2010 ~ Restful Hideaway - Riparium - APE - Aquatic Plant Enthusiasts

dewalltheway · 12-29-2009, 11:08 PM

Well here it goes. My 1st attempt at a riparium. I will be using alot of things that I have laying around not being used. My oldest daughter has had a 20 gal tank with a couple goldfish and a pleco for about 4 years and she decided she doesn't have the time for them so I get the 20 gal back to do this setup.

I first want to thank Devin (Hydrophyte) with Riparium Supply for helping me get started. He is very knowledgable about ripariums and was the first one I turned to for advice and great advice and more I received. If you are interested in starting one, please click the link to his store in my sig.

On to the journal. Last night I tore down her tank.

Tank..

Stand..(I know it is nothing fancy but it works)

The stand had a 1/2" piece of plywood on the top and bottom and was pretty beat up so I removed those...

....and cut some 3/4" pieces tonight out of nicer plywood that I had...

This weekend I am going to sand the stand down and apply some new coats of varnish and polyurethane. This ought to dress up the stand alittle more then it is now.

Specs...

Tank: 20 Gallon, 24"x12"x16"
Filtration: Fluval 304 filter
Heater: Stealth 50watt
Lighting: Double Strip Light with (2) 15 watt, 6700K Life Glo-2 Bulbs
Substrate: Mixture of Flourite and Gravel

Fauna: Looking at using (4) German Blue Rams and (2) German Gold Rams

Flora (Above water):
Acorus gramineus 'Ogon'
Acorus gramineus 'Omogo'
Spathiphyllum 'Petite'
Spathiphyllum sp.
Pilea cardierei
Pilea 'Silver Tree'
Alocasia amazonica 'Polly'
Echinodorus cordifolius
Xanthosoma 'Dwarf Green'

Flora (Below Water):
Tropica Swords
and a couple others I can't remember the names of at the moment

AquaZilla · 12-30-2009, 10:43 AM

Dang! I need to get my Riparium up and running

Subscribed!!!

dewalltheway · 12-30-2009, 10:59 AM

Need to get one started O! I am so excited about getting this up and going but I want to clean up a few things first.

I look at the pics of this stand and it is so bland compared to the awesome stands that Hydrophyte have for his ripariums but money is in short supply and just using what I have. This riparium is going to focus more on the tank and plants and not the stand.

I was looking at the tank last night and I think I am going to redo the silcone job in the corners which means I need to remove as much of the old silcone as possible. Also, I would like to remove the top but the person I got this tank from, I think they used a whole tube of silcone to reattach the top to the tank. I am afraid that I will break the glass if I try and remove it. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get it off without breaking the glass, please let me know.

hydrophyte · 12-30-2009, 02:00 PM

Hey that looks great so far. That will look real good as a rimless tank and so long as the existing seams look OK and so long as you leave several inches empty at the top it should be strong enough. Did you see my thread about de-rimming my 50-gallon tank? It really does come easy if you use a block plane to split the frame into two pieces.

De-rimming a 50-gallon tank in 25 minutes

If you try this just take it real easy as you start to take the plastic off so that you will see the silicone inside the rim groove and back off before hitting the glass with the plane.

dewalltheway · 12-31-2009, 10:05 AM

Last night I de-rimmed the 20 gal tank. (Thx again to Hydrophyte for his helpful thread about de-rimming a tank. Made it so easy to do.)

I took my block plane and shaved off the plastic down to the glass..

...then I took a utility knife and put between the glass and the plastic and removed the pieces...

without rim...

I then spent some time getting the silicone off the glass and also took a sharpening stone to the top edges of the glass to create a small bevel so I won't get cut. I also scraped the black off the back of the tank and will repaint it. This is where the tank stands as of right now. It needs a good cleaning and I am hoping to get the water stains off the glass. If anyone has any good method, please let me know.

dewalltheway · 01-01-2010, 01:55 AM

Before I ran off to a party last night, I tried to clean up the tank and get the water marks off around the top. After stopping by dollar general and picking up some CLR, gloves and sponges, I started in and even though the tank looks cleaner, the water marks are still there.

Here are some pics of what I did accomplish

hydrophyte · 01-01-2010, 10:13 PM

Nice work, again, on cleaning up that tank.

If CLR didn't take those water marks off then you might just have to live with them, or get another tank. I had a 30 breeder once that had been used in a fishroom for many years. The water marks were impossible to remove and I think that the glass was actually etched by the hardwater deposits over time.

dewalltheway · 01-01-2010, 11:34 PM

This morning I removed the silcone from the inside edges and re-siliconed the seems. Here are some pics

Silicone removed...

New silicone...

Silicone Removed...

New silicone..

Silicone removed...

New Silicone...

New silicone..

hydrophyte · 01-02-2010, 12:49 AM

Nice seams. How did you get them so straight?

dewalltheway · 01-02-2010, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrophyte

Nice seams. How did you get them so straight?

In the last pic if you look in the bottom right hand corner you will see 2 blue disk type tools, these are called Pro-Caulk. I had got them to do my caulking in my bathroom and they worked really great for doing the seams on the tank.

12-29-2009, 11:08 PM	#1 (permalink)
dewalltheway Almost Guru Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 140	2010 ~ Restful Hideaway - Riparium Well here it goes. My 1st attempt at a riparium. I will be using alot of things that I have laying around not being used. My oldest daughter has had a 20 gal tank with a couple goldfish and a pleco for about 4 years and she decided she doesn't have the time for them so I get the 20 gal back to do this setup. I first want to thank Devin (Hydrophyte) with Riparium Supply for helping me get started. He is very knowledgable about ripariums and was the first one I turned to for advice and great advice and more I received. If you are interested in starting one, please click the link to his store in my sig. On to the journal. Last night I tore down her tank. Tank.. Stand..(I know it is nothing fancy but it works) The stand had a 1/2" piece of plywood on the top and bottom and was pretty beat up so I removed those... ....and cut some 3/4" pieces tonight out of nicer plywood that I had... This weekend I am going to sand the stand down and apply some new coats of varnish and polyurethane. This ought to dress up the stand alittle more then it is now. Specs... Tank: 20 Gallon, 24"x12"x16" Filtration: Fluval 304 filter Heater: Stealth 50watt Lighting: Double Strip Light with (2) 15 watt, 6700K Life Glo-2 Bulbs Substrate: Mixture of Flourite and Gravel Fauna: Looking at using (4) German Blue Rams and (2) German Gold Rams Flora (Above water): Acorus gramineus 'Ogon' Acorus gramineus 'Omogo' Spathiphyllum 'Petite' Spathiphyllum sp. Pilea cardierei Pilea 'Silver Tree' Alocasia amazonica 'Polly' Echinodorus cordifolius Xanthosoma 'Dwarf Green' Flora (Below Water): Tropica Swords and a couple others I can't remember the names of at the moment __________________ Journals: Tranquility ~~ Restful Hideaway Visit ~~ *Riparium Suppy* ~~ For all your Riparium Needs Last edited by dewalltheway; 12-31-2009 at 09:56 AM.

12-30-2009, 10:43 AM	#2 (permalink)
AquaZilla Administrator Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 2,736	Dang! I need to get my Riparium up and running Subscribed!!! __________________ The Planted Aquarium Blog

12-30-2009, 10:59 AM	#3 (permalink)
dewalltheway Almost Guru Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 140	Need to get one started O! I am so excited about getting this up and going but I want to clean up a few things first. I look at the pics of this stand and it is so bland compared to the awesome stands that Hydrophyte have for his ripariums but money is in short supply and just using what I have. This riparium is going to focus more on the tank and plants and not the stand. I was looking at the tank last night and I think I am going to redo the silcone job in the corners which means I need to remove as much of the old silcone as possible. Also, I would like to remove the top but the person I got this tank from, I think they used a whole tube of silcone to reattach the top to the tank. I am afraid that I will break the glass if I try and remove it. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get it off without breaking the glass, please let me know. __________________ Journals: Tranquility ~~ Restful Hideaway Visit ~~ *Riparium Suppy* ~~ For all your Riparium Needs

12-30-2009, 02:00 PM	#4 (permalink)
hydrophyte Planted Tank Guru Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 448	Hey that looks great so far. That will look real good as a rimless tank and so long as the existing seams look OK and so long as you leave several inches empty at the top it should be strong enough. Did you see my thread about de-rimming my 50-gallon tank? It really does come easy if you use a block plane to split the frame into two pieces. De-rimming a 50-gallon tank in 25 minutes If you try this just take it real easy as you start to take the plastic off so that you will see the silicone inside the rim groove and back off before hitting the glass with the plane. __________________ Hydrophyte

12-31-2009, 10:05 AM	#5 (permalink)
dewalltheway Almost Guru Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 140	Last night I de-rimmed the 20 gal tank. (Thx again to Hydrophyte for his helpful thread about de-rimming a tank. Made it so easy to do.) I took my block plane and shaved off the plastic down to the glass.. ...then I took a utility knife and put between the glass and the plastic and removed the pieces... without rim... I then spent some time getting the silicone off the glass and also took a sharpening stone to the top edges of the glass to create a small bevel so I won't get cut. I also scraped the black off the back of the tank and will repaint it. This is where the tank stands as of right now. It needs a good cleaning and I am hoping to get the water stains off the glass. If anyone has any good method, please let me know. __________________ Journals: Tranquility ~~ Restful Hideaway Visit ~~ *Riparium Suppy* ~~ For all your Riparium Needs

01-01-2010, 01:55 AM	#6 (permalink)
dewalltheway Almost Guru Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 140	Before I ran off to a party last night, I tried to clean up the tank and get the water marks off around the top. After stopping by dollar general and picking up some CLR, gloves and sponges, I started in and even though the tank looks cleaner, the water marks are still there. Here are some pics of what I did accomplish __________________ Journals: Tranquility ~~ Restful Hideaway Visit ~~ *Riparium Suppy* ~~ For all your Riparium Needs

01-01-2010, 10:13 PM	#7 (permalink)
hydrophyte Planted Tank Guru Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 448	Nice work, again, on cleaning up that tank. If CLR didn't take those water marks off then you might just have to live with them, or get another tank. I had a 30 breeder once that had been used in a fishroom for many years. The water marks were impossible to remove and I think that the glass was actually etched by the hardwater deposits over time. __________________ Hydrophyte

01-01-2010, 11:34 PM	#8 (permalink)
dewalltheway Almost Guru Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 140	This morning I removed the silcone from the inside edges and re-siliconed the seems. Here are some pics Silicone removed... New silicone... Silicone Removed... New silicone.. Silicone removed... New Silicone... New silicone.. __________________ Journals: Tranquility ~~ Restful Hideaway Visit ~~ *Riparium Suppy* ~~ For all your Riparium Needs

01-02-2010, 12:49 AM	#9 (permalink)
hydrophyte Planted Tank Guru Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 448	Nice seams. How did you get them so straight? __________________ Hydrophyte

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