Well, I'm going to need a few days to get up to speed after years of absence...Maybe after my NFL Sun. playoff games...I would like to understand better than I do right now...
DIY Biotope w/ tons of plants & a living wall and potential for disaster!
- Thread starter Pinkey
- Start date
I've been away from AC for a few years, too. I always come back when it's time for an upgrade. If you have questions I can answer, I will.
Yes, I have that, too. They tend to stick to the latex strongly enough that when they die (which each vine will after a few years) they leave scars in the paint. I've not seen any dig through the drywall yet but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened without my noticing yet. I couldn't do this in a rental. From all I can tell, if I ever take down the vine there will need to be some texture repair and a professional repaint. Our plan is to live here until we die which means we have a few decades left. It might end up being a job for the kids. Who knows. . .I might get tired of the whole fish thing one day and take it all down. I don't see that yet but most of the future is pretty hard for me to see.Pinkey Do you find that your pothos vines kind of dig into the wall paint? (for lack of better terms)
I found with mine, the little feelers that stick to the walls will eventually dig right into the latex paint and drywall/sheetrock.
Wow, according to my own posts, I got the 180g tank in January of 2023. It's taken a lot more than a few months to set it up. Life happens. Anyway, here is the update. I installed the 180 gallon tank. I built the stand and put in the tank. I peeled back the carpet to put the tank directly onto the plywood subflooring. It was pretty rough from some leaks from the 125 over the years. It was solid enough that I didn't have to replace anything but it was still startling. It was completely dry as there haven't been drips in several years.
The stand is 80" across because I like the way tanks look with a little practical shelving on the sides. I have about 2" in the front, 2" on the left, and 8" on the right. This also helps disperse the weight over an additional floor joist. The front is 58" thick plywood held in place by cupboard magnets. The color is a Home Depot color called Fishing Village.
The 180g shares a 27g sump with the 125g for a total of about 330 gallons to help keep the chemistry predictable. I made the sump returns for each tank and have fiddled with them to get them as quiet as possible. So far, I have quieted them the most by reducing the water flow through the aquaponic system. This happened by accident. Dropping the Mag 9.5 another 2.5 feet down slowed the flow at the head of the waterfall so much that the drains in both tanks are plenty quiet. The 125 has a Fluval 407 and the 180 has a Fluval Fx6. The aquaponic wall has at least 2 cubic feet of bio media in addition to what's in the filters. Since I haven't added any fish to these tanks in years, the filters are overkill which is always fine with me.
The current population is 2 12" pictus cats, 1 9" gold severum, a 12"+ pleco, 5 tiny clown loaches, 8 5" silver dollars, and 3 community fish left over from their schools from several years ago.
I have an Inkbird heater controller and two heaters in each tank. Lighting on the 180g has not been finalized. I'll be buying something soon. I installed a new custom-painted background on ceramic tiles of Little Mermaid characters (my wife's request). We painted them ourselves.
Here are some photos.
Now, life can finally get back to normal. Tank upgrades are a lot more work than I remembered.
The stand is 80" across because I like the way tanks look with a little practical shelving on the sides. I have about 2" in the front, 2" on the left, and 8" on the right. This also helps disperse the weight over an additional floor joist. The front is 58" thick plywood held in place by cupboard magnets. The color is a Home Depot color called Fishing Village.
The 180g shares a 27g sump with the 125g for a total of about 330 gallons to help keep the chemistry predictable. I made the sump returns for each tank and have fiddled with them to get them as quiet as possible. So far, I have quieted them the most by reducing the water flow through the aquaponic system. This happened by accident. Dropping the Mag 9.5 another 2.5 feet down slowed the flow at the head of the waterfall so much that the drains in both tanks are plenty quiet. The 125 has a Fluval 407 and the 180 has a Fluval Fx6. The aquaponic wall has at least 2 cubic feet of bio media in addition to what's in the filters. Since I haven't added any fish to these tanks in years, the filters are overkill which is always fine with me.
The current population is 2 12" pictus cats, 1 9" gold severum, a 12"+ pleco, 5 tiny clown loaches, 8 5" silver dollars, and 3 community fish left over from their schools from several years ago.
I have an Inkbird heater controller and two heaters in each tank. Lighting on the 180g has not been finalized. I'll be buying something soon. I installed a new custom-painted background on ceramic tiles of Little Mermaid characters (my wife's request). We painted them ourselves.
Here are some photos.
Now, life can finally get back to normal. Tank upgrades are a lot more work than I remembered.
