der_wille_zur_macht
Team RC
Crap. I had another big long reply typed out but then I accidentally closed my browser window. 
Here goes again. . .
The tank is more full today and I've finished up a few more projects (temporary lighting and some of the doors) so here are some more photos. First, the tank itself. But first, an explanation of the doors since I don't think I've described them in detail yet.
I wanted something clean and simple to go with the clean and simple lines of the tank itself (no molding!). I really like the gentle light diffusion of deeply frosted glass or acrylic, but that would look a little TOO modern - plus, it would be expensive to do correctly. I was sitting in my living room pondering the doors a few months ago while I stared at a painting we have on the wall. It's a large oil painting, bare - unframed. Just the canvas hanging on the wall. Then it struck me - I could use the same approach for the doors.
So I got some heavy duty weatherproof duck cloth and some 3/4" x 1.5" lumber and built frames, then stretched the cloth on the frames. It worked perfectly! I get light transmission through the fabric, a clean simple look, and it's not TOO modern for the rest of the house. The color of the fabric is pretty much the exact same color we're painting the tank/hall/living room/dining room, just a shade lighter - so it'll coordinate well. I'm very happy with how it turned out. the pictures don't really show it well though, of course, but here you go:
Also some more photos of the rock, now that they're more or less under water. The glass is very dirty though. Here is the main "reef" from straight on in the main viewing panel. It's a longish island, oriented front to back. Most of the "interesting" features are on the sides (on purpose) so from dead on it's a touch boring:
There is a very large cave in the right face which you can kind of see in this photo, taken from the kitchen (right side of the main viewing panel):
There are some smaller caves and features on the left side which you can see in this photo, taken from the left side of the main panel (these features are more visible through the smaller viewing panels, but hard to photograph since the water level isn't high enough yet):
And finally, the smaller "spire" on the right end of the tank. This has two smallish "bridges" forming a cave, then the spire itself:
All in all, I'm pretty happy with the rock. I took a very laissez-faire approach to the rockwork. I had a general structure in mind but did NOT try to place every single rock perfectly - instead, I just stacked them as fast as I could and tried to let most of the interesting (and ugly) features happen by chance.
Also very happy with the white background so far. Granted I have no livestock, but it "disappears" just like a black background, without being so dark and gloomy or cave-like. Instead, the whole tank just has a neutral brightness, which is what I wanted.
Here goes again. . .The tank is more full today and I've finished up a few more projects (temporary lighting and some of the doors) so here are some more photos. First, the tank itself. But first, an explanation of the doors since I don't think I've described them in detail yet.
I wanted something clean and simple to go with the clean and simple lines of the tank itself (no molding!). I really like the gentle light diffusion of deeply frosted glass or acrylic, but that would look a little TOO modern - plus, it would be expensive to do correctly. I was sitting in my living room pondering the doors a few months ago while I stared at a painting we have on the wall. It's a large oil painting, bare - unframed. Just the canvas hanging on the wall. Then it struck me - I could use the same approach for the doors.
So I got some heavy duty weatherproof duck cloth and some 3/4" x 1.5" lumber and built frames, then stretched the cloth on the frames. It worked perfectly! I get light transmission through the fabric, a clean simple look, and it's not TOO modern for the rest of the house. The color of the fabric is pretty much the exact same color we're painting the tank/hall/living room/dining room, just a shade lighter - so it'll coordinate well. I'm very happy with how it turned out. the pictures don't really show it well though, of course, but here you go:
Also some more photos of the rock, now that they're more or less under water. The glass is very dirty though. Here is the main "reef" from straight on in the main viewing panel. It's a longish island, oriented front to back. Most of the "interesting" features are on the sides (on purpose) so from dead on it's a touch boring:
There is a very large cave in the right face which you can kind of see in this photo, taken from the kitchen (right side of the main viewing panel):
There are some smaller caves and features on the left side which you can see in this photo, taken from the left side of the main panel (these features are more visible through the smaller viewing panels, but hard to photograph since the water level isn't high enough yet):
And finally, the smaller "spire" on the right end of the tank. This has two smallish "bridges" forming a cave, then the spire itself:
All in all, I'm pretty happy with the rock. I took a very laissez-faire approach to the rockwork. I had a general structure in mind but did NOT try to place every single rock perfectly - instead, I just stacked them as fast as I could and tried to let most of the interesting (and ugly) features happen by chance.
Also very happy with the white background so far. Granted I have no livestock, but it "disappears" just like a black background, without being so dark and gloomy or cave-like. Instead, the whole tank just has a neutral brightness, which is what I wanted.
I don't want to buy at an LFS and risk pests.
