My New Tank

Cookie_Monster

TaDa!!


So enough with the dramatics already

Here's my new tank, it's a 220L custom built 120x48x38 cm sitting on a custom stand and custom hood. Came with a Hydor Prime30 filter, a burnt out heater, lots of plastic plants and lots of bits: chemicals, filter media, a giant plastic bell, air lines etc. All for 300 NZD, or about €200 :pac::pac::pac:

To date I've cleaned it thoroughly, tested the filter, bought replacement filter inlet / outlet, 2 new heaters on the way. I added the substrate; a 2-3cm layer of peat moss covered in 4-5cm of sand (Black, like all the beaches around here) and filled it with water. Spent this evening adjusting the filter pipe length and purging as much air as I can from the filter system.

The filter has been running for a couple of hours, just for further testing. The heaters should turn up in the next few days and then I can start adding the ammonia and a few plants. Some wood / rocks will follow at some point.

I'm also planning a custom background, probably a Star Trek scene, which I think will look pretty cool [/nerd]

The plan is to heavily plant it, with what I'm not quite sure as yet. Livestock will be most likely, a couple of angels, some gourami - likely honeys, a shoal of tetras, a shoal of corys and some apple snails. Possibly some other surface level fish depending on stock levels. I'd quite like to have a large tetra shoal (>20) and they'll likely be neons or cardinals. Choice is a bit limited down here and everything is more expensive too unfortunately so it'll be a slower process than at home.

fred funk }{

Looking good. I'm in the process of upgrading my tank at the moment too. 220 is a nice size, gives you plenty more options on fish. A big shoal of tetras would be cool.

I see you're in NZ, what sort of money are fish down there?

Sleepy

Angels and tetras can be a bad combination, I know WIZE lost some tetras to his Angels.

Cookie_Monster

fred funk }{ wrote: »

I see you're in NZ, what sort of money are fish down there?

It can vary from similar to Irl to more expensive. Cardinals were $5.40 or so each in the lfs, about €3.60. Angels, $17.50 iirc

The heaters were $54 each plus post, could have got them for £22 ($44 or so) plus post from the UK if back in IRL. Plants are $5-10, so cheaper in some regards and there are loads on trade me. Unfortunitly where I am, New Plymouth, limits me as it's kinda remote from the main centres. Auckland is like Dublin, lots of shops, lots of people willing to swap / trade / sell, here not so much. There is a local wholesaler but neither they nor the lfs is willing to give me a stock list to browse through. I'll just have to ask the lfs at the time what they have available and take note and google all the types to see what I can use, what I like if not simply go with what I know.

vibe666

Sleepy wrote: »

Angels and tetras can be a bad combination, I know WIZE lost some tetras to his Angels.

yep, i was going to say the same thing.

i do have both in my 260L juwel vision and so far everyone is still present and correct, although after several months of harmoney in my community tank my two angels did snap up a couple of my mexican dwarf crayfish when they were shedding a little while ago.

Cookie_Monster

Sleepy wrote: »

Angels and tetras can be a bad combination, I know WIZE lost some tetras to his Angels.

Didn't know that, the angels will only be small. 5cm or so.
I presume I'd have a couple of years at least before they are big enough to devour a cardinal

vibe666

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Didn't know that, the angels will only be small. 5cm or so.
I presume I'd have a couple of years at least before they are big enough to devour a cardinal

you'd be surprised how quickly they grow, i got mine as babies and they have grown several times faster than anything else in the tank and are already laying eggs every couple of weeks. i doubt i'll get more than another 6 months before they're into tetra chomping mode.

Cookie_Monster

AqAdvisor has been consulted...



Seems I can happily have what I want except for the angels that don't fit the water parameters as well as being aggressive as suggested above...

any suggestions for a final addition, if any?

Bear in mind the 96% above represents a filter capacity of 454LpH, the filter will actually do 600LpH and I've measured it (roughly) and clocked over 700LpH...

Sleepy

A couple of Dwarf Gouramis? Don't get quite as big as Angels but have beautiful colouring.

vibe666

Sleepy wrote: »

A couple of Dwarf Gouramis? Don't get quite as big as Angels but have beautiful colouring.

they might fight with the honey gourami (apparently). although I have both and they are fine. the only real trouble i have is with my golden gourami who seems to really really like staying in the exact spot in the whole 260L tank where the angels keep laying their eggs, so he gets a lot of abuse from them.

they leave him alone if he doesn't go there and they only ever defend that one small part of the tank by the filter, but yer man just keeps going for it for some reason, even when there are no eggs there.

norrie rugger

Some Rainbow fish?
Mine are very well behaved with my rummy nosed tetras and harlequins

Cookie_Monster

Heaters in, ammonia will be added tonight to kick things off.

May pick up a few plants tomorrow to start it off, $5 bucks a pop or $3.30 for little ones. Nice and cheap. Also need some thermometers.

Cookie_Monster

aww look, ickle baby plants

mutznutz

especially like the ones on the far left and right wat are they called... wat sort of soil are you planting them in .. are you leaving them in the pot..

Cookie_Monster

mutznutz wrote: »

especially like the ones on the far left and right wat are they called... wat sort of soil are you planting them in .. are you leaving them in the pot..

No idea on names, so if anyonw knows do tell.
I removed them from the pots and ended up with 8 plants, the far left and right breakin up into 2 and 3 bits and the sword-esque one doing the same. Planted them all directly in the substrate which is peatmoss covered by sand.

Silverfish

You should get kribensis! Kribs are great craic.

My Mr and Mrs Krib are currently in luuurve, and it's funny to watch (she wants babies, he doesn't)



EDIT: actually they won't work if you have cories afaik. Not sure about the gouramis either.

mutznutz

Does the peat moss have any affect on the water ph.. and or nitrate levels .. it is dead moss so does this sky rocket nitrate ..

Cookie_Monster

Water has been in with filter on for 2 weeks. Added 6ppm ammonia and tested for same on the first day.

Levels today:

Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite .5ppm
Nitrate 0-3ppm or so, not quite the colour indicated for 5ppm, but a little darker than the 0 ppm colour.
ph ~6.5

I added a squeeze from a mature filter on Wednesday, seems way too quick to have cleared the ammonia already?!?

All tests are the dropper kind and I've tested for ammonia every 3 days so far, levels were pretty high, 4ppm+ on every other test.
Can a mature filter squeeze really make that much difference?

All the above results were taken just after a 15% water change, once water had circulated for about 10 mins

Cookie_Monster

mutznutz wrote: »

Does the peat moss have any affect on the water ph.. and or nitrate levels .. it is dead moss so does this sky rocket nitrate ..

it'll drop it a bit but that's good for the fish I want. The nitrate shouldn't rise as it's locked in as such and under a layer of sand. I've 12 plants in so far that should help absorb the nitrate too

Cookie_Monster

Also found some spiral shelled snails :mad:
I reckon they're ramshorns, darn it to hell. I though the high ammonia might have killed any of them...

Assassin snails not legal here either.

Cookie_Monster

I'm kinda hoping the wood will sink in the next few days rather than worrying about having to hold it down somehow

vibe666

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I'm kinda hoping the wood will sink in the next few days rather than worrying about having to hold it down somehow

nail it to the bottom with some nice big nails.

Silverfish

Should float it in the bath til it sinks, so your OH can moan at you about it.

Sleepy

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

All tests are the dropper kind and I've tested for ammonia every 3 days so far, levels were pretty high, 4ppm+ on every other test.
Can a mature filter squeeze really make that much difference?

In my non-expert experience, absolutely. I got one tank cycled in 4/5 days due to rinsing out a mature sponge in the tank!

Cookie_Monster

Sleepy wrote: »

In my non-expert experience, absolutely. I got one tank cycled in 4/5 days due to rinsing out a mature sponge in the tank!

sweet

Cookie_Monster

My last test done was last night

Amm: 0
Nitirite: 20ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm

Changed 40% to remove snail rid dose and did some work on the tank, adding weights to the driftwood to hold it down and moved a plant or two. Added a little ammonia solution (20ml or so) just to keep bacteria turning over

Test it this morning again
Amm:0
Nitrite: 20ppm
Nitrate: 160ppm+ (as dark a colour as the scale goes)

Changed another 20% this morning, no fish in tank yet it's still cycling.
Any reason the nitrates would skyrocket like that? The substrate is peat under sand, would disturbing it to bury the weights released that much nitrate?

I'm confused.

fred funk }{

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

My last test done was last night

Amm: 0
Nitirite: 20ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm

Changed 40% to remove snail rid dose and did some work on the tank, adding weights to the driftwood to hold it down and moved a plant or two. Added a little ammonia solution (20ml or so) just to keep bacteria turning over

Test it this morning again
Amm:0
Nitrite: 20ppm
Nitrate: 160ppm+ (as dark a colour as the scale goes)

Changed another 20% this morning, no fish in tank yet it's still cycling.
Any reason the nitrates would skyrocket like that? The substrate is peat under sand, would disturbing it to bury the weights released that much nitrate?

I'm confused.

Have you tested your tap water to see if there's any Nitrates in it?

It seems a huge swing in the space of a day.

Cookie_Monster

Tap water has zero pretty much, tested this morning after that result

fred funk }{

That reading couldn't be right. As the tank is cycling the Nitrates will rise but definitely not by that much. I'd test it again to be sure.

Cookie_Monster

Yeah I will retest and change water out as needed. Would the exposed peat leach nitrates?

fred funk }{

After reading up on it, it seems some peat is very high in nitrates. Personally I would remove it and it could potentially be lethal to your fish if it's releasing nitrate like that.

paddy147

Dont know how I missed this thread,till now.:o:D

Lovely tank you have,and looks like its going to be a very nice setup indeed.

Good luck with it and hope you enjoy it.:)

Cookie_Monster

hmm... I was not with it yesterday obviously.

tested today again:
Amm: 0ppm
Nitrite: .5ppm (same as previous times, not 20ppm) :oops:
Nitrate: 10ppm today

I reckon I must have messed up the test, too many or too few drops

fred funk }{

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

hmm... I was not with it yesterday obviously.

tested today again:
Amm: 0ppm
Nitrite: .5ppm (same as previous times, not 20ppm) :oops:
Nitrate: 10ppm today

I reckon I must have messed up the test, too many or too few drops

That's more like it. Lol!

Cookie_Monster

20% change today and retest

amm 0
nitrite 0
nitrate <5
ph 6.8-7

Tank ready for fishies

fred funk }{

Perfect reading you got there Cookie. I wouldn't add too many fish at the beginning though, add a few at a time, just so there won't be much of a load on the bacteria.

Cookie_Monster

fred funk }{ wrote: »

Perfect reading you got there Cookie. I wouldn't add too many fish at the beginning though, add a few at a time, just so there won't be much of a load on the bacteria.

I know

Plan today was to get a group of tetra (however many the store had avail) and some apple snails. That's probably gone out the window now with the extreme winds and risk of powercuts and getting blown away on the way home. I'll have to wait another day at least

Cookie_Monster

First besties are in, 5 apple snails in there somewhere.
Thought one was dead cos he didn't move for ages but then he woke up and shot around for a while. 4 new Crypt. Affinis plants in there today too. The tall plants in the back right have doubled their height in the lasst week and a half, growing like bamboo

15 pepper cories on the way next

MarkR

I was told there would be star trek backgrounds...

Cookie_Monster

MarkR wrote: »

I was told there would be star trek backgrounds...

there will but it'll be expensive so will be a while

fred funk }{

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

First besties are in, 5 apple snails in there somewhere.
Thought one was dead cos he didn't move for ages but then he woke up and shot around for a while. 4 new Crypt. Affinis plants in there today too. The tall plants in the back right have doubled their height in the lasst week and a half, growing like bamboo

15 pepper cories on the way next

Looking good.

I had a nasty experience a few weeks ago with one of my snails. I had five but hadn't seen the five together for a while so I decided to lift some rocks out to try find the lost snail.

I eventually found it trapped under a rock that must have shifted from the fish digging the sand. It was well dead and the smell of it was something I won't forget anytime soon and luckily I got it when I did as it would have polluted the tank.

Cookie_Monster

so much for apple snails not eating plants, they've demolished a few of them so far :mad:

15 pepper cory in there now too, seem happy so far. I'll wait a couple of weeks and then the tetra go in.

kylith

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

so much for apple snails not eating plants, they've demolished a few of them so far :mad:

Mine doesn't touch plants at all. Is there anything else for them to eat, like algae? Sinking algae pellets do down well with mine.

Silverfish

Oh no, sounds like you have canaliculata apple snails instead of diffusa, diffusa won't eat plants, canaliculata will.

Best thing to do is distract them with lettuce and cucumber, if they're getting enough food that they prefer, they'll leave your plants alone.

Cookie_Monster

yeah I've put a few bits of cucumber in and it's been demolished.

We'll see how they settle down, there's little or no evidence of algae yet either so maybe if it starts growing they'll eat it...