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My Not So (though still pretty new) Native Tank


willyp123

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Hi Guys,
A couple of months ago I started working on my new native tank. I bought a secondhand tank on trademe - which turned out to be junk and the only half decent thing was the stand (the silicon state was terrible and lied to about on trademe, the top brace was cracked). So I got a new tank built by Tanks2U and then ordered some new aquarium lights online. 

The tank is 1220 long, 450 deep, 600 high. It's about 330L. 

I was fortunate enough to go up north to see Kiwiraka a while ago and managed to grab some awesome aquarium rocks, found a piece of driftwood at the beach and got some nice gravel as well. 

I've been wanting to use a 3D background for a longtime and I finally decided to make one out of polystyrene and tile grout (thanks Shilo). It took me about a month to fully make it.

I used a big sheet of insulation polystyrene and took a heatgun (though a hair dryer works too) and shaped it. My first attempt used a wirebrush but the heatgun gave it a more consistent surface and was nicer and tidier. I attempted to use a cement first to cover it though it didn't adhere well to the polystyrene. When Shilo came up to grab my giant kokopus he gave me a couple of pointers on making it - this was to use tile grout. I tried it out, and it worked incredibly well. I plastic sealed it with a spray on enamel coat though if the grout cures for long enough this isn't necessary.

Due to the shape of the tank I had to cut it into 4 pieces and then siliconed it into the tank. I waited a few weeks before introduced some fish. When I did this I used a pre-cycled filter from another tank and introduced about 40-50 inanga from Mahurangi Tech and 2 redfin bullies myself and kiwiraka caught.

I also wanted to have a planted tank with the driftwood covered in moss. So I got java moss from a friend introduced that alongside some fissidens from kiwiraka. 

So far it's looking really good and i'm pretty happy with it. I'm planning on getting a crayfish and some more bullies for it.

Will upload some more photo's later today, just cleaned it so it's a bit murky.

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2015-10-29 20.18.49.jpg

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Looks great :D Youll be getting some interesting schooling behaviour ;) 

Goodjob on thebackground to.

What substrate is that? I like it :)

Feeding video? :P

Hoping to get some smelt in there too, substrate is a mix of coffee and black grit from stone and water world. 

And maybe later :P

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Hi, you bought my old tank. I specified the seals would need redoing in the future, and that I had repaired part of it while I had it, and that it was a rough job. You also left good feedback on the trade, and made no mentioned about it "being junk" at the time. Kinda uncool dude saying that here.

Edited by SanityChelle
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