# custom mantle tank 15gal



## Niku (Feb 11, 2014)

Well after much thought and planning i have decided to start up my next big project. A 15 gal super long tank for above my electric fireplace. First off I did a lot of temp testing with the fireplace and tv in close vicinity and have cleared the area as fish safe. Details are as follows.

TECH 

Eheim 2213 
3 watt inline uv
Ista co2 reactor 
Lily pipes 
Beamworks 48" LED
Custom rimless 48x8x9 tank

Projected fauna 
8-12 galaxy rasboras
4-9 Scarlett botis 
Cbs/crs
Blue rili 
Green/yellow/orange other shrimp
Who knows the world is my oyster haha 

Pics of initial setup to come


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## Niku (Feb 11, 2014)

alright big weekend of productive fish things down and a while week of vacation time to spend with my new setup

as promised pics are in 

assembling the tank ( my second tank ever and you can see my first tank ever in the back ground haha always good to have a learner project) 








water test/ first idea of wood layout
















final tank placement and final scape with substrate hard scape (maybe a few more river pebbles to come)















NOTE* sorry about over exposed stupid cell phone pictures that make you rage.

projected FLORA

cypres helfrie (background thru whole tank)
staurogyne (repens or porto valho not sure yet) (front left plant patch)
eleocharnis sp. mini ( entire right foreground like a meadow)
maybe some mosses on rocks and sticks 
anubias nana petite in all the nooks i can fit it into 
coral moss near the anubias on the sticks


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## pandakami (Dec 1, 2014)

That looks amazing already! Looking forward to seeing your progress with this beautiful tank


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## waynet (Apr 22, 2010)

Nice setup.


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## Niku (Feb 11, 2014)

thanks guys and girls

got a bit more done today after a quick stop to a less then local fish store ( hit a snag with my normal place...)

picked up my eleocharis and a bit more cyperus to add to what i already had and made a last minute call and went with staurogyne repens out of my 90

note to anyone who reads this tank journal i will now be selling off all of my staurogyne porto valho ( sooooo many stems) and excess drift wood with this tank being more or less complete. if you want first dibs pm me now as it will hit the fore sale section in the next week i know one person already has first dibs on my drift wood.

but on with the journal 

adding the cyperus helferi








loading up my planting board with eleocharis 








all finished 








i know i have said it before and i will probably say it till it stops being true but damn you get a lot of plant with one of those tropica 1-2-grow cups... one cup filled my board and what you see in the final photo was just 2 cups. that area is roughly 2 1/2 feet long and varies from 2" wide up to 7 " at the middle end with the average middle piece being 5" wide ... i dono if it just me but i feel its insane that you can plant a reasonable starting to carpet for $20 but thats just my $.02

soon to come anubias and moss day ... ooooooooo keep posted 

EDIT* ignore shitty HOB filter im making a book shelf with a fake back to hide all the TECH on the left side of the fire place so until that is done that it was the poor fish must deal with. good thing there is only like 5 of them.


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## Smallermouse (Jan 28, 2012)

look really good already, in for more!


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

Pff not impressed bill hang on the back filter sigh 
Lol jk looks good!


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## Luke78 (Apr 24, 2010)

Big fan of long length setups, yours looks great and off to a good start.I am sure it will look much better once it fills in too.Thanks for sharing, keep the updates coming!


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