Feels good to re-enter the hobby after a couple of years absence. I'm limited to only one tank, and I must've had a thousand bubbling ideas so far. Started off planning a blackwater tank, then a strict biotope, but realized I always felt I was missing out on something, so it'll be a mixed community instead. I want a planted, natural looking tank with an interesting mix of fish.
I've spent good chunk of my free time on this forum the past few weeks, and seen alot of people doing amazing and ambitious projects with hi-tech dosing pumps and micro-managed Dutch gardens. I can certainly understand the fascination of that, but don't expect that in this journal. This one will be less detail-oriented as I try to accomplish a relaxing and aestethically pleasing balanced tank, albeit not necessarily technically perfect or optimal. To put it this way, I can guarantee there won't be any excel-sheets of my dosing regime (I get enough of that at the office) :grin2:
Tank is currently being built, expected to be ready end of February. Until then I hope we can bounce some ideas along the way as I've been out of the game for a while. I've planned alot in my head, and frankly I think that's what I enjoy the most. Just researching fish, plants and layout. I'm not a guy who keep the same setup for 10 years straight, I enjoy the build and planning too much.
My aim is to mimic a slow moving river/ flooded river bank, that could be anywhere south of the equator. I've pictured half the bottom of the tank being filled with a reddish sand, other half a carpet of HC Cuba or similar, together with AR mini and starogyne repens. Moss, anubias and perhaps a java fern to be attached to the wood, which will partially be emersed.
I'll update with intended products and stocking tomorrow, time for bed now!
Firstly, fish. The top 3 I'm fairly decided on, the 4th depends on how crowded the tank feels like. Also a bit afraid it'll skewer the sense of scale as they're significantly larger than the rest.
The Corys fare better in higher numbers, and absolute minimum would be 8. When tank gets in place I'll see how it feels, don't want a crowded tank.
Plants; Alternanthera Reineckii 'Mini' - love these! HC Cuba - Potentially, I'd need CO2 for these. Cory's often frequent flooded forests & marshes, maybe it can work if I let the carbet spread before introducing the catfish. Carpet would cover ~half the back of the tank, the rest would be fine sand Staurogyne Repens - Used in conjunction with HC, closer to the wood Foxtail - or similar fast growing plant in the start
Various moss will be used to decorate the wood, probably some Anubias var nana and Java fern too.
Tank will sit where the printer currently is. Bench will be reinforced allthough it's quite sturdy already, and it'll be cleaned out to house canister + potential CO2 system. I hate the red wall but I just rent the place so what can you do. Black plastidip will be applied to the back of the tank, a personal preference. Was in the midst of a cleaning session as you can see, apologies for the mess.
The stuff I've acquired so far. Tape measure for scale, tank height will be 35 cm
The bench is almost same footprint as tank (like 5 cm shorter) so in anticipation for tank to arrive, I started to try out 3 scapes. Happy to hear your thoughts on them. The idea is for wood to break the water surface, links in end of post showing what my inspiration is.
Version 1:
V2, less crowded without the chunk in the middle?
V3 Not sure I like this vertical placement, but then again couldn't adjust angles fully to my liking
Love all the configurations for the wood, but 2nd would probably give you the most space if you decide to go with HC. Any chance of flipping the longer right-hand piece of wood so that the stick is pointing right instead of left?
What are the exact dimensions of the tank? My "big" tank is 80cm long x 40cm wide x 30cm high, so I'd imagine similar size. Love scaping it with the width and depth, and plants seem to grow much faster in my shallower tanks than they do in my deeper tanks. I'm a little concerned about the missing corners at the back though?
Seems like you're going fairly high-tech, so have you thought about running a small pump round the back of the large left-hand piece of wood so that water trickles down the front? You could potentially grow emergent plants if so - I've done fairly well with java moss, java fern, an unknown buce, and anubias coffeefolia in a similar set up, although it has always been in a covered tank, so high humidity. Have you looked at any of the pennywort species?
Which fish do you mean by "Vampire tetra"? The only one I've heard of is hydrolycus scomberoides, which grow huge! I'd also be a little concerned about the butterfly fish jumping out the top, but will follow this journal closely as they've always seemed super interesting.
Final question - please tell me you got that would online from a UK site?? It's gorgeous!
Thanks very much! I'm quite thrilled by your response, it really seems you read my mind here, and we even got very similar tank measures as well! I'll pop in your journal soon enough, "unfortunately" I'm just about to head to Donegal this weekend with the gf so will be next week.
Agreed the 2nd seems best so far. I'll definitely try and swap the direction around for the right-hand piece and upload a photo when I get a chance. We got almost the same footprint of our tanks, mine will be 90cmx40cmx35, 35 being the height. The bench is a tad smaller than the tank, so I'll use a particle board between bench and tank to make sure there's support all around the bottom, that's probably my next step in getting this all setup. Not sure of which coulour to go for though, perhaps black.
You actually read my mind about a pump watering down the left root, that's why I got the powerhead Pennyworth is unknown to me, I have plenty of reading to do around plants as it's quite new to me, I'll add it to the list for sure. I've done some low-tech tanks before, even with DIY CO2 but I don't wanna do that again. Right now it feels like I'll get the pressurized version, but I don't have an interest in building it as advanced as possible. Medium-tech tank is perhaps the most accurate description of this build!
There's links to all the fish species in the above post, here's the one for vampire tetras:https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/fish-archives/gnathocharax-steindachneri/
I really hope my LFS can bring them in as they look awesome and would fit really well in accordance with what I want to have, and they'll max out at about 5cm!
Finally, I hate to break it to ya but wood was all sourced locally. I visited a handful shops and ended up buying from two different ones. I got 6 smaller & medium pieces of mangroove so I could puzzle them together, and the big trunk to the left-hand side is some form of driftwood. It only cost 25 eur!! Didn't have to think much about that one before opening the wallet...
Visited a great fish store today, unfortunately located ~2 hours drive away. My car is at the shop so using public transport I had to limit my purchases a bit and therefore opted for just a small bag of Tropicas soil. I'm probably only gonna use it in certain areas for the carpet so it may last or I'll pick up another bag later. I wanted the Eheim Classic 250 but they only had Eheim Classic 350 or Ecco Pro 200 in stock so I chose the latter one due to smaller dimension. JBL sand purchased earlier.
Also picked up two small caves which I think will fit nicely with the real stone I have. Colour wise it didn't stand out too much and will probably put some moss on it to further blend in. In one of the display tanks in the shop they had the AT-AT with lots of algae growth on it, looked so cool so couldn't help myself from getting one. Not sure if I'll actually use it in tank or put it to use somewhere else.
As I hade a few hours on the bus today I researched my CO2 setup a bit more and found this great site to order from. I'm thinking of going for Sodastream cylinder as container as it's widely available. Just not sure how long I can expect it to last or if it'd be worth the hassle of sourcing a bigger container? Inline diffuser will be used and volume will be ~90L/ 24 US gallons.
Would also appreciate input on the below kits, I fail to see the difference more than the two more expensive ones have an extra pisco flow controller. Rather spend a few extra quid now and have no hassle later on. All below will have adapter, solenoid and UK plug.
Visited a great fish store today, unfortunately located ~2 hours drive away. My car is at the shop so using public transport I had to limit my purchases a bit and therefore opted for just a small bag of Tropicas soil. I'm probably only gonna use it in certain areas for the carpet so it may last or I'll pick up another bag later. I wanted the Eheim Classic 250 but they only had Eheim Classic 350 or Ecco Pro 200 in stock so I chose the latter one due to smaller dimension. JBL sand purchased earlier.
Also picked up two small caves which I think will fit nicely with the real stone I have. Colour wise it didn't stand out too much and will probably put some moss on it to further blend in. In one of the display tanks in the shop they had the AT-AT with lots of algae growth on it, looked so cool so couldn't help myself from getting one. Not sure if I'll actually use it in tank or put it to use somewhere else.
As I hade a few hours on the bus today I researched my CO2 setup a bit more and found this great site to order from. I'm thinking of going for Sodastream cylinder as container as it's widely available. Just not sure how long I can expect it to last or if it'd be worth the hassle of sourcing a bigger container? Inline diffuser will be used and volume will be ~90L/ 24 US gallons.
Would also appreciate input on the below kits, I fail to see the difference more than the two more expensive ones have an extra pisco flow controller. Rather spend a few extra quid now and have no hassle later on. All below will have adapter, solenoid and UK plug.
I used soda stream for about 2 years on a 7.5 gallon tank, a tank would last like 6 months on that. I was using a regulator I bought of marine depot so not sure about these kits, they look like they would work great though.
I like the hard scape layout and fish stocking ideas, I had a African butterfly fish a long time age really fun fish to feed but his food would always escape in the house. And I was always chasing down crickets.
Tank should be ready this coming week (fingers crossed). In the meanwhile I've been conducting some reconnaissance for new LFS's and found a new one tonight - by far the best one so so far. Got me an inline heater and some Tropica fertiliser, and I'll come back when it's time for fish.
Also went to a DIY store and got a MDF board cut, which matches the footprint of the tank thus providing an even surface to avoid any tensions in the tank and ensuring that the load is spread across the whole bench. With this in place I tried some more compositions, think I like this one the most so far. The idea is to resemble a flooded ditch or riverbank, and I plan to have the sand build up towards the root (on the left, roughly from where the stones are placed), simulating an old shattered tree trunk that's now submersed. Around the root itself there'll be a carpet, likely of HC Cuba, and mosses covering the wood to give more of an aged feeling. Sand will cover most of the rest of the bottom. On top of this I plan to run water via a powerhead to water the mosses, and I've also gotten a mister which I hope to fit in there as well.
Tank is scheduled to arrive this week so doing some prep work around the scaping. With the mdf board cut to the exact footprint it's easier to compose it. The aim is a somewhat natural part of a flooded riverbank, and I'm gonna add a fogger for some extra zeist! Instead of wasting money on expensive substrate I ordered some net bags and filled them with gravel from the backyard, hoping this wouldn't cause any nasty pockets underneath the top-layer substrate.
The bags filled with coarse gravel, rinsed and hung to dry
Cut the aquarium mat after painting the edges of the board
You've seen this tree trunk before, I modified it to house the fogger. Quite amazed how well the different roots fit together, all bought from different stores at different times. Contemplated if I should try and capture this in a video instead but don't have a program for editing it, nor the knowledge required.
Also spent a significant amount of time installing the filter in my whiskey cabinet, took some effort but it'll be fully hidden and the bonus of keeping it in the cabinet (contrary to directly in the shelf under the tank) is the added soundproofing, which'll come in handy considering I'll be sleeping in the same room. Also gonna pick up the lighting units this weekend.
-Tank ready for collection tomorrow
-Lights are set aside in the store for collection on Saturday
-DHL express estimates the CO² stuff to arrive tomorrow before 6
I still have my doubts about DHL, considering that it'll be shipped from UK but fingers crossed. Don't think it's the end of the world if I'd start cycling a day before the carbon gets installed and nevertheless, perfect timing as I have the whole weekend free for starting up the tank!! I'm so excited (and just can't hide it) :biggrin:
Letting the tank stand overnight to make sure it's leak-free. Dropped the roots in to make sure they're sinking. Suppose it's good to get an indication if there's tannins that'll stain the water - which I'd have no objections against.
Tomorrows shopping list:
-black background
-lights
-plants (going for ~6 species, Anubias petite, HC Cuba, AR 'mini', something fast-growing, a bucephelandra and potentially something else)
-sodastream cylinder
-thermometer
-maybe a test kit, allthough I might just bring a selection of water to the store for testing to have a reference. Heard rumours the water is rather hard over here, some soil and CO² should take it down a notch. Gonna ask the lfs for advise as I believe the tap water is treated with chlorine.
-hose, for waterchanges. If I can find one that has some sort of adapter for the tap, as the ones in the house lacks threads. Took 10 buckets just to fill up the tank, and now that I only have 1 tank I thought I'd be fine 'bucketing' but soon realized I've been kidding myself.
Thanks! Yeah it's been a long wait for the aquarium to be built, I've made the most of the situation and enjoyed the planning and visualization of it very much so far. Suppose it's not bad having to long for something once in a while either. A big part of what I like about the hobby is the connection with nature and taking a step back and relaxing. Been watching lots of nature documentaries lately as well, of course narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
So I've been lagging behind a bit with the updates, I spent most of the weekend setting this up and I'll divide it into several posts for easier reading. There was some setbacks too which I'll detail later, and some alterations and lessons learned along the way. Some were due to lack of experience, others were just plain bad luck (I keep telling myself :biggrin
All the important stuff in one place
In my estimate the particle board on top will be sufficient reinforcement enough as tank is quite shallow, and with me sitting on the bench it still feels very sturdy. Nevertheless, I had this surplus board saved from an earlier project and usually the death of DIY aquarium benches is the shear diagonal or longitudinal force so why not attach it? It's just cosmetic dirt on it but won't be visible anyway.
The background; this was one of the more annying mistakes. I'm embarassed to share how long time I spent on getting all the bubbles out of it, only to later find out it was in vain. The glass in the tank is 8mm thick, the light brackets open to max 8mm so it'll inevitably move the background and create (big) bubbles... Some day when I feel crafty I'm gonna remove it and use paint instead.
This rope weren't in the first picture, it's to create a vine - an idea I stole off a youtuber. Simply rub it in silicone and dip it in coco fiber (I used the chip from drilling the tree trunk for the fogger) - done!
Todays carry on included waterchange, filterclean and some DIY. I might've mentioned it before, tank's been riddled with fine wood dust from the artifical vine I made. It's really been annoying me so decided to try and get it out during the waterchange. Normally I wouldn't use a gravel vacuum, as I'm a strong believer all the organic stuff should be taken care of by invertibrates or the microbe process in the aquarium. To riddle this dust though I needed one, so made my own instead of rushing to the store.
Very handy to easily be able to raise the light to get some working space, by reversing the brackets (thanks Streetwise for the tip). The vacuum worked really well and it fills the bucket quicker than when I'm using a (lowend) powerhead!
During WC today I noted 6 shrimps, so what I believed was 2 deaths proved to be the shrimps molting! Even found a third empty skelet as I filled up the tank again. In two weeks time 3/6 shrimps have molted, I'll take that as a good sign (and explanation why they've been so shy recently)!
Current status
Mounted this elbow instead of having the hose crumble like it did before, as seen in earlier picture quoted below
Added two new plants a few days ago, Nymphaea Lotus and Hygrophila Corymbosa, both supposedly quick growing and adding decent biomass to counter algae
HC still rolling on
FTS. Once tank is settled I'll revise the plants I'm using, not fully satisfied as it's a bit too crowded and want plants with smaller leaves for a better sense of scale. Echinoderus will likely be first to go but will do for now
I run the fogger for 30 minutes during sunset and this is what it looks like. Picture taken the night before WC, hence low water level
Great build. The snail on the left is an Assassin snail, the 2 in the middle are Nerites a Tiger and a Zebra and the one on the right is a Zebra as well.
Thanks a mill! Hmm wish I'd known the assassin snail would cannibalize on the others, not really what I want. If I see them I'll bring them out of the tank, for now they seem to be buried somewhere in the sand.
Really interested to see how well the substrate stays on those bags of filler, it's something I've wanted to try for a while, but worry that it'll all slide off.
Thanks very much! The filter's got a good reputation so hopefully it'll stay in service for many years for both of us. I think it can be quite useful with the filler bags, for me the actual layer of soil was too thin in some places, making it hard to plant, so think twice about that. Also I didn't want to build 'barriers' to separate the substrates, which I'm already regretting. I may actually do a 'retrofit' of that. So, the basic principle is good, just execute it wisely
Stocking;
Pygmy Cory's
A school of tetra (I'm waiting on response from my LFS if they can bring in this fish: https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/fish-archives/gnathocharax-steindachneri/)
I really also want to get a few pleco's, like the L183 and Zebra pleco (found a local breeder with a more human price point) but not sure how strong current they'd need to thrive, I believe at least the water will be well oxygenated with all the plants
Perhaps african butterfly fish & some form of betta, but they'd need timid water as opposed to the plecos. Choices...
Really interested to see how well the substrate stays on those bags of filler, it's something I've wanted to try for a while, but worry that it'll all slide off.
How many Assassins do you have? If the Malaysians are bigger than the Assassins it should be fine. If the Malaysians are fast breeders, then yeah the Assassins can take care of the excess.
Another hobby of mine is landscape photograpy, and must say it's a very challenging subject the aquarium. If you're not perpendicular there's all sorts of optical refraction, very high dynamic range beyond what the camera can cope with, flare, co² bubbles etc... Fun in it's own way with a change of pace so here's a bunch of photos!
Think I'm off to a good start, loads of biomass in there (went kind of overboard at the store haha), most of them easy but will be replaced as tank progresses. The weeping moss has been a pain so far, leaving all sorts of litter in the tank. The bucephelandra 'wavy green' was by far the most fun to plant in crevices, the Cuba was a bit of a pain as in some areas the substrate was a bit thin so I've redone that a couple of times. Think it's good now, and once it starts rooting I'll top up with some more soil. I've rearranged the lights to an position as the trunk made a deadspot where I definitely wanted a carpet, it's unevenness annoys me but the carpet is worth it.
Bump:
3 assassins, 2 zebras and 1 tiger. In my experience the Malaysians are avid breeders, but if I get a few fully grown one I'm more than happy if the assassins would feast on their offsprings!
Here's the lighting schedules. As the substrate is much taller for the left light I've lowered the intensity there, it's still a bit stronger in reality but as I want to promote the carpet I think that's fine. Also it "sunsets" a bit ealier than the right one, as it's in close proximity to the fogger I don't want it running hot when the mist comes out. It's hard to see but the right light has a long sunset followed by an hour or so of moonlight before switching off. Once tank is cycled I'll increase photoperiod.
Also added a handful malaysian snails today. I had to convince my LFS that I wanted them as they were 100% convinced they're pest and don't belong in a tank, in the end I got them for free. We'll see if they can outlive the assassin snails as they're rather small, don't matter too much for me to be honest. It's only around the built up area I used a deep layer of sand as to not show the layers, and frankly don't think that's gonna lead to any problems with dead pockets.
A bit surprised to see that the petite Anubias is the plant that pearls the most! It's mainly that one and the cryptocorone in front of it where it's a visible trail of bubbles. Just before the sunset I've noticed pearl drops on the Cuba as well, but it's more of an oxygen bubble stuck to the small leaves and not a trail.
For now some of the technique is visible, like the bubble counter, thermometer and powerhead on the backwall. This is more for monitoring during the cycling, once I'm calibrated they're gonna be more hidden. Also ordered a smaller powerhead, and once the plants grow a bit more it'll be fully hidden.
When I first installed the CO² kit I was baffled, it started leaking just as I mounted the cylinder to the regulator - as it was my first time with pressurized CO² I assumed I was doing something wrong, kept trying to screw it in and out during the leaks to figure out what I was doing wrong. Eventually I somehow found a sweetspot where it didn't leak (or so I thought) after moving around the plastic washer.
I tuned it to 2-3 BPS. The high-pressure clock measured about 500 PSI. Normal working pressure is 800-1000 and supposed to keep steady for a long time, only when container is almost empty it's supposed to drop in pressure (when no more liquid is left, only gas).
Well during this week I've seen a decrease of about 100 PSI daily so when I got home today it was depleted. Went to exchange the cylinder as I figured I emptied the first one prematurely during the install as a result of my clumpsiness. New one leaked as well when I screwed it in, just like the first install. Noticed a few small dents on the top of the cylinder so went and got it replaced. Came back with a fresh one that looked class. Installed it, and it still leaked. By now I felt I had a good grip of how this works (it's not really rocket science) and was baffled as to how it could still leak when I got it working for about a week. Turns out the CO² adapter for the cylinder was damaged, I didn't notice it at first as it's rather hidden in the joint between the adapter and the regulator. Contacted the seller, they're closed for the weekend so let's see what they came back with.
At least it feels good that I wasn't a complete idiot who couldn't get it working from the start even though it's supposed to be super easy.
A replacement sodastream adapter is on it's way, unfortunately seems there's shipping delays as it was dispatched last tuesday but haven't arrived yet. Initial order of the full CO² kit was delivered the day after... It's really unfortunate timing as I really tried to have everything setup from the start to avoid algae outbreak, with lack of CO² it's been inevitable.
Picture from March 8 (2 days after CO² deficit)
March 12:
During the week I added 3 amano shrimps, hoping they'd combat algae together with the already introduced snails. Suppose they've done a decent job overall, tank hasn't (yet) been fully invaded by algaes, and the 3 shrimps are quite small as well. Might add a few more, was unsure if they'd survive as it was early in the cycle.
These little rascals are rather good at escaping the camera but here's a few half-decent photos (shot at 230mm on APS-C sensor for you photographers out there):
Bump:
Thanks man! Think the kit itself is great and I just had some bad luck. One thing to be aware of is the mist the inline diffusor creates, all the microbubbles are clearly visible if you compare earlier photos with the most recent ones. Let me know when you got your own journal up
Emptied the tank this weekend to correct some things I wasn't overly satisfied with. The level of soil was too shallow, making it hard to plant the Cuba, and the background was driving me nuts as the light brackets would move it and create bubbles. With the recent addition of algaes it became apparent that surface agitation was subpar, an oily surface skin being the proof of that. Plus too much of the technique is visible, all this making a good argument for a restart. I like detailed description via images so I'll put this in two posts.
Emptied
Collected the soil for recycling
Removed a few of the net bags filled with gravel and repositioned them slightly. As descibed in all these pictures, you can see the background peeling off on the left hand side. Once I moved the tank it all fell off.
Cleaned off the back with rubbing alcohol
Spray painted it black with plastidip, it creates a rubber skin so you can easily peel it off without it leaving residue
During the week I added 3 amano shrimps, hoping they'd combat algae together with the already introduced snails. Suppose they've done a decent job overall, tank hasn't (yet) been fully invaded by algaes, and the 3 shrimps are quite small as well. Might add a few more, was unsure if they'd survive as it was early in the cycle.
These little rascals are rather good at escaping the camera but here's a few half-decent photos (shot at 230mm on APS-C sensor for you photographers out there):
Emptied the tank this weekend to correct some things I wasn't overly satisfied with. The level of soil was too shallow, making it hard to plant the Cuba, and the background was driving me nuts as the light brackets would move it and create bubbles. With the recent addition of algaes it became apparent that surface agitation was subpar, an oily surface skin being the proof of that. Plus too much of the technique is visible, all this making a good argument for a restart. I like detailed description via images so I'll put this in two posts.
My LFS don't carry Tropica so bought their own brand, More Aquascape substrate. Seems to be a mix of clay, sand and volcanic gravel.
Bringing back the big trunk. Going for a slightly different angle this time around
Reworking the scape. Picked up an extra piece of mangrove wood in a recent visit to LFS, it fit perfectly in the foreground
After deciding on scape removing the wood to add the Tropica soil. Placing technique to be as inconspicuous as possible, replaced the green hose for a smoke tinted one. I'll probably add lily pipes in the future but this will do for now
Makes me very happy to read your comment! Must admit although I'm a new member I've grown fond of this forum, so much knowledge here (and a good spirit) so happy to take in advice and share my own process and the things I stumble upon along the way.
Today I finally received the new CO² adaptor. This time around I did some thorough leak-testing with soapy water which indeed paid off, as I had a very small leak that I wouldn't have detected otherwise. The old one was definitely broken, as evidenced by earlier photo, the trick with the new one was to allow the regulator to rotate as I tightened the bolt between adaptor and regulator (as opposed to holding the regulator in place). Suppose that free movement helps it align itself. Most valuable lesson learned here is to do the soap bubble test during install or future replacement of cylinder.
As photoperiod was already started when I got everything hooked up I only reached light blue colouration in the drop checker after a few hours, I'll fine tune it over the next coming days as to not make 100liters of sparkly water with shrimp taste!
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