Phat_Albert posted:

Argh, dammit, wandering around that plantedtank.net site really makes me want to move forward with more plants in my tank.

The focus of my tank has kind of shifted from fish to plants lately anyway.

I have a 72gal bowfront with some java fern and other plants in it. The substrate is small landscaping pea gravel, tan in color and kinda blah. What I'd really like to do is ditch the pea gravel and go with black substrate, as well as spraypaint the back of the aquarium black. I'm sick of the seascapes background I have up there now.

Anything I should know before I spraypaint the back of the tank?

kaosAG posted:

So long as you're tearing the tank down completely paint is great. If you don't want to do that, then a black background (or some black construction paper/posterboard) works just fine. I believe that eco-complete or whatever substrate is pretty dark, if not black, and is great for planted tanks. Onyx isn't bad, but it's not specifically a plant substrate. The biggest things with planted tanks are lights and co2. Assuming you want a fancy high-light tank you'll want a pressurized injector system, and a rack of T5 fluorescents, which is pretty pricey. If you go that route, best of luck, a good planted tank is awesome to have, and will often inspire friends and other visitors to start their own tanks

Desert Bus posted:

The man you are thinking of is Takashi Amano.

Blood Daemon posted:

gross posted:

It's just PVC pipe chopped into segments and stuck together with silicone sealant. Somewhere in the archives is the thread from when I put the whole tank together, but I'll try to find the original pictures of how I made the platform if you want. They're around here somewhere.

gross posted:

Here you go, QuarkMartial.


Click here for the full 940x705 image.


Click here for the full 940x705 image.

It's 4" diameter pipe, and the whole thing measures about 1' in each direction.

Kuja posted:

Most fish won't get along well with Bettas (a lot of people like to say otherwise but it's best not to risk it.) unless you want to risk a dull colored tropical that is solitary as well. I would have to get back to you about a slow moving, dull colored tropical fish that doesn't school, though...

QuarkMartial posted:

Hahah, man that's sweet. You don't mind if I use this in my new tank for my turtle do you? It's a great idea and I think he'd love it!

Did you coat the outside with silicone and roll it in rocks, or did you attach each rock by hand?

Blood Daemon posted:

He cost me £1 (that's about $2), I went out and yeah I aint as "rich" as some of you may be, so I got a little tank and kept him in there..

Blood Daemon posted:

Hate me all you like, I don't even know you guys. It don't bother me!

csammis posted:

I'm not sure where you're getting the "must be dull-colored and solitary" bits. My experience with bettas says that any fish that (a) isn't generally aggressive and (b) doesn't nip fins will get along just fine with a male betta. I kept a couple blue dwarf gouramis with a betta in a 10g many years ago, and they all got along fine. There were plants where the betta could rest if he wanted to be left alone, which is always helpful for bettas anyway.

gross posted:

I don't mind at all. You'll probably have to set it up differently so a turtle can crawl onto it though, depending on the water level. My frogs use those tiny platforms on the sides.

For the outside, I coated it in silicone one section at a time (so the silicone doesn't start to dry), rolled it in rocks, and then mashed some more on by hand to fill in the gaps. I think it's easier to get a good coat with smaller gravel, because mine was kind of a pain. You can see where I attached some individual rocks on the insides and ends of the pipes so the white doesn't show when looking at the front of the tank. That's about it. Just let it air dry for a few days, or until it stops stinking.

Edit: I went through almost two tubes of silicone. Make sure you buy enough.

Desert Bus posted:

Edit Number Two:
Do not attempt to keep Hillstream Loaches in a fully tropical tank. They were doing fine around 80F, but once the house got a little warmer they died quickly. I feel bad for knowing they weren't perfectly suited to my water parameters and trying it anyway.

kaosAG posted:

This is why I don't own any, though they're awesome fish. They really do best in a near-room-temperature tank (in the wild, they'd never see temps as high as 70F). Another fish in the "one of these days I'll set up a tank for those" category.

I'm amazed how many pictures you get of your QA. I have to be sneaky and pop the lights on at 3am with the camera ready to get a picture of mine. It bugs me that he's so shy, and yet such a beautiful fish

Vigilantly Vigorous posted:

I went to the pet shop to pick up some live plants for my bland looking tank so I decided to look at some fish while I was there. While looking at some corys and such I saw a couple of these little fellas picking around in the gravel.



I needed something to keep the bottom of my tank nice and clean since my lazy sailfin squeaker just sits upside-down in his cave all day. I took home a Yoyo botias and he is getting along nicely in the tank. He is very shy, when anyone enters the room he digs the gravel and hides under something.

Saxamaphone posted:

I ended up getting a lovely female betta for the other half of my tank. I introduced her this morning, and within ten minutes she'd managed to squeeze past the divider and into the male betta's half. So back into the store cup for her while I go get a divider that fits properly. I don't want a herd of babies and I don't want the male to flip the gently caress out on her.

Kuja posted:

You'd be much less likely to get baby bettas and more likely to get a dead one. Get a better divider, for certain. Hope the issue resolves itself well.

quote:

Nope he's just a regular old 7 cent feeder comet goldfish!

QuarkMartial posted:

And to be absolutely sure, you used the GE Window and Door silicone caulking, right? I was going to use regular aquarium sealant, but it's waaaaaay to expensive. I'd like to use regular silicone, provided it's safe.

gross posted:

I was wondering if there's a special name for the ones that look like comets but have a tail that splits halfway down.

gross posted:

^ ^ ^
That goldfish is a beast. It's hard to tell from the picture, but does it have a fan tail too? I was wondering if there's a special name for the ones that look like comets but have a tail that splits halfway down.

I used GE Silicone I Window and Door on both the platform and the aquarium. I think II (the one with the gold label instead of silver) has the anti-mildew stuff which is bad news. Make sure it says "100% silicone".

Just to cover my own rear end, it's made of the exact same stuff as aquarium sealant, but they say right on the label that it's not for use in aquariums. All I can tell you is that I had no problems, so use at your own risk.

Phat_Albert posted:

Is there a good solution out there for keeping my smaller fish from falling victim to my filter?

I have a 110gal rated side hanging filter that is an absolute fish killer. Its quite powerful, which is nice for keeping my 72gal tank clean, but smaller fish dont seem to be able to overcome its suction at all.

Is there something I can put on it, or something I can do to make it less deadly to my smaller fish?

R.I.P. BRAND loving NEW dwarf puffer. Your tiny T-Rex fins were too small to carry you away from the filter intake.

gross posted:

Here's my goldfish. The tank is a 20g long, and my goal with the whole thing was to keep it as cheap as possible. Pea gravel from the hardware store, big rocks from the beach, free helmet thing and artificial plants, two different kinds of homemade filters, an old desk lamp for light, and java moss from the guppy tank. That's the only plant I've found that the fish won't destroy.

Someday I'll set up something bigger and add a few more goldfish.

ludnix posted:

I'm currently setting up a 120 gallon saltwater aquarium. So far it's just live rock, but by next week or so I should be ready to transfer my fish and corals.

Phat_Albert posted:

So I did wind up redoing my tank this weekend.

I scrapped the tan gravel, put in 75lbs of black gravel, and cleaned everything. I went with a standard black plastic background as well.

The good thing is that most of my plants had split off into separate chunks, so I was able to break alot of them up and spread them around. I also picked up a couple of powder blue dwarf gouramis, a freshwater puffer, and some more tetras to go along with the rest.

Its hard to get a steady shot of the tank without a tripod, but I definitely think it looks a ton better. The all black scheme REALLY brings out the colors of the plants and fish. Its almost like the aquarium isnt there. Also, the old setup, with the tan gravel and seascape background reflected a poo poo ton of light, so this setup doesnt absolutely fill the room with light, which I like alot more.



Click here for the full 1200x900 image.

Vigilantly Vigorous posted:

As far as substrates go, with most plants its ok to go with normal gravel. I use a standard coated gravel and most of my plants took root. I have only had trouble with the plants that arent getting enough light.

What should I be paying for a 20/29/30 gallon tank?