New tank, a picture journey!

[kazkirk]

Ok, here are the first pics of the tank I just set up, a 125 gallon, 6 footer with a 30 gallon sump.

Im *sooo* excited!!!

The heaters should be comming in the mail any day now, and Im in the process of picking out plants. Ill keep putting picture updates things happen :)

its also kind of cloudy, but thats to be expected, Ill be doing many water changes in the comming days.

[duck]

Looking good
How much light you got it looks nice an bright.
What's the substrate?it's nice and white
Is the sump noisy?

[goldenpigeon]

nice tank! cant wait to c it established!

[kazkirk]

The sump itself is silent, the overflow boxes are taking some getting used to! DUring the day you dont notice it at all, at night when there is no more background noise, you can hear a constant sucking sound.

The lights are vho's pumping out 3.65 watts a gallon! There are 3 bulbs so I might just take one out, but first Ill give plants a chance to grow and make shade so the fish arent screaming MY EYES! MY EYES!

The substrate is filter sand. 150 lbs of it! Its cheap though, so that works for me :)

[duck]

3.65WPG you need CO2
It is said that theWPG rule breaks down over 100 gallons so you might be good just over 2 WPG i would still consider CO2 it would make thing's alot easier.

[kazkirk]

I have co2, its only a diy co2 with 3 bottles and a reactor as thats all I can afford right now, but its co2!!!

[duck]

Can't wait to see it planted out.

[kazkirk]

Ive decided to go with a purely amazon sword population, very low maintainence! Drift wood, couple piece of rock, just something to provide a backdrop for my beauties!

Its still cloudy five 75% water changes later. I give up.

now I just sit back and wait for the plants to grow.

[Merrilyn]

Gee looking great. Love that piece of driftwood.

[kalebjarrod]

Very nice

the tank will settle

it is the fine particles from your sand that have done it, leave it for a week or two and you will see a difference :wink:

[goldenpigeon]

nice looking tank. does 1 of those swords have black hair lagae on it??? hope it doent. that stuff is very hard to get rid of!

[kazkirk]

Its beard algae, and it hates my tank. Its basically dying in clumps. I took off the bad leaves (which promoted the growth of new baby leaves) and the leaves with only minor issues on it, its just dying.

Now for some more pics

[kazkirk]

more...

[Merrilyn]

Great shots. That's a fabulous shot of the ghost shrimp :o

The tank is looking great.

Keep the pics coming.

[axl]

wow that bristle nose is huge how long did it take to get that big

[Proteus]

axl... key word... Plecostomus

:wink:

[kazkirk]

Its been a while, life has been hectic, but here are some updates.

I finally got my CO2 system, but yeah, I havent filled the tank yet because Im lazy like that. Because of that, plant growth has come to a standstill, they got as big as they could without extra help.

The discus have been thriving, I havent experienced any losses to date. I got rid of the pleco (went to my boss) and now I have a whiptail and rhino pleco, both of which have been very well behaved and really good at keeping the tank clean.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6df10b3127cce97615d22a46300000016108Ect3Ddmzag

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6dc30b3127cce973213c1c0af00000016108Ect3Ddmzag

[Mattzilla]

great looking tank!!! well done

[Merrilyn]

Those fish have grown well Kaz, and the tank is looking fabulous.

[nicholas76]

Lovely tank


perhaps ive missed it but what type of substrate is that??

any isssues with it?? alage growth etc?

[kazkirk]

Its pool filter sand. As for algae, no I dont have any problem with that, but that wasnt always the case. When I got rid of the pleco and before I got the rhino and whiptail, the algae hit the ceiling! There was nothing constantly moving the surface of the sand or cleaning the glass, these pictures are after 3 days of no sucking fish of any variety.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5ce30b3127cce94ecd76b67c000000016108Ect3Ddmzag
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5ce30b3127cce94ecd74767ec00000016108Ect3Ddmzag

Talk about a nightmare! Everyday I had to go stir the sand, but this stuff came back quicker than I could deal with. The rhino and whiptail saved my sanity! Now its always pure white, not a speck of algae anywhere.

[nicholas76]

aaah same problem i had , but I went the other way and sucked out all the sand.

whats a whiptail and rhino? can anyone supply a picture please.

:D

[rytis]

Its pool filter sand. As for algae, no I dont have any problem with that, but that wasnt always the case. When I got rid of the pleco and before I got the rhino and whiptail, the algae hit the ceiling! There was nothing constantly moving the surface of the sand or cleaning the glass, these pictures are after 3 days of no sucking fish of any variety.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5ce30b3127cce94ecd76b67c000000016108Ect3Ddmzag
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b5ce30b3127cce94ecd74767ec00000016108Ect3Ddmzag

Talk about a nightmare! Everyday I had to go stir the sand, but this stuff came back quicker than I could deal with. The rhino and whiptail saved my sanity! Now its always pure white, not a speck of algae anywhere.get the algae eater back in!

[Proteus]

The green alage is a sign that there is a problem with the environment. Too much light, high phosphates, etc etc.

I have the same type of substrate and in over 3 yrs have never seen anything like that. On the other hand, in some Marine tanks that I occasionally deal with, they can grow a layer of algae like that in a few days, and it is always a result of phosphates.