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Starting a 46 Bowfront

5K views 54 replies 17 participants last post by  Karackle 
#1 ·
So, my boyfriend asked me what I wanted for Xmas and I said a larger aquarium! We decided on the 46G bowfront and I pretty much have carte blanche for equipment/plants/fish. However, I don't want to deal with CO2 and I like the low tech approach.

Most of the substrate and plants are currently in my 20G and it will be switched to the 46 along with some inert black gravel to give it more depth. The 20G will become the quarantine tank.

So here are the specs so far:

Filter
Rena XP2

Lighting
Coralife 36in T5 HO

Substrate (Mix of)
Eco Complete
Floramax
Black gravel
River rocks/pebbles

Heater
Hydor 300W Inline heater

Ferts
Flourish Excel (or Metrecide14)
Root tabs (of some sort)

Flora
Najas grass
Crypt Undulata
Crypt Walkeri
Crypt Wendtii (bronze, green, red)
Hygro Difformis
Dwarf Saq
Aponogeton (of some sort)
Ludwigia Repens
Rotala Indica
And a bunch of stuff I just got from the SnS that I am going to see what survives; there was a lot of melted plants. :(

Fauna
3 Gourami (Pearl, blue or dwarf)
5/7 Cory (haven't decided what kind)
Guppies or endlers
4 Nerites
Red Cherry Shrimp
Bamboo Shrimp (after the tank matures)


I'm still deciding on what fishies to get. My boyfriend wants something that looks "shark like" or has vertical stripes. Lol! Maybe some sort of small loach? Still on the fence about that, because I don't want something that will tear up my plants or harass my fishies.


Any comments or suggestions? Thank you for reading! :)
 
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#32 ·
Ffffffffuuuuuuudge! The tracking now says "Damaged, handling per shipper instructions". I'm going to try and call FedEx tomorrow and see what's going on. :(

I've suggested bettas to him and he says they're too lazy (which I don't understand since I have one in a 5G that is rather active lol). I've suggested angelfish, bettas, tetras, barbs, cory cats, various apistos, rainbows and cichlids that would work in a community tank. He doesn't like any of them! He does kind of like loaches and he does like the sharks. Do platys or swordtails come in black? Any other fish with a black color morph? Thanks for all your suggestions guys!
 
#37 ·
I have a redtail shark and love the dang thing. On the other hand, he does occasionally chase around my tiger barbs....which aren't easy to push around. But, he doesn't do it very often and they don't seem to mind. He leaves my Sterbai Corys completely alone as well as my clown pleco and oto. He is a great fish and I really recommend one. --You should see how all his fins go down when he torpedoes around after a barb!--

Just don't get two like I did. They get very aggressive toward their own kind. One gets dominant and just wont leave the other alone. My guy basically killed his tank mate by constant harassment.

Whatever you do, have fun with your bowfront, it looks like the same tank I bought from a guy off craigslist...I really like it!
 
#38 ·
Well, I called FedEx and they're holding the package till Foster & Smith put in a claim. Then I called Foster & Smith and they're going to handle FedEx and they're also sending out a new package today! Yay! Now let's hope FedEx doesn't drop this one. :D
 
#40 ·
Sooooo if UPS and FedEx merged, what would the be the company name?
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FedUp! :hihi:

My bad, couldn't resist!
Back to the regular thread....
 
#41 ·
woohoo! yay F&S for being awesome even if FedEx dropped the ball....HA! didn't mean to make a pun there, just an expression I use a lot. :hihi:

Can't wait until you get all of your stuff so we can see how this tank unfolds! :proud:
 
#47 ·
I got the 2215. Here's the setup so far. Not sure if I like it, the weight of the inline heater creates a kink at the output of the filter. Any suggestions? Also, do the flow control things have a flow direction or can I put them on any direction?



Also, the EcoComplete I received was solid ice! Guess it got a little cold on it's way to Florida.

 
#50 ·
Ok thanks. Right now I have the tank half filled and the pump running. The block of ice melted and the water is waaaaay too cold to do anything so I'm letting the heater do it's job. When the water is warmer, I'll turn off the filter and shorten the tubing. :)
 
#52 ·
FTS:








The water is a little cloudy, I think it might be a bacteria bloom. I have a single platy in there for cycling. I've already seeded it with mulm and media from my other two tanks, so I think it's got a good start.

I fixed the problem I was having with the tube kinking at the filter.

My boyfriend is nervous about it being open top so we're going shopping today/tomorrow for a glass top. Hope we can find one at the LFS.
 
#54 ·
They're river pebbles. I was seeing if I liked the look in this tank. In my other tanks they get a dusting of algae and look nice and natural. Maybe I'll just use black pebbles in this tank; I'm really starting to like the all black substrate (I didn't before).

I can't wait for my plants to grow more! They were all in my 20 and they're all really short. Except the rotala rotundifolia, that seems to grow really tall no matter what tank I put it in.
 
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