TheHighestCrew Planted 40B

[TheHighestCrew]

Hey this is going to be my thread for my 40B planted tank. I have been posting in on several different threads and this way I can put all my photos and progress in one place.

[BCJC82]

Sounds like a plan stan.

[TheHighestCrew]

Photo update, sorry for the crappy pics.

side view:


side view:


Frontal Views:










Current set up: AC50, Eheim 2215, Petco 225 powerhead, temporarily clamp lamps with fluorescent bulbs.
Tank is soil based with about 1-1.5" of soil topped with .5-1" of fine gravel. River rocks for decoration. 1 large piece of manzanita driftwood, 2 smaller pieces of driftwood.

Stock: King Betta, Black Ghost Knife, 4 dalmatian mollies, 4 X-ray Tetras, 8 CPDs, 2 Figure 8 Puffers, 2 wood shrimp, MTS (aerating the soil), glass shrimp
Plants: assorted Anubias, Java Fern windelov, dwarf hair grass, banana plant, short grass and tall grass.

[mistahoo]

Re: TheHighestCrew Planted 40B

Looks great! Did you add something to get that gloomy look (peat, alder cones, ial?) or is it just from lack of light?

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[TheHighestCrew]

just terrible lighting haha.

[mistahoo]

I like the look though. It gives it like a gloomy eerie look. Looks awesome! I was also thinking of doing a blackwater tank with a spotlight in the middle with a bunch of low light plants. Do the plants grow fine?

[TheHighestCrew]

Yes They are growing but I will be picking up a t5. Gonna get some 6500k bulbs for the tank. It really needs a black background.

[TheHighestCrew]

Scooped a quad T6HO light for the tank. Right now it only has acitinic SW type bulb but I am going to pick up a 6500 after work. Damn Xtreme said 19.99 on a t6 48" bulb. Pretty pricey, anyone know a cheap place to get a T6 bulb?

[mistahoo]

$20? That sounds about right. I paid $5 each for 48" straight pin CFL bulbs brand new, but it was an anniversary sale on this site. Normal price for those bulbs I bought are $25.

[mistahoo]

Just curious. Do you have any FTS shots with the dome light on? I'd like to see how much coverage you get with it because I want to do something similar in the future.

[TheHighestCrew]

The frontal shots the tank ends right where the picture ends. The coverage is not that good because I used the smaller clamp lamp with a more narrow reflector. I have one with a bigger reflector but it is being used to power a ceramic heater for my snakes right now. I imagine a couple of them with the wider reflectors would cover my 40 pretty well while still giving a kind of gloomy look. I really liked the output with a CFL. I had a "sunlight" bulb for reptiles on it and did not like the look.

[mistahoo]

I plan to use 3 clamp lights on a 40B using the CFL bulbs. Something around 6000-6700k. If I don't like the look, I'll swap them out for 5000k PAR38 bulbs and try that.

[TheHighestCrew]

Built a new stand for the 40. Got it set up in the garage with 30lbs of fluoromax and 5 pieces of Zebra Stone. Its cycling with a used filter right now. Stand is 2x4s and strong ties. It will get a plywood skin.


IMG_20121220_161729.jpgIMG_20121220_161739.jpgIMG_20121220_161749.jpg

[crazy42bmx]

Very nice , like the way u did the 45 degree cut for each of the leg corners. And nice choice on the strong ties to hold it all in place.

[troy tucker]

Its a great looking tank. with out the backgrownd.