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Stupid is as stupid does

Re: Stupid is as stupid does(painted black)

Life is so unfair!!! Pinocchio has the benefit of Jimmy Cricket yet I have no one to stop me doing stupid things. You think my good wife would have learned by now to say 'NO' to every idea, scheme ,dream or whatever comes into my head or maybe that's why I do these things while she's out! Anyway I decided in my wisdom that I was going to paint the sides and the back of the tank black but didn't think how difficult it would be to reach behind a 8' tank that's 30 inches high to paint especially as it is flanked by a fridge one side and washing machine with a tumble dryer on it on the other side. And there was no way that tank could be moved having over a tonne of water inside :crazy: .After several hours and three coats I was finished , bruised but finished and...... I didn't like it 🙁
I'm not sure if it will grow on me over time but one thing is certain I cannot change it as it was hard enough to paint it I couldn't go through scrapping it. Let me know what you think
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Individual plants do stand out more
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But the black looks grey with the light hitting it
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As a side note the Morpho tetras have coloured up plus the Baenschi have lots of new babies
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Re: Stupid is as stupid does(painted black)

Thanks Alastair, have come 180 degree turnabout and liking it now and got positive feedback from family and friends about how it 'finishes the tank' so think I was a little premature. My problem is I want everything and I want it now regarding the tank rather than give the tank time to deliver. Patience is a virtue I don't have :?
 
Stupid is as stupid does(painted black)

Back of my 5footer is black and I think it brings out the colour of the fish and plants more and gives greater feeling of depth
Matt


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Re: Stupid is as stupid does(painted black)

mdhardy01 said:
Back of my 5footer is black and I think it brings out the colour of the fish and plants more and gives greater feeling of depth
Matt
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I have to agree with you Matt, though I do think black does bring the back wall closer and also show a lot more reflections
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Here my seven year old is looking at the tank to give a sense of scale but you can see every reflection in the tank from the kitchen (the kitchen is lit by ordinary sun light) plus the back seems closer than it really is. I do think the positives outweigh the negatives all the same especially now as the bruises have gone from painting it in the first place
 
Stupid is as stupid does(painted black)

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As you can see in mine having some taller plants to break up the back helps alot
I highly recommend some crypt balansae for this or any stems and of course Vallis
Matt


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Re: Stupid is as stupid does(painted black)

You are spot on Matt, just to break up the expanse of black . I have Balansae in another tank that I might try or some nice stem plant. Trouble is there is very poor choice here but I might get a chance to look
In Dublin this weekend as I'm collecting a rather large fish order ( for me) from South America. Next photos there may be some new inhabitants swimming about
 
Re: Stupid is as stupid does(painted black)

Hi mate,

To get deep blacks, it's best not to put the background directly onto the glass, but put it onto the wall, then try to shield the light falling onto the back. If you dont, you'll get a 'dark grey' instead of black.

Black is always tough.

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It's always the light falling onto the glass/background that screws things up.

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The opposite if you want a coloured background...let the light spill onto the background...

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Re: Stupid is as stupid does(painted black)

Thanks Mark, kick me when I'm down :crazy: .Seriously your photos are what I had hoped for ( a little 'white lie' as even my imagination couldn't think up that vivid black with such beautiful plants) The trouble is my son broke my lap top screen so it's connected to my tv which is a Pioneer which really rubs in how black your blacks are. I think at this stage I'm going to have to live with my charcoal grey background until I can work out if it is worth the grief of scrapping the paint off and starting fresh or just conceding defeat. I was hoping to put polystyrene between the wall and the back of the tank to help insulate everything. I should dare you to sort out my tank but that wouldn't be fair to anyone.The trouble is even if I stood next to the corner of the tank I couldn't even come close to reaching half way along the tank but the more I think about it the more your method makes sense. Might have to spend time thinking of a solution and here I thought fish tanks would be a great way of relaxing 🙄
 
Re: Stupid is as stupid does(painted black)

Took the easy option and moved my lights forward and that really helped though hasn't solved it completely 😀 Thanks Mark
Was trying to come up with a solution of introducing CO2 into the tank and was looking at different methods mentioned by you clever lads earlier in the thread such as atomisers, reactors, diffusers etc and had sort off settled on two of these or something similar
http://www.swelluk.com/aquarium/co2-and ... er-87.html
Then there was the problem of having no credit card so who would I ask for a favour :shifty: ( I would've paid first,honest) So I thought why not knock up a temporary one while I was waiting with 'stuff' around the house.I must admit the idea came to me from Alastair's DIY reactor for the FX5.I had a old UV sterilizer that I took apart, some 2" pipe etc.
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The inside of the UV, I started cutting it when the idea came to me to document the build IF it worked.
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Finished cutting it then had to seal the ends where the bulb fitted with the end caps that had the flat part of fish food lids cut to fit, sealed with Tec7 and a heavy rubber washers to make them water tight
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Closer look at the end caps
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I drill a 5.5mm hole near the top of the pipe, forced in a one way valve with solvent cement. Heated the pipe on a gas ring so could force each half of the UV units on the ends of the pipe plus liberal use of solvent cement. It's been working since Saturday ( 5 days) with no problems or leaks. I had to guess the bubble count but everything seems okay ,small bit of pearling but as it's on 24/7 I won't adjust it until I get a few more parts
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Closer look at the business end plus I found a bigger UV unit that I will try to make into a taller unit for the FX5
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The tiles are 1' x 2' just to indicate scale
 
Re: Stupid is as stupid does(plus as tight as tight can be)

Excellent that mate, id never have thought to use that if I'd had one of those lying around. Big pat on the back for making those mate I reckon that's a first to use something like that. I'd definetly get a bubble counter on as you could end up gassing your fish. Although if you stick your ear to the pipe you should hear the bubbles popping into the reactor.

Any reason why your running co2 24/7 mate?
 
Re: Stupid is as stupid does(plus as tight as tight can be)

Alastair said:
Excellent that mate, id never have thought to use that if I'd had one of those lying around. Big pat on the back for making those mate I reckon that's a first to use something like that. I'd definetly get a bubble counter on as you could end up gassing your fish. Although if you stick your ear to the pipe you should hear the bubbles popping into the reactor.

Any reason why your running co2 24/7 mate?
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Thanks Alastair but you were the inspiration behind the idea so I can't take any credit there. Shows necessity is the mother of invention ( or copyright theft!!!) The reason behind the CO2 on 24/7 is because I haven't got a solenoid yet 🙄
 
Stupid is as stupid does(plus as tight as tight can be)

mrjackdempsey said:
Alastair said:
Excellent that mate, id never have thought to use that if I'd had one of those lying around. Big pat on the back for making those mate I reckon that's a first to use something like that. I'd definetly get a bubble counter on as you could end up gassing your fish. Although if you stick your ear to the pipe you should hear the bubbles popping into the reactor.

Any reason why your running co2 24/7 mate?
Click to expand...
Thanks Alastair but you were the inspiration behind the idea so I can't take any credit there. Shows necessity is the mother of invention ( or copyright theft!!!) The reason behind the CO2 on 24/7 is because I haven't got a solenoid yet 🙄
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Ha ha right I'm screwing you for copyright fraud then.....saying that I pinched the idea from ed seeley so that's me in trouble oops.
I'm actually in the process of making two Shorter ones for my eheims.

Just turn the cylinder valve off then ;0).
I use lunapet solenoid valve it was a bargain and works totally silent. Took 4 days to come from ze Germans but great bit of kit


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Re: Stupid is as stupid does(plus as tight as tight can be)

Funny enough I did that tonight (switch off the CO2, that is) as I think this reactor is too big for the smaller external and I started to see a build up of gas. Trouble is I'm not in the house often enough to switch it on/off regularly or even remember but I am picking up a solenoid soon from a friend . Next are the spraybars . Do you notice the bright lads have everything sorted beforehand not when the tank is running
 
Re: Stupid is as stupid does(plus as tight as tight can be)

Went to Dublin today to get some new babies and ended up getting a awful lot more than I originally planned. I have a friend who went over to South America with Heiko Bleher to see the Amazon plus some of the major tributaries plus the chance to catch his own fish, to see them in their natural environment plus the chance to catch maybe some new and undescribed fish. And that they did, some apistogramma species named 'A 77' (stunning looking) and some recently discovered catfish ( can't remember the family group,shattered from travelling) Seen the photos of the catch sights plus some of the stories. A great time seemed to be had there
I was going up to collect some Leopoldi angels (not from this trip) but came away with a lot more including about 60 -70 cardinals , Different corys ( 4 species .......Axelrodi, Arcuatus,Melini and Melanotaenia ,27 in total) but saw some unusual ones that I couldn't get, like Green lazer, Gold lazer and I think CW 52 and some unusual Lno.s that I thought I had better say no to.Also got a pair of apisto Iniridae that I took a shine to but there was plenty on offer but not not 'A 77' 🙄 As I'm got long home and have work tomorrow at 5 AM I leave the pics or vids go to tomorrow
 
Re: Stupid is as stupid does(plus as tight as tight can be)

Here's a quick video until I can get better shots please forgive quality as I took it on the i-phone (the iphone is fine just the idiot holding it )Click on the picture
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