# 33 Gallon fully planted tank build



## liquid_krystale (Dec 13, 2011)

As some of you may or may not know, this will be my first foray into the world of florascaping. I'm slowly collecting together what I need, but my first priority will to make a stand for the aquarium.

I wanted one tall enough so that the tank could easily be viewed whether one was standing or sitting, but not so tall that maintenance would be a pain. The last stand that came with the aquarium was a battered wreck of a particleboard one and really should have been headed for the trash long ago.

So...as we speak I'm sitting in a metalworking shop, getting a custom aluminum stand with doors and shelving fabricated. I will be posting pictures of the fab job along with progress pictures and reports of the tank as it comes along.

Cheers and happy holidays to all.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

Wow! I look forward to the pictures! I've never heard of anyone having a tank stand built at a metalwork shop. Maybe it's not uncommon, but it's never crossed my mind. It sounds spectacular, and definitely not particleboard. Very cool.


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## liquid_krystale (Dec 13, 2011)

Here are some pics of the build.










The raw material.










Welding complete.










3 sides added.










Shelf added.

More to come...


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## Captured Moments (Apr 22, 2010)

Wow.. An aluminium stand. Have you decided on the substrate choice yet?


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## liquid_krystale (Dec 13, 2011)

Got the stand home today! It was powder coated black yesterday and we installed the handles today.



















I might have been a bit ambitious in designing the stand to be 35" tall...makes filling the tank with a bucket a real pain and resulted in this...










I put down a 2-2.5 inch layer of ADA aqua soil I bought off of a forum member. Unfortunately I wasn't careful with the bucket during fill up and stirred up the soil. The visibility is about an inch right now, despite a half day of running the filter and stuffing it full of poly batting.  I wonder how long it's going to take to clear up.










A pic of my marimo balls, one of the only 2 plants that survived shipment from overseas in the dead of Canadian winter. A valuable lesson learned...a whole bunch of plants I ordered by mail arrived as a brown/sludgy mess.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

Nice work and a tall tank !


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## Treasure chest (Apr 21, 2010)

Fancy stand. Is it aluminum or steel? Nice work!


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## bigfry (Apr 21, 2010)

Nice aluminum stand, light but strong.

Any concern about tank tipping over?


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## liquid_krystale (Dec 13, 2011)

Gklaw: thank you!

Treasure chest: the stand is entirely made of aluminum.

Bigfry: thanks! It's tall, but it'll take more than a shove or two to tip it over. It's backed by a banister as well.


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## Arcteryx (Nov 23, 2011)

Watching with interest. Outfitting a 33 as well in the near future.


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## tang daddy (Apr 21, 2010)

Awesome quality stand, how do you think these stands hold up to a 180g?

Yah abit too cold to ship plants... Great start, may I suggest with ada place it in the tank. Use saucer to diffuse water slowly pouring it so as to not disturb substrate. If you've dumped it in already siphon the water out, then slowly pour new water in using method above, probally a good idea to do large waterchanges in the start, especially if the soil has been sitting for awhile all the params are probally whack!


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

The stand looks elegant and sturdy. I'm looking forward to seeing the tank when it's fully planted. It should be lovely!


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## liquid_krystale (Dec 13, 2011)

Thanks for the kind and encouraging words.

I'm quite frustrated at the moment and really regretting not rinsing out the ADA thorougly before dumping it into the tank. After 2 3/4 water changes and careful diversion of water flow a la plastic bags placed on the water's surface, the tank is still quite murky and I'm hesitant to introduce my livestock. I'm currently running the pump through a 5 micron filter bag to take out some of the dirt, but not seeing any improvement yet. Are there any products out there that help get rid of tiny particulates?

The current filter is a penguin one but I will be switching to a canister filter within the next few weeks.


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

i would remove all the filter media... stuff it with cheap filter floss and just run it for a few days, replacing the floss every day... really i don't know what you can do other than that.... I had the same problem with flourite a couple years ago


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

wait you said penguin filter? is that the one with the bio-wheel?? i'm not sure if the floss idea will work on that


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## Algae Beater (Apr 21, 2010)

plants actually ship better in the cold ... as long as they dont freeze! 


following the thread


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