My first build (Picture Heavy)

Put the slate back!!! All of it. Hahaha.
Over load the tank with plants

 

Put the slate back!!! All of it. Hahaha.
Over load the tank with plants

lol...no more slate! How about just a tank of amazon swords?

 

Started the process a bit earlier. Moved everything over to a 10 gallon until I finish the scape on this one. Should only be a few days. I really wish I had a rimless 20 gallon though. Here is a Photo of their temporary home.

 

Welp...4AM and I have a rough idea of the new hardscape. I love the wood and I didn't use all of it. The two photos that I took show a different piece of wood on the left side. If anyone sees this, let me know which looks better. I'll probably still adjust a bit.

I also might cut up my spider wood and add the twisty pieces to the background. I'll try it out tomorrow. I will not be using the **** slate in this but I will be using the rocks that I picked up for my winter scape tank.

I was going to keep a 1 inch layer of the Eco-Complete and cap it with BDBS but it looks kind of good the way it is. Oddly the Eco-Complete looks a lot darker when the tank isn't filled so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it.

Anyhow, I apologise for the filthy glass, the zip ties, and tags, but here are the photos.

 

I like #1
When I started my first tank I used Eco. Had decent success with "Plants". After sometime and educating, decided to cap a section with "Black" sand for the Corys and Rams. Worked out "Ok", but as time went by I did have to add more sand until all the voids were filled.

Good Luck!

 

I like #1
When I started my first tank I used Eco. Had decent success with "Plants". After sometime and educating, decided to cap a section with "Black" sand for the Corys and Rams. Worked out "Ok", but as time went by I did have to add more sand until all the voids were filled.

Good Luck!

Thank you! I changed it up already....lol. I was going to use Amazonia but I'm worried about the pH drop. Don't really want any deaths

 

I think it may stay something like this. Added a few stones just to get a feel of it. Still a rough draft.

 

Can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

Well, I wished for a rimless 20 gallon. I really thought about spending the $150 for the UNS but the round trip would be 2.5 hours.

I decided to stop being lazy and I took the rims off like I did for my 10 gallons. I added a self leveling mat and I plan on adding a glass center brace.

Any idea how thick I should go for the brace? I'm just going to buy some glass and cut it myself.

This tank went from a 6 pack of Coors light to a $20 bottle of wine.



This isn't it's forever home

 

Just realized how bad I am a cutting glass in a straight line. I went to Lowe's to have them cut glass for me but the cutter was out of order. I then went to Home Depot but they don't cut glass so I grabbed two slabs of glass and a glass cutter.

There were no carriages available so I was carrying the glass, cutter, and three bags of soil to my car. I put the glass on the roof to open the door. I never put the glass in the car.

I got home to one piece still intact on my roof, the other found a quick death on the highway. I shot back to Home Depot before they closed and grabbed another piece of glass and headed home.

My first attempt was to cut an old versa top piece to length for a center brace. I screwed the first piece up so I tried again. The second was better, but still a bit too long. It remained that way and I attached it to the tank.

Now onto the canopy. I wanted to cut two 9.5x9.5 pieces for each side of the center brace, leaving room in the back for filters and heaters and what not. The first cut was almost sort of perfect but not quite. Sanded it down a bit and it remained flawed.

On to the last piece! Not being totally satisfied with my first two pieces, I measured this piece about 15 times and lined it up perfectly. It wasn't perfect, and I broke the entire piece.

So I'm off to a different Lowe's tomorrow and I'll probably just have them cut two new pieces for me. The center brace has found it's forever home.

I also want to attach these handles to the glass for easier removal but they sort of get in the way of the light. I don't know. Long post, long rant, long day.

 

Same! I have a Versa Top for my Betta's tank and I have to shove the light waaayyy back otherwise most of it gets blocked. It's also very dark in the front.

 

Same! I have a Versa Top for my Betta's tank and I have to shove the light waaayyy back otherwise most of it gets blocked. It's also very dark in the front.

Did you remove the plastic from the middle? It takes away the easy open/bend motion, but it allows the light to penetrate properly. They should have used a clear plastic for that.

I could secure those handles closer to the front so they're not being hit by the light, but I wanted the piece to be lifted equally on all sides to avoid a dipping effect when removed.

Need to get it done though. Plants are coming today and tomorrow. Have to get the hardscape back in there!

 

Did you remove the plastic from the middle? It takes away the easy open/bend motion, but it allows the light to penetrate properly. They should have used a clear plastic for that.

I could secure those handles closer to the front so they're not being hit by the light, but I wanted the piece to be lifted equally on all sides to avoid a dipping effect when removed.

Need to get it done though. Plants are coming today and tomorrow. Have to get the hardscape back in there!

I didn't know you could take it off, would you just use hinges? And I agree too, that should have been clear.

 

I didn't know you could take it off, would you just use hinges? And I agree too, that should have been clear.

I use a paint scraper to get under that plastic piece on both sides. It separates fairly easily after that. These hinges could actually work as well.

Hinge Glass Connector

Or there is the replacement plastic hinge that is clear.
Amazon.com: Clear PVC Living Hinge with Bottom Groove, Fits 1/4" Material - Pick: Length - Pick: Length (1-1/4" x 3ft - Pack of 2): Home & Kitchen

 

Alright, lots of work today. I'm not sure how I feel about that large piece of wood on the left. I think I'll keep looking for a better piece. Some of the stones will remain where they are, others are helping to hold the wood in place. I'm heading back to the woods tomorrow to collect more of these stones.

I have blyxa Japonica, anubias Nana petite, and crypt wendtii red on order. I plan on getting a few buce species as well. I don't want this to be a super green scape, so we'll see. I added a bit of pearlweed to each side of the tank as well.

I finally got the glass cut properly for the canopy. Well, I forgot to leave room for the light hinges, so either a new light fixture or it just sits as is. I'm going to add the handles to the canopy tomorrow.

For substrate I made a border of BDBS and filled the center in with the Eco-Complete. I then capped that with more BDBS. Unfortunately some of the Eco-Complete rose to the top while adding water. Not a big deal I guess.....

Water is a bit cloudy still but here are some more pictures.

 

Sour post ahead. I still wasn't happy with the wood layout so I put a few more hours into it. I came up with this (water still cloudy) but I just realized one of my glass panels has two cracks. I probably did it while moving the rocks around.

I have to tear the whole thing apart again. Move the poor fish again, and buy another tank. Which means the canopy is useless, removing the rim was a waste of time, and I wasted a leveling mat.

I am so grumpy right now. I just don't even want to bother anymore. I really liked this start to the scape. I know I changed it a lot but I finally got that , "it's coming along nicely feeling".

 

Good Catch! The trials of keeping "Wet Pets"
Better to have found it now before a catastrophe later.

Good Luck!

 

Maybe good news? I don't think it's a crack. I made another thread about this and got some comparison shots. I also looked back in this thread and I can see that these marking have always been there. Really bad silicone job?

I made very small changes to the wood placement, switched out some stones after I brought new ones home today, and added some more. I threw in some small pebbles but I think a bit too much so I'll adjust another day.

I initially wanted to do that sort or barren dead scape with a bunch of buce plants and limited green, but after working on it a lot more today and adding more plants, I like it this way.

I'm done messing with the wood! One of the sellers for the plants gave me a lot more than I paid for which is super awesome of them. Instead of one wendtii red, I got three. Instead of 3 stems of dwarf sag, I got like eight. All the plants arrived in great condition so hopefully I can keep em that way.

The only plants that I kept from my original build was the Vals and marimo moss balls. I'm not sure if I'll keep the dwarf sag or give them away. They were huge so I gave them a hair cut...A really bad cut. I'm just waiting on more pearlweed.

Water is still cloudy because I can't leave things alone but here are a few photos with new plant life.
I'm open to suggestions on different plant species as well. Not sure what else I can fit especially after the wendtii grow out but maybe some more background plants with some red coloring?

 

Tank looks really well matie, good job! I'd add some of the smaller redish tone aquatic plants such as Aternanthera. It gives a great contrast to the Swords bright green.

 

I really like the bogwood. Where did you get it and is it a specific type of wood?

 

Tank looks really well matie, good job! I'd add some of the smaller redish tone aquatic plants such as Aternanthera. It gives a great contrast to the Swords bright green.

Thank you! I'll take a look. Can't wait for some grow out.

 

I really like the bogwood. Where did you get it and is it a specific type of wood?

I purchased two pieces online. One of which I didn't use. They are nice pieces but you just don't know what you're going to get and if they're going to fit together.

I finally found a shop that carried what I was looking for. It was a 2.5 hour round trip but that's where I grabbed the rest of the wood. It makes it so much easier to visualize when you're right in front of the pieces.

Anyway! It's sold as hornwood or pacific wood. The issue is that some pacific wood being sold looks completely different. Maybe sellers are not sure of what they actually have? You'll have better luck asking your local shops if they have pacific wood.

There are also a few sites that have photos of the wood that you will actually receive but I had trouble finding this wood in their inventory.

 

I purchased two pieces online. One of which I didn't use. They are nice pieces but you just don't know what you're going to get and if they're going to fit together.

I finally found a shop that carried what I was looking for. It was a 2.5 hour round trip but that's where I grabbed the rest of the wood. It makes it so much easier to visualize when you're right in front of the pieces.

Anyway! It's sold as hornwood or pacific wood. The issue is that some pacific wood being sold looks completely different. Maybe sellers are not sure of what they actually have? You'll have better luck asking your local shops if they have pacific wood.

There are also a few sites that have photos of the wood that you will actually receive but I had trouble finding this wood in their inventory.

I really appreciate the assist on that. I'm thinking of starting a shrimp/betta setup sometime soon so it stood out to me immediately. About that 2.5 hour round trip... All I can say is that the hobby has you in it's grasp.

Like the rest of us

 

I really appreciate the assist on that. I'm thinking of starting a shrimp/betta setup sometime soon so it stood out to me immediately. About that 2.5 hour round trip... All I can say is that the hobby has you in it's grasp.

Like the rest of us

The truth hurts sometimes. Haha

 

The truth hurts sometimes. Haha

I've been stripping and remineralizing water trying to hit a target TDS of between 50-80 for the past two weeks. I need an intervention asap lol

 

Lol. That's awesome. I think I'm getting to that point. My fiance looks at me like I've got problems. I take us on family trips to the woods to source my rocks. She says I'll only go out and do things if it's for fish.

 

Lol. That's awesome. I think I'm getting to that point. My fiance looks at me like I've got problems. I take us on family trips to the woods to source my rocks. She says I'll only go out and do things if it's for fish.

That's exactly what my other half says! My saving grace is that she loves animals and so a trip to the LFS isn't actually something she enjoys... As long as it's not too frequent.

 

I think I pulled something. I moved the tank to my office. My son can climb out of his crib now and I wanted to prevent any "accidents."

More plants on order.

 

I think I pulled something. I moved the tank to my office. My son can climb out of his crib now and I wanted to prevent any "accidents."

More plants on order.
View attachment 716519

How did you avoid tannins?

Ah, kiddos. If I had a nickel for everytime I have to tell our youngest to quit trying to climb the tank, quit trying to draw on the glass, quit hitting the glass with Chase from Paw Patrol, etc. I'm no mathematician, but I'd have a boatload of nickels and could probably afford the sweetest tank on FL.

 

I never started a build journal for my first 20 Gallon, so here are a few pictures over the past four months. I've re-scaped it a few times. Usually just moving certain things around. I did another adjustment to it today which I think I like..for now.

The beginning!
View attachment 687121

Cholla wood sunk and added slate.
View attachment 687124

Javer Fern added to Cholla wood and some more slate work.
View attachment 687125

Went a bit crazy with the slate......
View attachment 687128

Took a lot of the slate out, moved the spider would to the left and positioned upright. I wanted to take advantage of the height in the tank. Also cornered the Cholla wood.
View attachment 687126

Pretty much the same except all the baby Java Fern!
View attachment 687130

Now to today's work. Unfortunately you can't really see what I did in the photos. I made a slope on the back right side, buried the Cholla more, put the slate rocks behind the Cholla to act as a wall to prevent too much substrate from spilling over, made a smaller slope on the left back side, moved the spider wood slightly to the right and a bit towards the back, and finally replanted the three swords on the slopes.

View attachment 687132

Left side
View attachment 687133

Right side
View attachment 687134

And trying for a better angle....
View attachment 687135

It's a shame...it looks pretty decent in person but I can't seem to capture the slopes in a head on photo. It gives it just a bit more flow to it all. The water is also still cloudy from all the movement.

I'll be adding some S. Repens and Vallisneria soon. Open to suggestions on placement. Also may add more substrate later on for better slopeness when I get better at scaping.

That's it for now!

Looking amazing so far, keep up the good work!

 

How did you avoid tannins?

Ah, kiddos. If I had a nickel for everytime I have to tell our youngest to quit trying to climb the tank, quit trying to draw on the glass, quit hitting the glass with Chase from Paw Patrol, etc. I'm no mathematician, but I'd have a boatload of nickels and could probably afford the sweetest tank on FL.

I don't mind tannins, but I'm honestly not sure. It's pacific wood so maybe it leeches less? However, I did have a mini cycle after everything do I did a lot of water changes within a few days.

And lol for the kids. He was sort of ok with the tank except for trying to throw his plastic ball bit balls in it, but that was with supervision. He usually keeps the climbing, hitting, and throwing to the TV.

Looking amazing so far, keep up the good work!

Thank you!

 

I don't mind tannins, but I'm honestly not sure. It's pacific wood so maybe it leeches less? However, I did have a mini cycle after everything do I did a lot of water changes within a few days.

And lol for the kids. He was sort of ok with the tank except for trying to throw his plastic ball bit balls in it, but that was with supervision. He usually keeps the climbing, hitting, and throwing to the TV.

Thank you!

No worries!

 

I added some red clay to the substrate and planted Alternanthera Reineckii "Regular" and Alternanthera Reineckii "Variegated", pretty much Scarlet Temple. I'm not sure if the positioning will stay because I have some Anubias species coming in that will be placed in and around the center of the hardscape. Just need to see what it all looks like together.

I removed the Vals completely and decided that I would let the dwarf sag grow large again. I planted those in the background between both Temples and off to the right side near the heater.

I moved the filter and heater to the right side of the tank. I also added a larger stone to the center area of the wood. I think it fills out more and will look good with some plants. I also moved the red wendtii plants closer to the front. I know that these could become quite large so we'll see what happens.

I think that I want to put some nice green plants in that left corner now. Preferably tall, sorta thin. Something that I can bunch together like the Temples. The contrast with the Temple would look nice and fill the void. Suggestions please!

I am also trying to source more Blyxa Japonica to fill out a bit more of the foreground hardscape area. I'll also have more pearlweed soon for a hopeful carpet.

I've actually seen some growth already from the dwarf sag and wendtii. I purchased all plants grown in a submerged state so I'm assuming that's why. Water is still cloudy from more movement so I did add some carbon to the filter.

Here are a few more pictures.

Thoughts on Temple position and suggestions for left corner plants!

 

Looks great

 

So something awesome happened today which I posted about in another thread about my plant grow out endeavors. I ended up with some awesome equipment and some plants. Some of those plants ended up in this tank. I tried S. Repens before but my fish destroyed them before they could take root and thrive. The Repens that I received today were already pretty large and had strong roots so I used them as a midground plant

I removed a few small stones, moved both Alternanthera Reineckii plants to the left, and took out the largest Wendtii and put it in the Betta tank. It was growing fairly tall already and it didn't look too hot in the foreground.

I should have the rest of the Anubias on Thursday, the Blyxa tomorrow, and the Pearlweed should be here next week. That will do it for plants. Hopefully they'll all thrive. Few more photos.

 

All plants are in. The local gentleman that sourced the Blyxa for me ended up giving me a lot more than I purchased due to some melt. Most of the Blyxa already had runners/plantlets so I ended up with about 20 individuals. This will definitely kick start my plant only grow out tank.

I had to put all of the Blyxa in this tank until I get the grow out set up so some of it looks out of place. I think the re-scape was a success. I'm happy with it and I can only hope that the plants thrive. I may actually skip the pearlweed carpet.

I'm done touching it. Here is the final product.










Thanks for following along!

 

All plants are in. The local gentleman that sourced the Blyxa for me ended up giving me a lot more than I purchased due to some melt. Most of the Blyxa already had runners/plantlets so I ended up with about 20 individuals. This will definitely kick start my plant only grow out tank.

I had to put all of the Blyxa in this tank until I get the grow out set up so some of it looks out of place. I think the re-scape was a success. I'm happy with it and I can only hope that the plants thrive. I may actually skip the pearlweed carpet.

I'm done touching it. Here is the final product.

View attachment 719296
View attachment 719293
View attachment 719295
View attachment 719294

Thanks for following along!

Wow! I just found this thread and this tank looks amazing. Nice job.

 

Wow! I just found this thread and this tank looks amazing. Nice job.

Thank you!

 

No problem. End result is amazing!! Keep me posted on any others you do

 

No problem. End result is amazing!! Keep me posted on any others you do

Since you mentioned it! Lol

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/diy-rimless-betta-tank-filter.451795/

Yet another 10 Gallon Build | 463241 | Freshwater Aquarium Builds

10 Gallon "WinterScape" (In Progress) | 458020 | Freshwater Aquarium Builds