Show me your aquarium
Discussion
ChocolateFrog said:
Some great inspiration on here.
I now want a 1500 litre tank full of live coral
My mere 53l is quite expensive enough - and I've only got two cheap corals so far!I now want a 1500 litre tank full of live coral
First fish (Spyro) went in on Friday along with the other half bottle of bacteria, and yesterday a mate wanted a trip to the local marine stocking Maidenhead...
So a zoa frag and a fuzzy mushroom coral landed in my bag...
Acclimated, placed and now open and seemingly happy.
Purple firefish (Spyro):
We had a purple firefish in our original 120l marine tank 5 years ago, then moved him into the big tank when that was ready.
We never saw him again and assumed he'd died and succumbed to the clean up crew.
About a year later at feeding time, there he was living in a hole at the bottom of a rock scape, and we saw him every day for the next couple of weeks. We haven't seen him since then though.
Lovely looking, but so skittish and shy.
In other aquarium news, I took the skimmer and reactors apart yesterday for a thorough clean. I've still got a hint of that distinct skimmate flavour under my finger nails despite two showers and a lots of hand sanitser.
We never saw him again and assumed he'd died and succumbed to the clean up crew.
About a year later at feeding time, there he was living in a hole at the bottom of a rock scape, and we saw him every day for the next couple of weeks. We haven't seen him since then though.
Lovely looking, but so skittish and shy.
In other aquarium news, I took the skimmer and reactors apart yesterday for a thorough clean. I've still got a hint of that distinct skimmate flavour under my finger nails despite two showers and a lots of hand sanitser.
Started stocking the office nano with corals...
The stock light will grow them just fine, however, there's a distinct lack of blue/uv. So they don't look their best.
I was adamant I wasn't upgrading the light. Firm.
Then I saw a very similar tank lit by a reefled 50, and realised how it lacks glare due to being recessed (unlike the kessil/ai/radion alternatives). The main reason I was adamant I wasn't upgrading.
Damn. I'm gonna upgrade the light...
All these are under stock blues, plus a UV torch (there's also a stunning ricordea that is sulking after moving, I'll get a pic when I can).
(out of focus) fuzzy mushroom:
This thing is now comfortably double the size during the day, swaying around and almost looking like a bubble tip.
Zoas (gawd knows what type, I'm trying to avoid the daft names...)
Hammer (sulking a bit after moving in today)
It's a start...
The stock light will grow them just fine, however, there's a distinct lack of blue/uv. So they don't look their best.
I was adamant I wasn't upgrading the light. Firm.
Then I saw a very similar tank lit by a reefled 50, and realised how it lacks glare due to being recessed (unlike the kessil/ai/radion alternatives). The main reason I was adamant I wasn't upgrading.
Damn. I'm gonna upgrade the light...
All these are under stock blues, plus a UV torch (there's also a stunning ricordea that is sulking after moving, I'll get a pic when I can).
(out of focus) fuzzy mushroom:
This thing is now comfortably double the size during the day, swaying around and almost looking like a bubble tip.
Zoas (gawd knows what type, I'm trying to avoid the daft names...)
Hammer (sulking a bit after moving in today)
It's a start...
Won't be on par with some of the tanks on here I'm sure, but I'll at least do a write-up 
So with time to kill during lockdown I decided to first get our older living room tank set back up, and then start building my own set up from scratch.
The living room one is a Fluval Edge 19 litre:
Tank was very dusty from storage and needed a good scrub, came up well though:
As well as the rest of the parts / decor we had, not sure what was being re-used at this stage:
Upon testing, the filter / light unit wasn't working properly - the switch was broke internally so the light wouldn't switch off.. A replacement unit is almost as much as the whole tank cost (£50):
So I bought better, separate replacements. £25 for the clip-on LED light and hang-on-back filter:
The filter worked well but only came with a basic amount of foam media inside, so I knocked up a couple of mesh bags to hold some extra media:
Cut to size and superglued into little bags:
One filled with activated carbon, and the other with ceramic bio balls:
Fitted nicely:
I also added some more coarse foam around the first intake chamber of the filter from some spare peices I had, as it was a little noisy where the water first entered via the pump:
So with that sorted I got my Amazon-special aquarium tools and cracked on..
Put in a base layer of Tetra Complete Substrate:
And a layer of Tetra Active Substrate, sloped up towards the rear..
Decided to just do a really basic hardscape and use the 2 holestones we already had:
Sprayed down the tank and started planting. For the foreground I got some Sagittaria Subulata to hopefully form a good carpet:
For the midground a mix of Bacopa Australis and ludwigia mini Super Red:
And then for the background some Anacharis narrow leaf (PITA to plant):
Got it positioned and filled up, just letting it cycle for a few weeks now:
Medium light, ~25°C, low-tech (no pressurised CO2 but dosing some liquid). It's been running about 2 weeks now and the plants are developing nicely, the Australis especially has doubled in size.
I was using a pair of cheap digital thermometers and although not massively accurate they were both showing temperature fluctuations with the old heater we were using, I had a feeling the thermostat might be playing up so rather than risking it failing I picked up an Eheim (same as this, but 25w):
And an Inkbird digital thermostat / heater controller, really useful device and a bit of added insurance agaianst heater failure..
So far, so good. I'm not rushing into adding any livestock, the tank needs to really develop first and I'd like to let the plants fully establish. I'm doing 6 hours of light per day, hopefully avoid any algae rearing its head. Daily dose of ferts and CO2, and weekly EasyStart..
Being a small tank I prefer to do frequent, smaller water changes than less regular, large ones (just for practicality), so I'm changing abouit 25% every other day.
So with time to kill during lockdown I decided to first get our older living room tank set back up, and then start building my own set up from scratch.
The living room one is a Fluval Edge 19 litre:
Tank was very dusty from storage and needed a good scrub, came up well though:
As well as the rest of the parts / decor we had, not sure what was being re-used at this stage:
Upon testing, the filter / light unit wasn't working properly - the switch was broke internally so the light wouldn't switch off.. A replacement unit is almost as much as the whole tank cost (£50):
So I bought better, separate replacements. £25 for the clip-on LED light and hang-on-back filter:
The filter worked well but only came with a basic amount of foam media inside, so I knocked up a couple of mesh bags to hold some extra media:
Cut to size and superglued into little bags:
One filled with activated carbon, and the other with ceramic bio balls:
Fitted nicely:
I also added some more coarse foam around the first intake chamber of the filter from some spare peices I had, as it was a little noisy where the water first entered via the pump:
So with that sorted I got my Amazon-special aquarium tools and cracked on..
Put in a base layer of Tetra Complete Substrate:
And a layer of Tetra Active Substrate, sloped up towards the rear..
Decided to just do a really basic hardscape and use the 2 holestones we already had:
Sprayed down the tank and started planting. For the foreground I got some Sagittaria Subulata to hopefully form a good carpet:
For the midground a mix of Bacopa Australis and ludwigia mini Super Red:
And then for the background some Anacharis narrow leaf (PITA to plant):
Got it positioned and filled up, just letting it cycle for a few weeks now:
Medium light, ~25°C, low-tech (no pressurised CO2 but dosing some liquid). It's been running about 2 weeks now and the plants are developing nicely, the Australis especially has doubled in size.
I was using a pair of cheap digital thermometers and although not massively accurate they were both showing temperature fluctuations with the old heater we were using, I had a feeling the thermostat might be playing up so rather than risking it failing I picked up an Eheim (same as this, but 25w):
And an Inkbird digital thermostat / heater controller, really useful device and a bit of added insurance agaianst heater failure..
So far, so good. I'm not rushing into adding any livestock, the tank needs to really develop first and I'd like to let the plants fully establish. I'm doing 6 hours of light per day, hopefully avoid any algae rearing its head. Daily dose of ferts and CO2, and weekly EasyStart..
Being a small tank I prefer to do frequent, smaller water changes than less regular, large ones (just for practicality), so I'm changing abouit 25% every other day.
anxious_ant said:
Really enjoyed reading that! Awesome post.
Cheers dudeSway said:
Were you not tempted to get the plants up and running emersed?
Amazing start to a tank though. That's doing it right.
I love the tissue cultured Tropica plants. Amazing quality and health.
Thanks! Yeah the Tropica stuff is great. Amazing start to a tank though. That's doing it right.
I love the tissue cultured Tropica plants. Amazing quality and health.
I'm tempted to do the 'dry start method' for my other tank once I get it started, I've researched it recently and it looks good. I'm probably going for Monte Carlo as a carpet which apparently works really well with it.
I guess the only downside is the extra time it adds, if you can't start cycling the tank and filter while the plants are growing emerged.. The priority for this first tank really was to just get it up and running so we can add some stock - for my own tank I'll probably take longer to get it all set up:
30x30x30 cm rimless nano tank from Aqua Essentials:
Got a roll of matte frosted tinted film for the back:
Applied wet, squeegied all the bubbles out and trimmed to size. I like this as it reflects some light back into the tank:
I also got a roll of 5mm neoprene foam for under the tank. The Fluval one has a black base fixed to it, but this one's just glass, so better to be safe:
And it'll probably sit here on this small unit - I was waiting a few weeks for some bits to arrive in the post / from China
Aqua One external canister filter. One of the smallest externals I could find - other than dodgy looking brandless one, or gorgeous but super pricey handmade Italian stainless steel ones
I'll probably make use of that clear tubing but the black plastic pipes etc won't be needed. I wasn't sure what to do about the heating at first as I really wanted to avoid having anything other than glass in the tank.. This Hydor unit is pretty much the only branded external / inline heater I could find. It's high wattage, probably too much for a nano tank normally, but I'll be using another of those InkBird thermostat controllers with very tight parameters, so it will barely need to switch, probably just in the colder months when this room gets a bit cooler...
And I got these lovely 12mm glass inlet and outlet pipes, they were about £20 delivered which is crazy when the ADA stuff is about 5 times that price. The outlet is a 'spin pipe' design, rather than the 'lily pipe' style you may commonly see. This is because I'm more than likely going to have a Betta fish in the tank, so only need a gentle current, and the spin pipe helps keep the water calm:
So for the light, I searched high and low for these.. Getting a decent light in this configuration for a nano tank is tricky, so I had to look to China for this size, hence the slow postage (think it was a month which I guess isn't bad all things considered)..
Now perhaps naievely I thought it would be easy to get a UK transformer for this, as it came with an incompatible plug:
As it was so cheap I didn't mind the thought of having to fiddle it to work, but bloody hell what a PITA. It wants 24v for a start.. I've tried a spare 24v transformer I had - funnily enough it's the one for the old Fluval light / filter unit - no luck. Searched eBay / Amazon and they're bloody expensive, like for a 24v one with enough amps it's almost the same price as the light, ridiculous. So this weekend I'm gonna attempt some electrical bodgery to try to make it work, we'll see...
In the meantime I also picked up one these digital light timers. Saw a review by one of the aquascape Youtubers and it looked good, you can program in the light hours, sunrise and sunset, vary the dimness settings.. It has a male connection one end and a female the other, so it sits between the fixed cable and the mains cable of the aquarium light - so I can't test it until I get that plug sorted!
Once we have light I can start scaping and planting. I'm thinking dark Tropica soil, some nicely arranged Seiryu Stone, carpet plant plus some other nice varieties, and a Betta fish (maybe a halfmoon or rosetail variant?) and a bunch of Amano shrimp if I can get a group big enough for the Betta to not immediately eat them lol. Failing that, maybe a couple of Pygmy Corys, it really depends on Betta boy's temperament
Edited by smithyithy on Friday 17th July 23:30
I'm personally not a fan. Piping in untreated tap water doesn't seem like a good idea to me...
I know loads of people rave about them.
My fancy goldfish tank runs a hugely over specced fluval fx4 for that reason. Water changes are a doddle with the aquaroll we use for camping.
The guppy tank is only 15l for a 50% change, so no issue.
The marine nano I've got the awesome (but pricey) Reefloat awc.
If I were doing a 'normal' tank which needed a 20-25l water change, I'd go for a simple pipe syphon into a 'waste' 25l stacking container, then a small power head driven refill. No lifting other than the container to the tank.
I know loads of people rave about them.
My fancy goldfish tank runs a hugely over specced fluval fx4 for that reason. Water changes are a doddle with the aquaroll we use for camping.
The guppy tank is only 15l for a 50% change, so no issue.
The marine nano I've got the awesome (but pricey) Reefloat awc.
If I were doing a 'normal' tank which needed a 20-25l water change, I'd go for a simple pipe syphon into a 'waste' 25l stacking container, then a small power head driven refill. No lifting other than the container to the tank.
Sway said:
I'm personally not a fan. Piping in untreated tap water doesn't seem like a good idea to me...
I know loads of people rave about them.
My fancy goldfish tank runs a hugely over specced fluval fx4 for that reason. Water changes are a doddle with the aquaroll we use for camping.
The guppy tank is only 15l for a 50% change, so no issue.
The marine nano I've got the awesome (but pricey) Reefloat awc.
If I were doing a 'normal' tank which needed a 20-25l water change, I'd go for a simple pipe syphon into a 'waste' 25l stacking container, then a small power head driven refill. No lifting other than the container to the tank.
Thanks, I did wonder about the issues around piping in straight tap water. I know loads of people rave about them.
My fancy goldfish tank runs a hugely over specced fluval fx4 for that reason. Water changes are a doddle with the aquaroll we use for camping.
The guppy tank is only 15l for a 50% change, so no issue.
The marine nano I've got the awesome (but pricey) Reefloat awc.
If I were doing a 'normal' tank which needed a 20-25l water change, I'd go for a simple pipe syphon into a 'waste' 25l stacking container, then a small power head driven refill. No lifting other than the container to the tank.
I guess the idea is you'd do more frequent smaller changes as it's less hassle.
Sway said:
Yeah, but Steve you get to have my all time favourite fish...
Suck it up!
That is a chunky amount of water to shift around though!
One of the reasons I chose a commercial vehicle as a company car - I have a 300l water tank that I strap down, get it filled at local fish shop, get it reversed up to living room window, pump out water from tank at back of house into outside drain, run another 20m of hose through house to the tank. Fish go into meltdown every time, they still haven't got used to it all.Suck it up!
That is a chunky amount of water to shift around though!
Sway said:
Bought more coral today. Went in for a mesh lid...
Went for my weekly 100l of RO top up water and took the missus with me. We very, very nearly left with a second hand 300l cube and a very friendly dog face puffer and clown trigger for £150....No lights, skimmer, pumps etc though, so another 2-300 would be needed. I just wish puffers and triggers wouldn't eat the other fish and clean up crew and would live happily together
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