Show us yer tank! (DO NOT QUOTE PHOTOS)

kylith wrote: »

I've gotten differing reports online, with some people who claim to be cory specialists saying that barbel degredation has much more to do with water quality than substrate.

As you can see in the swap shop I'm looking to swap the gravel for some sand. In the mean time they're under close observation.

You can pick up some aragonite sand in your building providers fairly cheap. Just give it a good wash.

kylith wrote: »

Might be a silly question, but how would you go about washing sand? Obviously I can't put it in a colander and rinse it because it'd just pour through the holes.

I dont' think I'd go for the aragonite sand, from a quick google it seems like it'd push up my ph, which isn't something I'd need.

I just half fill a 10 litre bucket with the sand and rinse it throughly.

@fred funk, i think the rock layout looks very good and natural.

that's actually how i clean my sand in my marine tank from time to time, although i just drain out a percentage of the old water using a gravity vacuum pump and then use fresh marine water in a large container that i put above the level of the tank water and run the vacuum pump in reverse so the end of the pump that would normally be in a bucket is in the tank.

the water coming out of the hose agitates the sand directly under it and separates the grains and mixes it all up, releasing any detritus into the water.

then it's just a case of doing that in small batches and cranking up the filter to full power and letting it clear the water before continuing one the water is cleared again.

also, having a starfish or two helps as they bury themselves in the sand and eat all the crap that is left there, mixing it up in the process.

This is our 180L community tank. Currently has 10 Zebra Danios, 4 Swordtail fish, 2 Balloon Mollies, 4 Panda Corys and 1 Orange Spotted Pleco. The mollies and the Pleco were a bit camera shy!

Dumped the filter in the 'Ube and replaced the ceramic medium with gravel, put in a filter that I'd cycled in a bucket and moved the betta back in there. You can see in the first pic the circle at the end of the tank where the filter used to go.

I'm loving it as it is now; much quieter, and will be easier to keep clean





Talyn says "What you lookin' at?"

New tank set up..

Happy with the turn out. Looks nice at night as well

i was half thinking about getting one off ebay, just a single pale blue LED one for my tropical community tank as a spotlight on a feature in my tank at night so it's not totally blacked out.

then i was thinking of a UV one for the marine tank to make it all day-glo when the main lights are off.

Draupnir wrote: »

Will that gravel be a bit harsh on the Sterbai?

It seems not. They still have their barbels anyway. Well, the 4 remaining fish, I lost two.


In other tank news one of my nerites has been growing a funny shell


And I also seem to have an infestation of ramshorns from somewhere. Where, I have no idea, I only saw them for the first time today. They're very small, so I've been crushing them against the glass. My tetras love the snail meat.

My tank has matured a little since the last photos, lots of plants added last week

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

My tank has matured a little since the last photos, lots of plants added last week

I bought plants about a month ago, but havent had any luck keeping them planted, f€ckin goldies keep pickin one or 2 up. The funny thing is, its never the same one! how do you keep yours down? or do you have any fish in it yet?

Added a flower pot today, the tiny bubbles streaming out of it as it settled looked cool so got a vid, doesn't really show it all that well though.

click to play

These are my 2 tanks. I couldn't get a decent pic of the first one as there's a burned tube and the other one is almost towards the end of it's life. I'm waiting for some LED strips to see if they're any good for the plants before buying some new tubes. Sorry for the dark pic

Sleepy wrote: »

Love the planting in those tanks, really, really good!

Agreed!

Is that sand on top of gravel in the 2nd tank?

The latest addition

Pom Pom Crab






Click on the attachment for the non-cropped high res image.

Bebo stunnah wrote: »

never would have thought of putting compost into a tank!

I've peat moss in mine!

Looking throught the side of it:

My Jewel 70 Litre with Cardinal tetras, a little bare at the moment but hope to dirt it properly and add more plants when I move house soon

Sleepy wrote: »

Love the planting in those tanks, really, really good!

agreed they look great !

not mine, but i thought it was a pretty cool idea (if you were a nerd like me) all the same.

Have a 120lt reef tank. The only item that makes noise is the skimmer. Also only 64wats when everything is on. They do cost more to run but not much more.