Epic Overhaul/Builds: 3D Backgrounds 300g-125g-120g

[JK47]

I have the same fixtures and I put double 10k T5 NO's in them, nice and pulling forward more makes the background even more dramatic. I wanted to find a 6700 to go with one of the 10k's but they are hard to find locally and I don't trust shipping of a single T5.

That's two votes for 10k bulbs. I talked to clockwork yesterday and he said the same thing. The fish in this tank have very bright red and blue colors, will 10k wash those colors out? Their old lights did. I was thinking the same thing about pulling the lights forward. How do you think I should mount the fixtures??

Sorry for all the questions I'm just drawing a blank on lighting.

 

[JK47]

It's one of two pieces going in the 300g with a "less is more" approach. Planning on the background, this wood, the tree stump and lots of smooth river stones...

Got a couple PM's about the wood. Here's the link to one I bought bro >>> http://www.designsbynature.net/products-page/wood-stumps/tree-root-003-a/

This is the one I am saving up for. It's going to look AWESOME. >>> http://www.designsbynature.net/products-page/wood-stumps/tree-stump-003-a/

 

[aclockworkorange]

That's two votes for 10k bulbs. I talked to clockwork yesterday and he said the same thing. The fish in this tank have very bright red and blue colors, will 10k wash those colors out? Their old lights did. I was thinking the same thing about pulling the lights forward. How do you think I should mount the fixtures??

Sorry for all the questions I'm just drawing a blank on lighting.

Hey dude! Sorry to hear the 120 is still giving you trouble.
I get paid on Friday and will be buying a lot of junk at our fav LFS this weekend... We should figure out a way to meet up and we can decide what to do about your lighting situation (they should have all those different bulbs set up in store for you to see what they look like in person) and we can do the build on my 20 long... Aside from silicone drying I don't see why it would take much time? Maybe we can even get the hillstream loaches in the tank by Sunday!

 

[JK47]

Hey dude! Sorry to hear the 120 is still giving you trouble.
I get paid on Friday and will be buying a lot of junk at our fav LFS this weekend... We should figure out a way to meet up and we can decide what to do about your lighting situation (they should have all those different bulbs set up in store for you to see what they look like in person) and we can do the build on my 20 long... Aside from silicone drying I don't see why it would take much time? Maybe we can even get the hillstream loaches in the tank by Sunday!

Yeah Aqueon can pound sand...

Sounds like a plan. If we do the BG on your 20g Friday the silicone should be cured by Sunday. Do you need any wood or anything I can bring? Does your 20L have a center brace? I am picking up a FSB-300 in a couple hours.

 

[Conner]

Dammit JK! Now you've got me looking at those backgrounds. I really want this one:

http://www.designsbynature.net/products-page/pre-cut-10-55-gal/20-241l-canyon/

It's not too bad at $44.... you jerk!

 

[Conner]

Shoot, I like these too, and they're even cheaper!

http://www.designsbynature.net/products-page/pre-cut-10-55-gal/20-bj011b/

http://www.designsbynature.net/products-page/pre-cut-10-55-gal/20-bj011/

 

[JK47]

Dammit JK! Now you've got me looking at those backgrounds. I really want this one:

http://www.designsbynature.net/products-page/pre-cut-10-55-gal/20-241l-canyon/

It's not too bad at $44.... you jerk!

and it's precut too.. I'm looking forward to next year when everyone has something to talk about besides pool filter sand.. Now that's gunna be nice Speaking of precut, I took Matt's advice and scored/snapped a BG instead of cutting with a saw. All I can say is Matt is the man! My background would have looked so rookie otherwise... I did a test run for you guys with pics as usual.

**if you by a large backgrouund in need of cutting READ THE FOLLOWING help yourself out**

Remember this one? Sawed in half and put together with pond foam. You can see the horizontal line where the two panels meet from my other test.



New and improved with score lol...





You can see with my knife how deep it was. I used a regular tility razor blade and cut about 1/4" deep score into the BG.



Oh snap! << get it...? it's funny cuz it snapped.. It's background nerd humor..



You can see where I scored the back and snapped from the front like sheetrock.





Snapping the background is 10 times less noticeable than cutting with a thin saw. The saw blade removes some material when it cuts. You have to see it next to one another to get an idea. If you look hard enough you can find the vertical cut. It's easy to find the one from the saw blade though..



I hope the above saves someone a little cash or frustration one day in the future. I'm glad we are testing different methods in this thread.

 

[aclockworkorange]

No center brace on the 20 long... It's a Visio, and I actually like it much better than the Aqueon brand 33 gallon I bought quality wise (go figure lol)...

Looks like scoring and (oh) SNAPPING is the way to go! Can't see the seam at all from the picture!

 

[JK47]

No center brace on the 20 long... It's a Visio, and I actually like it much better than the Aqueon brand 33 gallon I bought quality wise (go figure lol)...

Looks like scoring and (oh) SNAPPING is the way to go! Can't see the seam at all from the picture!

I'm glad someone else gets nerd fish humor.. Seams are perfect huh? I was suprised too. I decided eff it, a leak wasn't going to cramp my style on the 120g.. This is the first tank I needed running but the last tank I need finished so I got time to empty a bucket or two. It's going to get me through finishing the 300g.

Added 50 lbs of lapis lustre (best sand on the planet) and have 150 lbs more to go tomorrow. Yeah, I said 150 more to go..





Loc-Line makes the perfect python holder BTW.





If you clean your sand like a big boy and spend a little extra, you get nice clean water, day one..



The middle tree trunk were it enters the sand. This is about as cloudy as water gets with this stuff.



This is the only pipe you can see from the outside and it's a very odd angle from the side, it's one of the two intake's. Nothing can be seen from the front. I used the odd mesh stuff to break up the smooth lines of the pipe so it's less noticeable.



Full as I can get it without a filter running. I added one stone but I have about 30 or so more to add. I will add those when I'm finished with some of the other overhaul steps and I get back to stopping the leak.



On to the 300 background..

 

[Conner]

Nice! But did you say you're adding 200lbs of sand to a 120g tank? Isn't that slightly overkill?? That'll be like 6" deep...