Big Worm's tank - APE - Aquatic Plant Enthusiasts

chillplants · 09-08-2009, 11:33 PM

I decided to get a new pet, a peacock eel. I have spent the last few days preparing his tank. Instead of the typical PVC pipe for a cave, I built Big Worm a 3"(H)x6"(D)x24"(L) cave that doubles as a planter box. The box is actually 6" tall, but the top 3" is full of substrate for plants. The box was built from plexiglass. I also ran the plumbing for both intake and output under the sand and into the cave for water circulation to avoid any toxic buildup. Both pipes have two small holes so hopefully there won't be a major current, just enough to move the water up and out. I drilled other holes as vents at the top of the cave to allow water to flow out and not get stagnant on Earl's ceiling. Unfortunately, I didn't take pics of the cave build, but I'm impressed with the way it turned out. After painting the box black, I used lace rock to conceal it and I plan on adding some anubias and ferns to help hide the top edge and soften the rocky look. I planted some Blyxa and a few crypts (green & green gecko) in the front attempting to cover the cave entrance/exits a little bit. There are 4 ways for the eel to get in and out, maybe 2 more if the eel can squeeze through the area the plumbing goes in. I used CaribSea Instant Aquarium sand with a generous sprinkle of Ferca Aquabase underneath. I'm attempting a foreground of Glosso and various Crypt species will be the main plants. Some misc stems have also been placed on the right side, but I'm still debating if those will stay. There are about 2 dozen cherry shrimp that are still alive from the last teardown and a lone Asian rummynose that I couldn't catch. I don't plan on adding the eel for at least a month or two to give all the plants plenty of time to root themselves before a burrowing eel is introduced.

The "dust" still needs to settle and I have some more planting to do. More plants should be arriving tomorrow or Thursday to help fill this in. As of right now, the tank is just rock, but I have several large pieces of manzanita soaking. I'm still debating adding the extra wood, opinions are welcome regarding adding wood or other subjects.

Here is a cloudy pic of the tank from tonight.

Somewhat of a closeup of the cave

AquaZilla · 09-09-2009, 09:30 AM

I think it looks nice. How about larger pictures so we can get a better look?

chillplants · 09-09-2009, 10:09 AM

I'll post more pics once the dust settles and I can get some clear shots.

AquaZilla · 09-09-2009, 10:10 AM

I like the rock

chillplants · 09-09-2009, 10:13 AM

The rocks were originally for the larger cave that I built. After I scaled it back, I had to redo the rock work. Overall, I'm very happy with the way it turned out, so much that I'm not sure I want to add any wood. I plan on playing with the wood this weekend to see if it will add anything to the scape. I have a lot of large and small pieces soaking so who knows what I may come up with.

hydrophyte · 09-09-2009, 11:06 AM

That looks cool. I will be interested to see more details of how you built the cave.

You could probably add wood to that too. The hardscape will shrink when the plants grow in, so there ought to be enough room.

chillplants · 09-09-2009, 06:14 PM

Here's a couple pics of the larger cave that I built (larger pics for Orlando's eyes, lol). This was a case of eyes bigger than tank. I had it all mapped out in my head, drew up plans, cut and glued the plexiglass, painted it, then put it in the tank. Too big

I forgot to take into account the amount of space for the rocks. This original box only left me with about 2" of foreground space, so back to the drawing board. The new box is only 6" instead of 12" deep, so even with the rocks I still have about 8" of foreground space.
Here are pics of the original box. The second box was built exactly the same, just smaller. I realized I should have taken pics along the way after I built the second box so there won't be any step by step pics to follow.
The space in the top is approx 3" tall for substrate. I plan on putting in a lot of Crypts so I wanted it to be deep enough for their roots.

This is the bottom. All the cutouts will provide the eel plenty of options for going in and out. I used PVC glue to attach the plexiglass dowels to the midsection and then glued the walls. I went ahead and covered it with a layer of silicone for extra support just in case. I used my son's Yu-Gi-Oh card tin to hold the midsection level and in place while I attached the walls, one at a time.

Just a close up of the dowels

I was a little concerned about the weight of all the sand on top putting pressure on the glue. My unique PVC plumbing goes under the sand and then I used a 90 degree elbow with about a 1" piece of pipe and a cap under the cave. The roof of the cave sits just barely above the 2 caps so if the glue does fail the roof will land on the pipe and not collapse.

chillplants · 09-09-2009, 06:26 PM

Here are a few more pics of the cave from different angles.

Once I get everything planted, I'll fill the tank completely and run my diatom filter to clear up the water.

AquaZilla · 09-09-2009, 06:45 PM

I did not realize how huge the cave system was. How does the plumbing work for filtering out the little cave house?

chillplants · 09-09-2009, 07:11 PM

Remember, the cave on the floor in the above pics is not the cave in the tank. Same height and length, but 1/2 as deep.

There are two PVC pipes running under the sand, one for water coming in from the filter and one for water going out to the filter. The pipes are capped at the end and I drilled two small holes to allow for water circulation in the cave. I also drilled a few holes along the inside of the cave to allow water to (hopefully) flow out of the cave from the ceiling as well. Eels don't move around a lot and I wanted to make sure fresh water from the filter was being pumped in and (bad) water being pumped out.
The main circulation will still take place with a typical spraybar and surface skimmer using an XP3 filter.

09-08-2009, 11:33 PM	#1 (permalink)
chillplants Aquatic Plant Enthusiast Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Gainesville, FL Posts: 412	Big Worm's tank I decided to get a new pet, a peacock eel. I have spent the last few days preparing his tank. Instead of the typical PVC pipe for a cave, I built Big Worm a 3"(H)x6"(D)x24"(L) cave that doubles as a planter box. The box is actually 6" tall, but the top 3" is full of substrate for plants. The box was built from plexiglass. I also ran the plumbing for both intake and output under the sand and into the cave for water circulation to avoid any toxic buildup. Both pipes have two small holes so hopefully there won't be a major current, just enough to move the water up and out. I drilled other holes as vents at the top of the cave to allow water to flow out and not get stagnant on Earl's ceiling. Unfortunately, I didn't take pics of the cave build, but I'm impressed with the way it turned out. After painting the box black, I used lace rock to conceal it and I plan on adding some anubias and ferns to help hide the top edge and soften the rocky look. I planted some Blyxa and a few crypts (green & green gecko) in the front attempting to cover the cave entrance/exits a little bit. There are 4 ways for the eel to get in and out, maybe 2 more if the eel can squeeze through the area the plumbing goes in. I used CaribSea Instant Aquarium sand with a generous sprinkle of Ferca Aquabase underneath. I'm attempting a foreground of Glosso and various Crypt species will be the main plants. Some misc stems have also been placed on the right side, but I'm still debating if those will stay. There are about 2 dozen cherry shrimp that are still alive from the last teardown and a lone Asian rummynose that I couldn't catch. I don't plan on adding the eel for at least a month or two to give all the plants plenty of time to root themselves before a burrowing eel is introduced. The "dust" still needs to settle and I have some more planting to do. More plants should be arriving tomorrow or Thursday to help fill this in. As of right now, the tank is just rock, but I have several large pieces of manzanita soaking. I'm still debating adding the extra wood, opinions are welcome regarding adding wood or other subjects. Here is a cloudy pic of the tank from tonight. Somewhat of a closeup of the cave __________________ 125 gal 75 gal eel tank Last edited by chillplants; 12-08-2009 at 11:31 PM.

09-09-2009, 10:09 AM	#3 (permalink)
chillplants Aquatic Plant Enthusiast Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Gainesville, FL Posts: 412	I'll post more pics once the dust settles and I can get some clear shots. __________________ 125 gal 75 gal eel tank

09-09-2009, 10:13 AM	#5 (permalink)
chillplants Aquatic Plant Enthusiast Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Gainesville, FL Posts: 412	The rocks were originally for the larger cave that I built. After I scaled it back, I had to redo the rock work. Overall, I'm very happy with the way it turned out, so much that I'm not sure I want to add any wood. I plan on playing with the wood this weekend to see if it will add anything to the scape. I have a lot of large and small pieces soaking so who knows what I may come up with. __________________ 125 gal 75 gal eel tank

09-09-2009, 11:06 AM	#6 (permalink)
hydrophyte Planted Tank Guru Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 287	That looks cool. I will be interested to see more details of how you built the cave. You could probably add wood to that too. The hardscape will shrink when the plants grow in, so there ought to be enough room. __________________ Hydrophyte Last edited by hydrophyte; 09-09-2009 at 11:09 AM.

09-09-2009, 06:14 PM	#7 (permalink)
chillplants Aquatic Plant Enthusiast Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Gainesville, FL Posts: 412	Here's a couple pics of the larger cave that I built (larger pics for Orlando's eyes, lol). This was a case of eyes bigger than tank. I had it all mapped out in my head, drew up plans, cut and glued the plexiglass, painted it, then put it in the tank. Too big I forgot to take into account the amount of space for the rocks. This original box only left me with about 2" of foreground space, so back to the drawing board. The new box is only 6" instead of 12" deep, so even with the rocks I still have about 8" of foreground space. Here are pics of the original box. The second box was built exactly the same, just smaller. I realized I should have taken pics along the way after I built the second box so there won't be any step by step pics to follow. The space in the top is approx 3" tall for substrate. I plan on putting in a lot of Crypts so I wanted it to be deep enough for their roots. This is the bottom. All the cutouts will provide the eel plenty of options for going in and out. I used PVC glue to attach the plexiglass dowels to the midsection and then glued the walls. I went ahead and covered it with a layer of silicone for extra support just in case. I used my son's Yu-Gi-Oh card tin to hold the midsection level and in place while I attached the walls, one at a time. Just a close up of the dowels I was a little concerned about the weight of all the sand on top putting pressure on the glue. My unique PVC plumbing goes under the sand and then I used a 90 degree elbow with about a 1" piece of pipe and a cap under the cave. The roof of the cave sits just barely above the 2 caps so if the glue does fail the roof will land on the pipe and not collapse. __________________ 125 gal 75 gal eel tank Last edited by chillplants; 09-13-2009 at 11:00 AM.

09-09-2009, 09:30 AM	#2 (permalink)
AquaZilla Administrator Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 2,213	I think it looks nice. How about larger pictures so we can get a better look?

09-09-2009, 10:10 AM	#4 (permalink)
AquaZilla Administrator Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 2,213	I like the rock

09-09-2009, 06:26 PM	#8 (permalink)
chillplants Aquatic Plant Enthusiast Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Gainesville, FL Posts: 412	Here are a few more pics of the cave from different angles. Once I get everything planted, I'll fill the tank completely and run my diatom filter to clear up the water. __________________ 125 gal 75 gal eel tank Last edited by chillplants; 09-13-2009 at 11:09 AM.

09-09-2009, 06:45 PM	#9 (permalink)
AquaZilla Administrator Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 2,213	I did not realize how huge the cave system was. How does the plumbing work for filtering out the little cave house?

09-09-2009, 07:11 PM	#10 (permalink)
chillplants Aquatic Plant Enthusiast Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Gainesville, FL Posts: 412	Remember, the cave on the floor in the above pics is not the cave in the tank. Same height and length, but 1/2 as deep. There are two PVC pipes running under the sand, one for water coming in from the filter and one for water going out to the filter. The pipes are capped at the end and I drilled two small holes to allow for water circulation in the cave. I also drilled a few holes along the inside of the cave to allow water to (hopefully) flow out of the cave from the ceiling as well. Eels don't move around a lot and I wanted to make sure fresh water from the filter was being pumped in and (bad) water being pumped out. The main circulation will still take place with a typical spraybar and surface skimmer using an XP3 filter. __________________ 125 gal 75 gal eel tank Last edited by chillplants; 09-13-2009 at 11:00 AM.

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