journal First Aquascape. 2ft | Medium Light

[John.]

Hi all, its not exactly a shrimp tank, but I will have shrimp in there

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Tank size: 2ft Juwel Rekord 70

Filter: Eheim 2322 Thermofilter

Lighting: 2x 10w LED Floods (Morning/Evening) 1x 20w LED (Mid-Day)

Substrate: Riversand - w/ Leaf Litter (Indian Almond, Maple, Beech, Oak) & Alder Cones.

Heater: Jager 50w

Fauna:

Currently thinking a pair of Apisto Agassizii & a colony of wild type Cherry Shrimp/ Or some bright red Cherries to complement the dark sand & wood.

Flora:

Amazon Frogbit on the surface..

Staurogyne Porto Velho - Around some river stones that I'll add at base of wood.

Needle Leaf JF - Back left to fill rear.

Undecided: Moss of some kind or Hydrocotyle - On branches that stick out of water, hopefully the Moss or Hydro will grow out and above the water line.

Please let me know what you think of the current hardscape, and if you have any suggestions feel free to voice them

*BTW* They're not scratches on the glass I was scraping off Calcium Build-up.

[Squiggle]

Looking good dude, can't wait to see this develop, I'll definitely be following closely, well done! :victorious:

[John.]

Thanks Mate :-D

[poeticwinter]

+1 looking good. especially the DW, its good piece :) waiting for update when you put the plant and fish!

[John.]

Thanks Mate, I'm just waiting on my lights to arrive, then I will make a stand and connect them all to timers. I will then go buy the plants and get to flooding it

[John.]

A little update, all my lights have arrived, so I have to work out how to mount those, filter will be set-up today, and hopefully I'll be adding water after that or tomorrow..

I also dropped some leaves in there which will be sure to float. I have been keeping the sand wet with a spray bottle to stop it drying out too.

[Squiggle]

Awesome dude, can't wait to see the lights up & running. :victorious:

[John.]

OP Updated RE: Flora...

I woke up early today to finish the LED Light Stand, It worked pretty well, I originially tried cutting with a hack saw, but the cuts were bad. So I used a 80t Blade on my mitre saw and that did a great job :)..

At the moment the LED being used will be 50w, I expect I will drop these too two 30w eventually, I'll see how I go as the tank is still quite dark when unlit (Black Water Biotope).

Now, off too workkkk :P

[michael]

Looks good. What material did u use for the stand...

[BristledOne]

Whoah, is this a British petroleum biotype? :p

In all serious though this is shaping up to be an awesome looking tank! Really keen to see the end result on this one thanks for sharing

[al4n]

Cool idea with the light stand, planning on using LED flood light i assume? Can't wait to see it lit up

[John.]

Thanks guys!

For the stand I used Bunnings Connect-It, its just a box type aluminium extrusion.

I just finished off the light today, now all I need to do is wire it all up, currently has two 50w LED's which were going to be used on a planted tank.. Its all I have in parts atm so I'll use them until my 30w & 10w Emitters come. I do have three LED Floods for this tank, but I'll be using two 10w's on a Cube Black Water tank soon

Heres the lights 'almost complete'

[Squiggle]

Awesome dude, looks very sleek, well done! :victorious:

[John.]

Thanks Mate

[CRSkiller]

Nice sleek job on the light and stand!

[BlueBolts]

Well done on the DIY light stand…….use the same design/material for all my nano tanks too :-) Great step by step…..cant wait to see the tank filled up :-)

[John.]

Thanks guys

I just finished soldering the Emitters, I tested one 50w over the tank, and in my opinion its the perfect brightness for the black water. Purigen has done its task and stabilised the tannins so the tank is the colour of a dark black tea

Also, the heatsink is great, it draws the heat from the LED amazingly well, with two 50mm fans above each LED I see them never getting too hot.