Slowly consolidating my various threads from other forums back to here. Here is another project of mine which I'm doing at the same time as my 4ft tank.

 

Naming:

Now called One Tree Nano as I've put most of my yellows in the 4ft tank now.

 

Tank Goals:

- Apply knowledge gained from the experts here

- Build a fun place for the shrimp I intend to keep

- Keep it simple and visually pleasing

 

Equipment on hand:

Aqua One 30cm Glass Cube

Black Soil Fulvic - Normal – 5Kg

Black Soil Fulvic - Super Powder – 3Kg

Hagen Elite 25w Mini Heater

Aquaclear Mini ( 20 ) Hang on Filter

 

DIY Components:

LED

LED stand

Breeding caves

 

Flora being considered:

US Fissden

Eleocharis Belem

 

Fauna being considered:

Neocaridina Yellow Shrimp

Caradina Zebra

Darwin Algae Shrimp

 

A pic of the Aqua One 30cm cube next to the cheapy tank I was originally going to use. Both are being water tested while I wait for the stuff to turn up. The back of the cheapy has had black vinyl applied already, I might use contact paper for the cube.

 

Tank pre-start photos

Edited August 26, 201510 yr by NoGi

Time for some DIY action:

I used 1m sections of 25mm ploy pipe from the irrigation section at Bunnings. Cut them in 10cm lengths and super glued together. Kudos to @KiwiBigD for giving me the idea. I'll let it cure for 12 hours and will shove in the empty tank to make sure it's all stuck good.

With the breeding caves out of the way, I started to work on a light stand for my DIY nano LED (which had its components shipped today). While I was sourcing the materials from Bunnings, I ended up visualising something totally different to what I had planned. I've now built a free standing rear stand which will keep the sides clear.

These bottom 2 pieces I will join to make a lip for a splashback cover and also a lip for the LED plate to sit on. The top sheet was a thin flat piece of aluminium with fins that I noticed while looking at the stand frame. Thought to myself that they would be much better for the LEDs to attach to instead.

A pic of how those 2 bits should stick together:

They didn't have the 3 way that I needed so grabbed a 4-way and hacked it. LOL

All the pieces cut to size. I only had a cheap saw so the cuts were not straight. Rather than cutting again, anyone know if I can putty and paint the gaps? Also, those stickers are a PITA to take off, I gave up and will come back to them later. Didn't want to use metho in case it damaged the paint.

I filled the base with some gravel substrate that I had leftover. I think I needed crusher dust though as it's not heavy enough to weigh it down:

This is where I stopped. It's not clicked in fully as I just wanted to see how it looked. I still need to cut the other strips to house the LEDs.

I ended up not going with the stand above and changed the design to be more Fluval Edge like:

The top hasn't been clicked in fully as I still need to run the cables for the LED lights.

The LEDs from RapidLED:

And a close up of how it will end up being mounted on the stand:

Edited August 26, 201510 yr by NoGi

LEDs mounted with thermal glue.

Meanwell driver wired up to AC, I put in an inline switch as well to make things easier:

I mounted the driver to the back of the stand:

Rubber grommets in:

She's aliiiiive:

A fan on top was needed as the light bar got very hot. These Cree LEDs are very bright as are the OSRAM red ones. The photo looks a lot bluer than it really is as well.

The LEDs were finished off with the lenses installed. There aren't any available for the red OSRAM so they will just spit out a 180 degree angled light:

The LED with lens thermally attached:

A close up of the OSRAM red LED:

Grabbed a 12V DC adapter from JayCar along with a 2.1mm power socket and attached to a silent PC fan I had in my spare parts box:

Extremely complex install :p:

I knew there was a reason I used a piggy back type extension lead for the LEDs:

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble, awesome little item:

Black vinyl applied to the back of the cube:

I found a tiny chip of the inside base of the tank as well. Mighty annoyed. I've siliconed it up so hopefully will be ok.

Hope you are enjoying my slow progress so far.

Edited August 26, 201510 yr by NoGi

And finally, some movement on the tank itself.

First layer of the soil:

Left gaps on the sides for the finer soil:

The super fine stuff on the sides:

Now all over:

My tree, will be going for something out of Avatar with the tree of life:

Corner view:

Front view, eye level:

Shrimp view, looking up:

The lights are not as white as I had hoped, the blue and red are very strong. I may add more whites later but for now the tree looks pretty cool in multi colour.

My hairgrass is in along with the fissden on the breeding caves. The soil is damp and I will spray mist daily for a few weeks before filling the tank with water.

Edited August 26, 201510 yr by NoGi

Progress after 5 days.

Tree of life sure is living up to its name:

That's some funky stuff growing off the wood. I’m told that the shrimp will love it.

After flooding US Fissden pearling:

Usual growth on newish goldvine:

Tree of Life ;)

 

Edited August 26, 201510 yr by NoGi

mate that is epic!!!

Thanks. Some photo's from today:

IMG_3256 by AussieNoGi, on Flickr

IMG_3250 by AussieNoGi, on Flickr

IMG_3243 by AussieNoGi, on Flickr

IMG_3231 by AussieNoGi, on Flickr

IMG_3267 by AussieNoGi, on Flickr

beautiful mate, cant wait to see the that tree covered in fissidens.

and love the marco :)

I only just noticed around 8 little shrimplets int he tank. They don't look to be rilli or yellow. Look like plain old cherry.

Finally got around to replacing the 2 blue LEDs with cool whites. Looks more natural now.

 

Edited August 26, 201510 yr by NoGi

wow...love it and wanted one...can i? LOL

this makes me thinking about the relationship between nice tank and photographic skill

what should i do with my iphone camera?:confused:

Played around with the Kenko tubes a little today

@GotCrabs, this was done via DSM using that AquaOne 30cm cube and some DIY LEDs

Some old pics I found during the process:

Simply wow!!! Absolutely awesome.

@NoGi I have some questions re: the LEDs and have sent you a PM. Appreciate if you could help me out.

Thanks!

That's a sweet DiY build!

Nice one NoGi.

Btw, we went to the same uni lol.

Thanks guys, good to see a 3yr old build still holds up the test of time lol