NeilW's 30cm Iwagumi - 'Mono'

[NeilW]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

Im loveing these ada knock offs lol there great! Keep it up.

ADA style for a £15 sheet of wood, £8 tin of primer and some £6 hinges

I think I'll propose the extra rear filter hole to their product designer

 

[andyh]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

Neil, first class mate looks really good.

Wish i had the will power to sit down design and build one!

 

[Nelson]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

Wish i had the will power to sit down design and build one!

wish i had the skill to do it.i can't even cut wood straight .

 

[Mark Evans]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

Neil, this is class mate. you know that from me already.

fancy making me a stand for my 120cm 😛

 

[NeilW]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

Neil, first class mate looks really good.

Wish i had the will power to sit down design and build one!

Thanks Andy 😀

I must admit it was testing my patience after I bought some dodgy primer that was taking 48 hours to dry for each of the two coats and then I had to spend 5 hours scraping and sanding the lot back off again because it all went peely and rubbery . For future reference dont use Dulux WOOD primer on MDF, lesson learnt. I'm even told that MDF isn't wood (I had a falling out in the DIY shop over it )

wish i had the skill to do it.i can't even cut wood straight .

My old wood work teacher used to say if you had crazy cabinet making skills you mark up using a knife not a pencil!

If you fancied having a crack at one you could see if you could get the wood mostly cut somewhere by machine and that way you'd know it was all square? Homebase do board cutting at £1 a cut but make sure its the right dimensions yourself before you take it (learnt that one before)

Neil, this is class mate. you know that from me already.

fancy making me a stand for my 120cm 😛

Thanks for your kind words mate 😳

I thought your current stand was nice anyways 😛 When I was making this one I saw the plans for the larger tanks and its pretty much the same but with a subframe and was thinking I could have a good go at one given the time and space. I don't think I'm brave enough to try formica though.


After I started making this I got a quote from Aquariums Ltd to make one for £90, whilst everyone else wanted around £200 I think I'm still glad I ended up making it though, pretty cool to make your own gear just wish I could learn how to make tanks!

Heres the original ADA plans for anyone intereted, I hope its hosted OK
http://rapidshare.com/files/406686390/ada_stand.pdf

 

[NeilW]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

Those careless shrimp may have scuppered my plans for their new home

Bit on an unexpected birth which means I'll really struggle to remove the babies. Maybe wait a couple of weeks so theyre more visible and then suck them up with an airline?

 

[NeilW]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

Update after 7 weeks of growth (sorry about the dodgy framing, I was using a pile of baskets as a 'tripod' - which reminds me I really need to get one! ) ;

Today I had a bit of a clean up of all the algae on the glass and also had all the sand out and gave it a wash to get rid of the green tinge. Need to buy a replacement Anubias nana 'petite' for the rock as the desk lamp dried the old one out .

 

[magpie]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

Still looks stunning, tho', Neil....

how much longer are you going to wait before flooding?

m

 

[vauxhallmark]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

Need to buy a replacement Anubias nana 'petite' for the rock as the desk lamp dried the old one out .

Why don't you cover the tank with glass or cling film until you add water?

Mark

 

[NeilW]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

Still looks stunning, tho', Neil....

how much longer are you going to wait before flooding?

m

Cheers very much

Basically I'm waiting for my step-father-in-law to get the cabinet sprayed Hopefully It'll be soon though, I've got itchy green fingers.

Why don't you cover the tank with glass or cling film until you add water?

Mark

It normally does have clingfilm, I just took it off for the photo I think the problem was that it was right next to a halogen bulb which was kicking out loads of heat. I'll wait for it be filled now before I buy another one to replace it. Annoyingly the other one that was planted in the soil has doubled in size!

 

[vauxhallmark]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

It normally does have clingfilm, I just took it off for the photo I think the problem was that it was right next to a halogen bulb which was kicking out loads of heat. I'll wait for it be filled now before I buy another one to replace it. Annoyingly the other one that was planted in the soil has doubled in size!

Well, if it's doubled in size, why not cut it in half, and use half to replace the one you lost? 😀

Mark

 

[NeilW]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

Well, if it's doubled in size, why not cut it in half, and use half to replace the one you lost? 😀

Mark

I didn't even think of that I think I need the dunce hat.

Trouble it I'll be filling it soon so if I do hack it in half it will look ugly for about half a year until it grows again

 

[NeilW]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

Whilst STILL waiting for my cabinet to get sprayed so I amused myself by making some ADA style cat-proofing for when I'm not in the room (don't worry I'll have it open topped when I'm about to guard against the cat ninja)

It has two holes drilled in the top so I can fix the Superfish Aqua Qube light from either side, and I also cut semi-circular ports to mirror those in the cabinet.

Oh and thought I would show it on my old setup that still sadly ticking over until the 'big move';

May go in for some very think oak trim at the top, what do you think?

 

[TBRO]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

That's a nice solution to the cat problem Neil. Is that an Ikea lamp on the old set up?

 

[NeilW]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

'tis indeed one of the IKEA lamps, well spotted. They get everywhere don't they! Sadly when I picked mine up earlier on in the year it was when they were phasing out the black version so this one is just a roughly sprayed silver one.

 

[Garuf]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

Almost seems a shame to fill it up doesn't it. More pictures!

 

[Nelson]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

Almost seems a shame to fill it up doesn't it. More pictures!

it does.

 

[NeilW]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono' [Planted 25/05/10]

Almost seems a shame to fill it up doesn't it. More pictures!

Agreed it does look nice as it is, when I made the lid it made me think about the possibilities of a nice vivarium but with a bit of 'modern planted tank thinking' applied to it. That said I wouldn't know where to start with what creatures to keep in something like that nor what equipment I'd need and wether it could be hidden.

I'll try and get more pictures at some point, unlike a normal filled tank I have to do a mega clean of all the glass inside and out before I take a photo

 

[ghostsword]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono'

Cool. How did you made he lid? Or had it made?

 

[NeilW]

Re: NeilW's 30cm nano - 'Mono'

Cool. How did you made he lid? Or had it made?

I just bought some 4mm acrylic off Ebay and made it from that. All the straight cuts I scored with a stanley blade and snapped like you would cut tiles. The rounded cuts are done with a coping saw with a fine-toothed blade. All the bits were then polished (mainly the edges) using 2 grades of wet and dry and then a polishing pad with finishing compound. If you havn't got a drill with cotton pads then you can do it by hand with a rag and compound but I warn that you will be there for years! Then it was glued up with Aradyte (although theres probably a specialist glue out there) and I gave it one last polish with the drill. Basically its a lot of polishing