Awesome update.Just wanted to update. Finally got the tank moved in, started cycling, figured out lighting, and filtration. Switched the room over from a single blush mount light to track lighting over this tank. Have 3 spot lights that I am hoping I can get some house plants to grow from and will have 3 36w sansi grow lights in drop down pendants centered over the tank. Running dual oase biomaster Thermo 600s and an extra wave maker for filtration circulation. It’s a tannin tea mess right now but once it is cycled/ammonia leached out of the potting soil we will drain, place the wood and soil where we want it, sand cap it, and fill it back up.
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I am nervous about the tank as well. But not like you are. I am nervous like resealing any large tank. It is a successful tank that has lasted years without seams failing. Petworld who had this tank before had 2 like this one and 2 with just the front 170g mitered corner tanks. Wet pets by Steve in Oklahoma has a black trimmed one in their store housing gold fish in it. After all it is a Dutch Aquarium Systems tank and they are still around. Questionable cut quality on the glass aside, if it was a terrible design choice it would be known/ may have even put them out of business. It’s trustworthy enough lol.There are so many things about this tank that make me nervous, prime among them being those weird seams that are so open and then filled with silicone. A glass tank is supposed to be made of glass, with a thin silicone bead acting as an adhesive between panels. This tank is more like a bunch of glass walls interspersed with a bunch of silicone walls! An exaggeration, to be sure, but I think you know what I mean.
But...if it can be made to work it will be a terrific showpiece! And you seem to be going at it the right way: slowly, carefully, methodically and with forethought. I am keeping all my fingers and toes crossed for you!
Sounds like the lighting you have planned will be great for an open top tank with lots of emergent plants. Perhaps some terrestrials with their roots in a pot/container of some kind placed right in the middle of the tank? A big piece of gnarled driftwood extending up out of the water?
Really looking forward to watching this progress further.