Guess who's back..... Henry goes steampunk...

[rebel]

Wow what a great ending/beginning to some enterprising DIY!!!

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Thanks a lot for the offer.. 🙂 I already got red ones in the garden.. They indeed propagete very well, last year i collected seeds and all germinated very easy.
I havent looked or didn't notice the last 2 weeks, good chance i got some reds flowering in the garden right now.

But let me know if you want that white one, i can split the one that is flowering right now, i see it has a lot of small runners at the base. I can send them asap before the frost or next spring. No idea what's best option..

I thought it changed to Hesperantha, or is this also an old name changed again? The common name in our language always was Bog Gladiolus.

I took a couple of photos of the plants outside the lab.

There used to be Ivy (Hedera helix "Glacier") and a pip grown Pomegranate (Punica granatum) covering the wall, but about 10 years ago they removed them and exposed the building in its full 1970's architectural glory.

Our last Vice-chancellor then decided it was an eye-sore (she may have had a point) and spent a very considerable sum of money on some grey irrigated planters and retaining wires.

They then planted some fairly sad looking climbers in the containers (the wall is SW facing), and left it. If anything it looked worse than before the planters and infinitely worse than the Ivy/Pomegranate combination, which hadn't cost us anything.

I was fed up with looking at it every day, so when the "maintenance" contract ended I guerilla planted some plants in the containers, including a pale, and type, Hesperantha coccinea.

This was the middle of October, the pale cultivar flowers a lot later than the type red one.





cheers Darrel

 

[Edvet]

I guerilla planted some plants in the containers,

So where are you going to work next😎😛

 

[ian_m]

Will not aluminium and brass galvanically corrode ?, especially in presence of moisture, even worse if chloride present ?

Quick Google reveals you should never connect aluminium and brass together without an insulator. Didn't the aluminium roof of some posh skyscraper in NY fall off due to using brass fixing screws ?

 

[zozo]

Hi all, I took a couple of photos of the plants outside the lab.

There used to be Ivy (Hedera helix "Glacier") and a pip grown Pomegranate (Punica granatum) covering the wall, but about 10 years ago they removed them and exposed the building in its full 1970's architectural glory.

Our last Vice-chancellor then decided it was an eye-sore (she may have had a point) and spent a very considerable sum of money on some grey irrigated planters and retaining wires.

They then planted some fairly sad looking climbers in the containers (the wall is SW facing), and left it. If anything it looked worse than before the planters and infinitely worse than the Ivy/Pomegranate combination, which hadn't cost us anything.

I was fed up with looking at it every day, so when the "maintenance" contract ended I guerilla planted some plants in the containers, including a pale, and type, Hesperantha coccinea.

This was the middle of October, the pale cultivar flowers a lot later than the type red one.

View attachment 111470



View attachment 111472

cheers Darrel

Nice 🙂 Also yet never seen the pink ones in the shop.. Might es well just get them one day.. Got the white one and it was labled red..
Yes managers.. Tell me about it, Office clercks whit a degree thinking it will never work without them. Contrary is often true. 🙄

Quick Google reveals you should never connect aluminium and brass together without an insulator. Didn't the aluminium roof of some posh skyscraper in NY fall off due to using brass fixing screws ?

Yes you are correct.. 🙂 But luckely this is a simple aquarium led light, not a roof and not a skyscraper. Before this falls apart or gets stuck from corosion Henry will already be to big for this tank and likely will have another one. Chloride i don't worry about, it's not in our tapwater and likely not used in the tanks vicinity. So it wont be run such a fast pace. 🙂

Same as iron and lead shouldn't touch.. But if it does it still takes years for the iron to rot away in weathered conditions.. For a buildings roof 10 years aint much.

 

[Guest]

Fits right in place there!

I was thinking the exact same thing... very nice Jules Vern themed interior...😎

 

[zozo]

Sometimes good things come out off stranded relations.. The kids decided to break it up and go each their own way. And the one left with the tank decided to move to and work in another country..

And now this tank comes back to papa, without henry i think, but i don't mind if that also the case. Got a nice tub for him as well.
Anyway.. Already have some crazy ideas what to do with the long and shallow dimensions..



Not this.. But i like to work up both sides into emersed sections, like a slize of cross section of a stream in the middle.
Thus something like this..

Now i'm thinking of a HOB filter, that creates a small water fall and stream over the longest emersed side.. Than i have to DIY some piping in the substrate to get to the water in the middle and hide a filter basket bihind some hardscape.. The idea is an oversized tunnel from PVC pipe 25 or 32mm dug in.. So that the inlet from the HOB hangs in that tube filled with water. As if it is sucking up water from a well.. I'll fix something..

This is going to be a fun project! Also going to cut out the eurobraces.. These i find much to distractive in this idea.

It also is going to stand on a cabinet next the a south side window.. Thus no lights only sunlight and lots of emersed growth. Not heated..

still have to wait a few days, but due time i start a Journal from this thread. 🙂

 

[Guest]

Awesome, glad you got that back, somehow I felt a little bereft when you gave it away,..probably something to do with all that unrealised journal potential. Where are the fancy corner detail feet ?

 

[zozo]

Thanks Tim.. Indeed i'm glad too.. I felt the same way after it was done and realising it's potential.. Tho it wasn't a give away, they asked me to build something in this size to put on that table. And i came up with this idea and they paid for it. It was legit buy only the hours spend on it was a family gift.

And now i get it back, as a gift i assume.. 🙄 At least to keep it safe till he has the room for it again. Else it's going in storage that would realy be a pitty..

The picture is an old one from earlier, just as a quick reminder and an idea sketch.. Thus the lion feet are still on it. And i'm still waiting for it, not at my home yet. Got asked yesterday and might get it next week. 🙂

 

[aquacoen]

Nice! Looks like an interesting project to follow! 😉

 

[Matt @ ScapeEasy]

That sounds like an amazing project! Keep us posted on progress!!

 

[rebel]

Wow another beginning! Sorry to hear of the split though.

Very keen to see what you do with it! Love these dimensions.....

 

[Steve Buce]

🙂Sunlit stream idea sounds cool, will be following this.

 

[zozo]

🙂 I'm still waiting to recieve it back.. I hope it is soon. should be.. But don't realy know... Anyway, waiting for it in anticipation.. And if, you never now, if, this tank doesn't come back to me for what ever reason.. I definitively going to rebuild a same one again but for myself and scape it..

 

[Guest]

Waiting in anticipation 🙂

 

[zozo]

It's back! And in place..

On an old antique low cabinet? It actualy aint a cabinet nor a table, it's a bottom piece of an antieque Oak farmers wardrobe. The rest of it is tugged away in the attic. It fits the tank perfectly.

Seen from the sofa.. still in the process of cleaning it..


The window is facing South - West.. Thus that will be plenty of light and the only light it gets, partialy full sun if the blinds are open. Thus the blinds will be my dimmer.


Most of it will be emersed growth.. It's a total of 90 litres, but less than half of it will be flooded submersed. Still have to brain storm about how i'm going to bank that substrate up that high and keep it from sliding. It's going to be dry start anyway, thus the plants will be the major substrate support.. Not flooding it till all plants are fully established and rooted.. That may take a while.. Mayeb keep it dry starting till next summer.

Good thing is i have a pond shop about next door that sonn will start selling plants.. They have a number of easy tropical species already nursed for outdoor summer conditions. My goal is to keep all plants South American..

What realy baffled me and i've never seen before.. The transparant silicone is stained with a blue color.. And since i build this myself i know it wasn't the case before.


And it looks like that all silicone that was submersed stained blue as you can see the top is still clear.. I realy have no idea how that iis possible.. Silicone should be chemicaly inert.. Now i realy wonder what did those kids add to the water to color the silicone blue?

DOes anybody of you know a water condiitoner in the trade doing this? Or maybe a medicine, i know they had issues with sick fish.. I'm at a loss here and haven't got a clue.. Bit it definitively turned blue.. 🙄😵

 

[zozo]

Found it already..

Methylene Blue may permanently color the silicone sealant in aquariums.

Strange stuff.. 😵

 

[Parablennius]

I'm pretty sure that methylene, blue, malachite green and other copper based meds dye silicone blue. Typed same time as you!

 

[AverageWhiteBloke]

I watched a youtube video once on Mark's Aquatics where he tends to do things on the cheap wherever possible. He was setting up a low budget shrimp tank using stuff he found in the wild and second hand gear that was being given away to show what could be achieved with very little £££ One thing he did say was to watch out for any blue staining on the silicone which meant meth blue had been used in the tank so if you couldn't get it off don't use it with shrimp obviously because of the copper.


Sent from my STH100-2 using Tapatalk

 

[Guest]

That looks epic, the bottom of the wardrobe not only fits well it's the same sort of steampunk vibe.
And yes definitely stained by Methylene Blue. Are you thinking about cutting it out and resealing?
The pond shop next door can't start selling pond plants soon enough; looking forward to seeing this take shape asap.
As for creating a slope have you thought about using pumice...