George... it's been 10 days.... on with the updates! lol
Hope things are looking good in there, not that I have any doubts at all.
hows the glosso doing george, a nice update pic.
Timely reminders. Thank you.
Some background into my recent activities -
I’ve been heavily influenced by Neil’s (oldwhitewood) outright enthusiasm for ADA products and their outstanding commitment to design in terms of both aesthetics and function. Consequently I ordered the ADA catalogue from
www.aquaessentials.co.uk (whom I highly recommend too – great product range and fantastic service). The Nature Aquarium gallery within the catalogue is nothing short of inspiring and in my opinion many of the aquascapes knock the original Nature Aquarium World book’s layouts for six.
Anyway the sheer beauty of the tanks and running gear led to me becoming increasingly discontent with my own equipment. Unfortunately I’m no rich man so I had to think about creating a look similar (we’re talking invisible equipment here, not artistic layout) without spending the hundreds needed on the ADA hardware. Oldwhitewood’s tank is a good example but I wanted to take it a step further and have no equipment showing at all.
So obviously out came the massive Juwel internal filter, a great filter but a total eyesore really and space waster, taking up approx. 100mm x 100mm x 500mm of precious potential planted space. Also it created a fair bit of surface agitation with my Fluval 204 and the Juwel powerhead flowing from the same output.
The next decision was to figure out how I wanted to set up the Fluval 204 external filter’s output. I narrowed it down to two options; an Eheim lily pipe or spray bar. I’ve heard very good things about the lily pipe so decided to paint it black (non-toxic, waterproof acrylic paint) to blend in with my background (Eheim filter accessories are green normally). I fitted it and it looked ok and it provided a nice flow but still detracted from the aquascape; my wife’s words were “what’s that trumpet doing in the tank!”
So the spray bar was also painted black and fitted. This looked less obvious as I positioned it horizontally on the right side glass, flowing across the tank to the left. However the flow was too intense. I drilled out the holes an extra 1mm each but still the flow was too much with the plants being blown about and my tetras in hiding behind the fern out of the way. I tried all sorts of positions and angles to no avail.
My next option was to position the spray bar vertically, something that I read about but never really considered. Hey presto, it works a treat! Not only does it provide ideal flow around the perimeter of the tank (where it is needed as it is where detritus collects in my sag and glosso) but it can be totally hidden from view behind my fern. I have painted the filter inlet black, the spray bar black, the heater is already black and the CO2 hose I’ve shrouded in black PVC/rubber tubing as with the substrate heater cable.
In summary then I have virtually invisible equipment, leaving me to enjoy just the plants and fish without distraction.
Here’s a diagram for you. Photos to follow soon (I promise!)
edit - Anyone who vists the Aquabotanic site might see a surprise. Kudos tank for January 2006!
/www.inhousepharmacy.co.uk/generics/erythromycin.html
