My 3ft planted tank project

Thanks for looking it up Zoom.
It is actually called A Hamburg Mattenfilter or HMF.

 

Not really, the foam is actually relatively cheap.
I will give a complete breakdown of the costs to construct the filter in an upcoming post.

 

Looking forward to your results Darryn, I've been wondering about these HMF's for a while now

 

Sorry for not posting any new pics. The lens needed to take the close up photos is acting up and my cellphone pics are crappy. Will try and see what I can sort out for tomorrow.
The HMF is almost complete. Just have to silicone the bottom pieces so that the substrate is kept away from the filter mat, install the pump and sort out how I am going to running the return from the pump back into the tank. I am leaning towards constructing some sort of spraybar, but still have to decide on that. Still have not got the pump yet. This week has just been too busy. Hoping to have the filter complete tomorrow night (Hopefully with the pump). Will probably start soaking the palm peat fibre on Friday and then start filling the tank on Saturday. I am pretty excited as I think it's going to look kind of cool.
I have been experimenting with the light idea I got from a thread about Dane's tanks (http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?t=2843). Thanks once again Dane. I am quite impressed by the amount of light those CFL globes produce. I tried just one in the canopy of a 3 foot tank, and the lighting was quite impressive. I will most probably end up with putting 3 of those CFL globes in a standard canopy until I have built my own (canopy).
I also decided on the gravel that I am going to use. I got some great looking black gravel from Tropical Amazon at a very good price. I think that it is going to be a bit coarse for the cories though. I will have to put them in another tank. Another excuse for MTS. LOL
To be continued .....

 

Nice Darryn! Look forward to them pics

 

How coarse is the gravel? Because i've had Pandas in a tank with gravel about 2 to 3mm particle size and they showed no shortening of the barbels. They definitely like fine sand more tough.

 

Eventually managed to make some progress on the tank last night.
Please excuse the quality of the pics. I still have a problem the lens of my wife's Canon camera, so I am down to cellphone pics at the moment.
I manged to finish the HMF and it did not come out too badly. I realise now that I have to practice applying silicone. I ended up with silicone all over the place, but removed it once dry with a razor blade. But as they say: All's well that ends well.
In the pic, I don't have the return tube from the pump back in to the tank installed. For the moment I have just used a short piece of tubing to 'pour' the water back into the tank, but am looking a maybe constructing a spray bar instead.
Here is what it looks like:

The reason that I used two pieces of trunking on the bottom, is that as this is eventually going to be a heavily planted tank, I need to have quite a high barrier between the gravel and the filter mat.
The reason why the bottom piece is white and the upper piece is black, is that the bottom piece will never be viewable when the gravel is in and I did not want any of the viewable trunking to be white.
This is how the night went:
Moved the tank to final 'resting' place.
Cleaned tank again with a microfibre cloth and Earthsap glass and surface cleaner. Earthsap products are 100% natural and the bottle even states that it will not affect aquatic life.
Added a border of gravel about 2cm high around the two sides of the tank that are visible. I didn't bother with a border along the back or right side, as due to the position of the tank they will not be viable from those sides. Some people prefer seeing the layers of substrate from the front, etc., but I did not want that.




Next I added a 2cm layer of the PPF that had been soaked in chemicult for 24 hours as per Prof Dirk's method. I sloped this up to about 4cm at the back. I have read on the plant forums that this 'sloping' gives the perception of more depth when planted.




Next I added about 30 nails and then covered that with a thin layer of Microbe-Lift Concentrated Aquatic Planting Media (CAPM).






Once that was complete. I capped everything off with a layer of gravel, again making sure that everything sloped from the front to the back. Currently, the total dept in the front is about 5cm sloping up to about 9cm at the back.
I partially filled the tank and added some plants. The plants that I have are not in the greatest condition, as I had not looked after them properly previously, but I am sure that the will recover in the new setup. To be honest I didn't really have much in the way of plants to start with anyway. I then filled the tank.
At the moment I know it does not look great, but I am sure that after I have added some wood and more plants, it will look pretty good.
In then pic I am using one 18W CFL bulb and as you can see the lighting is not too bad. I will be adding another two over the next few days to keep things going until I have completed my custom canopy. Then I will be switching to T5 tubes and ballasts.


No livestock added as yet. Will be adding a few fish and adding a sponge filter from a cycled tank to help seed the new filter mat.
Comments and advice are most welcome.

 

its looking good!

i'm looking at the possibility of adding a moss wall to the back of my tank and using slates with different shades as well... i feel it gives the tank a more natural look... perhaps you may want to look into that too..

what plants are you considering adding?

Also, add rocks and driftwood... remember the driftwood takes forever to sink and soak... all the "pollutants" need to soak out... its a bit of a hassle but it's worth the 6 week wait... i removed mine recently but it may be back once the moss wall is up...

i love what you're doing with the tank. it's looking great. be sure to post up some pics as time goes, i'm definitely waiting to see what happens...

best of luck hey

 

Thanks for the comments.
I will back putting a piece of black ABS plastic for the background. Have seen it in a few tanks and I think it looks good.
I will be building a small moss wall on the right hand side of the tank as soon as I have some more lighting.
I will be on the lookout for some nice wood and stones to add as well.
In terms of what plants I will be using .... I don't know yet. I still have a lot to learn about plants, so I will sort that one out as I go along.

Added another 18W CFL bulb.

 

Hi Darryn the tank looks good. It is a very tidy look with the filter. Have you thought of a blue
Background to blend in with the filter.
I think Zooms tank has a blue background and it looks nice with the plants.
Have you a pump for the tank yet?

 

good stuff

 

Looking really good so far Darryn!

Liking the idea of using the CFL bulbs so long. Think I should do the same till I can get more lights for the tank.

 

Hi Darryn

That set up is W~I~C~K~E~D dude!! I think with that undergravel fertz, your plants are going to outgrow your tank before you know it. Have you got any of the Prof's fertz... if not... I would HIGHLY recommend it.

I LOVE the dark gravel. I have the same type in my tank, and in my opinion, it really brings out the colour of the plants, and contrasts lovely with the fish too. A dark mono-tone background is also my preference so as not to distract your eye from the beauty within the tank- so I think a black background will be lovely!!

I'm guessing that you have the rocks and driftwood coming... so I won't tell you that it will look nice with it.. hehe

Maybe insteal of going with a black background, you could go with a blue background similar in colour to the sponge..? It seems to be very over-powering. Although I believe it will get covered nicely in the foreground with plants growing wild!

Darryn, I must say I take my hat off to you, and commend you. It would appear that you have spent a bit of time on this, and a bit of money on the fertz, gravel and CAPM... and you are very brave to be attempting the HFM filter without previous experience in it. Good luck, and I'm watching this thread carefully!

 

Hi Zoom.
First off, thank you very much for the words of encouragement from everyone. This is my first 'real' tank and I want it to look great.
I have not got ferts from Prof Dirk yet, but I do intend doing so.
Rocks and wood with be added when I have decided how I want the tank to look.
The reason I am getting the black ABS plastic, is that if I don't like it, I can just change it with another colour. Very little PT involved to change.
I agree that the sponge is VERY overpowering at the moment. In time the colour will change as it is colonised by bacteria, etc. Others have also started growing moss on it as well. The moss idea really appeals to me.
To be honest the gravel was really cheap. I got for for R135 for 10kg. If anyone wants to know where I got it, they can PM me.
The tank still has a LONG way to go, but I am learning as I go along. I know virtually nothing about the plant side of things so this will be a great learning experience for me.

 

Sometimes EXPERIENCING the plants is more valuable than just reading about it and doing it "right" from the start. I've learnt a lot over the past 6 months as I have moved into a more heavier planted tank... even though I'm sticking to easy growers, it's a lot of fun.

 

Hey Darryn where are you? Wondering about that filter.

 

Hey Darren,

How's this setup going?