Roy
Tue Dec 05, 2006, 02:33 AM
Hello everyone and welcome to my diary, this is something i intended on starting several months ago but never got around too. Essentially over summer last year my tank crashed when i was away over new years, lost all of my tetras (20 Cardinals) my BN (3) clown loaches (2) SAE (2) and ended up with some unwell discus (4). So i bought a new tank for the discus and tore down the 4ft display tank in the lounge room.
Very Old Photo
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/52112574.jpg
I made the decision to start again and set up the tank with a lot more knowledge under my belt regarding what was required for a successful tank. A lot of info has come from this site, Discusforums and the net in general, as well as some inspiration from books and magazines (TFH and ADA). To start i wanted to keep as much equipment as possible out of the actual tank to allow for maximum visual appeal, to the end i drilled lots of holes in the back of the cabinet and in the dividers so i could place the piping through each section and not have to worry about it, i also wanted to be able to isolate different areas for maintenance. Here is a list of what hardware has gone into the tank:
7kg Seachem Flourite Red
14kg Seachem Flourite
8kg of pool filter sand
Red Sea Root Therm Substrate Heater 160
Pondmaster UV-C 11w
Hydor ETH 300w External Heater
SACEM Marathon 1000 cannister filter
JBL Micromec 1L
Jebo Metal Halide (150w) Moonlight combo with timers
Equipment
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69231137.jpg
The cabinet was bought second hand a few years ago, the tank and light from LFS last year. Rest of the stuff was from Age of Aquariums and APW throughout the year. Also picked up some Seachem Prime and Flourish Excel for water treatment, already had some leftover Red Sea liquid ferts to use up (now using Seachem Flourish and Flourish Trace with noticeable improvement of growth in last 2 weeks).
Flourite Comparison - Red on the right
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69231139.jpg
Putting in the heating cables
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69231138.jpg
I placed the Flourite Red on the base at it was larger, the single 7kg bag just covered the entire base with a thin depth, perhaps i should have gotten two bags. I used two bags of regular Flourite, its a nice gravel size and spread out nicely, just under 2" total depth with a slight slope at the back of the tank.
Layering the Substrate
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69231140.jpg
Now to give you an idea of the water flow it leaves the tank on the right hand side and travels down into the right hand compartment (this will eventually have the co2 diffuser incorporated into it) and pipes along to the filter in the middle, this then passes into the left section where it goes through the UV then into the heater and back to the tank. At the moment its just a spray outlet, the Sacem doesnt come with a spray bar or lily pad, so its either DIY or sourcing suitable parts (would like a lily in preferance) also i dont think it came with sufficient piping for a tank, unless you were to go straight down and back up with a filter.
You will also notice that there is sand now included (forgot to take photosof this going in) and i also painted the back and one end black to provide a nice background contrast. The anubias on wood was all propogated by myself from a single piece bought early last year, its spread out nicely onto several different pieces and each piece puts out about a new leaf a week, its starting to be an issue ! The wood seperates the back area in a wavy pattern and will hide the base of the stem plants, in theory....
Cabinet Shot
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69031103.jpg
Here is a pic of the tank after the initial planting [L to R] :
3 Cryptocoryne beckettii ''Petchii''
2 bunches Limnophila sessiliflora ('Ambulia') - green stem plant
4 Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica'
3 bunches of Rotala wallichii - red tipped stem plant
3 Cryptocoryne walkeri ('lutea')
Initial Planting
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69031109.jpg
The initial planting took about the left 2/3rds of the tank as i wasnt sure how much to order on the first run and wanted to see exactly what a Crypt was and how big ! Keep in mind i planted the initial plants in the beginning of September, so these photos are a little old.
One Week Growth
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69031110.jpg
2 Weeks Growth
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69031121.jpg
After a month i gave it a little bit of a trim and added in some more plants:
3 Cryptocoryne wendtii ''Mi Oya'' - far right hand side (went into quick meltdown but has now recovered)
2 Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica' - with the origional planting in front of the wood
3 Cryptocoryne beckettii ''Petchii'' into the centre section behind the origional C.Walkeri, these ones have grown nicely.
I also cut the stem plants and replanted them to make a denser bush in the middle and this also extended somewhat to the right into the open area. Im not 100% happy with this, hoping the crypts will cover it up somewhat and provide better concealment of the base, not very pretty.
2nd Planting
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69031126.jpg
Its now been 6 weeks or so since the last trim and planting, will order some more plants this week (crypts again but might try some different varietys, but want some more Mi Oya to fill out the right hand side).
Oh current stock is:
15 Rummynose
2 Common BN
3 Corydoras (i think they are Sterbai, need to confirm though)
Looking to Add:
20 Cardinal Tetras
3 more Corydoras
For maintenance i do a weekly water change of about a 1/3. Dosing Seachem Flourish 2 times a week and Trace once a week after water change. Flourish Excel is one cap a day with two every second day, seems to be working out fine.
Roy
Very Old Photo
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/52112574.jpg
I made the decision to start again and set up the tank with a lot more knowledge under my belt regarding what was required for a successful tank. A lot of info has come from this site, Discusforums and the net in general, as well as some inspiration from books and magazines (TFH and ADA). To start i wanted to keep as much equipment as possible out of the actual tank to allow for maximum visual appeal, to the end i drilled lots of holes in the back of the cabinet and in the dividers so i could place the piping through each section and not have to worry about it, i also wanted to be able to isolate different areas for maintenance. Here is a list of what hardware has gone into the tank:
7kg Seachem Flourite Red
14kg Seachem Flourite
8kg of pool filter sand
Red Sea Root Therm Substrate Heater 160
Pondmaster UV-C 11w
Hydor ETH 300w External Heater
SACEM Marathon 1000 cannister filter
JBL Micromec 1L
Jebo Metal Halide (150w) Moonlight combo with timers
Equipment
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69231137.jpg
The cabinet was bought second hand a few years ago, the tank and light from LFS last year. Rest of the stuff was from Age of Aquariums and APW throughout the year. Also picked up some Seachem Prime and Flourish Excel for water treatment, already had some leftover Red Sea liquid ferts to use up (now using Seachem Flourish and Flourish Trace with noticeable improvement of growth in last 2 weeks).
Flourite Comparison - Red on the right
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69231139.jpg
Putting in the heating cables
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69231138.jpg
I placed the Flourite Red on the base at it was larger, the single 7kg bag just covered the entire base with a thin depth, perhaps i should have gotten two bags. I used two bags of regular Flourite, its a nice gravel size and spread out nicely, just under 2" total depth with a slight slope at the back of the tank.
Layering the Substrate
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69231140.jpg
Now to give you an idea of the water flow it leaves the tank on the right hand side and travels down into the right hand compartment (this will eventually have the co2 diffuser incorporated into it) and pipes along to the filter in the middle, this then passes into the left section where it goes through the UV then into the heater and back to the tank. At the moment its just a spray outlet, the Sacem doesnt come with a spray bar or lily pad, so its either DIY or sourcing suitable parts (would like a lily in preferance) also i dont think it came with sufficient piping for a tank, unless you were to go straight down and back up with a filter.
You will also notice that there is sand now included (forgot to take photosof this going in) and i also painted the back and one end black to provide a nice background contrast. The anubias on wood was all propogated by myself from a single piece bought early last year, its spread out nicely onto several different pieces and each piece puts out about a new leaf a week, its starting to be an issue ! The wood seperates the back area in a wavy pattern and will hide the base of the stem plants, in theory....
Cabinet Shot
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69031103.jpg
Here is a pic of the tank after the initial planting [L to R] :
3 Cryptocoryne beckettii ''Petchii''
2 bunches Limnophila sessiliflora ('Ambulia') - green stem plant
4 Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica'
3 bunches of Rotala wallichii - red tipped stem plant
3 Cryptocoryne walkeri ('lutea')
Initial Planting
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69031109.jpg
The initial planting took about the left 2/3rds of the tank as i wasnt sure how much to order on the first run and wanted to see exactly what a Crypt was and how big ! Keep in mind i planted the initial plants in the beginning of September, so these photos are a little old.
One Week Growth
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69031110.jpg
2 Weeks Growth
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69031121.jpg
After a month i gave it a little bit of a trim and added in some more plants:
3 Cryptocoryne wendtii ''Mi Oya'' - far right hand side (went into quick meltdown but has now recovered)
2 Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica' - with the origional planting in front of the wood
3 Cryptocoryne beckettii ''Petchii'' into the centre section behind the origional C.Walkeri, these ones have grown nicely.
I also cut the stem plants and replanted them to make a denser bush in the middle and this also extended somewhat to the right into the open area. Im not 100% happy with this, hoping the crypts will cover it up somewhat and provide better concealment of the base, not very pretty.
2nd Planting
http://www.pbase.com/cmdr_roy/image/69031126.jpg
Its now been 6 weeks or so since the last trim and planting, will order some more plants this week (crypts again but might try some different varietys, but want some more Mi Oya to fill out the right hand side).
Oh current stock is:
15 Rummynose
2 Common BN
3 Corydoras (i think they are Sterbai, need to confirm though)
Looking to Add:
20 Cardinal Tetras
3 more Corydoras
For maintenance i do a weekly water change of about a 1/3. Dosing Seachem Flourish 2 times a week and Trace once a week after water change. Flourish Excel is one cap a day with two every second day, seems to be working out fine.
Roy