JaSa Posted August 22, 2015 Report Share Posted August 22, 2015 Excellent job ! Will pop in one day and have a look A little bit offtopic but do you know what the max temp. is for the fiberglass/epoxy you used? And did you put fiberglass on all the inside surface's or just in the corners of the tank? Cheers, JaSa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted August 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2015 If you are thinking of epoxy being effected by tropical tank temperatures - not a problem unless the fish enjoy temps above 70C. I striped the fibreglass of a kayak once and it had to reach temps much too hot to touch before it started to de-laminate. Unless the epoxy is a specialised one all makes will be the same. I just used Ados All Purpose from M10 in town. Not the cheapest way to go as it took 3 and a bit 625ml packs. In the end I ended up using one layer of cloth on each of the internal surfaces. But this means that the layers overlap on the corners making those areas 2 layers thick. An exception to this was the front left corner where there is no cloth, it's not needed as the glass is siliconed together there (like a normal tank). I used the cloth as protection rather then strength. Although it would make the tank stronger, the cloth helps avoid any cracking, scratching or pin prick holes that could develop in the resin over time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaSa Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 If you are thinking of epoxy being effected by tropical tank temperatures - not a problem unless the fish enjoy temps above 70C. Not a fish tank - but for a heat storage tank Water temperature in there can go up to 60C for what I want to use it for, thats why I asked. Cheers for that, JaSa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted August 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 I don't think I would use standard epoxy for that, it should be OK at 60C but don't know about the long term effects of the heat. Your best bet is to contact http://www.adhesivetechnologies.co.nz/ (I've had great service from them previously) and ask if Vinyl Ester Epoxy will do the job, I'm sure this is more heat resistant then normal epoxies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted August 23, 2015 Report Share Posted August 23, 2015 Nice job :cophot: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted September 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 Time for an update.CyclingWell this didn't go as planned. Things weren't happening at 14-15C so threw in a couple of heaters in the sump to kick the cycle off. 3 weeks later and I was topping up the ammonia every few days and recording some Nitrites and some Nitrates but I never experienced any of the spikes in the Nitrites nor the ammonia disappearing in a day that I had read about. Decided it wasn't a problem since the fishless cycling process is designed for a tank that is going to go from zero to 100% stocked whilst I would be adding the odd fish now and again over a few months and the testing verified there was at least some bacteria at work.PlantsCan't have any submerged plants if I want a Koura but was really taken the idea of Potho's and other similar plants with just their roots in the water. Shelter for the fish plus Nitrate removal. Wanting to keep with the native theme I did a bit of googling both with the computer and my eyes in the bush and figured that a good plant to use is the native bergonia. It likes damp low light areas and is very common around here on stream banks. I put a trial piece in before I started cycling and it started to do well but got knocked back when I heated up the water. Despite this there are small leaves and rootlets appearing so now the temperatures dropped again I'm hoping it will continue to grow. Once its grown up to the top of the canopy I will remove one of the inserts I pre-made and let it grow out of the top. The canopy lights are strong enough that the leaves have lost their red colour and turned green.Also found some moss in a stream that was both above and below the water so transplanted some of that around the top of the main log. And off course because its a native tank I had to add the compulsory Ponga leaf. FishToday I drove the 3 hours to Auckland and picked up Willyp123's Giant Kokopu. Well worth the trip as it not only saves months of wading in streams looking for one but since it is a captive bred GK it means I am not decreasing the wild population. He survived the trip well in a 50ltr plastic storage container with the top taped on tight. After a couple of hours in the container having the tank water added to acclimatise him he went into the tank and is now happily exploring his new home. Silverdollarboy2, kiwiraka, livingart and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willyp123 Posted September 16, 2015 Report Share Posted September 16, 2015 Looks good, glad to see he's in a good home Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverdollarboy2 Posted September 17, 2015 Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 Awesome, what other fish are you going to put in the tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted September 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 Looks good, glad to see he's in a good home Thanks Mate, its great to have him.Awesome, what other fish are you going to put in the tank?Depends on what I find in the area. Wish list are a couple of Redfins and Bluegill's, a Torrent (bottom left of the tank is an area of high current) and a Banded since the right of the tank has very little current. A school of Inanga would look great but they will just become fish food for the Giant & Banded Kokopu's. Of course a cray is a must since they have so much character.Won't be highly stocking it as reckon variety is better then numbers. Just one BK, Torrent & Koura and male female pair of each of the bullies. kiwiraka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatfish Posted September 17, 2015 Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 looks superb. Great job and a cool first fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiraka Posted September 17, 2015 Report Share Posted September 17, 2015 Depends on what I find in the area. Wish list are a couple of Redfins and Bluegill's, a Torrent (bottom left of the tank is an area of high current) and a Banded since the right of the tank has very little current. A school of Inanga would look great but they will just become fish food for the Giant & Banded Kokopu's. Of course a cray is a must since they have so much character.Won't be highly stocking it as reckon variety is better then numbers. Just one BK, Torrent & Koura and male female pair of each of the bullies.Sounds like a nice stocking, although the Bluegills may be hard to keep in a community tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted November 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 5, 2015 (edited) UpdateOk, its been going for 6 weeks now and there has been a few minor changes.Pump: I had a DCT4000 Jebao pump powering the system which worked OK but it was at full bore to get close to the flow I wanted (has to pump through a chiller) so figured a more powerful one would be better as I can turn it down to what I want and have more flexibility. Ended up buying a DCS7000. At full bore this is as much as the system can cope with so normally run it turned down slightly and up full when I want to flush the sand before cleaning or to give the fish a change. The Redfins like it turned up as it gives them a chance to do a bit of surfing (swimming into the current as much as possible then letting it blow them back) Background: This originally was just coated in grout and I expected PH to rise a bit but for the first few weeks it was only at 7.6 (tap water is 7.4) so was quite happy. But then it suddenly rose to 8.4! A few part water changes to bring it down didn't help as it was rising to 8.4 again over 24 hours. So I whipped it out and coated it with epoxy, taking the opportunity to sprinkle pool sand in the "valley's" and black sand on the "boulders". I was hesitant to do this at the beginning because the grout / epoxy coated water dish in my Blue Tongues enclosure eventually lifted. So it may not last forever but at least it looks better and the PH is a steady 7.4.Water Changer: As in the previous post the plan was to have 25ltr per day continuously flowing into the tank to avoid major water changes. Problem was the ball valve originally fitted was not accurate enough to give this amount so replaced it with a gate valve. It still takes a bit of fiddling to get it right but its an improvement. Eventually I will tee off from the main water line and fit a pressure reducer and irrigation drip attachment to it. But got to say filling and emptying the tank is a breeze with only turning a couple of valves on and off.Lights: The RBG strip light I had used worked OK until last week. The only problems it had was that it wasn't bright enough to see into the recesses of the tank and the camp kids discovered where I stashed the remote and kept flicking it to colour changing mode for a fish disco! Last week it stopped working so got a proper aquarium LED from Fish2Water - big improvement!Fish: The Giant Kokopu caused a fair amount of stress by not eating. It would go for the food but quickly spit it out again, tried feeding it everything I could think of to no avail. After a month I noticed its body was wasting away but the stomach was still fat so treated it for worms. Did the trick as now its simply a pig and has put on heaps of condition over the last couple of weeks. Even starting to teach it to feed from my hand. The tank is still very lightly stocked. Over the last few weeks I have added 2x female Redfin Bullies ( had forgotten how much personality they have), 3 Inanga's (2 adults and a whitebait size one which is growing). The Inanga's will probably be GK food eventually but since they only live for a few years I'm hoping they live out their life span before the GK is big enough to snack on them. Also got a very light brown Koura who is missing its claws when I got it so it must have been attacked by an eel or more likely a trout at some stage. Will continue to slowly add stock over the next month as I explore the streams around here. Edited November 5, 2015 by Shilo livingart, Adrienne, flatfish and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted November 5, 2015 Report Share Posted November 5, 2015 Looks great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted November 5, 2015 Report Share Posted November 5, 2015 Great job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flatfish Posted November 5, 2015 Report Share Posted November 5, 2015 looks awesome. Great job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted November 5, 2015 Report Share Posted November 5, 2015 Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverdollarboy2 Posted June 11, 2016 Report Share Posted June 11, 2016 Hows it going now? kiwiraka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gligor Posted June 12, 2016 Report Share Posted June 12, 2016 Hows it going now?x2? kiwiraka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted June 16, 2016 Report Share Posted June 16, 2016 Fantastic tank, missed the building so just read the whole lot.I'll have to pop in and see it some time.I wouldn't worry too much about Inanga as Giants are quite lazy and Inanga grow fastI'd be tempted to get another 1 or 2 giants or banded and ~8 or more Inanga, maybe a koaro or two for the high flow section to go with the torrent fish kiwiraka 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shilo Posted June 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2016 Still only got the GK, 4 Inanga, 2 Redfins and a Koura in there. Haven't got my a into g and gone out at night hunting for more fish, have to do that sometime, problem here is stream access with most of the streams running through private property or DOC land.The GK had another health scare once when it freaked out when I walked into the office and swam straight into a rock on the far side of the tank. It damaged the corners of its upper mouth which started to ulcerate. Made up a hospital tank to treat it with furon (nothing else worked) but didn't think to cover the tank and found the GK at the door of the sump room at 9.30pm one night. Don't know how long it had been out of water but It was still alive so scooped it up and put it back into the hospital tank. It had banged up the top of its head jumping out but after a few days was happily swimming around like nothing happened only looking a bit worse for wear. All healed up now apart from 2 scars on the corner of its upper lip which makes it look even tougher then it tries to act!No problems with the other fish and the Koura has its claws back which it's very proud of. Systems working great but not bothering with the automatic water change as fine tuning it is tiresome (need irrigation drip feed attachment for it to work with out constant adjustment). Have come to realise its not needed since I clean the glass once a week and bulk water changes are so easy (turn one valve on to drain and another to fill up) that I might as well do a change when I clean the glass.Only other change is I stopped using ponga leaves and instead put some java moss on the bit of root that sticks up and on the top of the trunk. livingart, kiwiraka, Silverdollarboy2 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gligor Posted June 18, 2016 Report Share Posted June 18, 2016 That't one tough GK. Love it! What a survivalist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishluva Posted June 19, 2016 Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 That is incredibly cool man! Something to be very proud of... Way cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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