[CWill]

Hello everyone!

First attempt at an aquarium journal, as well as an aquarium in general :icon_smil

Been doing a lot of research these past few months and still have to pick up a few more pieces of equipment in addition to the ones I have ordered and are on the way!

But so far this what I'm working with:

The tank: Standard 90 gallon (48.5" x 18.5" x 24") + Pine Stand + Black background

Lighting: Hagen Glo 2x54 Watt with x1 6700K Life-Glo bulb and x1 18000K Power-Glo bulb (Will likely be picking up some additional lighting soon)

Equipment:
x2 Eheim 2217 Canister Filters
x2 Purigen
x2 Eheim Coarse Blue Pad boxes (extra extra!)
500ml Bottle of Prime Dechlorinator
Bag of Wal-Mart Poly-fill
Fusion Magnetic Thermometer
Liquid Freshwater Test Kit
Some twistie blue things to make everything all pretty
Aqueon Magnetic Aquarium Cleaner
Hydor 200W In-Line Heater (1/2" barb)
Fish net from PetSmart

180lbs of Eco-Complete

On the way:
One nice piece of Manzanita Driftwood
Lily Pipes from eBay (couldn't come to grips with ADA prices)
-Power Men Inflow + Flo Outflow (as I read this was superior to Power Men)
CarbonDoser Ext5000 CO2 Reactor
Various pieces of equipment (i.e. Springwasher/Rake/Scissors)
GLA Choice Regulator w/ brass perma seal
5# CO2 Tank

All comments/feedback are welcome, as this is my first tank and if you see anything wrong or have something to recommend please feel free to do so! I want to do this right the first time.

Also looking for a good list of plants/fish to keep. I have somewhat of an idea, but am interested to hear all of yours!

 

[VadimShevchuk]

Wow good choice on equipment and a great tank size to play around with!

 

[Capsaicin_MFK]

Not sure what you are going to do with the Poly-fill. Everything for the canisters is included in the box.

You definitely went all out with your first tank. Good luck!

 

[nyrecruiter]

I agree-good choice on your equipment-not sure if you are going to need more light-I think if it is close enough to the water 2 bulbs should probably be enough. You have tons on fish and plant options with that set up. I didn't see a python on your list-maybe I missed it. On a tank that size you are going to hate your life if you don't have one.

 

[VeeSe]

Wow, nice all-out on the equipment. I think you will be fine with the two bulb setup and that you won't need more light. Sure, it won't be super high light, but that's a really good thing in that it's much easier to manage with it being your first tank and also less maintenance while still being enough light to be able to grow any plant you want.

As far as fish go, I myself and partial to small dither fish like tetras with some centerpiece fish. Something like a shoal of cardinal tetras (occupy mid to top of tank), a shoal of rummynose tetras (occupy bottom of tank) combined with maybe some dwarf cichlids like GBRs or apistos with some otos and red cherry shrimp mixed in for cleaning crew would look great, imo. Or, if you are into bigger fish, then doing some stocking with angels is possible. Or a school of rainbowfish like Boesemani would be really really nice for a 90G I think. Something like 5 boesemanis and one other rainbowfish species would just about stock you up but it would be a nice rainbowfish tank. Anyways, just throwing out ideas for you.

With my first suggestion, I was thinking something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvL-71xj8gU&feature=feedf
Even though the vid has neons instead of cardinals and discus as the centerpiece (which is probably too much for a first aquarium), I really really like this theme. You could have a lot more cardinals and rummies than in the video since your tank is 90G. Those large schools should look amazing.

 

[CWill]

Wow good choice on equipment and a great tank size to play around with!

Thank you!

Not sure what you are going to do with the Poly-fill. Everything for the canisters is included in the box.

You definitely went all out with your first tank. Good luck!

Thank you! The Poly-fill was just some extra sewing material I had lying around, but read it could be of some use

I agree-good choice on your equipment-not sure if you are going to need more light-I think if it is close enough to the water 2 bulbs should probably be enough. You have tons on fish and plant options with that set up. I didn't see a python on your list-maybe I missed it. On a tank that size you are going to hate your life if you don't have one.

Ah, very good to know, thanks for the heads up. Your advice is greatly appreciated. Will definitely be picking up a Python

Wow, nice all-out on the equipment. I think you will be fine with the two bulb setup and that you won't need more light. Sure, it won't be super high light, but that's a really good thing in that it's much easier to manage with it being your first tank and also less maintenance while still being enough light to be able to grow any plant you want.

As far as fish go, I myself and partial to small dither fish like tetras with some centerpiece fish. Something like a shoal of cardinal tetras (occupy mid to top of tank), a shoal of rummynose tetras (occupy bottom of tank) combined with maybe some dwarf cichlids like GBRs or apistos with some otos and red cherry shrimp mixed in for cleaning crew would look great, imo. Or, if you are into bigger fish, then doing some stocking with angels is possible. Or a school of rainbowfish like Boesemani would be really really nice for a 90G I think. Something like 5 boesemanis and one other rainbowfish species would just about stock you up but it would be a nice rainbowfish tank. Anyways, just throwing out ideas for you.

With my first suggestion, I was thinking something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvL-71xj8gU&feature=feedf
Even though the vid has neons instead of cardinals and discus as the centerpiece (which is probably too much for a first aquarium), I really really like this theme. You could have a lot more cardinals and rummies than in the video since your tank is 90G. Those large schools should look amazing.

Interesting suggestions! I'm pretty fond of most of the setups you described. I really do like the small fishes in large schools, it can get real colorful and interesting no doubt. Definitely going to be throwing in cardinal and rummynose tetras. About how many of each school would you suggest?

 

[CWill]

Update: Will be putting in my Eco-Complete later tonight and start shaping my scape, so will get some pictures up and await your opinions/suggestions!

 

[simply amazing]

nice! cant wait to see what turns out! subscribing to this journal

 

[VeeSe]

Interesting suggestions! I'm pretty fond of most of the setups you described. I really do like the small fishes in large schools, it can get real colorful and interesting no doubt. Definitely going to be throwing in cardinal and rummynose tetras. About how many of each school would you suggest?

20 of each will still leave you plenty of room for 2-3 centerpiece fish and a nice cleaning crew. You could probably go up to 25 of each with no problems if you really wanted more.

 

[CWill]

20 of each will still leave you plenty of room for 2-3 centerpiece fish and a nice cleaning crew. You could probably go up to 25 of each with no problems if you really wanted more.

Ok great, I was thinking of somewhere around those numbers. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't overstocking my tank.

 

[CWill]

Just got done putting in my substrate and priming my filter, as well as tossing in a couple of rocks (still waiting on my "main" piece - the driftwood). Will definitely clean up the look i.e the green hosing everywhere when the rest of my equipment gets in.

This is my rough draft, as well as first attempt at anything like this so please be gentle =X

But for now:

View #1:

View #2:

View #3:

 

[CWill]

nice! cant wait to see what turns out! subscribing to this journal

Thanks a lot! Hopefully it turns out as good as I hope it does and can compare to some of these amazing tanks on the site!!

 

[2in10]

Excellent equipment list and set up. That floss will come in real handy in your canisters when it comes time to change out media.

 

[driftwoodhunter]

Looks like an exciting tank - I'm subscribed!

 

[CWill]

Excellent equipment list and set up. That floss will come in real handy in your canisters when it comes time to change out media.

Thanks a lot. Haha yeah, I just wanted to make sure to have plenty of media lying around just in case ya know? Better safe than sorry!

Looks like an exciting tank - I'm subscribed!

Awesome, will try not to disappoint!

 

[CWill]

After reading around on how to go about cycling my tank I decided to go with one of those bacteria in a bottle deals and picked up a bottle of Tetra SafeStart at my local PetCo.

Tossed in a bottle that was rated for 75gallons since I probably have ~15 gallons of rock/substrate in my tank anyway, along with 5 black skirt tetras as I read you need to add the SafeStart stuff with fish.

When I got home I saw this on my doorstep Now I just need the actual CO2 System to get here haha...

Will check my water parameters tomorrow morning and hopefully get some good results!

 

[CWill]

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates! Been real busy receiving all my packages and connecting everything together. The good news is I believe that my tank has been fully cycled for about 2 days after around a week since I used that Tetra SafeStart along with my school of 5 tetras which I recently added 1 more to making 6. Plus a couple of Amazon Swords - its crazy how much color they add even when there is only 2!

Initially I was getting ammonia readings around 0.25 - 0.50 ppm and nitrates around 5 ppm within the first couple days, but now my water readings for the past two days have been:

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
pH - 7.8
Temp - 78° F

I'm thinking about picking up a couple of Oto cats today as well to start a small cleaning crew for what little amount there is to clean ha.

Will start adding more plants once my CO2 System arrives on Monday.

Anyway here are some pictures!

A new rock I picked up to add..
View #1:

View #2:

Setup underneath stand:

FTS:

Oh and that rock on top of the driftwood is to prevent it from floating to the top, still have to add in that new rock and it will look a lot nicer than it currently does

Thanks, and until next time!

 

[Chrisinator]

That driftwood is awesome!

 

[sevenyearnight]

Beautiful set up so far! My favorite things so far are the blue twisty things to make everything pretty.
I'd skip on the otos for a couple of months, they exclusively eat algae and they will starve in a newly set up tank.

 

[chris.rivera3]

how many bags of Eco-Complete did you use?? lbs??