Adrienne Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 My new, approx 450 litre tank arrived 10 days ago and has been sitting on its stand waiting for the silicone to complete its drying process. It is a beautifully made tank, 12mm base, 10mm sides with both 10mm + 6mm bracing across the top and reinforcing lengthways both top and bottom. This tank replaces my previous planted discus tank which split in July. Today I painted the first coat of several, of black acrylic enamel paint on the exterior of the back of the tank. My next challenge is adapting the fx5 filter to go over the 5.5cm lip on the tank. I am thinking pvc elbows or similar. I need to locate the filter which is still in a box as we only moved 2 weeks ago and study how it is currently put together to find the best solution. For the tank interior I am thinking of the following - Fertiliser under substrate - JBL Aquabasis Plus Substrate - Flourite A nice large piece of driftwood with smaller driftwood scattered amongst the plants Plants - Twisted val, variety of swords, Red Pine, crypts, plus variety of stem plants with Saggitaria Microfolia in the foreground. Anubias, xmas moss and java moss attached to wood. Lighting - 2 x T5HO double units + 1 T8 double unit (all 4fts) Pressurised CO2 Filter FX5 plus CF1200 Fish - 7-8 discus, 8cm+ my King Tiger Plec from previous tank Cory + schooling fish, must be able to handle 30 degrees Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 sounds good... hurry up and post the photos :spop: :spop: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted October 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 Lol need to find the camera charger first. :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 look in the last box you would expect to find it in :gigl: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted October 20, 2012 Report Share Posted October 20, 2012 the filter should fit standard irrigation fittings (I think 25mm-30mm for the FX-5) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony law Posted October 21, 2012 Report Share Posted October 21, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted October 21, 2012 Report Share Posted October 21, 2012 :spop: :spop: :spop: there needs to be a looking at a watch smiley :slfg: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted October 21, 2012 Report Share Posted October 21, 2012 I had my FX5 set up on my 1400L with pvc elbows and clear tubing hose clamped on (to save a bit of money as it was so long!) and had trouble with the filter sucking air. I'd suggest hard-plumbing it with all PVC and just use a short length of clear tube to attach it to the taps, with hose clamps of course. I can't remember the size of the plumbing I used, but its not hard to figure out if you take it into the plumbing shop and find the pressure pipe that is similar (slightly larger IIRC) diameter than the pipe coming off the tap. You may need to use hot water to get the clear tube over it. I managed to adapt the Fluval return nozzles and intake to fit the plumbing too. What are the dimensions of the tank? Sounds pretty heavy duty! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted October 21, 2012 Report Share Posted October 21, 2012 I wouldn't use pressure pipe/fittings, too expensive. If you can find waste pipe the correct size it will work out a lot cheaper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted October 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 4 coats of paint and now the tank has a well covered back. I do anticipate a few issues with algae as this tank faces the outer wall of our house which consists of full length glass windows along the entire wall and receives a lot of sun. I will keep the drapes pulled while at work howerer there is a gap of about 18cm running the entire length of the wall at the top of the window which has no coverings. It will be interesting to see what happens. Bringing home the substrates and two heaters this afternoon :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted October 22, 2012 Report Share Posted October 22, 2012 Can't wait to see this filled Adrienne :spop: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Adrienne, please leave some products in the shop... you can't buy all of it :cofn: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Exciting :bounce: What are the dimensions of the tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted October 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Lol Sophia! Joe, it's 1500 long x 500 deep by 600 high, the same as the original one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted October 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 Progress has been made. On Wednesday after work I put around 25 litres of JBL Aquabasis Plus in to the tank Today was my day off work and a chance to have a good go at getting it organised. I placed 21kg of Fluorite Black sand over the Aquabasis and covered that with 25kg of black grit. Two pieces of good hard driftwood from the East Cape beaches were joined by drilling holes and screwing together with stainless steel screws. To the driftwood I attached 3 Anubias plants (used cable ties). On the rear right hand side I placed 10 Crypt Balansae and at the rear left I have planted about 6 Cambomba. In the middle rear of the tank I have planted 3 sword plants, two of these are red. The plants look a little sad as some of these have been floating loose in a tank for three weeks, since I shifted house but will recover fairly quickly. I still have some Magdelina? chain sword to plant in the foreground of the tank and am considering putting my twisted val on the left side of the tank by the Cambomba. I am using two heaters, a Eheim Jager 300 rated for tanks 600-1000 litres (on the right of the pic on an angle as I did not want it pushed into the substrate) and an Aqua One 300 which is my back up heater. I filled the tank about 2/3rds of the way up and hopefully will have time to finish filling it tomorrow. Note: if you are wondering what that cable is that appears on the right of the tank, that is the line to our gas heating! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted October 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 Added twisted val, a couple more bigger swords and the magdelensis chain sword today. Filled the tank right up and have managed to get the FX5 to sit on the lip using the original attachments. The filter is not yet running as I wish to replace a screw on the lid before I fill it so I have an 1100 lph power head running in the meantime to provide some movement for the plants. All lights are in place, the photos are taken with only the T8 double unit turned on. This tank gets a lot of light so the 2 double T5HO units will only come on for a couple of hours per day initially. and while I am at it I thought you might like to take a look at my 3ft tank which I set up a couple of weeks ago. 900L x 300W x 300D with a T8 double tube light on it. Currently has 15 ember tetra and 5 dwarf chain loaches in it. Driftwood is Mopani and is still leeching tannins. and my 45L tank with pitbull plecs in it. I am struggling to find out what they will eat hence the mess on the tank substrate. This is cleaned up once a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Li@m Posted October 27, 2012 Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 Did you just buy out all the plants in HFF? :slfg: When I had my pitbull plecs they ate everything except the food I brought specifically for them. They ate NovoTabs, and NovoPleco (only when it had broken up tho) try also just grazed on algae the rest of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted October 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 Nope, not ALL the plants. :sml1: The val and big swords I had floating in a tank for the last 3 weeks since we shifted house. There is no algae for the pitbulls to graze on, well not yet! It will happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Li@m Posted October 27, 2012 Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 Just chuck some flourish in there, then you'll have much algae :sml1: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted October 27, 2012 Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 last pitbulls I saw went mental for pumpkin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Li@m Posted October 27, 2012 Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 Interesting.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikerbabe Posted October 27, 2012 Report Share Posted October 27, 2012 Looks fantastic!!!! :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted November 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2012 update as of today. My king tiger plec has been added to the tank hence the extra piece of driftwood, plus a SAE and 12 rainbows; 4 boesmani, 6 parkinsons and 2 nigrans. The plants are starting to grow even with the T5HO lighting limited to 4 hrs per day and no CO2 as of yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted November 6, 2012 Report Share Posted November 6, 2012 That's looking superb Adrienne! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted November 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2012 Here is another update. After nearly 3 weeks battling with whitespot in the tank which systematically selected each fish, a new one every day, it appears I have won :thup: My twisted val was growing beautifully but about a week ago I came out one morning to find it had melted overnight. The only thing I can think of which may have caused it was the tonic I was dosing every 2nd day. While I hope it will grow back I have moved on and have planted red pine in its place. I have also added some water rose which may or may not survive in the tank and star grass which is yet to convert to its submersed form. My crypts are slowly coming back, however my red swords appear to have also not been happy with the tonic but I think a contributing factor to this may have been the fact that they were floating in a tank for a few weeks. My pH has dropped to 6 or lower so I will be looking to test the hardness of the water and then increasing the pH to just over 7 before I put the CO2 on. Any way here are the pics. and an update on my 3ft in which you can see the hairgrass has taken off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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