well, after reading excessively and irritating quite a few people through PM i have finally made plenty of progress on starting these 3 tanks. I will be tackling all 3 at the same time which should be fun :hihi:.
So first let me start with the tank and livestock i'm parting with shortly. i have been a discus keeper for quite a few years now and i am sad do see my discus go but i want to take on a new challenge. i currently have a 125g 6ft tank with 11 discus originally but now am down to 8 with 3 waiting to be picked up (deposit was left). The money i am making from the discus and tank has been going towards buying all the things i need for these 3 tanks. Since these will mainly be shrimp tanks i could not keep the discus since they have been notorious shrimp eaters. So, here are some pictures of my discus and 125 currently:
full tank shot
that is a 7" whopper right in the middle which has scratches because breeding has gotten fierce as of late in this tank. he scratched himself on the driftwood.
the tank was predominantly turqs but i had quite a mix at one point. the red melons were some of my first discus which is why i kept them. they hardly have peppering at all. those are sold and waiting to be picked up currently.
you can actually see the red melons laying on the power head here, lol.
So, with the sadness that came from selling all my discus and shortly my 125 i embark on this new challenge.
Tanks:
55g will be the community tank with co2
10g no co2, will be mainly the selective breeding tank
10g no co2, will be the culls tank
hopefully i can remove the rim from both of these with no problems
Filtration:
I currently have 2 XP3's in my 125 which have 2 Hydor 300w inlines. I will be using these on my 55 and more than likely adjust the flow so that there isn't a crazy tornado in the tank. I doubt i will need a power head.
The 10's will hopefully have 2 Eheim 2213's (i bought one so far) w/ lilly pipes.
Stocking:
All 3 tanks will have:
RCS i just acquired some great ones that are so red they look like fire reds
CRS so far i have A-S+ grade
only the 55 will get around 100 chilli's or so
Otos for 55
and possibly BNP depending if they do not eat shrimp, i still have to read up on that.
Lighting:
55g will get a 48" T5HO w/ 2 (or possibly 3) bulbs. this will be raised with fixture legs
10g's will both have a 48" T8 32w suspended over them (yet to determine the height)
CO2:
I bought a 2 stage concoa regulator off ebay and i bought the post body from Jason. It has a clippard solenoid, Fabco needle valve and i bought a JBJ BC from a fellow member. the 10# CO2 tank i also bought on ebay new and the local airgas said they will fill it for $14. My CO2 will be diffused with a rex style reactor which i am still working on.
Substrate:
55g I will be buying MTS from a fellow member and i am yet to decide what i will cap it with, i am still reading on it, i know i want to go with black for sure though.
10's I have already bought 12L of ADA Amazonia
Fertz:
55g will have full dry fertz dosing, I am still asking on another thread which i need to use considering my lighting and water parameters.
10's will not have any fertz in the water column, maybe some root tabs and such.
Stand/Canopy:
All are yet to be built but i am fairly sure i will get around to building both pretty soon, lol :tongue:.
I will go with 3/4 wood and paint it black, i will not stain any of it since i hated how my 125 stand came out, it just seems i am not that handy with a paint brush. So i figured if i just painted it it might be the easiest route. the 55g Canopy will be a flip canopy.
As mentioned before the 10's will have a hanging light fixture and the stand for the 10's will hopefully match the one for the 55
Flora:
I am completely unsure, there are just too many beautiful plants out there but i think i will try to edit myself as much as possible and only get a few types as oppose to a whole bunch of plants that makes it look cluttered. i plan on keeping some of the plants i currently have, some of which i do not know the name of. I will keep my driftwood with anubias and maybe the huge ball of java moss, see pic:
i'm concerned that this piece might be too large for a 55 and might not use it. it would be a shame since it's such a nice piece, maybe in a corner somewhere?
well, that is all i can think of for now, here are all the pictures:
this is where my shrimp are currently kept in, not the prettiest but it works
the lighting was not bad at roughly 20 bucks inclucing bulbs at home depot
other 9L en route from ADA
it took me a while to piece this together (the acquiring of the parts, not the actual building, Jason assembled the whole needle valve, check valve and solenoid) :icon_smil
that is all for now, i will be taking pictures as i make the stands/canopies and a few other things. thanks for viewing!
So first let me start with the tank and livestock i'm parting with shortly. i have been a discus keeper for quite a few years now and i am sad do see my discus go but i want to take on a new challenge. i currently have a 125g 6ft tank with 11 discus originally but now am down to 8 with 3 waiting to be picked up (deposit was left). The money i am making from the discus and tank has been going towards buying all the things i need for these 3 tanks. Since these will mainly be shrimp tanks i could not keep the discus since they have been notorious shrimp eaters. So, here are some pictures of my discus and 125 currently:
full tank shot
that is a 7" whopper right in the middle which has scratches because breeding has gotten fierce as of late in this tank. he scratched himself on the driftwood.
the tank was predominantly turqs but i had quite a mix at one point. the red melons were some of my first discus which is why i kept them. they hardly have peppering at all. those are sold and waiting to be picked up currently.
you can actually see the red melons laying on the power head here, lol.
So, with the sadness that came from selling all my discus and shortly my 125 i embark on this new challenge.
Tanks:
55g will be the community tank with co2
10g no co2, will be mainly the selective breeding tank
10g no co2, will be the culls tank
hopefully i can remove the rim from both of these with no problems
Filtration:
I currently have 2 XP3's in my 125 which have 2 Hydor 300w inlines. I will be using these on my 55 and more than likely adjust the flow so that there isn't a crazy tornado in the tank. I doubt i will need a power head.
The 10's will hopefully have 2 Eheim 2213's (i bought one so far) w/ lilly pipes.
Stocking:
All 3 tanks will have:
RCS i just acquired some great ones that are so red they look like fire reds
CRS so far i have A-S+ grade
only the 55 will get around 100 chilli's or so
Otos for 55
and possibly BNP depending if they do not eat shrimp, i still have to read up on that.
Lighting:
55g will get a 48" T5HO w/ 2 (or possibly 3) bulbs. this will be raised with fixture legs
10g's will both have a 48" T8 32w suspended over them (yet to determine the height)
CO2:
I bought a 2 stage concoa regulator off ebay and i bought the post body from Jason. It has a clippard solenoid, Fabco needle valve and i bought a JBJ BC from a fellow member. the 10# CO2 tank i also bought on ebay new and the local airgas said they will fill it for $14. My CO2 will be diffused with a rex style reactor which i am still working on.
Substrate:
55g I will be buying MTS from a fellow member and i am yet to decide what i will cap it with, i am still reading on it, i know i want to go with black for sure though.
10's I have already bought 12L of ADA Amazonia
Fertz:
55g will have full dry fertz dosing, I am still asking on another thread which i need to use considering my lighting and water parameters.
10's will not have any fertz in the water column, maybe some root tabs and such.
Stand/Canopy:
All are yet to be built but i am fairly sure i will get around to building both pretty soon, lol :tongue:.
I will go with 3/4 wood and paint it black, i will not stain any of it since i hated how my 125 stand came out, it just seems i am not that handy with a paint brush. So i figured if i just painted it it might be the easiest route. the 55g Canopy will be a flip canopy.
As mentioned before the 10's will have a hanging light fixture and the stand for the 10's will hopefully match the one for the 55
Flora:
I am completely unsure, there are just too many beautiful plants out there but i think i will try to edit myself as much as possible and only get a few types as oppose to a whole bunch of plants that makes it look cluttered. i plan on keeping some of the plants i currently have, some of which i do not know the name of. I will keep my driftwood with anubias and maybe the huge ball of java moss, see pic:
i'm concerned that this piece might be too large for a 55 and might not use it. it would be a shame since it's such a nice piece, maybe in a corner somewhere?
well, that is all i can think of for now, here are all the pictures:
this is where my shrimp are currently kept in, not the prettiest but it works
the lighting was not bad at roughly 20 bucks inclucing bulbs at home depot
other 9L en route from ADA
it took me a while to piece this together (the acquiring of the parts, not the actual building, Jason assembled the whole needle valve, check valve and solenoid) :icon_smil
that is all for now, i will be taking pictures as i make the stands/canopies and a few other things. thanks for viewing!