The Great 12 Gallon Long

[binbin9]

I've seen so many great iterations of the 12 gallon long aquarium that I had to get one. They've been on a long back order but I found that Marine Depot gets them in pretty regularly. The tank total costs about $82 after shipping. I was worried about shipping a long skinny tank, But boy do they pack it tight with bubble wrap.

I dont have it up and running yet because I'm waiting on my Amazonia substrate to show up. It should arrive on Wednesday.

Here it is outside of the box.

Here's what I had in mind for a design. I want to do an Iwagumi style tank with T5HO lights, seiryu stones, CO2, perhaps some DIY Lilly pipes, riccia carpet, and some pennywort to balance the middle.

I found the stones from Midway and am ordering the other items online.

I am most likely keeping some kind of blue or red shrimp to speckle the substrate with color.

 

[DMD123]

Cool tank!

 

[Anthraxx]

another neat idea (or something i went for w/ my long narrow tank) was like a bamboo forest, tops of plants poking out the top and the inside looked very cool. just an idea. anyways loving the idea so far, really excited to see it come along.

 

[binbin9]

I've seen that I believe it won some aquascaping contest. It was a beautiful tank. That takes some serious skills.

I'm going for this Iwagumi look. I hope not to screw up so badly but I think it will be a fun little journey.

 

[binbin9]

My ADA aquasoil is here! OH YES!!

I got amazonia and africana. It took 3 weeks to get here so I'm a bit excited that it's here.

http://www.adana-usa.com/

amazonia - buffers to about 6-6.4 PH
africana - can buffer the water into the 5PH range.

I'm using RO water so it should be able to hit the lower end of the range.

 

[pbmax]

Have fun setting up the tank! That's a great form factor to work with.

 

[Anonymous]

Very nice. Keep us updated throughout the process would you? I admire these type landscapes and often wonder how its achieved , what plants are used, & where to find those type rocks.

 

[binbin9]

plants: RICCIA and pennywort for now. I may add an HC carpet since I will use CO2 and high T5HO lights.

The rocks were found at Midway Pets. It's amazing what you find there if you look.

HC carpet

RICCIA tied down on rocks

 

[pbmax]

Do you have the pennywort yet? If so, where did you buy it?

 

[binbin9]

Yes I got if off of ebay. $13 for about 12 stems. thats including the shipping.

 

[binbin9]

The tank has found it's home spot.

Time for the amazonia.

Here it is with nearly the entire bag in the tank.

Next came the stones. I tried to stay with my initial design, but I think I'm short maybe about 3 more stones.

For the time being I used one of the stones I had from a previous tank it's not seiryu so it kinda sticks out like a sore thumb. I'll probably swap it out so I can get a more consistent look.

 

[binbin9]

moving onto the light.

I did a ton of research for a light that had great ratings, T5HO, and about 36" long. Coralife lights have some bad batches of ballast that go dead about 6 months into their use. Aquaticlife works great but is pricey and kinda bulky.

I found some odyssea dual bulb fixture 39W on amazon that was priced right about $60 bucks. It has a sleek design and great ratings.

Here it is mounted on the tank. I dont think I love the blue light and perhaps will replace it with another T5HO bulb. Which maybe overkill considering how close the light is to the tank. I may have to devise some kind of fixture mount to raise it.

 

[Anonymous]

Awesome. :bounce:

 

[binbin9]

so I got 3 more rocks today. That works out to be about $55 total in rocks. And About 47 for one bag of amazonia.

Now to place them in the tank and remove the big eyesore that was in it's place.

This is the new scape with the 3 new stones. OMG I'm starting to hate the blue bulb.

 

[binbin9]

Oh yeah notice how the legs look different? The odyssea lights has legs that are removable so I pulled them out and did a few 90 degree bends in the metal rods and was able to raise the lights to a much better height.

I will do substrate soak with some water today to let is soak while I wait for my plants to be mailed to me.

 

[binbin9]

Update: Today I replaced the actinic blub with a 6700 T5 bulb and it makes the tank look a ton better. I've also started a dry soak.

I was also going to put some pennyworts in there, but found these pennywort like plants clumped and carpeting a piece of my backyard. I thought they looked pretty so I dug some up rinsed them and planted them in.

Can anyone identify it. I highly doubt they are aquatics plants and I suspect once I do a fill that they would completely rot.

 

[binbin9]

after some research, looks like what I found the yard was Dichondra carolinensis (pony's foot) they dont do too well submerged so out they go.

 

[pbmax]

The new bulb looks a lot better

 

[binbin9]

thanks $17 for the bulb, but the satisfaction was priceless. =)

It also gave me an excuse to go to Midway.

 

[binbin9]

So I've been waiting for my pennywort bought off of fleabay but it hasnt shown up. Probably lost in the mail. So i've ordered some off another site to make sure I get some in.

I've added a few things to the tank while I'm waiting though. I bought some cabomba and added it to the right side as a background plant. I like how these look and wanted to mimic a bamboo forest in the back ground. I still have some of the pony's foot found in the backyard in the tank. As you can see they are beginning to melt. I have added a few brazillian pennywort that were shipped free from some shrimps I bought a while back there were only a couple of leaves but they've begun to spread out a bit. These guys are up against the rock.

I also bought a bunch of riccia and spent a couple hours meshing them to little rocks. I'll use these as a border to fence in the HC once they arrive. I have some homemade CO2 in there at the moment and highlight these things are pearling a ton.

I've also made an attempt at making my own lily pipes for the Eheim canister filter 2213. I used a heat gun some salt to bend the acrylic tubes into shape.