I found a free 75 gallon fish tank that doesn't leak, (yes $600.00 worth!), and will be building a 4-5 foot stand. It fits in the area where I want it, but the veg cabinet will have to go. At the same time I am also going to get the new flower closet put in. I'll have skilled help. The same guy who altered me to the tank in the first place. So best of luck to all. I'll be back with pictures in the pets department of my prized female angel fish and goyer, goby or goyder river rainbow fish when the aquarium is up and running. They're going to love their new home and ne friends.
Interesting thought here...Have you ever considered growing plants hydroponically in your fishtank? I don't even mean weed necessarily, but I think it would be cool to have like a root forest hanging down into my fish tank, and like tomato plants looming over the aquarium or something... Get my drift?
Plus the roots would help to take the nitrogen from the fish poo out of the water and put it to good use. I've seen many a hydro system in which the ferts come from a fish tank where the water is cycled in and out of the resevoir periodically.
IMO surface plants look lame in aquariums. I have a 75 gallon tropical/plant tank and I stocked it with plants that root into the substrate.
Well, it turns out to be a 55 gallon tank. The 75 gallon would have been 18+ inches wide. The tank I found in the trash is 13.25 inches wide I have the frame to my new cabinet built. I still need some paneling on the outside, and some melamane white panels for the inside. The new veg cab/fish tank stand dimentions are 40 inches tall 13 inches wide and 4 feet long. Enough for one row of 6 containers. When I get the paneling done on the outside and the tank set up, I'll post a picture. The inside won't be done until November. My mom and I are going to Vegas. My treat and we'll be there for 5 days 4 nights. I may set it up sooner, but can't grow weed until I get back. Sorry I didn't do a detail photo shoot of the build. You can get a copy of the design/pattern by going to a pet store and asking to see aquarium stands and looking at them from the inside. It took 4 hours to cut wood and build the cabinet. I went with 2x4's and 1x4's but the factory builds with 2x3's and 1x4's. I like the idea of roots in the water per above in a hydro set up, but would be concerned that and uneaten food would get in the way. I may grow a WW seedling and put it under water to see what happens. I had 80 plants under under one year in the forest and they stood erect but once the water was gone the plants were wilted. Going to be a while until I construct a flowering closet. Here's a drawing of the top and bottom rails. Add supports in the corners and 3 1x4's along the back for more support and you might get the idea. Next up I need to make the doors.
It's basically a 700 pound tank of water with a grow cabinet underneath. I do the planted tank. No treasure chest with bubbles. No bubbling ship wreck. Not dragons that emit bubbles. Just water plants and a few fish. When they look good, I love em'!
I'm nearly done with the cabinet. Will get a picture up when I'm done. The problem was the front cabinet boards(3), were cut too short and th rabbiting on the door was off a bit. I have the boards and door on, but it needs to be replaced. It turned out as well as I hoped. The framing cost, all new wood was less than 20 bucks. The front panels I cut wrong came to $35.00. Now I have to buy them over and recut. It's not light proof as the test showed, but it's for vegging and I don't have to worry about the leaks effecting the buds. Once the front boards are cut right, most of the light leak will be gone. As for the tank, petco has a sale on at the store. $1.00 per gallon on their tanks. A 55 gallon usually costs anywhere from $99 to $199 so it's a great deal and $55.00 is a cheap price to get started with a big tank. I've also been learning about planted tanks and grow mediuim. There's this stuff called eco-complete, and activ-flora that many aquagardeners use as a substrate. This stuff contains trace mineral and elements along with the benefitial bacteria needed to turn fish waste into nitrite and then into nitrates for the plants. I've seen it wet and dry and could be a good additive for indoor growing. The main delay is/was my mom's birthday present. We're going to Vegas in November and I just paid for the trip on Tuesday. Her birthday. Sorry for the plug, but the site just has the lowest prices I've seen for Vegas packages. lasvegasdirect.com. Only 638.00 for 5 days and 4 nights in a luxury tower room with strip view at one of the casinos. That's for two and a quick search at expedia and you'll see airfare costing that much without the room. I've started shopping for equipment for the tank. I need a power filter and a heater. Again aquariumguys has lower prices than I can find in the stores around town. Been hanging around "theplantedtank" getting some input. It's a forum for aquagardeners. I've had planted tanks before but always got too busy to work it. This time will be different. The tank is where I live and I don't have to be somewhere. Up and running. Temps stable at 75-82. Will have some indoor buds for new year!
I set up and started cycling my new tank. The lava field looks great and the driftwood fell right into place. Still hoping to get some Cannabis in the tank. Need to figure out how without getting too much soil, MG chemicals, in the tank, and how not to damage the roots. I also bought some plants. The tanks will need to run for a few days to clear out the chlorine before I put in a couple of sacrificial guppies. The plants: Giant Anubias, not cure which one. Ruffled sword that has alreay started sending up bud to flower Giant Hygro. Nice large bunch plant that I split into two groups Rotala Indica 2 groups, may split once the roots expand Going to order some plants. 13 total for 40 bucks shipping included. I had to go with the Flora Max substrate. It has an array of minerals to help the plants root and grow. I went with 2 black and 1 red so the lava looks more natural. Front of cabinet still need a new panel. Still having issues with indoor growing. Of the 5 sprouts, only three best remain. I expect the plants to veg well for another 20 days, and I hope they will flower for me. Good thing I have 2 heavy outdoor plants. I should have close to a 1/4 pound for the winter. Harvest time is coming up in about 2 weeks. But it's been two weeks to harvest since July. The pistols have began to turn all sorts of colors, so I know the time is near. Pictures will be posted soon as soon as the camera shows up again.
Here's a few picture of my new fish tank and grow cabinet. Picture one is full view of tank Picture two is right side of tank with Giant Hygro and white rock Picture 3 is blurry and center of tank. With Ruffled sword flowering Picture four is left side of tank. Lava field and Rotala Indica Fish: 1 turquoise rainbow. Damaged but has great home now 2 austrailian rainbow 2 Goyder river rainbow pictured 1 Bosemi rainbow 1 Dennison barb pictured 1 red tail shark I'm pleased and may be removing white rock and get some more red and black lava. That seems to be the best looking section of the tank. The driftwood came like that one pice looks like a wild pig and the other looks like some animal looking down to it's right.
Just had my biggest harvest ever! It was kind of spooky becease there was a witness airing her dog. I desided to harvest today because the next 6-10 are going to be cold and damp with 60's during the day, sprinkles, and 40's at night. As I was driving to the site, I was thinking that maybe I wouldn't harvest, but when I got to my plants, they were about 6 inches off the ground at a 270 degrees. About 90 to the ground. So I chopped. When I tried to put the plants in my bag, I found out the bag was way too small and had to carry the bare plants out. I stashed them in the forest near the highway and pulled the car around. Popped the trunk and put the harvest in. The car reeked all the way home. About 6 miles. I kept thinking about the new technology that's out where passing cars equipped with gizmos could see into your trunk. Weird. Good fortune had it and I was always in the middle of traffic. I clicked the seat belt and drove the speed limit. I just finished the first rudimentary cut removing most of the leaf. The plants are hanging in my new cabinet and I still have a huge pile of trim to dispose of. I think it might fit in a single bag. One of those t-shirt bags you would put groceries in at the self check out. I would estimate that I would have needed 4-5 of those bags to carry all the buds home. My estimate based on how sore my wrist is from holding up the plant qhile trimming to be be over 3/4 pound. It's huge for me! There might be enough to where I won't be growing indoors over the winter. Took a couple of pictures with the handing buds in my new DIY cabinet. Will post later. The batteries are low. It was a great time this summer and have finnally found a good grow area. The experience was not as scary as my first harvest 1/2 pound, but I was nervous going to the site and driving back. I swear the truckers could smell the fumes when they passed by. Now the entire basement smells like Papaya.
It's a work in progress. I hope to order more plants from aquariumplants.com soon. I would like to be able to see the plants 1st, but the best selection around town is confusing. Online I have pictures to see the plants. I guess I could make a list and then go to the pet shop. BTW my new Marineland 350 gurggles. I should return it and pick up either aquaclear 70 or 110. They're like 60 and 90 bucks but the people at theplantedtank.com recommend it. I can sleep throught it, but the fish may have issues. And it's friggin' brand new and should be nice and quiet. I have ideas and should be able to hide the paneling, filter tube and heater with no problem. I already doubled the light but the tank will need a 3rd floro tube to be close to 2 watts per gallon. for any plant that has high lighting requirements. Picture: Papaya Harvest and trim Sorry for poor quality pictures. Also you can get a basic idea of how the cabinet is built. No justice is being done in these pictures. There is a lot of bud that isn't pictures or doesn't show. The bag of trim itself weighs a good 4 ounces. You can see The face of the cabinet and the shitty board that needs to be replaced on the left
Here's a new picture of my fish tank. Thanks for looking... Plants: From Left To Right Unknown Sword (back left) Amazon Sword Anubis Gracie Rotala Indica Anubias Barteri Rotala Indica Giant Hygrophilia (back) Ruffled Sword with babies Queen Marble Sword with babies Unknown Anubias Rotala Indica Rotala Indica Giant Hygrophilia (back) Fish: 9 are pictured 3 Boesmani Rainbow 3 Australian Rainbow 2 Goyder Rainbow 2 Turquoise Rainbow Fish: Not Pictured 2 Vailtail Beta (female) 1 Dennison Barb 1 Rainbow Shark The tank is used and looking at the picture, it looks like a catastrophic collapse would start in the lower left hand hand corner at the seam. The water pressure would force out the front glass from left to right. It's a cross between whoa cool and there goes $600.00. (dependent on whether or not I was in the room at time of collapse) I'm going to start looking hard for a larger tank in November once I get back from Vegas.