Carriwin's Tank Adventures

[Carriwin]

So I decided to post additional pictures and notations on my tanks. Things that work, things that don't and see where the water takes me.

So, I started off with 2 tanks: 30 gallon and a 55 gallon. I ran solely the 55g for ages, and have recently acquired an additional 55g, which I have decided to wait for a stand, or build one, before I set it up. Originally I had thought to leave it on the counter, but I don't think the brackets will support the weight. Better safe than sorry.

I want to say, as much as I have already learned, I only wish I had started in this forum sooner. I would've saved myself more money than I already have from purchasing the aquarium sand from PetSmart. They got me there... paying $23 for 25lbs of sand. I had ripped open the bag before actually settling down to read. Tsk tsk... I know better now.

So, after swishing around my sand and getting it settled, I switched my 55g WELL established filter into the brand new 38g for maximum filtration and cycling. I also put the heater from my 55g in there as well. I dropped my neons in the tank first to aid the process. They now look like this:

I had to put in some sort of planty thing, as it looked rather desolate in there.

So I upped the filter to the Penguin 350, rated for the 90g tank that the guy had it in before. WOO does it work! He passed along the 200w heater that he had, too. For $20 on top of the price of the tank, you bet I picked that up.

My original 55g now looks like this with the new filter and heater:

My angels opted to be obliging and decided to school for me first thing this morning...so all six are together:

Even one of my 3 cats wanted to help:

I am getting up the gumption to make the change to move everyone temporarily into the 38 while I change the substrate in the 55g... that ought to be an interesting party.

So we'll see how everything turns out.

 

[shellyx]

Beautiful set up! Really like your Angel's, I had a blue angel a few years ago such graceful creatures.
Are you changing your gravel to sand?

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails

 

[Carriwin]

Beautiful set up! Really like your Angel's, I had a blue angel a few years ago such graceful creatures.
Are you changing your gravel to sand?

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails

Thank you! I am switching to pool filter sand this weekend! I'm excited. I'm going to load everyone into the 38g tank and switch it out. I'll probably leave some of the previous tank water in there to help sort out the bacteria, just to make cycling easier so I don't have sardines for long.

 

[shellyx]

Cool! Make sure to add pictures
I remember changing my big tank over from gravel to sand it was actually easier than I thought, and looked a whole lot better! My elephant nose hated it strangely, it took him a while to adjust, it was pretty amusing!

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails

 

[Carriwin]

Cool! Make sure to add pictures
I remember changing my big tank over from gravel to sand it was actually easier than I thought, and looked a whole lot better! My elephant nose hated it strangely, it took him a while to adjust, it was pretty amusing!

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails

So I visited your albums, your elephant nose is a nifty fish! What type of fish would you classify him as, as I have never seen the likes of him before?

I will make sure I take pictures and post them! I think it'll be amusing to watch them all go "Now wait a second..."

Side note, do you think my pleco is going to have an issue with sand? I just thought about that....

 

[shellyx]

He's a Mormyrid , he uses electrical pulses through his body to find food. Love him he's great.
Your pleco will love the sand, won't be an issue at all.

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails

 

[Carriwin]

He's a Mormyrid , he uses electrical pulses through his body to find food. Love him he's great.
Your pleco will love the sand won't be an issue at all.

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails

Neat! So kind of a eel cousin 4 times removed with some sonar style whale stuff thrown in? LOL

He is really cool.

EXCELLENT, that makes me happy. Now I can't wait until I get home.

 

[shellyx]

Some people say he kind of looks like a Dolphin Lol
Well have fun!

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails

 

[Carriwin]

Updated Tanks...

So, here we go...

Saturday was the day. I got up with the intention of dedicating my day to my tank to get it done. (I've had some issues with follow through lately, but I was determined.) I said good morning to my neons who were happily floating through the 38g.

I then proceeded with THE GREAT TRANSFER.... everyone made it perfectly fine. If not a little confused, they settled in. My pleco was not exactly happy... but he started chilling on the previous filter, so he found a place to stay for the moment.

I then proceeded to clean out the decor and remove the water and gravel. Due to my embarrassment of how nasty the tank turned out to be, there are no photos of then. LOL However, here's the tank in the following moments after that...

I understand the gravel is finite,...but it definitely didn't feel that way! That stuff is EVERYWHERE!!!

So here's the tank, all wiped out and sparkly, ready for sand!

So, now comes the sticky part... so apparently I was doing some things wrong or something because this is how my tank turned out...

Of course, I left the stupid filter running... (Thank you, shelly, for helping me out!) and ended up with this all weekend. So, I shut my filter off, and decided to decorate the tank, since it hadn't settled anyway.

I'm mildly frustrated, but this was my tank this morning before I left for work:

Still not clear... still no filter on. It looks like I might end up having to do water changes to get rid of the cloud... I was also expecting a whiter sand... but it's definitely... sandy looking sand. Oh well, such is life.

 

[shellyx]

Looks good, what a difference changing substrate can do to a tank.
I would go with a few pwc and put your filter back on, just watch out for clogging but it should be fine now. Congrats on it ?


55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails

 

[Carriwin]

Looks good, what a difference changing substrate can do to a tank.
I would go with a few pwc and put your filter back on, just watch out for clogging but it should be fine now. Congrats on it ?


55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails

Thanks, shelly! I appreciate it. I'm making sure to not put any of my fish in until the water settles. Heck, I didn't even treat it yet cause I wanted to make sure it was going to work out. LOL

I'll PWC tonight after work and see how well that does.

 

[shellyx]

Also remember to keep an eye on your parameters just incase you go through a mini cycle

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails

 

[Carriwin]

Fish and Photographs

So, while I was waiting for everything to settle down a bit in my tank, I had some fun with my fish and photographs.

They look like they're dancing, or part of Fantasia.

I had another join the party...

I loved how he was showing his colors,... my pretty dragontailed betta:

My pleco wasn't happy with me peeling him off the other tank...so if he had fingers, I'm sure he wanted to flip me off...

My little barbershop sextet:

 

[Carriwin]

Also remember to keep an eye on your parameters just incase you go through a mini cycle

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails

Thanks, shelly, I will. I appreciate all of your help and advice.

 

[Carriwin]

And here is a picture of my tank this morning after turning on the filter and doing an 80% WC last night. I dumped some of the water from the 38g into the tank this morning before I left for work, too, after treating it last night. I'm hoping we'll be good by tomorrow.

 

[shellyx]

And here is a picture of my tank this morning after turning on the filter and doing an 80% WC last night. I dumped some of the water from the 38g into the tank this morning before I left for work, too, after treating it last night. I'm hoping we'll be good by tomorrow.

Looking great ? you've done a good job with it. Very nice!

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails

 

[Carriwin]

Thanks, shelly!!!! I'm so excited to put my angels, gouramis, and my pleco back in there.


Question for you: who would be a good janitor for neons and tetras? Would a couple of cories be alright since it's sand there too?

 

[shellyx]

Cories would be fine, but remember they need to be in groups

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails

 

[Carriwin]

3-5 okay? I'll have enough room as I'm taking everything else but the neons and tetras out. I have 8 neons and 2 tetras, but I need some sort of janitorial staff. LOL OH and my Betta will be in there, too.

 

[shellyx]

I'd go with 5 they like company.

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails