jgoodstein

I really wish there was a program with some stencils so you could design your aquarium on the pc and then go get the pieces, granted there is a randomness to it all but it would be cool.

Ok now to the topic on hand. I have a 29 gallon tank and I am trying to get all the pieces for it together. I attached an image let me explain it:

BTW: this image is to scale and is looked as if standing above the aquarium.

-The Grey circle that says heater is the marineland heater location.

-The Dark Grey rectangle that says power filter is where the filter is placed.

-In the top left corner I plan on building a small raised area with slate and substrate and getting a 1 inch pvc pipe (or 3/4) to make a small cave type area. Can I paint the pvc black? How does one do that? On the top of that area is my Medium sized easter Island Head.

- Slightly in front is a fern like silk plant. I'm sticking with fake plants for now

- Across the middle will be a piece of driftwood that should be somewhat branchy, behind it is a colored silk plant green with purplish highlights.

- In the bottom right of the picture there will be a substrate mound with a another small decoration on it.

-There is a branchy leafy plant behind the mound to help hide the heater (it does not touch the heater)

The background of the tank is black and I am ordering the night lights from that guy on ebay.


Ok so thats it for the decorations I estimate when I am done I'll be down to about 24 gallons of water in the tank.

So currently there is a white molly and a golden barb in the tank. I desperately want to add a pleco (or any pleco that adult size is ~6 inches) not barbed either. Was also looking at a Dwarf Gourami (sp?) and then finish it off with either some barbs, or cories or something. Looking for fish that really POP color wise.

All of your help is truly appreciated.

Attached Images

tank-Topside2.jpg (165.6 KB, 9 views)

MudHog

instead of painting PCV pipe black, just get black sewer pipe (ABS) which is black in color already.

This is 4" ABS: http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...X10&lpage=none

jgoodstein

called my local lowes and they carry it, I was thinking of 1-2 inch pipe is that big enough for most fish? should I cap the back of it?

MudHog

I say go no smaller than 2" and maybe 1-1/2" if your keeping the pipe whole. Most people take the pipe and cut it in half, so 4" pipe cut in half would give you a 2" tall cave.

Only down side to buying it, Lowe's sells them in ten foot lengths. Check around some of your local construction sites and see if you can catch a plumber. They may very well give you a couple feet from their scrap pile or let you sift through some small pieces and take them.

susitna-flower

Have you seen the really SUPER tool that Isabella gave us a link to for designing a tank? You can size your tank and add plants, rocks and wood, change colors, and sizes and it gives you a 3-D idea of just what your tank will look like. You can rotate and do all sorts of things.

Research your plants for light requirements on www.plantgeek.net then when you have the list of plants you want, the tool is at:
www.gorillot.com/aquatools/php/index.php?select=7

Have fun.