New fish house

[J.Mcpeak]

Are they in? El pap ero del pan aqua?

Was also looking at L. 204
Another ideal species, they got some at £24 each! Good size, great form/colour, ideal wide range water.

Arabesque are still there. £69 I think they were! I think they will still be there.

Pair of rays, £3000, or £1700 each.

Not paying that! But I will get my fish. (No not a robbery) silly!

(They sort me out at my local but not by enough for me to get these fish, I get rounded numbers on certain items and some occasional things thrown in)

 

[Surfer]

Man, still pining for that perfect pleco i see

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[J.Mcpeak]

Man, still pining for that perfect pleco i see

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(All plecos are perfect!)
. . . . But yes brother man, still looking for my perfect plec. At the moment I have the Bristlenose in the big tank, she's doing a good job but I'm not sure she's the right fish for that tank. The clowns are used to the big plecs I had so they know to keep clear, just she seems a bit small for them really. She will stay in until I rearrange the tank, catching fish from that system is always a major job! In time I guess these things will happen for me. Hopefully soon you can see the reef Mk I, I am piecing that together over the next few weeks/months so for now at least, I have other things to occupy my mind with.
(The reef is almost a decade in the making! I'm probably not quite ready but if I don't start it I never will, it's my reason for having any fish at all, "to learn the ropes" as it was put to me by the LFS, actually some good advice! I still don't know enough but I think I know enough to start, and I finally have the space without giving up on any of my current fish stock, properly excited, currently this is consuming most of my free time)

 

[J.Mcpeak]

I hope this works! (Sneak peek)

The Mk1 reef.

Technically this is probably Mk 44 or something. I have been thinking about a reef tank since the day I first got the bug, that was just before I built my first tank back in 2005 (I think it was, the excitement is obscuring my memory)

This is the plan I've decided to start building. I finally worked out the side sump so the build begins, this is basically a collection of spare bits, sort of.
When I worked as a glazier I had a side line of panels cut for me which I stored. The refugium was cut to an earlier design four or five years ago along with the panels I cut into the main baffle plates and a sheet which I will cut to form the bubble screen from skimmer to pump chamber and the parts I need for the weir aquaduct.

The tank is left over from the "move" I built it as a temporary accommodation for my clown loach shoal. It is 150x45x45cm or 5ft x18x18"

The stand. The legs were cut when I built the main stand for my 120 & 110 litre tanks, I have all the timber I need now to complete the stand, I have all the glass although I still need to cut a few pieces.

So I have a stand in bits, a tank that needs modifying, some sheets to cut and a refugium in flat pack!

This is a real advance! I'm actually doing it!

Two pumps and some plumbing for testing will be my next purchases, if it looks ok I'll add the skimmer, test some more, then I'll think about the sand and rocks, the lights will happen at the same time.

Hopefully it will be a happy christmas for me!

 

[Sillyfishies]

I'm excited to see it come along.

 

[J.Mcpeak]

I'm excited to see it come along.

You are! Cheers though, I'm ecstatic, and it isn't even a system yet! It's so close. There are all the bits minus the major items of equipment. All it ever was before now was a series of drawings which evolved depending on what I became interested in. This is it. . .

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Progress Pictorial, 101 Alternative stocking ideas.

Modifying the temporary tank,
The first thing I did was make the main tank safe, when I built it I was in a hurry and I never eased the edges before I filled it. I got nipped a few times by the tank while it housed the clown loaches. Now the tank is safe to enter I can begin working this out more precisely. A few obscure items were used which made for a most abstract stocking list, a side table, tins of soup and whiskey cases! These allowed me to shift the baffles easily and safely so I could take a decent measure for the few smaller panels of glass.

For the refugium, I had most of this worked out already, the only thing I guessed was the hole size, ideal for 1/2" pipe. The tank adapters I found when I made the rheo rig (they were originally for this) were 3/4", while I was in Birmingham picking up those 3 used (not my DIY) tanks, I had a good look around and one key item I left with was the hole drill. Useful thing which works as it should, the only thing is it's designed for a pillar drill or machine bed, so a wooden jig was made up to support the end of the bit, the glass was clamped to the jig(s) and a hose was used to supply coolant. Those days in a factory finally paid off! I did this in the fish house over the sink, I took some pictures at the same time, water stops the glass and bit overheating, if you try this in your kitchen sink use some type of tray to catch the glass, here I am not concerned with scratches, I could work outside but I have a dog.

The working model, I'm so glad I made this! I got sick of starting over with note paper, there must be at least a trees worth of note pads in this so far. I'm no good at 3d drawing on a computer! This proved quite handy for making adjustments on. Now I have instructions to work to. Glass all cut and finished, silicone at the ready. I'm waiting for one more delivery and I can build this thing. Hopefully by the end of next week I'll have an actual real live reef or the start of one at least. I've been thinking/dreaming/drawing/reading/drooling and working on this whole thing since the first tank I built. This is the closest I've ever been, I sure hope it works!

 

[J.Mcpeak]

I think this was my first question?

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f14/gaseous-exchange-stocking-method-inc-coral-284465.html

I've had some additional help from this forum actually getting over some hurdles. This link is my assistance page to help me with some unanswered questions about reef tanks. Some things you just can't read about! Possibly I may have found the answers elsewhere but I didn't. I found them here. it would be rude not to mention it, and not to say,

THANK YOU.

That's a quality service. I'm happy about all of this.

There will be more build pics to follow. . .
The next part involves some of you too!

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Stand assembled! Almost. I was really keen to put the tank on to see how it all looks.

Naturally I am happy!


SO CLOSE IT HURTS

Plenty of space to work on the top shelf there is extra space for all things reef, and plenty of space underneath for the MkII reef!

(Already planned it, if this works out I'll drop this tank to the floor like a regular sump, the display section of this tank then becomes a grow out station or qt and I'll add a new full width display to the middle section, that should take me up to 500-600 litres total capacity, that's why the sump area is slightly oversize, planning for tomorrow, of course only if this works that is!, it could still fail!!!)

 

[Alan79]

That is going to be a very nice setup. Hurry up and get it filled already.

 

[J.Mcpeak]

100% DIY Reef, slow progress. Hey it's summertime!

So this is as far as I've got. New plugs on the wall. All of the actual building is done, just add hardware, pumps etc. I've been busy lining up some background equipment, now I have a decent scale set to measure powders more precisely and also a refractometer with auto temp compensation. Still no actual tank equipment but that's all I need now. . . . I have plans for everything, I just need to execute them.

Full write up with high quality pics, as usual follow link to my flickr page, album called, my fishes and fish house build.

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Diddy P (1 year later)

This is the coolest thing, hand feeding my figure 8, well, it's not really hand feeding but it's the closest you're likely to get!

Hopefully you'll think it's as great as I do!

 

[Brookster123]

Pretty freaking cool if you ask me! Great looking puffer!

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[J.Mcpeak]

Cheers brookster,
Yes pretty cool! It makes feeding times much more intimate, if that's such a thing?
I can pretty much do the same with the clowns but shooting it is hard! Also no fingers because they have sharp tongues but they take it from the bowl at the surface, that's as close as I am prepared to get!
This is one reason why I can't be without a puffer fish.
(one that will not eat my fingers!)
Best fish money can buy.

I hope you've had a good year mister! Santa soon!

(Quick edit, note the belly getting fatter through the sequence!)

 

[J.Mcpeak]

Large Loricariidae from upper Rio Ucayali. Sold as "papa plec" L090, dentition would suggest it is L203. Size approx 3.5"/90mm.
Sun 28th December 2014. This is the 6th species from this family I have kept.

Eventually this will end up in the big tank with my clown loach.

 

[J.Mcpeak]

LDA 1 Panaqolus sp.

Small Loricariidae from Brazil, Rio Negro. "Gold stripe panaque"
Approx size 2.5"/65mm.
Absolute gem of a fish! Impulse buy! Shop shutting down everything half price! Oops! (I have space )
Mon 29th December 2014.



Great way to end the year! Those christmas fish tokens were well used!


HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

[Brookster123]

L400?? Nice suit on that little fella! Welcome back J

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[J.Mcpeak]

L400?? Nice suit on that little fella! Welcome back J

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LDA 1 Quarantine

How are you doing buddy?
No sir, not L400, that's closer in colour to l46. It's LDA1 "gold stripe" panaque.
This is yesterday's picture, it has coloured up! Really golden now.
Yes, it is a real beauty, shame that most of these fish hide. At least I will be blessed from time to time eh! Transport water was abysmal and it wasn't looking exceptional. Today it looks better still but I'm not poking a camera at it.

 

[Brookster123]

Ahh I see.. yes, I've heard it before, said it before.. the nicer they look/more $$$.. less you see them. Oh well..

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[J.Mcpeak]

(Originally they wanted £40 for the fish! That's extreme money I think!)
I only got it because it was half that price.
Plecs are where I seem to spend though, I remember the l128 blue phantom being £45. That was a stunning fish, hardly saw it, but when I did! Rewards aplenty, that is until I found the carcass! I think the L030 was around £25-30, and that was the old tax rate too! God knows what they charge now!

Hopefully it will live a good life (and give me some good pictures!)

Not sure if it's the same for you but I only think about the cost at the till, once I'm home, I'm only thinking fishy fish fish!