Hi guys, thought I’d start a journal for the refurbishment of my 7’ tank. Bit of back story. Many years ago I tried this tank as a high tec due to various reasons I failed and took a break from planted tanks and this one was ignored. About a year ago I set up a 2.5’ high tec which about 6 months ago I moved in to a 2’ tank and I’m very happy with. This summer I am doing a fair bit of work to my house and one of the jobs means moving the 7’ tank.
During the planning of the DIY I considered many options for this tank including replacement with a high tec aquascape 1500, turning it in to a vivarium and just getting a few smaller tanks in its place.
I have decided to keep the tank as a low tec because 1 hour of maintenance a week is enjoyable but more would become a chore. My wife would like to keep the fish that are still in it including a clown loach and a kissing gourami plus some other smaller fish.
The make over is going to include a new DIY stand and lid. I am going to re use the Fx5 that is currently running on it, I plan on trying to turn this into thermo filter. For lighting I am going to use 2 number Hue 5m garden light and colour strips that will simulate dawn till dusk. These will sync with other lights in the room that form part of the rest of the home DIY project.
The scape I am currently planning will be a triangle right to left. The wife wants me to keep an existing piece of wood for the loach to hide under. I will stack black rocks larger to smaller and use black sand. As the tank will have big fish and be low tec I will keep plants simple and use aquarium gardens jungle packs and a few other species that are undecided. I’m thinking floating and large Anubias.
This journal will probably be a bit slow to start as I currently have celling’s down and wiring to replace before I drain and move the tank. I’m not looking forward to removing the rotten sand under the gravel.
Anyway I might have a few questions going forward and any you guys have fire away. I’ll post a picture of the tank currently, but I’m a bit embarrassed as it’s been VERY neglected for a long time.
During the planning of the DIY I considered many options for this tank including replacement with a high tec aquascape 1500, turning it in to a vivarium and just getting a few smaller tanks in its place.
I have decided to keep the tank as a low tec because 1 hour of maintenance a week is enjoyable but more would become a chore. My wife would like to keep the fish that are still in it including a clown loach and a kissing gourami plus some other smaller fish.
The make over is going to include a new DIY stand and lid. I am going to re use the Fx5 that is currently running on it, I plan on trying to turn this into thermo filter. For lighting I am going to use 2 number Hue 5m garden light and colour strips that will simulate dawn till dusk. These will sync with other lights in the room that form part of the rest of the home DIY project.
The scape I am currently planning will be a triangle right to left. The wife wants me to keep an existing piece of wood for the loach to hide under. I will stack black rocks larger to smaller and use black sand. As the tank will have big fish and be low tec I will keep plants simple and use aquarium gardens jungle packs and a few other species that are undecided. I’m thinking floating and large Anubias.
This journal will probably be a bit slow to start as I currently have celling’s down and wiring to replace before I drain and move the tank. I’m not looking forward to removing the rotten sand under the gravel.
Anyway I might have a few questions going forward and any you guys have fire away. I’ll post a picture of the tank currently, but I’m a bit embarrassed as it’s been VERY neglected for a long time.