I wanted to share my progress building out a 215g open top planted tank with bog. The following link documents everything so far, and will continue to be updated through completion and beyond.

An Aquatic Obsession

Comments/questions on the aquariums are welcome here or on the blog.

Wow!
I think you have done more work than I did on the 1600 gallon tank!

Good thought process and changes.

You can see my avartar and what I used for my system.
Not really a bog, rather, I used cork 1/2" tiles and added lots of epiphyte pl;ants to that, they grew out about 4-6" and I added Pennywort on the top to shade them from the MH's.

This works really well, you cannot see any equipment, and all you see are weeds.

Think about what it is that you want to see when you peer into the tank.
What overall concept are you after?
What are your goals?

It's okay to redefine them as you progress.

I did not want tom see what Amano sees with some of the tanks I've done, that's not my goal, yet folks compare. It's comparing apples and oranges.

Likewise, your vision will be different as well.

Do not place barriers up in your way.
Try, see what works etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Thanks for the compliments. I'm originally from upstate NY, and visited many parks like Watkins Glen, Tahonic(?) Falls, and others... all rivers or streams running amidst great walls of slate/shale covered with moss, ferns, and little trickling springs. That was my inspiration... things are very different here in texas, our lawns don't even stay green unless we water them more than is reasonable. That, and I'm a geek, tinkerer and perfectionist. I've had to scale back some of my plans as I went, but overall I think it's turning out quite well!

michael

So what is the best process for doing a water change with a tank using an overflow box? If I drop the water level much, it stops overflowing, and since the pump outlet pumps the water out of the box, it quickly empties. In my case, I put my heater in the overflow box, so it overheated the other night when I was doing a water change. Obviously next time I can turn off the filter, or perhaps add a siphon to draw water into the overflow while the water is lower on the other side.

Or can I just do small water changes over time? Or is it important to remove a full 20% or so and then replace it?

Michael