planning aquarium makeover, larger tank, etc.

[shireen]

Hi GWAPA'ers,

i'm moving later this year, and thought i'd use it as an opportunity to upgrade my old 40g-long fw planted tank (ok, i use the term 'planted' loosely, it's a jungle of a mess but the fish are happy and breeding quite enthusiastically.)

Wish list:
- 48" long so i can keep using my t5 fixture.
- I'd love to get a rimless tank, if it's affordable
- cool wood cabinet stand for storage

I'll think about plants and layout after deciding on the tank size.

Questions:
(1) Does anyone have recommendations for a good quality rimless tank? I'd like to keep it 48" long.

(2) I'm not too happy with the commercially-available cabinets found at most fish store websites. Does anyone know a carpenter who makes good stands a reasonable price? Or do you have a link to some good stand plans? (I've got zero carpentry skills but could talk it over with a friend to see if he could teach me some basic skills to do it.)

(3) Currently, i use a plain gravel substrate. It's convenient since i sometimes relocate plants so the cloudiness doesn't last long. What alternative substrates would you recommend?

I'd love to hear your suggestions, so i can think about this carefully over the next few months.

Thanks,
shireen

[150EH]

It sounds like an awesome plan and should look great, is it going to be a high or low tech setup?

I can't help you much on the tank recommendation but I do know a 48" rimless will be a little pricey, I can help with the cabinet as I have worked with wood for close to 25 years. If you want an ADA style cabinet with smooth lines it will likely be the least expensive and something that shows a natural wood surface and lots of detail will raise the price but if you want to send me a pm with the details I can give you more info.

On the substrate I think gravel would be a poor choice for a planted rimless and at the very least you should have a baked clay substrate like Flourite and I think the ultimate would be ADA Aquasoil, IMO if you use a high quality nutrient rich substrate that will meet the needs of the plants your chances of a beautifualgaeea free tank are good but if you start with an inert substrate such as gravel you will always be chasing the needs of the plants by addinnutrientsts to the water column and the chance of failure is much greater and the substrate is very hard to change after you've started.

Good luck with your tank and you should consider posting a tank journal to keep track of your progress.

[shireen]

Thanks, 150EH,

Looks like no rimless for me. Oh well, that's OK.

Thanks for offering to advise me on the cabinet. It's still a bit early, but when i'm at a point where I'm ready to seriously plan it, I'll be in touch. It may be a few months.

Thanks for the comments about gravel. I've used it for years and never been too happy with it. That's why i'm trying to find better options. Keeping ferts out of the water column would be great. I found this link about substrates that was quite useful, at the very least, a starting point for more research. http://www.aquaplantedtank.com/index.ph ... &Itemid=40 , and there's a bunch of info at the Barr report site. So i'll be doing some homework in the next few weeks.

Sure, i can do a tank journal. It will be a few months away but i'll be sure to post if i do it.

Thanks, again, for taking the time to respond. You've given me much to think about.

cheers,
shireen

[150EH]

That article looks like it covers just about all the available substrates so keep up the research because you will have more fun saving to buy the right items and then seeing it all come together and work perfectly and that's the payoff that makes it worthwhile.

Keep your eye on Craig's list and Ebay for tanks, every once in a while you can get an awsome deal on something you like, good luck.

[Aaron]

Check out the Deep Blue rimless tanks at House of Tropicals in Glen Burnie. One of our members has a post about them on here and I went to check them out in person. They have a 75 gallon rimless tank with black silicone for $319.00. That's quite affordable in the realm of rimless tanks. They also had a reef ready version for $329.00, though I didn't like that the overflow was in the middle of the tank. It took up too much real estate for my taste.

[jweis]

I have used AquaSoil, AquariumPlants.com's clay based substrate, and Fluval's Stratum.

Of the three I like Fluval's Statum the best. It looks like AquaSoil (AS), but it does not initally release ammonia like the Aquasoil does and it does not muck up the water like AS does when I move plants about (others say they don't have this problem with AS, but I have to VERY careful when disturbing the AS or I have a real murky mess in my tank that takes a long time to clear up).

The AquariumPlants.com's clay based substrate doesn't break down, but it is so light it is VERY difficult to get plants to initally take hold. I must use LOTS of lead strips to hold the plants down until they develop good roots.

Oh and an added bonus for Fluval Statrum is that it is much less expensive than AS. I bought mine from Amazon using my Amazon Prime account and got free shipping.

Also, I agree the commercially available tanks are not of good quality. If you can find someone such as Tim to build to something for you that would certainly be the way to go.

EDIT: I meant to say commerically available STANDS....

[Aaron]

@Julie - Did you use the Aquasoil the club was selling? I've heard the new type doesn't break down as easily.

[jweis]

@Julie - Did you use the Aquasoil the club was selling? I've heard the new type doesn't break down as easily.

No, I bought the latest stuff. I actually had to wait several weeks for it because it was held up in Customs.

[Aaron]

@Julie - Did you use the Aquasoil the club was selling? I've heard the new type doesn't break down as easily.

No, I bought the latest stuff. I actually had to wait several weeks for it because it was held up in Customs.

Hmmm...good to know. Okay, thread hijack over.

[150EH]

I have the stratum in my low tech nano and it seemed to run short on nutrients after a 2 or 3 month period, but mostly I don't like it because it's so light, with a HOB filter unrestricted it will create a hole just from the water return, however the color & size is nice and no big ammonia spike is also great. I was thinking of cleaning out the nano and replacing the substrate with AS to see how it works.