# austins Ecoweb build.



## austin (Dec 6, 2013)

Hello,

I ordered my beamswork for my 20g high today. Picked up the tank for $20 a few weeks ago at Pet Supplies Plus  . I have been working on the Viv for a couple weeks now, ecoweb back and sides. I also made vines of three different diameters three different ways out of Ecoweb too. I'll post some pictures of the work in progress soon.

Thanks


----------



## austin (Dec 6, 2013)

I have a few minutes here to work on this thread, does anyone know how to post pictures from a windows phone? Thanks!


----------



## austin (Dec 6, 2013)

Finally at a computer. So I started with some Ecoweb and Universal Rocks products. I cut the back and sides of the Ecoweb to fit very tightly in the tank and shaved little bits off until I could squeeze them in there without causing the center of the panel to buckle or bulge outward. I made the vines using three different methods, the use of my wife's insanely hot hair dryer was employed to bend and heat set PVC used in the one vine and to heat set the Ecoweb only vine. The small vine was wrapped around a flexible piece of wire (coated in plastic and sealed with silicone). I put holes in the Ecoweb, easy to do with even a tooth pick and worked them to the appropriate size to fit a zip tie through and drilled holes in the universal rocks, the zip ties were then used to secure the vines and rocks to the background. A very small amount of aquarium silicone was used as well for securing vines to the glass bottom of the tank. For the lid I used 3/16 glass with a 1.5" diameter hole in the center of each of the two pieces used for the lid. I used a standard aquarium hinge to connect them (thanks for the help and suggestions in the glas lid thread I posted) it was HARD getting the glass in the hinge until I used some heat to aid me. I cut some plastic drain pipe (it is white but you done see it, black ABS was hard to find in that diameter) and pushed them into the hole with screen wrapped around them for ventilation. Afterwards I found some nice desk hole (not sure what they are really called) covers used for running wires through your desk that will fit and look very nice. The lid ventilation was made using the help of a thread on DB, if someone can tell me how to link it I will (it was a huge help!). The false bottom was made using Ecoweb covered in weedblock cut to fit around the base of the vines, I can remove it fairly easy if I should need to. I left about a half inch between the front glass and the false bottom to fill in with black pea gravel. ABG for substrate and I mixed plenty of leaf litter in. I had been culturing springtails in a portion of the ABG added prior to using it.

























































I debated a long time on the type of led fixture I wanteda Finnex planted + on a smaller tank with great success but decided to try an economical Beamswork pent fixture in 6500K. I am very happy with it! It is sleek and works well, it provides tons of light!

I have the tank planted with Peperomia prostrata, Pilea depressa, Sinningia muscicola (Rio das Pedras, great little plant), and Neoregelia Joao Marcio. I also used some 5 month left over (so i am not sure how much of it will be viable) Folius moss mix as well as some new Neherpetoculture moss mix. The only other other plant I am thinking about adding is a micro-mini orchid, but I am not sure what type. I have tried to keep the plants pretty Central/South America oriented so that is a requirement. I also want it to be a slow grower, suggestions are welcome!

I am hand misting.









Well, I think that's it for now, I typed this pretty fast so please forgive any spelling or grammar errors. I know its kind of a long post and the pictures are not presented and described individually but it think you will get the idea, but sorry if that makes it hard to read. If i forgot anything I'll add it, but I don't get the time to post like this often.

Thanks!

James

Oh, I am using a small external 40mm cpu fan to help airflow. Here is a lower light less washed out pic too. All of the photos are with my camera phone (not a really great one) so please excuse the quality.


----------



## austin (Dec 6, 2013)

Photo with less light.


----------



## diggenem (Sep 2, 2011)

Nice!! I just got an order of ecoweb in today and was wondering how I could make vines with it, and now I know thanks!


----------



## clarksgeckos (Jun 8, 2014)

Now that is just awesome. I was looking into ways of making all the roots and vines with ecoweb and I thank you so much for the tips! Great job!
Best regards,
Clark


----------



## FroggyKnight (Mar 14, 2013)

Nice job!! That looks really good! 

If your looking for central/south American orchid species, look no further than the Pleurothallid Alliance! Almost every available genus in the group has at least some viv suitable species and usually some mini-miniatures. Some great starting points are _Platystele_, _Restrepia _and _Pleurothallis_ species. One of the most viv proven species is _Pleurothallis grobyii _and it can withstand a wide variety of temperatures.

John


----------



## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Looks promising, can't wait to see it grown in


----------



## Bunsincunsin (Feb 11, 2008)

Nice job on the Ecoweb branches/vines - they look really good!


----------



## austin (Dec 6, 2013)

Thank you for all of the compliments! I will keep updating as the tank grows in and I get everything fully set. Last night I pulled out some moss mix to make room for some different future mosses.


----------



## austin (Dec 6, 2013)

A small update here. All of the moss mix is starting to green up and I have some different mosses sprouting here and there. I also put a small piece of BJ tropical moss in there as well and it seems to be acclimating well. I got a great little plant package from a sponsor over the weekend and added the plants last night, they included Microgramma heterophylla, peperomia emarginella, peperomia ???, and trichosalpinx chamaelepanthes which I tried to place in a more dimly lit area to slow its growth down. These were small cuttings so it not much to look at yet but I will post some pics when I get a chance. The last thing I plan on adding is another more compact and slow growing miniature orchid, there is a gentleman in my area who has a very impressive little greenhouse collection and I can't wait to go visit his facility.

Thanks,

James


----------



## DrawntoLife (Nov 12, 2009)

Looks really cool, i havent seen much ecoweb but it seems useful


----------



## austin (Dec 6, 2013)

Another thing I forgot to mention is that I am really pleased with the beamswork light I have on this tank. I had some old dried up and black jungle moss that I thought was dead so I mixed it into the ABG, why not? To my surprise it is now sprouting new growth all over! This was after being dried up and brown for about a year (it may have had some viable spores waiting for the right conditions) and I have also had another species of moss that I purchased dried and who knows how old come back and put out new growth. Still undetermined at this point as to if it will color up broms. But at this point I really like the fixture!


----------



## austin (Dec 6, 2013)

Here is a picture update. I made a visit to a local orchid guru and grabbed a pleurothallis costaricensis along with some epidundrum peperomia. I also got nice helping of moss from his greenhouse  I still have some small broms to add but this build is almost done. It is going to be interesting to see how well the moss can grow on to the ecoweb with out a sphagnum layer behind it. Its been in there about three weeks now and seems to be acclimating well. My orchid leaves have taken on a purple hue due but no burning or anything like that. If you look hard you can find the pepperomia's on the background by the Neoregelia Joao Marcio and the trichosalpinx chamaelepanthes to the left of those. One photo compares the BJ moss to the greenhouse moss.


----------



## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

It is growing in very nicely!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

Austin, what size beamswork did you get? I'm looking at the 
BeamsWork 36"-40" Single Bright Power LED Aquarium Light Fixture 600
And you seem to have awesome growth on your plants. I need a couple for some moss I'm growing. 
Just curious as to which one you purchased. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

austin said:


> Another thing I forgot to mention is that I am really pleased with the beamswork light I have on this tank. I had some old dried up and black jungle moss that I thought was dead so I mixed it into the ABG, why not? To my surprise it is now sprouting new growth all over! This was after being dried up and brown for about a year (it may have had some viable spores waiting for the right conditions) and I have also had another species of moss that I purchased dried and who knows how old come back and put out new growth. Still undetermined at this point as to if it will color up broms. But at this point I really like the fixture!



Do you like your light?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## austin (Dec 6, 2013)

LED Aquarium Lighting by BeamsWork

Yes I love this light!! Its under the .2 watt listings but they are actually .5watt led's. A lot of people say that you won't get good growth from anything less than 1 watt, that is simply not true. There is a lot more than the single led wattage that goes in to it with led fixtures. Type of led, number of total leds, etc. For instance my finnex light aquarium light, that also works great, contains led's that are less than one watt. But to keep it short, this is a great light that also looks good at a great price. It performs well for me. Let me know if you need anymore help navigating their site, its kind of unorganized.


----------



## Mohlerbear (Feb 20, 2014)

austin said:


> LED Aquarium Lighting by BeamsWork
> 
> Yes I love this light!! Its under the .2 watt listings but they are actually .5watt led's. A lot of people say that you won't get good growth from anything less than 1 watt, that is simply not true. There is a lot more than the single led wattage that goes in to it with led fixtures. Type of led, number of total leds, etc. For instance my finnex light aquarium light, that also works great, contains led's that are less than one watt. But to keep it short, this is a great light that also looks good at a great price. It performs well for me. Let me know if you need anymore help navigating their site, its kind of unorganized.


Awesome! You sold me. Mine will be mainly for moss. I'll let you know if I can not navigate it. Thanks man!


----------



## austin (Dec 6, 2013)

I tore this tank down the other night. I do not think I will be using ecoweb again unless I have heavy misting on a timer a couple times a day, I just don't mist that often. You really need toif you want the ecoweb surface to stay wet enough to for plants to spread into it. In this application the plants survived but never really thrived (except for the orchids and neos they have done great). Ecoweb is probably at its best for growing moss and other small delicate plants requiring a moist surface only when it is on an irrigation system. When bare, ecoweb also looks nowhere as good as tree fern. My two cents and takeaway from this experiment.


----------



## Coqui (Jan 17, 2013)

Thank you, for the update.


----------



## FrogTim (Oct 1, 2015)

That is a bummer it was so high maintenance with the ecoweb. I looked into this option before deciding on a cork tile background with pieces of tree fern attached to keep the cost down since shipping tree fern = lots of $$$

Glad you liked your beamswork LED. I just purchased their 3watt light and couldn't be happier. I run a Planted + 24/7 and the beamswork run between 11-4 for plant growth. That thing is BRIGHT!


----------



## austin (Dec 6, 2013)

Here is the tank as it stands after some remodeling and cleaning up. Need to move the N. rubrifolia up to the right hand side background still.











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

I am glad I am not the only one that wasn't impressed with Ecoweb. I have a box of it out in the garage. I tried to use it for a wall in a plant grow-out tub and the growth tips actually got hung up in the fibers and it killed off some cuttings. The plastic walls of the tub are much better than having Ecoweb. Glad you moved on, Austin.

Mark


----------



## Woodswalker (Dec 26, 2014)

That's really a shame. I had been thinking of trying this stuff, but I don't think I will unless I'm planning a drip wall or waterfall in the future. It sounds like that might be a good medium for that application. I'll be sticking with tree fern in my current projects. Thank you for letting us know!


----------

