Godly3vil Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 Just bought this tank about a month ago second hand off a guy I met, the tank measures 1540x500x600. It was previously used as a marine tank so it has a glass overflow in the right back corner for a sump, when I get enough knowledge I will utilize this but as I already have 2 canister filters running on it I see no need at the moment so I just got a piece of glass cut and siliconed it over it to prevent leaks/accidents. The stand is solid rimu which was in pretty rough condition as it had been sitting in the guys garage for quite a few years and as stated was previously used for marine so had a few saltwater stains, so I just bought a tin of danish oil and spent nearly 2 weeks sanding and staining it to make it look good and waterproof it. I ended up doing 5 coats on the stand and 8 on the hood to give it a bit more protection from condensation even though I have glass lids aswell. I am using 2 eheim canister filters at the moment - 1 2229 wet/dry & 1 2213 - the wetdry is biological filtration only so running the 2213 with just filter wool for some mechanical for the time being. I have 2 300watt heaters keeping the temp at a steady 29c as I will eventually be stocking it with discus. At the moment I am just running diy co2 which seems to be working a treat and have only had to change the yeast mix once in 2 weeks. The lighting is pretty inadequate for a tank this size as its only running 160watts of T8, I am waiting on some T5HO fittings to turn up that I purchased off trademe so will boost this to 216 watts soon. I plan on completely planting it out with low-medium light needing plants to make it look "full" and cover the background. It's pretty low tech but it's the biggest tank I have setup to date and I am really pleased so far. I am using "Blue Hills" sand from a local landscaping supply company and really like the way it looks, and was a hell of a lot easier to use as a planting medium. I decided to not use any substrate fertilizer as I didn't want a problem with too much nutrients and I already use JBL fertilizer balls and they seem to work. I am dosing 1ml a day of valrays fertilizer mix purchased off trademe and I have already noticed a difference in plant growth and looks. The fish in there already are 2 large male pearl gourami, 5 neons, 2 bristlenose and 4 young female swordtails. I will be getting rid of the swords and BN as these were just tester fish while the tank was still showing some signs of cycling. Eventually I am going to be stocking it with 2 male and 2 female Apistogramma Trifasciata, 6 L002 Tiger Plecs, 6 Otocinclus, 2 Blue Rams, 30+ Tetras (still not sure which type), 5-6 panda corys and 6 discus - probably red rose or red map. I already have the apistos, L002 and a couple of oto's. The plants I have in there already are ones I have been collecting for awhile - thanks to the people off here that helped me out, I have some java fern, narrow leaf java fern, windelov java fern, anubias barteri, amazon swords - a few types, straight val, ambulia, rotala rotundifolia, indian fern, about 3 different types of crypts and some others that I am not sure what they're called. This is just the beginning and I plan on adding alot more plants as I get them which is alot harder than I thought it would be. Feel free to leave suggestions, I would really appreciate some advice and input as I want to get this tank looking like something you might see in a book :slfg: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 IMO if you're going planted and using CO2 then keep the overflow sealed up and don't run a sump. You could put both intakes for the canisters in the overflow along with your heater to give the tank a cleaner look and allow you to fill the tank right up. Looks good so far, my only concern/question is how the Panaques will go in the planted set up? Will their rasping on the wood and "sawdust" make the tank hard to keep clean? Will they rasp and of the large leaf plants? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted August 29, 2012 Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 Very nice, good work on the stand :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted August 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 IMO if you're going planted and using CO2 then keep the overflow sealed up and don't run a sump. You could put both intakes for the canisters in the overflow along with your heater to give the tank a cleaner look and allow you to fill the tank right up. Looks good so far, my only concern/question is how the Panaques will go in the planted set up? Will their rasping on the wood and "sawdust" make the tank hard to keep clean? Will they rasp and of the large leaf plants? Yeah, was a little worried about them making a huge mess, but the temporary tank they are in is heavily planted and they have not touched the plants yet, once the wet/dry is running at full biological capacity it shouldn't have any problem cleaning up any "sawdust" they make, was thinking of adding either a powerhead or wave maker to push it towards one of the filter intakes if it is a problem. I was thinking of doing as you suggested and using the overflow box to put filter intakes and heaters in, just not sure how well it will work as the wet dry filter runs abit differently from other canisters as it empty's and fills with water it makes a "wave" type current in the tank. Also I will probably be changing the pipes to glass once I find the right size ones and once the tanks fully planted I shouldn't be able to notice them as much. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted August 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2012 Very nice, good work on the stand :thup: Cheers dude, the pictures don't do it justice to what it looks like in person. I will probably do a few more coats of oil once the weather picks up so I don't have to wait as long for it to dry as I did a few weeks ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koti2113 Posted August 30, 2012 Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 Cheers dude, the pictures don't do it justice to what it looks like in person. Yes this tank is awesome I have seen it in person the pictures don't do it any justice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted August 30, 2012 Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 It looks great. Dont worry about the tiger plecs, they wont do any damage or at least mine did not. With your plants just ensure that the ones at the lower levels of the tank are the ones that prefer low light. Your T5HO will not penetrate through 60cm of water but sufficient light will get through for low light plants to thrive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted August 30, 2012 Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 I really like the planted wood :thup: please keep us updated with photos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted August 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2012 It looks great. Dont worry about the tiger plecs, they wont do any damage or at least mine did not. With your plants just ensure that the ones at the lower levels of the tank are the ones that prefer low light. Your T5HO will not penetrate through 60cm of water but sufficient light will get through for low light plants to thrive. That's exactly what im planning on, though the ambulia I planted is already growing over an inch each day with only the T8 lights, and that's supposed to be a medium light plant. Also the sand is around 5cm think and the tanks not quite full so the light really only needs to penetrate to 50cm at them moment. I really like the planted wood :thup: please keep us updated with photos Don't worry, I will. I really want alot more narrow leaf and windelov java fern to attach to the wood and abit more anubias. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted September 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2012 Can a mod please move this to the freshwaters members tank forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted September 3, 2012 Report Share Posted September 3, 2012 that section doesn't allow for comments on your tank viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4725 I'm not approving replies. This is not meant as censorship rather it's an attempt to make this a quality part of the fishroom forums. Look at this particular forum as a member showcase rather than a discussion forum. Perhaps use the other forums and pm's to comment on the tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted September 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2012 Aha true. Thanks for that LA, I would rather leave it here then for the input. Might start a new thread there when I have finished planting it out and got it the way I want it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted September 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 I think tank is now fully cycled, for the last 5 days all of the test readings have stayed the same; pH - 6.8 ammonia - 0 nitrite - 0 nitrate - 10-20ppm KH - 4dKH GH - 53.7-71.6 I am having a problem with all of the normal java fern melting though, not too sure what's causing it as the windelov and narrow leaf versions seem fine at this stage. I am hoping it is just adjusting to different water conditions then the tank it was grown in before I bought it. I will leave the rhizomes attached to the wood and see if they start growing again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted September 12, 2012 Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 is it going brown and dying off? My windelov did that, I posted some photos somewhere, very annoying it was. I gave up on it for a couple of years but I have a new piece that seems to be doing ok since I got a 6500k bulb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted September 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 Yeah, pretty much Sophia. It's real annoying as now I just have a whole lot of rhizome attached to the wood when 2 weeks ago it looked healthy as. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted September 12, 2012 Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 you could leave it there and see what happens meanwhile your heart will break into a thousand pieces looking at your missing leafy masterpiece while you wait...... &c:ry or if you have a tank with different light tubes you could put it in there... also there was a suggestion once that it didn't like hard water, but am not sure on that. In my case I've changed the light tube and moved house so am not if there was much of a change in my water supply. The test kit tells me that there wasn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted September 12, 2012 Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 Ive had java fern melt before in normal low light tanks. As soon as I put it under higher light it takes off and doesn't stop growing. I know it isn't a high light plant but it always does well for me. I also had trouble growing it in hard water too. It always went brown and died. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted September 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 I didn't think my water was considered hard? KH - 4dKH GH - 53.7-71.6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted September 12, 2012 Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 no its not so could be lack of nutrients and light? :dunno: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted September 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 Yeah, was thinking that. My T5HO's better turn up this week been waiting over 2 weeks now since winning the auction on TM so will see what they are like with higher output lights before I up the fert dosage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted September 12, 2012 Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 had a heap of java fern "melt" the other day, was wrapped in wet newspaper for 2 days before I put it in the tank, about 4-5 days later it just went dark green and fell apart, think it might have been the transport period as the one piece I put in another tank is going well about 4 months on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted October 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 Here are a couple new pics from Sunday after I went and picked up some more anubias from si_sphinx, sorry for the poor quality - photography is not one of my skills; Still adding more plants daily as they turn up, every day feels like christmas when multiple parcels arrive. Will be adding a fully pressurized co2 setup this week if the regulator turns up. Also finally got my GLO T5HO's on Friday and straight away I have noticed a huge plant growth surge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted October 2, 2012 Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 Any chance of a full front tank shot? :spop: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted October 2, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 Here ya go; This one from 3 weeks ago; This one from 3 minutes ago; Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted October 2, 2012 Report Share Posted October 2, 2012 Nice growth! Ambulia is such a weed :nilly: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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