# So it begins...



## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

Pick up what I need to get my tank started. Will start tomorrow, with LOTS of work to be done. I have tons of awesome branches of manzanita, I dried them out for 6 months, that was not long enough. Tomorrow I am going to kiln dry them as I work on reinforces on my giant lizard's cage in order to handle the weight. I am going to post random updates, so feel free to yell at me if I do something wrong, because I have not set up a planted tank in 2 years! I don't think I have lost my touch but I am a little rusty :/ 

I picked up the Fluval FX5 brand new for $150, I was seriously stoked about that! 

Going to make a little mix of substrate, then layer of small river rock as a top layer for looks.









Tank outside filled with water for the last few days to make sure it doesn't leak. Some wood pieces in there to water log them for a few days. Kind of a worthless thing to do, but I had to put my wood somewhere to sanitize it a little.









Finally, I don't think my Tegu is as excited about this as much as I am haha


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

A project of EPIC proportions ! Is that Fluval Stratum I see in the background? Or some other Fluval substrate?


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Looks like its coming together now.

If you have a big enough pot boil the wood. It helps it sink. Iv had a few big pieces of driftwood I soaked in a bathtub changing the water every hour for 24hrs to make the wood sink. I turned my water heater up all the way to the point where the water would have burned you if you touched it. Anyways that's worked for me in the past getting wood to sink.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

Also I know I read somewhere what size tank you were using but conpletly forgot, so what size is it lol?


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

grogan said:


> A project of EPIC proportions ! Is that Fluval Stratum I see in the background? Or some other Fluval substrate?


Fluval Stratum, that is about 1/5 of my substrate... I am throwing together a mix I have used in the past ( sometimes, I would go mad scientist on my tanks ) the other parts are Eco Complete, and Crib Sea starter. That is my base, with a layer of nickel / dime / quarter sized river rock.



Cory1990 said:


> If you have a big enough pot boil the wood.


I did not know that would work, I have never heard of anyone doing that haha... I actually have a really large turkey fryer that I can boil water in, and once my wood pieces are trimmed to the desired size, they will fit in it. Looks I will be boiling them tomorrow rather then spending all that time kiln drying them!



Cory1990 said:


> Also I know I read somewhere what size tank you were using but conpletly forgot, so what size is it lol?


36"X32"X16 I believe? 80g or "79 tall"


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

yep, boiling driftwood works. I did it aswell and had no problem with it tanning my water once I put it in the aquarium. I know that the tannis isn't bad for the fish, but I didn't want the water to turn brown.


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## FRIENDLYFISHIES (Aug 7, 2012)

Awesome Tegu viv! I love the reptis  I picked up a used 85 gal (non fish) tank a year back for $50, it needs some good cleaning, once I get around to the project Draco (bearded dragon) will have half tiled floor, half repti carpet floor, a small pool and some way cooler climbing logs, it might be a few years lol, but it will hopefully be worth it.


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## Cory1990 (Jun 14, 2012)

That's a good size. Also like Bettaguy said after you boil it the water won't change colors anymore as well. I like to keep it boiling for about a hour or two. The longer it sits the less it's going to turn the water brown. I boil it about 30 min change the water boil it change water boil it, then it goes into the tank without problem.


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

BettaGuy said:


> yep, boiling driftwood works. I did it aswell and had no problem with it tanning my water once I put it in the aquarium. I know that the tannis isn't bad for the fish, but I didn't want the water to turn brown.


Boiling the manzinata worked awesome, thank you guys for that suggestion. Just had to start up the turkey fryer and it worked great. I boiled my pieces for about 3 hours, to cook all the resin out of the wood. 



FRIENDLYFISHIES said:


> Awesome Tegu viv! I love the reptis  I picked up a used 85 gal (non fish) tank a year back for $50, it needs some good cleaning, once I get around to the project Draco (bearded dragon) will have half tiled floor, half repti carpet floor, a small pool and some way cooler climbing logs, it might be a few years lol, but it will hopefully be worth it.


That's cool. I have 2 Bearded Dragons as well. I use to breed Bearded Dragons years ago. Now I only have my 2 left from my original line.. Spike, who I got when she was 2 months old ( she is now 11 almost 12 years old ) and her daughter Sunshine, who is almost a year old now. I use to have a male I bought to breed and his name was Draco haha. Breeding Reptiles and amphibians is actually what I do for a living. I have nothing going on right now because I just sold more then enough to live on.. In the fall, I will be breeding a few different species of poison frogs that I have, and then next year I will be focusing on breeding Tegus, and who knows what else may come along! 

Well, I finally finished my tank. I am so tired.I worked non stop from 3pm - 1am to get it done. No plants yet, just a few anubias. One might think... He filled a 3 foot cage without putting in plants? that is insane!.. But, I have my ways lol. Here is a sneak peek, about 30 seconds after I turned the almighty FX5 on.










Every rock and piece of wood in there I have found myself, on various hikes that I take abroad.


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## BettaGuy (May 6, 2012)

looks very niece, once you add plants this is gonna be one sick looking tank. What fish do you wanna put in there?


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Nice pieces of Manzanita  Tank looks good!


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

BettaGuy said:


> looks very niece, once you add plants this is gonna be one sick looking tank. What fish do you wanna put in there?


True that. I added 3 more plants, looks a lot better with just the 3 added lol. I am so wanting to just jump ahead and go crazy, but I have to be patient and let this bad boy cycle. 

I have been going over so many species of fish to choose from, I quite honestly don't know anymore haha. This is what I have down as fish that I am going to probobally get.

Double Full Red Cockatoo Cichlid - Apistogramma _cacatuoides _ ( maybe)

Pygmy Synodontis - Synodontis _petricola_

Royal Farlowella - Farlowella _vittata_

Boeseman's Rainbowfish - Melanotaenia _boesemani_

Hillstream Loach - Gastromyzon ~~ I love these guys, use to have them all the time so I will most likely get a few

Green Tiger barbs

I have a very large list of fish. I have not made firm decisions on which catfish I want, mostly because in this tank, I can only have one large cat.



Obsidian said:


> Nice pieces of Manzanita  Tank looks good!


Thank you. I cut down a Manzanita tree ( they are more like bushes though ) that was on my brother's property some time ago. I have a large slection of wood to choose from. I may add more pieces that I boiled, we will see. I don't want it to get over crowded.


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Nice fish selection. Farlowella's are awesome fish. Very nice scape too.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

It's illegal to mess with Manzanita here. A whole bunch had been cleared from obstructing the road though- so I snagged my pieces from there


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

grogan said:


> Nice fish selection. Farlowella's are awesome fish. Very nice scape too.


Thanks, given some time and the scape will be perfected. I spent a bunch of time on it today just tweaking things. I've seen some gnarly Farlowella species, I'm anxious to see what I can get my hands on. 



Obsidian said:


> It's illegal to mess with Manzanita here. A whole bunch had been cleared from obstructing the road though- so I snagged my pieces from there


It is here to, massively! BUT, if you have one in your yard that is obscuring something your allowed to cut it down. Also, there are areas that belong to a few logging company's. A lot of them will let you go and cut Manzanita down. Since that wood has become so popular in the last several years, often times they want them for themselves. One of your best bets is to do exactly what you did, find a brush clearing, and take trimmings 


This was completely by accident, but I thought it was pretty cool. Behind my tank sits a repti fogger which keeps the humidity up in my Tegu's cage. By the on/off knob is a bright blue LED. Last night I had the repti fogger on low, and realized it causes this effect in my tank.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Heh, that is kind of cool. My pieces were way too big to boil, so I just washed them in the bathtub and put them in the tank to drown. I never had a tannin problem really. Not with the Manzanita. Now Malaysian... that's a whole other story LOL.


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

Obsidian said:


> Heh, that is kind of cool. My pieces were way too big to boil, so I just washed them in the bathtub and put them in the tank to drown. I never had a tannin problem really. Not with the Manzanita. Now Malaysian... that's a whole other story LOL.


You have problems because they are sometimes so thick, or color change?
|
Manzanita boil V lol... Had to flip the pieces obviously, but it worked haha. The wood ( or technically the bark, which is kind of toxic :/ ) changed from that nice bright red to a darker red which I am cool with. I am wondering to see of the bark will actually stay on or come off. It's known to come off, but I have seen it stay on for a long time, so IDK. What I do know is I boiled both sides all day long, replacing the water quite a few times in hopes that any toxic resin will be gone. I believe it is.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

The Malaysian stuff messed up one of my pots with all the grunge it had. After that whole thing when I used it in the tank it did not go well. Thing was horrible and I finally threw it away. Most I don't have a problem with though. Tannins hang around, it's all fine with me. My water is clear since I do water changes enough to keep up with it


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

*Speaking Rocks.*

Update / History inside the tank.

Here is an over view of my tank, and the history it holds. I no longer have the air stone in there because Fungi take in oxygen to procreate. 

Overall shot after I stripped the bark off the Manzinita. That wood came from a tree I cut down in the middle of winter, freezing and snow covered working outside in nothing but shots on haha. Obtained Legally of course, on private property.









This wood comes from the skeleton of a Joshua Tree. I found many pieces on a hike 2 years ago in the desert.









These pieces of slate like rock I found north of Palm Springs about 40 miles in a wash.









This rock I also found hiking many years ago near the Mojave Desert. It is a compilation of sedimentary rock, filled with geodes









I have had this rock forever. It has been in many of my tanks because it kind of looks like a skull. I found it out near Joshua Tree National Forest. That entire area use to be under the ocean. There are many fossils of sea creatures out there. This rock is a rock that you would normally find in the ocean, I found it in an ancient sea bed. The rock behind it I wish I had a better picture of. It is a large, BEAUTIFUL piece of petrified wood I found out in Arizona. 









This red rock I found near crystal lake in northern California. It is a volcanic rock. 









This pieces too comes from a volcano, I found it near Amboy Crater.









Now, I just need to get some cool plants to complement these rocks... Lots, and lots, and lots of plants!


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

Pay no attention to the crappy CO2 defusing system you see! It will be replaced in time.


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## Redhead305 (May 30, 2012)

has the fungi grown back?


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

Redhead305 said:


> has the fungi grown back?


Yeah but not as much, and not as fast. I sucked a lot of it off today, and the goldfish is doing it's job very well. So there it is pretty much gone into remission.


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## Redhead305 (May 30, 2012)

im worried about putting my two pieces of driftwood into the tank i know for a fact gets the fungus that you have but not sure wat would it is they other i have yet to try but its malaysian driftwood


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## Redhead305 (May 30, 2012)

figured it out the older one is grape driftwood..can that go in a tank?


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

Redhead305 said:


> im worried about putting my two pieces of driftwood into the tank i know for a fact gets the fungus that you have but not sure wat would it is they other i have yet to try but its malaysian driftwood


What I would do is first off, boil the wood. When you set it in your tank, don't anchor them into the substrate, make them accessible to take out. If you get the fungi, ( this might sound strange ), let it grow to about 3/4in. Then take the wood out, clean the Fungi off, and see if it comes back. The Fungi need right conditions to accelerate decomposition. They also need oxygen to produce proteins to grow and multiply. If you can reduce the amount of oxygen in your tank that would help. Removing my air stone helped a bit. So did my goldfish. After I killed off the first "bloom" of Fungi by removing the wood and all that, the Fungi kind of lose their hold on the tank. It's purpose, is to decompose. IF you let is drain your wood for a day of it's preferred nutrients, then kill it all off, it has a hard time re-establishing itself. 

OR, you may not get it at all! I would give it a try. Worse case, the fungi grow on the wood, and you then take the wood out.


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

Redhead305 said:


> figured it out the older one is grape driftwood..can that go in a tank?


Yeah grape vine should be just fine, also looks nice.


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## Redhead305 (May 30, 2012)

will it sink or do i need to attatch it to rock


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

Redhead305 said:


> will it sink or do i need to attatch it to rock


If you can boil it, then it will become water-logged and sink. Otherwise you will have to attach an anchor of some kind to it. If you can't boil it, and are really worried about the fungi, you can bake wood in the oven to sanitize it. I do it ALL THE TIME with wood that I find out side. Stick it in the oven at 265 for 20 minutes. It will not set fire. I have baked wood at even higher temps, but most micro-organisms die at 265*F


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## Redhead305 (May 30, 2012)

Murloc said:


> If you can boil it, then it will become water-logged and sink. Otherwise you will have to attach an anchor of some kind to it. If you can't boil it, and are really worried about the fungi, you can bake wood in the oven to sanitize it. I do it ALL THE TIME with wood that I find out side. Stick it in the oven at 265 for 20 minutes. It will not set fire. I have baked wood at even higher temps, but most micro-organisms die at 265*F


ima prob do both il bake both woods tommrow and then when i set up the substrate in the tank hopefully friday ill boil the woods


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## Murloc (Jul 26, 2012)

Redhead305 said:


> ima prob do both il bake both woods tommrow and then when i set up the substrate in the tank hopefully friday ill boil the woods


Cool, I hope you don't get any fungi! Odds are you won't.


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## Redhead305 (May 30, 2012)

lol im am literally thinkin about the 90g so much now but i cant set it up without the substrate and bio balls but i cant find the bio media anywhere


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