Stephanie

Excellent! I think they're looking like winners to me. I have found the article and will have a good read! They sound like they are pretty amazing fish! Thanks so much!

I love spider wood but it always seems so expensive for well...wood. Your plants look good and healthy. I always find that I look at my aquascapes and i'm not 100% happy, but i've learnt its good to give them time to grow out a bit. Maybe leave it for a bit and see how it fills in. I like the look of tanks that are built up on the sides with a bit of a viewing area in the middle.

I had a great plan to keep it filled with small fish only, I've been eyeing up ember tetras for a long time, but I'm starting to see why people really love rainbows! I take it it's fine to mix and match with them? Do they all crossbreed though? I thought I might start with 6 boesemani and then work from there. I have no idea about stocking levels with this tank for smaller fish, because I've seen tanks this size with like 2 Oscars, plecs and a shark I get confused!

Thanks! I'm pleased you think that about the hardscape, I've been halfway in the tank trying to make it appealing for the last two months ha ha. I sit and wonder what to shuffle next. Who even needs TV anymore? There is actually a window right next to the tank, so I did sort of anticipate a bit of extra algae growth from that. It's been going through some weird changes lately but now that's all that remains. No more stringy brown algae yay!!

I have brutal green algae covering the front of the tank and keep forgetting to get decent blades to sort it out, but, even though it's still not showing nitrates and I'm getting annoyed, it's starting to fill in. Lighting looks a little weird because one light is off to be checked and get new perspex. I'm super excited about this now, but I need some colour next! FYI - The eheim 2010 is only hanging in there while I shuffle the other tanks around, just in case anyone is concerned about my filtration.

Actually you have helped. Angels are officially out!

So I have this tank (in another thread), which I suppose I should actually fill with fish at some point now it looks to be running nicely! The goal is to have it quite heavily planted. The pH is about 7.4 and i'm not that willing to play around with it too much. Before I drive myself crazy thinking too much, I was wanting to know what other people recommended to pop in it. Currently it has golden barbs, 5 stray black neons, and two bristlenose. The bristlenose are the only things that absolutely must stay in there, unless someone else is willing to catch them for me. Ideally the barbs and neons could live out their days in there but they can be put back in their previous tank if required. I also have sterbai corys to go in. I'm looking at Rainbowfish currently, but I've also looked at some of the fancy types of Angels, though I always hear horror stories about them, and they seem hard to track down! The next option would be some kind of cichlid? I've looked at rams and such but I've been wondering if I should go a little bigger. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!

I love how clean this looks without plants all over the substrate. Its a great shape too! Thanks for giving me ideas for my new (old) tank!

Thanks Adrienne. Just trying to get a decent picture of it in its current state. Things are starting to grow! Its quite exciting!

While we were going a bit made waiting for it to clear we took off all the panels we had built, painted them and made a hood for it. It was at this point I was beginning to feel a lot happier about how things were going.

The big fill and the big disaster. The waterlogged wood was not so waterlogged and wanted to float, so my handy dinner plate shifted and the hose pointed down into the aquatic mix. It took a whole week and a bag of filter wool jammed in the sump to clear. Exciting times.

Turns out I did a very poor job of "returning" to the forum because I was meaning to post this in December but then...i forgot and life happened. But I thought I might just throw some photos up now while I pretend to study. I bought this 540L tank in November, total impulse buy but I managed to justify it as my dream, a great way to fill a dead space in my house, and i probably said a lot of other things. After some sweet talking, finding a little truck to use, managing to convince my partner to drive this truck all the way to the North Shore from Cambridge we set off on what I thought would be a fun after work adventure. We returned at midnight realising two people to lift this tank off a truck and into our garage was a dick idea, but we managed! I am forever optimistic. More images to come once I downsize them so they will upload! But this photo was taken the day I got it inside the house about a week after its arrival, and I was beginning to wonder why I sometimes make terrible life choices.

I will be updating i'm sure, but magical tank has been sitting in my garage since 11pm last Tuesday while we wait on the lounge flooring to be done! Sooooo frustrating. Ooopsy! I picked up the lights, bought my partner some dinner to win him over then persuaded him to just go and have a look at the tank...600kms later I came home very happy and organised a truck for a few days later hahaha. Auckland really does have all the good things, but I am sick of travelling and traffic!

I've been a bit of a slack fishkeeper for a few years now, cruising along with several tanks going but nothing really exciting happening, but then I had an idea! And magically a 540L (1600x570x600) tank appeared at my house last night. So I think I am officially back and obsessed with the hobby again. My plan now is to shut down most of my tanks over the next few months, and end up with just 3, the big one, a 3 foot quarantine and a 4 foot (work in progress also!) for my other obsession, my bell frogs. So hi! And get ready for a thousand and one questions as I go from my "large" 3 foot 160L tank to this. Yay for a new nerdy adventure! P.S - The new site looks great!!!

My poor little brain is having a lighting meltdown so I figure it's easier to ask the question. I have 6 fairly newly morphed frogs, who will be upgrading to a four foot tank, probably bigger eventually. I'm just wanting to know what lighting people use on their tanks? I've had a Google and things but there is so much information out there, some people recommend plain tubes, others uv bulbs, night bulbs, fish tubes, my brain is about to explode. :dno: Any help would be greatly appreciated. I want them to be as happy as frogs can be. Thanks!

Thanks for the feedback. I'm starting to think once I clear out the guppies from the tank then I might set up and see if I can find a couple of brichardi. I swear they used to be for sale everywhere but I haven't seen any in a long time!

Yes, sorry I left that bit out.

Thanks heaps for that. Had a feeling that was going to be the case. I've been researching and they just seem too large as adults. I've generally had bad luck with Rams in the past, but this seems to be a problem lots of people have. The others you mention seem like good options to look in to. Shellies weren't something I thought of but I've always admired them when I've seen them in fish shops. I do adore kribs but not when they breed! Haha. Back to researching, I think this has to be the hardest part of keeping fish! So many options and so few tanks these days.

Thanks guys, both good options. I was thinking maybe yellows and dems but I wasn't sure if they'd be a little too big. Do you know how many I would be looking at? I'd be keen to keep it a little understocked. Currently looking into external filters, so many options and I feel like I haven't bought fish equipment in so long! It's like starting again!

After thinking about it for years and realising that planted tanks are simply not my thing I've decided I'd like to setup a small tank with cichlids. Any suggestions regarding stocking this thing would be wonderful. I obviously don't want anything that grows huge or breeds like crazy. Nothing terribly high maintenance would be nice also. Just a nice, reasonably simple tank with a bit of colour. I have a pair of bristlenose I'd like to keep in there if possible but they have another tank they can live in if they have to move. The tank is about 400mm high and 450 wide. Thanks!

Had no power since midnight. Bristlenose fry hatched last night.I hate powercutswith fish!

:facepalm:

Since the last photo I posted they've simply just changed who's playing the pillow. And Ray got a new bell. I try to keep to the cat theme but they're a package deal.

Thanks! Actually I went to an antique fair and well, I collect things, lots of things, and I couldn't resist these stamps for some odd reason. $5 for a bag of british stamps, bargain! Haha. This used about 1/10th of them, i'm eyeing up the dining table now...I already live in my own hippy wonderland so it seems like a great idea! I wonder if the people who painstakingly soaked them and peeled them off envelopes intended them to be used like this!

I made 13...there's 4 left...the joys of having my younger brother around again. Hollow legs!