New (old) tank

Cookie_Monster · 01-09-2010 10:22pm #1

So I went home and got the old tank from the attic earlier. Its at least 20 years old, was my grandfather's. I don't really remember what was in it, definitely Neon Tetras. There were two identical ones, the other was donated to a local school.

I then used it for about 5 years as a gerbil tank before it went back in the attic for 10+ years.

Anyway I couldn't find anything else so all I have is a glass box. Spent the last while cleaning it out.

Its 60 x 30.5 x 38 cm or about 60-65 litres if leaving some space at the top.

Now just need to figure out what I want to put in it and how much it'll all cost for the bits and pieces (and fish)

Noopti · 02-09-2010 10:26am

Nice tank. Any ideas yet on what to keep in it?

unklerosco · 02-09-2010 10:29am

I'm sure u prob have but have you tested it for leaks before u go ahead and start using it...

I foolishly skipped that part once and got up one morning to find 40ltrs of water on the floor...

Cookie_Monster · 02-09-2010 10:30am

Noopti wrote: »

Nice tank. Any ideas yet on what to keep in it?

I'd rather a shoal of smaller fish like the Tetras than larger ones.
A good bit of greenery too. I haven't though much about it further than that so far. The creation of this forum was what finally decided to make me go and get it after years of thinking I should but never quite getting there.

But as I've said my knowledge base is a bit thin, plenty of research required first to see what will suit, whether I'll nedd to go hot or cold, will be fresh water I think just to keep it simpler anyway

unklerosco wrote: »

I'm sure u prob have but have you tested it for leaks before u go ahead and start using it...

I foolishly skipped that part once and got up one morning to find 40ltrs of water on the floor...

it didn't leak with the reasonable small amount of water involved in the cleaning, I'll fill it a bit more tonite and see what happens

mcdoogle · 02-09-2010 7:47pm

Rummy Nose Tetras are really good shoalers, I've got a few and they just cruise around my tank in a pack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rummy-nose_tetra

Not too colourful but interesting to watch.

Cookie_Monster · 02-09-2010 9:35pm

Its sitting in the bath now, full of water with a marked line around it at the moment.

hopefully it'll be at the same level tomorrow after work?!?

WIZE · 04-09-2010 1:51pm

Im proud of you Cookie Monster

You said you would do it and you did

Cookie_Monster · 04-09-2010 4:07pm

WIZE wrote: »

Im proud of you Cookie Monster
You said you would do it and you did

I'll stick a pic up later but added gravel and water in today. Have a filter and heater and some fake plants ready to go.

Need to get a lid though. Was down in Fish antics earlier and they said they should be able to get me one.

So in the meantime I've filled it with tap water and will add in some AmQuel+ as advised by the guy in fish antics to clean it out. Then will stick the heater and filter in during the week.

Once lid is in place some real plants will be added, with some other furniture
(I want the sunken WW2 battleship but the girlfriends not too keen) so we'll see what we end up with. Fish will come in a few weeks

EDIT: now with photos

unklerosco · 04-09-2010 4:40pm

Is the gravel u have in that the shiny black stuff?? If so be carefull if ur getting any bottom feeding fish/catfish etc... The edges of that stuff can be fairly sharp..

Rummy nose tetras are pretty cool, got 5 the other day n they all zip around the tank together.. gonna get some more tomorrow.

Cookie_Monster · 04-09-2010 5:46pm

Stuck in the filter (less the bio one for the next day or two to allow chlorine etc to be tidied up) and heater (not on) to get some water movement so the added stuff will mix in fully and get a feel for how it looks.

I think they be moved to opposite end so out of the way from main viewing angle. Tidies up the wires too

Thanks for the support and comments, all. I hope to continue to stick up progress and pics. Hopefully it may inspire others too

godtabh · 04-09-2010 6:59pm

Chlorine is so volatile that in a couple of hours most of it will have dissolved out of the water

Senor Willy · 05-09-2010 8:39pm

I would have re sealed the tank before using it.
It might burst its seals being so old.

Noopti · 06-09-2010 3:42pm

Looking good!

Cookie_Monster · 06-09-2010 5:00pm

Right so.

Heater and filter in and on.
Not got a testing kit as yet but will pick one up next Monday when I pick up the lid and light.

With the cycling do I need to do anything in the next week?
Do I need to change the water or is it better to leave it a few days before changing some of it. Will the "Biomax" stuff provided with the filter be ok to kick it all off, or do I need to add anything.

godtabh · 06-09-2010 9:24pm

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Right so.

Heater and filter in and on.
Not got a testing kit as yet but will pick one up next Monday when I pick up the lid and light.

With the cycling do I need to do anything in the next week?
Do I need to change the water or is it better to leave it a few days before changing some of it. Will the "Biomax" stuff provided with the filter be ok to kick it all off, or do I need to add anything.

Just add small bits of food every second day to start things off. Ask Gav for some filter media

Cookie_Monster · 06-09-2010 9:35pm

godtabh wrote: »

Just add small bits of food every second day to start things off. Ask Gav for some filter media

who's Gav

EDIT: D'oh, I presume he's one of the lads in Fish Antics. Was talking to a guy called Simon.

godtabh · 07-09-2010 10:30am

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

who's Gav
EDIT: D'oh, I presume he's one of the lads in Fish Antics. Was talking to a guy called Simon.

Gav works for FFF. Though you said you lived near there?

Cookie_Monster · 07-09-2010 11:03am

godtabh wrote: »

Gav works for FFF. Though you said you lived near there?

Not me, I'm in Cabinteely, south Dublin

Cookie_Monster · 13-09-2010 9:23am

Was in Seahorse Aquariums over the weekend scoping out some fishy candidates. Still not fully decided.

Picked up 2 live plants so at least have something in the tank for the moment

Still needs some thing to provide a bit more cover, was thinking a terracotta pot & some wood or similar.

Ammonia levels just started to kick off yesterday

Cookie_Monster · 14-09-2010 5:25pm

Lid and light arrived today, brightens it up nicely

Now just need a backing, a bit of slate from home and maybe a flowerpot (and fish of course)

Cookie_Monster · 15-09-2010 9:53am

Filter has been in there since day 1, that's it on the right of the tank blowing bubbles out

EDIT: this kinda makes no sense now as the question was deleted...

Cookie_Monster · 24-09-2010 7:54am

The plants have only been in the tank 2 weeks now but they've gone mental. You could probably watch the leaves grow they growing that fast. In the last week one of them has "launched" 3 separate new leaves, the second of which is already nearly 2 inches long :eek:

Must be something in the water

godtabh · 25-09-2010 6:47pm

I'd constantly have to cut the plants in one of my tanks. The grow like mad things in the right conditions. Buy small and cheap and let them grow!

cdb · 26-09-2010 7:10pm

Photos look great, well done Cookie.

Cookie_Monster · 28-09-2010 9:13pm

the fish are as usual hiding away at the back

Cookie_Monster · 11-10-2010 7:45pm

Cory's

they're mental

Cookie_Monster · 16-10-2010 8:21pm

all change, sand put in instead of the gravel for the corys. and a bit or re-arranging while at it. Almighty mess created while changing both in and out of the tank

godtabh · 16-10-2010 11:08pm

Thats a big change!

Cookie_Monster · 17-10-2010 7:48am

godtabh wrote: »

Thats a big change!

totally worth it though. it's better for the fish and look far better also.

mcdoogle · 17-10-2010 2:30pm

Looks way better now lad!

godtabh · 18-10-2010 8:25am

what substrate is it?

Cookie_Monster · 18-10-2010 8:39am

godtabh wrote: »

what substrate is it?

its just sand from the petshop, says "river sand" on the bag.

Slates · 18-10-2010 2:00pm

Where did you but the silk plants ??

Cookie_Monster · 18-10-2010 2:34pm

Slates wrote: »

Where did you but the silk plants ??

there's only one silk. In post 25 its the dark green/purple one to the immediate left of the wood. Picked it up in Petstop in Carrickmines. The 2 on the left are real, from Seahorse) the rest are plastic from various shops (Maxi Zoo & Fish Antics)

Cookie_Monster · 03-11-2010 10:59am

Update:

Was away for the weekend, friend looking after the fish.
Came back to a bit of a mess. The last Danio had died, which I was kinda expecting tbh. But she obviously didn't notice him and this kicked off a wave of bacteria & algae growth. So he got flushed and a crash maintenance program was begun

So 40% water change, all rocks and plastic plants taken out and scrubbed clean of algae, seems to have done the job. I think I'm winning the battle with the brown algae, the plant leaves look much cleaner over the last few days. The snail war is going less well though, the buggers are everywhere. I remove about 10 a day.

I had added a plant (dunno what, half cm long leaves, multiple stems, 100+ leaves per stem) recently and it had gone mad in the few days too, it must have grown at least 2 inches, so that had to get chopped back.

Fish brightened right back up after the maintenance, they're all looking good. 6 panda cory and 12 cardinal tetra. Corys are definitly larger than when I bought them, seem well. Glad I changed to sand, they spend the whole time digging it up, the gravel would not have suited them.
Tetras look to be doing well also, all brightly coloured, swimming freely throughout the tank. Every so often one does a vertical dance infront of one or more of the others, dunno what thats about. the first time I thought it was sick but a few of them do it every so often and are back to normal after.

Cookie_Monster · 13-11-2010 12:47am

more change.

2 red robin gourami added today, lovely little fish.
4th plant added so more of the plastic ones get the boot.

a bit more re-arranging again also, I'll stick a pic up when the water settles down and clears

Cookie_Monster · 13-11-2010 4:17pm

Some more photos, not great quality due to camera and a lot of crap in the water from adding and disturbing sand last night.

Cookie_Monster · 28-01-2011 8:01pm

An update and some changes.

New plants, water onion in the corner and the sword have sprouted daughter plants which I snipped off and planted. Some of the plastic ones have been removed to make room for the live plants.

New flowerpots (they're pretty easy to spot:D)

New fish: 6 cory trilineatus, 4 assassin snails
Some losses: lost 1 cardinal and 3 panda cory since the start
All the slate is gone, I think the cory's have been damaging their whiskers off it at times.

Overview

Sword sending out shoots again, looks like more baby plants on the way :P

both type of cory and one of the amazon sword off cuts

Heard lots of names for this guy: red robin or honey gourami mainly

Assassin hidden between the leaves

Water Onion and Cory's

Hope you like it

chris139ryan · 26-02-2011 12:36pm

that tank has come along way man well done.

Cookie_Monster · 26-02-2011 1:54pm

chris139ryan wrote: »

that tank has come along way man well done.

Thanks

Still getting there. the amazon sword in the pot is sending out more shoots and the water onion has gone mad all over the place now.

I cleaned all the gunk outa the filter thoroughly too and its a much much better flow off it again.

Cookie_Monster · 06-03-2011 12:14am

I've decided that tomorrow will involve a major cleaning of the tank.

Heater / filter housing / flower pots etc all need to be cleaned and a massive anti snail programme launched as the assassins can only do so much. Plants need some trimming and will also change a much large % of water than normal, prob about 50%.

There is small hard green dots of algae forming on the glass and other surfaces. Can't get it off with the little magnet brush, any idea what it might be?

I'll go at it with a bit more force tomorrow anyway. Camera isn't good enough to pick it out clearly.

gbee · 06-03-2011 12:26am

Get a Zebra Loach for the snails, it's a community fish and will abide with anything. He loves snails but will eat readily anything as well.

An Algae Eater would help clean the glass, you'd need to chose carefully as some can be vicious, others destructive to your hard work and may not be worth the bother.

Cookie_Monster · 06-03-2011 9:56pm

^^

I looked at that but decided the tank was too small for one of them so not really fair.
The algae came off easily enough with a bit of scrubbing and I removed 100+ snails :eek:

There's still dozens and dozens in there though. On the plus side I counted at least 12 baby assassin snails zooming around which I've never seen before. So that's 4 adults and 12+ babies. It may be down to three adults though, I accidentally washed one of them in the sink while cleaning off the wood. Popped him back in and he moved around and eventually buried himself. I'll check on him tomorrow, if he's not where he is now I'll take it as a good thing.
So with the assassin reinforcements I may be on the verge of gaining the upper ground in the snail war

Cookie_Monster · 22-03-2011 8:56pm

A few of my tetra have growths on them. I have treated the tank with Tetrasafe Fungi stop, doesn't seem to have done the trick though.

Reading around a product called Melafix seems to fit the bill for treating them, does anyone know what shops in south Dublin may stock it before I go trapsing around. Petstop in Carrickmines or MaxiZoo in Bray would be handiest for me.

New (old) tank

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