Hey all!
First of all, for those of you who have been in on my big tank drama from the beginning- thanks for all the encouragement! I wouldnt have kept going without this club- seriously. Especially @John7429 who was so instrumental to getting the dream started again.
For those of you who don't know me, I am an old SCAPE member who has been in and out of the hobby for several years. It has always been a dream to have a large (100g+) planted tank, and after many fits and starts, it looks like it is finally going to happen before the end of this year.
Please stay tuned for updates and feel free to give your feedback once I am ready to scape it! Initial thoughts are below, and I am saving some spots for future updates.
For now:
The tank is a standard glass Visio with black rim: 72" wide x 24" deep by 18" high. It weighs (approximately) 9 million pounds.
I will be building the stand myself. I have gone from a fairly basic design, to one that will really test my woodworking skills, but has been approved by two different experts to withstand just about anything short of "the big one". It won't have a lot of beauty- but it will be solid as a rock if I can pull it off. It will be shorter than most stands, at only 26" high, in order to meet the wife's request that the entire tank be below the level of the window it will be in front of.
Right now I am still debating between painting the back black, the same gray as the wall behind it, or going with a frosted backing.
I will be using 2 FX4's for filtration, due to the reduced height inside the cabinet.
I will try for an inline heater on one and an inline CO2 reactor on the other.
Also because of the limited space, I may only be able to get away with a 5lb tank underneath... I am still debating how sensitive/CO2 dependent I want the plants choice to be.
For lighting, I think I am settled on 3 x AI Prime, suspended from the ceiling. The AI Prime seems to be a good value in performance, customization, and cost- plus as a bonus, they come in white, which will help them blend in to the window behind them.
In addition to the plants, the stars of the tank will be a substantial school of Bolivian Rams- 9-12 is the current plan. I wanted a fish that was big enough to make an impact in the tank, small enough I could keep several of them, and unusual enough that you don't usually see them in groups.
I have been collecting rocks and wood every time I see something I like. My desire is to have a pretty good amount of open space with lighter sand in the front and a curvy patch near the middle to create depth and make the Bolivians feel at home. I will be posting a sketch soon, and asking for advice on the best way to build the "wall" between the planted areas and the open sand- I have never done that before. I am thinking to use red lava rock (and moss) for that, as it will fit closest with the palette of the other rocks and natural color gravel I am using. I will not be using any premium substrate, but following the same formula I have always used: soil, fluorite red, Sea Chem "Peace River". Sorry, dark substrate has just never done it for me.
I think that serves as a good introduction- stay tuned for more!
*edit* here is where the tank will live. Please ignore the internet mess that needs to be moved. The dimensions are so nice, it doesn’t even look that big, does it? Originally my wife requested that the top of the tank be even with the bottom of the window molding- I was able to negotiate up to the bottom of the window itself. That will make it really easy to work on, at least!
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Soil is magic. I would paint the back black. I've tried frosted and stuff and I always come back to black or super light blue. Only problem with using light blue is sometimes the cheap glass will tint it green. So black is my Goto! I also built the stand on my 120 but I did it very ugly and overkill to the max because my dad is still very shook up from the last earthquake. Can't wait to see the pictures when this thing is up and running!
Originally Posted by Kole85
