ljtan55

Wow your tank looks awesome! How did you get that plant to stay up the top right hand side?

Only on the side view otherwise you don't notice it much. Makes cleaning easier easier with a appriate size sponge, and I dont' get paranoid the seals are gonna leak.

Thanks for the info, it seems to just keep on growing taller and taller, no sign of the bud yet. Thanks for the kind words sharn, fishkeepa and skippy, lol esp coming from a reefer. Nope girlfriend has not come around . Then again I was late half an hour to see her cos I was putting the cories in the tank :oops: . The sterbai cories have gone in the main tank after quarantine isolation for a week, they were all shy and quiet in the small tank but BOOM in the big tank they're dive bombing the glass and going crazy!! Just a littttle bit longer before I go discus shopping 8)

There are also these green clamp things that work real well, just clamp em on the tube and that really reduces the bubble rate. Instead of wasting all that air you could get one of the dividers (looks like a T shaped green thingy), and divert all the air into another air stone, or another UG filter in another tank, or a clam ornament that opens and close with the bubbles heh heh personal favorite. You can get them both at any fish shop and its like 50 cents for each one.

o yeah overview of fishtank as of today

Just thought I'd put up more progress stuff on the tank, plants-wise the sag grasses that were out in the open went all brown and transparent in the past week, possibly cos of too much light, the sags in the shade seem to be doing well. Having said that they've been replaced with anubias nanas and whats left of them are recovering in the small tank. Right hand side corner of the tank, the indian fern seems to be doing well. A futher away view on the right hand side, the marble queens is doing alright, sending out a flower? Random red thingy bunch plant also in, kinda suspicious, can't seem to find out what it is - could not be aquarium plant I'm thinking, but its growing slowly Sword plant on the left hand also flowering.. I think thats what the tentacle is... Had a problem with beard algae in the last week, so I got these cool little siamese algae eaters, or black line flying foxes whateva you call em. Awesome little fishes. Fish crew right now, 10 cardinals, 2 SAEs, 4 ottos. 6 sterbai cories in the quarantine tank. Also I caved and got a little CO2 nutrafin canister :oops: Ahh the budget is blown but yet again

mangoes?? lol i wanna be a fish too

Thanks Caper, the ppl in HFF in Albany must have thought I was crazy. Spent an hour taking one piece of driftwood, putting in on the floor, and then putting it back and taking another one. Anyways quick update got some beautiful swords from blue, spent ages planting em, and clouded up in the water again in the process But happy with the final result The cardinals love this one - they've been in for about a day now, and they hang around the leaves quite a bit. Only 5 at the moment, will see how they do for a week or two before I get more. The tall one, fills up the back nicely. A bit worried it might not be getting enough light at the moment, but it'll have to do for now. Lights in the hood might be getting an overhaul in the future. View of the tank now finally (I hope) set up with plants and all. Anyways better go pack, flying out to Welly tommorow after work WooHoo holiday!

Thats looking pretty impressive! Can't wait to see pics of everything all set up, would be like walkin into a pet shop. Wait... it'll be bigger than some pet shops

Waitaminute, this hit me really late, but anubias barteri? Isn't that the giant anubias? Might have to move it to the back of the tank if it is...

Very nice. Good photo taking skills too!

heh heh.. first you start with 30L and then you get a 50L in the next room, and then 300LITERS in the living room!!! Don't forget quarantine tanks, and breeding tanks, and spare quarantine breeding tanks... You know you've got problems when your home page is the fish place in trademe.... Love em fighting fish, but its all luck of the draw with the aggressive ones. I had 2 males that won't have anything else in the tank - kept on poking the suckerfishes even... and another 2 which swam with the fancy guppies 8). You could get a few females in a community tank, or one male in each tank. Males generally look alot nicer with the long flowing fins, but females look nice too. Nice thing about siamese fighting fishes (bettas) are that they're relatively hardy little fishes. Good luck deciding .

Thanks Caper, sorry to hear about your guppy. Had 4 guppies at first but the albino one was sick looking from the get go, wasn't swimming well, and just gave up one day. Bit worried about that particular guppy, hes not eating well at the moment. Hopefully he'll pull through. LOL yeah was pretty excited doing it, think everyone at work is getting sick of hearing about the tank :roll:

Btw, go to Hollywood fish farm corner Tawa Drive and Rosedale in Albany, they've got a really good selection. But be careful or you're gonna spend waaaay more than $100.. I speak from experience :roll:

Theres plenty you can do with 30L . I agree with sharn and spider though, those cichlids wont do well in a small tank, and they get really aggressive. Exceptions are the dwarf cichlids like the blue rams - the smallest of em and only semi-aggressive. Guppies, platies and neons go really great together in a tank like that, hardy and you're most probably get lots of babies eventually. BUT if you want more of a challenge, what about siamese fighting fish? 8) Or maybe dwarf gouramis....

Hey thanks for your comments guys. Thanks antwan was wondering what it was, Im running 60watts at the moment, all included in the hood. Not sure whether thats enough tho, about 1 watt per gallon. Thinking about adding more but its difficult with the hood set up. Any suggestions? Lorraine, yeeeaap see ya on Sat in Welly. Wish I could go see your tank in palmy while I'm down. Anyways tanks still cloudy.... filter's beginning to turn yellow so I'm guessing the tannins in the driftwood are leeching. 2 more days and the guppies are so goin in.

Theres this guy with LED lights on TM. Auction is for red light, but he has them in white too. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/0001-0877-1242-4029-/auction-57109131.htm

Hi everyone Im running one of the tank with inbuilt hoods, it has 60watts of fluorescent lighting. If Im wanting amazon swords etc, is that sufficient lighting for a 59 gallon tank?

i KNOW.. they were supposed to be sacrificial cycling guppies, you know the ones that you put into the tank to get it to cycle faster....and now Im too attached!!! And I think the female is pregnant.... what kind of monster would I be to expose a pregnant mother to ammonia toxicity... *sigh*.

Thanks Bill, makes sense that :oops: Photos of me setting the tank up Picture of the tank all set up in the living room Soaking a big piece of wood, in a really small sink . Got the two pieces of wood from Hollywood in Tawa Drive, picked up cardinals too, they're getting acquainted with the guppies in the quarantine tank. Not many cardinals anyplace else - Jansens Mt Eden didn't have em, HFF Mt Eden either. Guy said a guy with a 90 gallon tank bought their whole stock . Wish that were me Tank minus the water - gravel from HFF Mt. Eden, took an hour rinsing till clear, hands hurtin now Fillin up the tank with the sink pump - pretty handy btw With water in an everything, water slightly cloudy, but cleared up, and now its cloudy again. Heaters in but at an angle, out of sight. Plants in at the mo: sagittaria grass - i think, java fern tied on to the driftwood, medium sized sword in the background. Anubias nana? Stuffed into a crack, with a rock to prevent it going walkabout. Indian fern at the back, plenty of room to groww ... hopefully :lol: End result, still looking kinda bare especially at the back. Bunged in the 2nd heater to get it up to 29 celsius. Incoming plants - more java fern, stargrass, and marble queen swords! Pics of the new occupants and sacrificial cycling guppies once the tank is ready

Alrighty, first time posting pictures, first few are with the webcam camera - couldn't find the proper one, and couldn't wait to set up it up. Came delivered in pieces, hood, tank and cabinet. This was the cabinet in a couple of pieces, btw there ARE supposed to be spares, called the seller . Pic corrected. Your prob is that you had the bb code ticked and the html ticked when you posted... which disabled them both. Deleted your other posts. Bill Mod

LOL mitch I know what you mean, it took me 3 months of planning before I even bought a tank... . Lucky find with the baby guppies, looks like you'll probably be getting a lot more guppies soon... or maybe not if the angels see to em first

OMG, sorry to hear that ryanjury. Did you lose many fish?? Are the baby cichlids alright? Was the tank established for a long time before? Theres lots of other people on this forum that will have a much better idea what may have happened, but it could be the ammonia levels. Rinsing the filter would have probably be the first thing I would've done, but it might have removed the nitrifying bacteria, and caused the ammonia levels to increase making the water cloudy. All the best, Alan

Wow, your tank looking pretty awesome. It makes a big difference with the real plants in there

Hey Fingol IMO minimum about 2 weeks from what I've been reading. Good to do regular water changes if you used fresh water to prevent ammonia spikes, or use water directly from main tank. All the best