in a bit before I change a few things.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I love the slide out for the filter and all, that's pretty sweet


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## mythin (Jun 26, 2009)

Taking notes, I get my tank this week! beautiful looking set up all around. I think i am going to try a multi tiered set up with a waterfall at one end. I just worry about the water flow throughout the tank. How much soil did it take to fill this tank in?


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

mythin said:


> Taking notes, I get my tank this week! beautiful looking set up all around. I think i am going to try a multi tiered set up with a waterfall at one end. I just worry about the water flow throughout the tank. How much soil did it take to fill this tank in?


I used about 2 bags of azoo plant grower bed

Ive sort of been neglecting this tank, letting the plants just grow and do their thing. Everything pretty stable except the hc seems to be at a stand still, gonna try to lower my light a bit and see if they will promote some quicker growth.


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## ADA (Dec 31, 2010)

Ach1Ll3sH33L said:


> I used about 2 bags of azoo plant grower bed
> 
> Ive sort of been neglecting this tank, letting the plants just grow and do their thing. Everything pretty stable except the hc seems to be at a stand still, gonna try to lower my light a bit and see if they will promote some quicker growth.


HC is pretty slow growing especially at first. Just be careful how low you put the light. You don't want that Hair Algae to come back and haunt you! :icon_wink


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## ADA (Dec 31, 2010)

Ach1Ll3sH33L said:


> Shot of the equipment


That sideways sliding draw is intensely awesome.


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## Kai808 (Jul 19, 2011)

Great Tank!! I should set mine up soon. What size of acrylic tubing did you purchase? Was it the 1/2" OD?


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## MsNemoShrimp (Apr 25, 2011)

Ach1Ll3sH33L said:


> Shot of the equipment
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Beautiful stand! Is this custom build or bought?


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## Ozydego (Aug 29, 2011)

Question and observation. first, I noticed the IKEA LED strips for the background, I recently tried my own set and they work really well. The wiring in the filter shot confirmed it for me. Second, do you pump in the air from the air pump through the same lines as the CO2 or seperate lines? If so, and you have a diffuser in that reactor, does the pump produce enough pressure for the diffuser as well? I was thinking about doing this through my atomic diffuser but wasw worried about the working pressure required. The more of these tanks I see the more I want to do one myself. Every scape looks awesome and yours is right up there.


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

Ozydego said:


> Question and observation. first, I noticed the IKEA LED strips for the background, I recently tried my own set and they work really well. The wiring in the filter shot confirmed it for me. Second, do you pump in the air from the air pump through the same lines as the CO2 or seperate lines? If so, and you have a diffuser in that reactor, does the pump produce enough pressure for the diffuser as well? I was thinking about doing this through my atomic diffuser but wasw worried about the working pressure required. The more of these tanks I see the more I want to do one myself. Every scape looks awesome and yours is right up there.


I was pushing air and c02 through that diffuser for a while, but the air bubbles werent big enough to get rid of the surface film i had. I finally gave up on that diffuser, as it got dirty the c02 was really inconsistent, so now i use an atomizer. an air pump isnt strong enough to push air through an atomizer, and theres really no need. The only reason you would want an air pump is to remove surface film..I rely on high levels of surface agitation to supply oxygen.


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

Been a while since i updated this, changed quite a bit. 

Went with a new stand from ikea. I got tired of the side pullout being tight with the equipment, then i upgraded to a cerges reactor and things just weren't gonna fit.









I wanted a hole for the lily pipes to be a bit more flexible, in terms of moving the pipes around, and didn't want something that would just be a hole on the top you could see through. so after walking around home depot i came up with this.

































Plenty of room for equipment now! I went ahead when i built this thing and siliconed all the seams to keep water from getting on the crappy ikea 'wood'









Tank on the stand









fts









I also got a ray 2, mostly because i want to keep heat down in the room, and i wanted to start an emmersed tank with the t5ho. Still need to hang the ray 2, thats tomorrows project!


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

Nice looking! Where did you get the light and tank?


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

bigstick120 said:


> Nice looking! Where did you get the light and tank?


Light from amazon
tank i picked up from marine depot


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

Went ahead and made a wall mount for the ray 2, i have to say having the par data from finnex really helps in knowing where to put the fixture. 

















also made a small 'pot' for plants as a background to the tank.. still waiting for the silicone to dry, but im hoping this should give a better sense of depth to the tank


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## fishboy199413 (Jan 20, 2010)

That is a really cool idea and a very nice tank. I can't wait to see it when the plants in the pot and tank are completely filled in.


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## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

To make that square hole, do you need to drill a hole first with other drill or can you just poke a hole with the dremmel and do the cut?


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

sayurasem said:


> To make that square hole, do you need to drill a hole first with other drill or can you just poke a hole with the dremmel and do the cut?


i just used the drill part on the dremel bit, they sell that as a kit for your dremel, its a great tool, i use it a lot. you can also adjust the depth on it.


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

new fts, finished the background, added fauna, now time to set back and let nature do its thing.


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## fishboy199413 (Jan 20, 2010)

Wow very nice. The background is really cool.


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## Ozydego (Aug 29, 2011)

I think that is one of the best backgrounds I have ever seen. Adds an awesome touch and gives it that paludarium feel. SO much better than a piece of colored board and lights That a lot of us use...


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## ayobreezie (Aug 12, 2011)

This setup is so nice.. I almost went for a 12L.. Yours is making me regret it a little.


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## Kai808 (Jul 19, 2011)

Wow! Great background idea! Love the wall mounts for the lights also.


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## Williak (Jun 26, 2012)

Wow, background. Very original. That is excellent!


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## markstr (Jul 5, 2003)

Could you elaborate a bit on this background. Are these planted behind the Tank itself or ?


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

markstr said:


> Could you elaborate a bit on this background. Are these planted behind the Tank itself or ?


Plants were put in a custom 'pot' behind the tank. This was nice for a while but the plants I chose decided to send roots all over the place, which became unsightly and trimming the plants that had died turned into a pain, so I kinda gave up and stuck some fake plants in the pot with soil, so its maintenance free.










Ill have to start a new journal for my other tank i just set up, quick teaser


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)




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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

got some wood, not sure if i like it, but i will probably leave it and tie some moss around it.


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## rocksmom (Mar 6, 2012)

You probably don't want to cut it, but if you cut off those top two branches and kept them for a nano and then tied the moss to it I think it would look nice.


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## the_intricacy (Jul 30, 2012)

'm pretty ignorant about paludariums, but don't you risk wood rot by partially submerging driftwood like that?


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

Its been a few weeks since i updated, Ive been neglecting this tank while i set up 2x 60P tanks. I sort of left this tank alone, forgot my water changes, and now i have a GDA and BBA outbreak. I think both of these stem from the same problem, surface scum. Using a lily pipe across the tank seems to just push the bio film to one end. Even with it affixed half way out, it simply wasn't enough to keep the water surface clean, and as a result, fluctuating c02 and oxygen levels induced algae. I went ahead and made a spray bar that keeps the water on the surface moving in a circular motion, and with enough surface movement to hopefully break up the bio-film. Ive also started spot treating the bba with hydrogen peroxide, which seems to be doing a good job. Im gonna let the GDA run its course, maybe another 2 weeks before i attempt to scrape it off. Also put the dwarf guarami in his own tank.


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## Brian_Cali77 (Mar 19, 2010)

Really nice tank! I like how you came up with a creative way to hang the finnex ray 2. I did something similar with my 6g GLA 36-L.


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## dubels (Jun 14, 2012)

Impressive. I really wish I had the space for a 12L. I need to think about consolidating a tank or two to set one up.


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## BeachBum2012 (Jan 16, 2010)

Very cool. I love the tank and the light hanging was quite innovative. All in all I'd say it looks great.


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

Spray bar seems to be doing its job. A little more than a week later, no surface scum and its seemed to have kept the gda at bay. Got rid of the stag repens in this tank. Going to put some Belem as a replacement later this week on the back left. This scape is pretty close to being completed, im pretty happy with how it has progressed. Ive learned a lot about setting up an iwagumi style tank like this, through a lot of trial and error and mostly research. Its been a fun project! 

















On another note, here is where the stag repens went. still waiting for some more blyxa and repens to finish planting this. Havnt decided if i will use moss yet, maybe try some fissidens on the brances.


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## Kai808 (Jul 19, 2011)

Nice! How do you like the Ray 2 so far? I'm stuck between getting the fugeray or the Ray 2.


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

You have to hang the ray 2 up a good bit which i actually like to do on most my tanks, gives me more room to work around the tank with a suspended light. Looking at the par data, it would be pretty hard to keep algae away with a fugeray sitting on top of this tank still, so either option you would still probably need to raise it a bit, just not as high with the fuge.


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

Well tore the tank down. Wanted to try and create something that gave the tank more depth, which is probably the biggest challenge with this tank. I spent a few hours yesterday playing with quite a few rock scapes and couldn't get the look i wanted with rocks alone, they just seemed to blend together. So picked up some wood which i think helps make the tank look a little deeper than just 8 inches!I will update this with some tear-down and rebuild pics later (on a side note the background 'plants' will be removed, or i will split them so the right 3/4 valley part is empy


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

Heres a little update on my 60p as well, one day i will get around to making this tanks journal!


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

sweeeet.... oh and nice choice with the rescape of the 12g - the new scape is really interesting


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

Planted, still need to do something with the background, gonna paint the light bracket black, going to add some transitional plants here and there between the rocks once the grass and carpet grow in some. Going to put some amano's in hopefully by week 2 if the tank doesn't re cycle fully, im sure the driftwood will be nice and fuzzy by then! Im not exactly sure what livestock im going to go with, i put my fish from this tank in my 60p and will probably get 10 more of each variety for that tank, then try my hand at a different fish, maybe rummy noses. Anyway on to the pics(crappy pics with the iphone, ill pull out the slr once i get everything complete)

Heres the teardown...and build up

























traded this portion of hc to my lfs for some new dirt









Equipment shot. Nice thing about just doing a rescape is everything is already set up and dialed in!









Playing with just a rock type scape.. couldn't come up with something that looked natural with the rocks i had.









build of the current layout, used egg crate as a foundation and stainless screws to hold the wood where i wanted it


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)




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## synaethetic (Oct 4, 2011)

Excellent rescape! I have a bunch of mazanita and this gives me a lot of inspiration.


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## AwkwardShrimp (Jun 26, 2012)

I like it! You had some beautiful hc there.
Looks like my 6.6g I'm scaling, just on a larger scale lol


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## sunyang730 (Jan 30, 2012)

how did you make your light stand for your ray 2? Really interesting!


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

Havnt updated this in a while, im slowly phasing out the hc with u.g, got tired of the upkeep on it. Added blyxa, hair grass, erios parkeri, some elatyne tiandra in the top right
blasting the tank with light and c02


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

Have any details about your spraybar? Im looking to do something similar.


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## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

How is the tank going?


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## Ach1Ll3sH33L (Mar 1, 2012)

tore this tank down a while ago.

bigstick, its 1/2" acrylic tubing, fill the tube with salt and plug the ends, heat the tube slowly with a heat gun and bend little by little to get the shape you want(the salt helps keep the tubes shape when bending)


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