New Tank In Progress Feedback Appreciated [Pics]

[atomiclord]

Here I am back for my daily AA meeting...

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I don't remember if I've introduced myself yet. My name is Kieran and I am currently studying Renewable Energy and Electrical Power Engineering, combined with Energy Studies (Physics) at uni in Perth, Western Australia. I still live at home, because even by working 30+ hours per week I still can't afford to rent (prices have skyrocketed recently). I grow bonsai, and have done so for a few years now. I've been basically taking care of my little brother's tank because I feel sorry that his fish are continually subjected to his mistreatment, and I decided to get my own tank. SO I shelled out quite a bit of money on a 30L tank, found part of the hood was broken, and managed to talk my LFS into letting me swap / upgrade it to a 160L. Here begins the fun.

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OK, I decided to make a new thread to get some feedback on my new tank. To give you an idea, I've just gone from this: (it was breaking)

To this:

160L / 42gal freshie tank.

A couple days ago it progressed to this:

As of this morning it looks like this:

There are now 2 extra fluoro tubes: a 18000K 24W Power Glo and a 10000K 24W Marine Glo. I like the blue for some reason. I've been trialling the sera CO2 fizzy tablets, figuring that even if they don't work it'll give my a half decent diffuser for if I go to a DIY CO2 system.

Spent about five hours boiling bogwood last night, and decided to put the wood in this morning in the hope that the few tannins left over would be beneficial to my fish. It now covers some of the filter intake and creates a cave on the right for my nocturnals.

The Plan:
I'm hoping to get it set up into a balance between a planted and a community tank. So far there are 9 adult danios (the number of fry changes based on how quick I can get to them), 1 little pleco, 1 mystery snail, a bunch of the usual weeds the LFS sells as plants, 4 nice pieces of 'bogwood' (and I think one of them might actually be real bogwood), and some cherry shrimp I have been given. Suprisingly the danios haven't attacked the shrimp yet.
I am going to tie a whole lotta plants to the bogwood, esp to further hide the filter intake (filter is in tank hood) and give better hiding places. I have trouble recognising plants so if you recommend any please be descriptive

I would really appreciate any suggetsions and feedback, both positive and constructive criticisms.

 

[atomiclord]

Bump.

 

[Venus]

I might be concerned about the drift wood; known to leach toxins into the water; unless it's fake that is. Other than that the tank looks great. I love what you've done with the gravel; most folks spread it out evenly; yours looks very natural.

 

[atomiclord]

I might be concerned about the drift wood; known to leach toxins into the water; unless it's fake that is.

I boiled it for about 5 hours last night, and it's been soaking for quite a while, basically until the water stopped turning brown.

 

[JustOneMore20]

Great start! I think your driftwood is fine. You may have a few tannins, but boiling it for 5 hours should have done away with most of them.

One thing I'd worry about is your lighting. 18000K isn't in the range of what plants prefer. Usually people use around 6500 to 10000K bulbs. Your other bulb is fine, but depending on your plant choices, you might look into swapping that 18000K bulb for something more plant friendly. With 2 plant friendly bulbs you still have low lighting. I can't ID your plants in the pics though to say if they will be ok in low light or not.

Nice upgrade!

 

[atomiclord]

Hmmm. Unfortunately I can't now. I guess the next upgrade for the lighting (which would require dismantling the hood) will be more plant friendly sigh.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I have driftwood that I have been soaking for months. I got it in mid-January, soaked it in hot water changing every couple days, put it in the tank, took it out 3 months later, and have been soaking it changing every week and it still it as brown as iced tea each time. Shouldn't it have leeched out all the tannins by now or am I going to have to boil it????

BTW tank looks great!

 

[Venus]

I've heard of all kinds of methods for removing the tannin from drift wood, but the fact is; it is what it is. Better to be safe than sorry.

It never ends does it atomiclord? It's always something.

 

[joy13]

Oils and chemicals that are toxic released by cedar and pine will cause problems. Tannins aren't toxic to fish. Usually woods like oak will leach tannins longer than other woods. Grapevine driftwood that is sold in pet stores shouldn't be used because it develops a fungus that doesn't seem to go away. I boil my driftwood and soak it until it sinks then use it, the color doesn't bother me and since I do weekly water changes it slowly subsides.

 

[atomiclord]

It never ends does it atomiclord? It's always something.

Sigh this is true. At least I've avoided most of the mistakes I made with my first tank :-j

Can you believe one of my LFS actually suggested a proper shark for my tank! I think it's just because they had the poor things in a tank a little smaller than mine. Because a real shark is such a community fish, and never gets very big...

 

[atomiclord]

Idea: Either 2 small, or one large divided (properly, with silicone) tank in the stand itself, on that top shelf in the picture. I'm thinking one for a breeding / quarantine tank, and one for feeder brine shrimp to hatch in.

Any suggestions?

 

[atomiclord]

Ok well I got a QT tank. It'll double for breeding of danios and such My LFS has said I can swap fish I breed for store credit, so at least they'll have somewhere to go.

 

[joy13]

Right now the only suggestion I have is a background.

 

[atomiclord]

Oh I forgot to mention there are also 2 15W 10000K t5 tubes in there. Makes 4 tubes. Does that change it to a medium light system?

 

[atomiclord]

Alrighty, just got the QT. It literally just fits. Looks like this:

Current improvements I'm thinking of are a sponge air filter for the QT, some of these red lights (I hope to see my nocturnal fishies) for the main tank:

And similar lights mounted just above the quarantine:

They're just LEDs, so at least there'll be low power consumption, and I'm thinking that it'll give the fish in the sometimes QT / sometimes breeding tank below a sense of 'up' and let me examine them better. Oh and in QT now are a couple khuli loaches and guppies.

Any thoughts?

 

[atomiclord]

Okay, well I bought the lights off ebay. Will post pics of them when they arrive. Quick question: Should I get a different filter for the bottom tank? It has a HOB atm, but I remember something about breeding tanks and them mostly having foam / airline filters.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Okay, well I bought the lights off ebay. Will post pics of them when they arrive. Quick question: Should I get a different filter for the bottom tank? It has a HOB atm, but I remember something about breeding tanks and them mostly having foam / airline filters.

Check out my hybrid HOB / Sponge filter. Keeps fry out & provides bio/mech/chem filtration

 

[atomiclord]

Check out my hybrid HOB / Sponge filter. Keeps fry out & provides bio/mech/chem filtration

Looks good! How do I make one? Or where could I get one? Schematics? I like it.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

It's a Tetra Whisper EX 20 with the extension tube and without the strainer intake. That's part #1. Part #2 is a plain old Hagen BioFoam A900 sponge filter like this one:

Hagen® BioFoam Sponge Filter "Single" #A900

Look close at the package there is an L shaped light gray tube that sticks inside the sponge, I wrapped that with a rubber band a couple times (use a couple of those really small ones the pet stores use to tie off plastic bags when you buy fish) and that creates the seal when you stick the sponge filter into the intake of the HOB.

Hagen makes a double sponge also that you could probably use with a larger HOB.

 

[atomiclord]

Okay I might give it a go tomorrow. Need an excuse a break from studies for a while anyway