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5ft Custom Heavily Planted Sumped Hi-Tech (450l)

Sorry to hear of the torpedos. Such a quick death could be due to O2?
 
I think it was due to Chlorine / Chloramine poisoning :( Possibly increased levels within the supply due to the heat wave.

I filled the tank up from the hose, and I don’t think I added Prime. Brought the first batch of fish across, and into the tank. Second batch, maybe an hour later, which was just a few stragglers I’d had trouble netting. Added Prime then I think, but had total wipe out of the first batch within an hour or two.
 
Redid the lava rock filled mound. The grid stuff comes with a base to it, which was making it difficult to fill up the space without too many gaps. Another evening with the Stanley knife solved that one, along with attacking the rock with a hammer (out of the tank!) it to smaller pieces. I did buy 6kg of lava rock, used about 4kg already now. I’m 3 rows tall now, next rows will be smaller so I can terrace and add some plants.

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Lost all 5 torpedo barbs within the hour, 3"-4" ones too.

S denisonii can be uniquely sensitive fish - it’s quite possible you added Prime etc & there were no apparent issues

They are distinctly sensitive to oxygen levels & this can be more significant in larger fish
(I don’t recall if you transported these fish some distance or how you matched tank water parameters etc - which shouldn’t be such as issue as it’s quite possible to buy these fish in a shop, transport home etc & lose none in the process)
 
First finished go at the mound done, may need to tweak it. I’m not keen on the horizon slate, but it’s covering the filter return, so I need something there.

Plan is to infill the lava rock with sand, and then plant up.

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Planted up what I had, and today had a right result on a local Facebook group. Picked up for free pretty much a bin bag full of java ferns and Anubis.

Not great news on the fish front. Went away for a week, and left neighbour feeding fish. Not sure if related, but lost nearly all the Tetra, seemed to be White Spot. Also found out my heater wasn’t working, so had to buy new one.

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Sump started to leak yet again. No surprise there really, I've patched it up many times. Solution... buy a bigger tank to sit it inside! :crazy:

Picked up a 90l second hand, think it's a Fluval Roma. Good news is with the extra height I can have enough "spare" water in the sump to restart the system after power off. Like my old tank, the sump overflows into the drain to prevent flood. Also it means I can drain down the tank into the sump for the weekly water changes.

On this new one, I have 2x 21.5mm overflows into a 32mm pipe. On the old one, sometimes the single overflow got a bit overwhelmed and we got close to spilling over the top instead!

Holes drilled in the sump with the aid of a clamped wooden guide to keep the drill bit steady, and make sure both holes level.

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Unfortunately the plan to drill a few holes in the old sump to allow it to also fill the new one did not quite go to plan!

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So, had to bite the bullet and just remove the whole end panel instead.

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How do you control the water coming down from the DT into the sump when you shut then pumps off during water changes or maintenance?
 
How do you control the water coming down from the DT into the sump when you shut then pumps off during water changes or maintenance?

I’ve got a double check valve (22mm) under the filter return before it enters the tank.

Have had couple times it’s not completely worked due to an MTS shell getting stuck in it, but I’m hoping having all flow into the sump via a filter sock will stop that issue.
 
Plumbing completed on the sump, ready to go in:

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And the sump in place:

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Yet another tank nightmare, and another chance to get the floor wet!

So back when I specified the tank, I wanted it drilled for 21.5mm tank connectors. Reason being these are cheap (£3 for a pack of 5 from Screwfix!), on the inside you can use standard overflow pipe, and on the outside it has a standard sized "tap" thread, so a cheap tap connector can fix on the outside allowing you to run standard 15mm/22mm pipework on the outside. Perfect, cheap, available at big DIY shops.... easy!

Tank, much to my annoyance was drilled for 32mm pipework, and these connectors have been causing me nothing but grief since. Tank same supplied with connectors similar to this:

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No use at all, as the piece on the threaded end is not compatible sized with anything... it's about 30mm. Their solution was to fudge/mod a connector to fit in this gap. Needless to say, never worked properly. Turns out these big connectors are made from Polypropylene, which is a extremely difficult plastic to bond. I filled down a connector, and tried to solvent weld it. Second time, I tried silicone. Both held to an extent, but both following a knock simply fell out.

If you ever wondered what the flow rate of a 32mm hole in the bottom of a 450l tank is.... the answer is wet! :banghead:

So, I still need to sort the pipework out for the sump properly, and I've now had to improvise a solution to hold the return pipe in place. Leaks a little, but seems to be OK for the moment.

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Opted to solve my issue with some 'Loctite All Plastics Glue'. It's superglue, but comes with a little pen like a highlighter to add to the tricky polypropylene pipe first.

Did a trial run on some spare pipe first. Good news, set very solid.... bad news.... it instantly set before I even managed to slide the parts together!!

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Upon further inspection, this piece of pipe was actually not polypropylene. So rather nervously I has to test in the live environment. Either the glue would not work, or it sets in whatever position I can managed to get it in!

What I opted to do was try to superglue the top of the contact area (blue arrow), to hold it in place. But also silicone (red arrow) the base to make the water tight seal. That way I didn't need to reply on the glue to be 100% covering the diameter.

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And................ so far it seems to have worked :D

Finally I might be able to concentrate on the actual tank itself now. Got some Torpedo Line Barbs at the weekend and more Ottos. The wife is keen for some more colour, and is pressing for Guppies. I'm not so sure.... guess will see who wins that one!
 
Been a long time, and the tank was completely overgrown to the point could not see the sand at all with mainly Crypts.

Massive clearout, and found 3 Corys I didn't know I still had! Pleased with the outcome, can actually see the fish. More work to do in rearranging etc, but it's a start. Ordered more sand, got some more tank mates for the Corys (managed to capture 6 in one picture), another Torpedo Line Barb & some Cherry Shrimp. Not seen much of the Cherry Shrimp... hopefully didn't come expensive fish food!

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Another long time since I posted or did much with the tank. Too much algae on the glass, normally covered in string algae, and nothing is doing much.

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Decided will try to give it some love. First things first, trying to gain some height. Was a bit worried about the weight, eventually settled on some old takeaway boxes sealed with water, gaps between boxes filled with pea shingle, and then topped up with sand. Will have to keep topping the sand up for a while no doubt. Happy with my new mound, will move some of the crypts onto there shortly.


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Not a great picture, and I also need to sort the algae on the back, but starting to figure out what I want. Next step is some kind of large bogwood piece for the middle(ish) area. I have in my mind a fairly chunky curved log that would bridge from one the the sides. Tonnes on eBay, so will keep stalking there until I find a good one. I have loads of Anubis I can attach to it already.

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eBay worked, and currently have the below piece in the tank which is about 2ft. Has mostly sank after a few hours which is good news.

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I've got some vallis growing which I'll replace most of the stuff on the left with, and tonnes of anubis I'll get attached to the wood.

Once it has sunk I'll get it planted up and get some pictures up :)
 
I got the bogwood with the idea of planting it up, but I'm not so sure now - seem to lose a lot of the visible wood doing that.

Any ideas for rearrangement or changes welcomes, the tank seems to be a bit of a mess at the moment. I do want to eventually grow big Amazon Swords behind the wood, and have some kind of carpet plant at the front. Maybe that would bring it together better.

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Had some spare time, and the better half decided she fancies having a small tank in the front room, which gave me a bit of a kick to look at the main tank again. So we now have a 23l Fluval Edge... which is handy as I lost the guppy debate, and now have a sump full of fry!

First job was to sort out the pipe work again, petrified of knocking the return pipe and it falling out the bottom of the tank. The new brace now holds it firmly in place, so even if it decides to try to fall out it would be a small leak, rather than a catastrophic emptying!

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My no return value was also periodically not working due to trumpet snail shells making their way into it. The solution has been to put the entire return pump inside a filter bag, and also install a manual cut off so I can remove the no return valve for maintenance. The pipe work has all now also been jiggled about so it sits above the top of the sump, so that can be slid forward if needed.

Cleaning out the sump was a major pain in the backside due to all the fry I was too kind not wash away. I’ve now also redirected all the overflow pipes into another filter sock. Now I should be able to save any fry, remove the sponges, and then just use the garden hose to flood the sump to wash away all the muck into the overflow and down the drain.
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Dug out all the CO2 equipment from the loft, and go the auto doser ready. Just need some bottles now, and I’m ready to EI and CO2 again.
 
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