[frenchie1001]

hey guys! thought i might through a up thread about my latest tank going up! about 6 months ago i was gifted a 4x2x2 and a stand by my uncle as grown up life was getting to much to be able to keep a marine tank.

i wasnt really sure what to do with it and was to poor to go all out! (i have a race car, so youll notice this is a common theme) end up stumbling across dirt substrate low maintence tanks. around this time my 3ft tank in my room burst making a horrible mess and losing everything.



it had only been set back up for around 3 months as well which was annoying.

so fast forward 3 months of being lazy and the the bug bite to get back into it. now this tank was to big for my room so i decide to set it up in the shed and use it pretty much as a grow tank for the 4ft ill setup in place of the old burst tank.

i didnt end up taking any photos as i wasnt planning on putting it on the internet so youll have to make do with one.


this tank is basically a slapped together as it can get using what i had laying around. only new bits are the light and a big enough heater. i think ill really need to get a larger peice of driftwood as what i had was all small tanks stuff.

i am currently waiting on a plant pack in the mail that supposedly will be enough to heavily fill the tank. that should get here tomorrow. i have no idea whats coming as yet. i am worried about that as i suck at the scaping side of things and i feel its always a let down of all my tanks.

whats in the tank at the moment.
no name 2x54 fixture with 2x gisseman aquaflora globes. was suppose to be 1xaqua and 1xmid day so i dont know how that will go.
1x 200w heater
1x 300w heater
1xfluval 205. - this is just what i had laying around and will be replaced soon isn. i was orginally going to go filterless but i think ill just run under filtered instead. i wont be stocking for awhile so thats future me's job.

20kg pool filter sand - need to get more.
random top soil. - no idea how this will go. fingers crossed.
i have only ended up with around 2' of substrate so i am alittle worried about that.

future stocking list
1x feather fin is all i have in mind so far.

sooo thats the start of my shed tank!

 

[frenchie1001]

Wasnt expecting to purchase a filter so quickly, but internet impusle got the better of me. purchased a eheim 2217. hoping that will be enough for the tank (rated enough) and i can pull the 205 for a future 4ft.

 

[frenchie1001]

Todays aim was to get a large peice of driftwood and sort the hard scape, which due to small town living totally failed. but on a plus the plants rocked up!



bang them all in, realised i really do need more wood and that i suck at scaping.

tomorrows job - water change, put a heap more sand cap and play with the layout a bit so it doesnt look so bad! i am super excited to start stocking this now it has water in it! once its fish safe ill though the shrimp and tetra's out of my nano in then go from there.

 

[OVT]

Could you please keep this to a single thread? Thanks!

v2

 

[frenchie1001]

of course, sorry about that.

 

[frenchie1001]

So, day one.

Did a water change, it didnt get much cloudiness out unfortunately!

Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 20ppm (fell back to Zero after the water
Change)

Ph -7-7.3 (I suck at the coloured cards)
Gh -4
Kh -3

Have been stressing about the light not being enough but everything is pearling like crazy, which I love as its usually a rare thing in my tanks.

I've been sitting here staring out it trying to work out how to scape it but I am lost. I totally suck at scaping. I think I need to find a large drift wood and work around it. Any advice here will be more than welcome. Once the cloud goes away ill get some
Better photos.

 

[frenchie1001]

so, i have been doing daily water changes of "that seems enough" to try and get rid of the cloudiness which is slowly working. which brings me to thinking about stocking! my favourite/most dreaded part.! as i am a cat fish man through and through thats as usual where ill start. so far the prelim list is :

sticking to the common hardy cories mostly because im great at losing the more expensive ones.
6x pepperered cory's. (my first fish)
6 x bronze cory's
6x pigmy cory's
1x Featherfin? my favourite fish but a big maybe in this tank pending shrimp stocking.
Paired up BN
4x upside down catfish? another maybe, i have alot of love for these fish but they probably limit my stocking
1x royal whiptail?
possibly RCS but i havent decided on that yet.
im still not sure on where i am going to go with the rest. i have wanted a discus tank forever but its a bit of a waste in the shed and the cost of them puts me off hugely.

probably 4x small schools of something is about as far as i have got. 4x tetra species would be great and low bio load. maybe a pair of something like a ram as well.

having never had such a large tank i havent got much of a feel of how much i can actually put in it.

 

[frenchie1001]

Small update!

my 2217 came today, so i set that up. really happy with it! i like it alot more than my fluvals and it has a heap of flow. decided to leave the 205 on it as im kinda worried about dead spots in the tank but ill just have to wait and see.

i didnt take any photo's but the val has all melted, and some amazon swords have holes in them or a slight yellowing of the leave. the HC seems to the shooting which i wasnt expecting. i only smashed them in a clump expecting them to die. i think ill start on EI dosing once i get through the next few track days.

Stocking idea's.
cories (firm)
6x peppered
6x bronze
6x pigmy

paired BN (firm)
maybe a whip tail (maybe)
Most like all the RCS out of my nano

Schooling fish (maybe)
10 x cardinal
10x rummy nose tetra
10x some other tetra

maybes
Pair of angels
pair of rams
Some other thing?

i am thinking along the lines of a massive community tetra setup with a pair of centre piece fish.

 

[frenchie1001]

Week 2!


the val has melted totally, some of the swords have leaves going brown or holey and the HC is actually growing. i put no effort into the HC setup as i was nearly certain it would die.

i am still doing daily large water changes, but the cloudiness just wont go.

 

[londonloco]

That driftwood is awesome, your hiding it with all the plants around it. I'd plant around the back and to the sides of it and leave the front open to show it off more. Pretty tank....

 

[frenchie1001]

thats a good idea! i am going to wait a little and have a small rescape so i wil play around then.

 

[frenchie1001]

well its been a very long time since updating this.

basically its been a up hill battle with cloudy water and bba but I'm slowly getting on top of it and everything is filling in so nicely!


to start of with i got really really really lazy with cleaning this so as all the plants melted i just sort of left it, which i think it was caused the bba. i dosed excel really heavy for 2 days and its all cleared up! i think my sand cap is 2 thin in some places hence the cloudy water. and i had to add root tabs to get any kind of growth which is kinda annoying. made the whole effort a little pointless.

one thing i have noticed is the colour of the dirt changing as the tank gets older, only in some spots. don't really know why that is. i get a photo when i remember to see if anyone can help me out.

stocking is sitting at

10x glow light
10x rummy nose
10 x hengals rasbora
?? x peppered cories. ( i can't remember how many i brought)
1x BN
1x Siamese algea eater
?? possibly some pigmy cories, i chucked 10 in and not sure if any survived or not.

the only current battle is with Green spot algae on the glass that i have made no effort to get rid off.

stocking wise, i think i want to keep the bioload low so i won't be adding much more i don't think, maybe another species or cories. i have really started to stretch the water changes now the issues are starting to solve themselves.