Spyke's fish/shrimp tank rack (epic move!)

[spyke]

Ok, so within a few months I will be a married man (GO ME!). so I will be slowly moving all of my tanks from my parent's house, to mine...er uh, ours . So i have my 40b iwagumi already here at the new place, my 120gal waiting for lights, heater, and HUGE canister before i can start it. (I'll start a journal on it as well since it will be my first attempt at a semi-heavily planted African Hap tank...which I can't wait for!

But for now, I will be moving and starting tanks on my new fish/shrimp rack. which you can tell by it's hideous construction, I built myself within a few hours ( just pray it holds all my tanks!) and then painted black.

So, today I will share the launch of the rack and my 20 long invert only tank.

umm...so as of now it houses some cherries, netrite snails, and endlers just to cycle, and have something fun in the tank. But i hope to add some more corona netrites if i can find some, and crs and or golden crs, and possibly switch out the reg cherries for the yellow var.

ok, so substrate is fluval stratum, co2 is diy soon to be set up, ferts =root medic macro and micro, filtration is crappy and will be improved soon, and rock may be some sort of shale...so it won't effect water hardness, and the wood is roots from probably an oak or maple tree...but they look stunning and i have more to use in other tanks in the future.

Flora: java moss, phillipine java ferns, weeping moss, parva crypt, crypt undulata, red wentii crypt, and nesea pedicellata "golden"


and the other tanks will be 4 10g and 1 5.5g

5.5: shrimp tank ( I already have a thread for that)
10gs: red tailed goodeid breeding tank
african cichlid fry tank
endler/black chin LB breeding tank
guppy/platie whatever planted tank (this one may change)

I also currently as you can see under the rack have a container with soil and glosso doing an emmersed growth. i took some cuttings from my 40 iwagumi since the glosso is tanking over. So i'm waiting on the hc to pick up some speed.

Njoy the progress

[sewingalot]

Congratulations on the upcoming marriage! Looks like you are starting out the relationship on the right foot - full of fish tanks. I like the rack. Did you make it?

[spyke]

thank you, and she is fine with the fish (11 tanks), cuz she's got 3 cats...plus mine

and yes i did, it is just 2x4s and particle board, i stood and laid down on the top level to make sure it could hold my weight, so i think it should be fine.

[sewingalot]

It's great to find someone that will put up with our hobby. My husband buys me fish stuff for our anniversary. Those cats are going to have a lot of tanks to keep them occupied. Are you planning on staying with crypts, mosses and ferns? I like the idea of it.

[Geniusdudekiran]

That is a beautiful scape.

[spyke]

yes...i like the low light plants for this set up, all i have is a 64watt shop light. so it's not the best lighting, but i'l see how it goes. I know that the parva, glosso, and nasea normally need more light, but we will see if this is enough, hopefully once the co2 is on, that will compensate for lighting deficiency(if there is any).

and thank you genius. I'm happy with it, i'm sure i will be more so when it starts growing out.

[Betta Maniac]

That looks great. Love the branches! 20-Long tanks just have the best dimensions!!!

[spyke]

ok...so i tried to move my 5.5 last night to set it next to my 20 L....

FAIL!

the glass is so thin that i made one of the panes crack, so i'll just get another one today and put everything back in place....but there are so many shrimp and babies in there that this is going to be a mess and a few lives will be lost

oh well, i put a bunch in the 20 even though i want just CRS and yellow heteropodas. oh well.

[spyke]

ok...so here are just some updates...got the 5.5 back up and running, and rescaped it a little. Umm also moved over my african 10g grow out tank for new borns...juvie dimidiochromis compressiceps and neolamp. multifasciatus are the inhabitants now, hopefully soon some of my vics will breed or my rhamprochromis' will. The juvies will soon be moving out of there and into the 55 African grow out...and also the RT goodeid tank...I think i have either 6 or 8 of them, there are probably going into a pond for the summer, but maybe i'll split up the group into 2 tens when i toss the endlers and black chins out in the pond for the summer.
my set up is also complete with my sweet diy co2 for the 20L invert tank, and my new cilantro plant...it would be between the 2 tens on the bottom, but 1 of my 4 cats could love to eat it and knock it over and break my pretty pot.

anywho, i have some algae issues with the tanks which i'm sure is due to too much light and well water. since it is untreated, algae stays alive even though it is underground...and doesn't ever touch chlorine. oh well, everything is good and i'm especially happy with my nasea verticulata (i think) "golden", in my best planted tank my 29...it melted in 5 days, it has been here for 2+ weeks with no issues *strange*.
njoy

[sewingalot]

I was just thinking about your tanks and look what I find! An awesome update. You know, I am wondering if larger tanks are easier in a way to stabilize which causes less algae overall? I am not sure. I am really digging the stand now that you have it filled with tanks. And I am super, duber jealous of that nasea verticulata you took a picture of. My favorite tank is the top right. For some reason, it's just really pretty and pleasant to look at. I think you scaped it well with the moss.

[spyke]

if you do some diggin you can find the original thread for it...probably like spykes cherry farm or something. and see some more of it. it was a lot better, but since i had to completely redo it. it is ok for now.

but thanks a lot! and yes i love the nasea. its so pretty.

[spyke]

ok...update tonight! i am the proud new owner of some CRS (c-a grade :/ ) but hey i got s to start somewhere. and will be buying 2 unknown brown neo. hets. at least they look like neo hets, maybe i'll post them in the invert section for some id later...anywho. pics tonight.

[spyke]

here are some new shrimp in the 20 invert only tank...and the whole rack is finsihed with the last two tanks on top holding all livebearers. yeah.
and i had some staghorn algae real bad in the invert tank, but dosed excel and boosted the effectiveness of my diy co2, and it's dying off now and turning red.

[spyke]

k...excel is definitely killing off that staghorn algae i had in there, and is still not affected the shrimps or nerite snail.

[sewingalot]

Glad to hear the progress and that the excel is working out for you. The shrimp are definitely cute. I think it is wise to start out with the lower grade shrimps and work up from there. That way if they do good, you can sell the offspring and invest in higher grades. And if not....at least you didn't spent a boatload of money of them. I have a feeling you are going to do well, though.