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Ger's 36" Clearseal

gerlewis

Member
Joined
13 Jun 2009
Messages
70
Well finally it begins! My wife is away for the weekend so I thought I'd do all the messy stuff while she was not around :)

I got the tank from PaH, took the black bits off and at the moment its sitting on the unit, empty. But I plan to plug away at it this weekend. I have been sourcing bits for over 2 months, and finally have all the bits I need to get started.
Im currently boiling river rocks in my wife's prized saucepan (shhh). It was nice to find some live fresh water shrimps on the back of the rocks when I picked them out of the river :)

Anyway heres some pics for now, and I will try to keep you all posted of my progress as I go.







Cheers
Ger
 
Initial experiment with some rocks.



This could take some time!
 
I really like the shape of that tank! The rocks are interesting, but I agree, rock and wood arranging is probably more time-consuming than planting the tank! Unless you have HC or glosso, then you are in trouble?

What are you plans for the tank?
 
nice effort :)
id consider getting some more rocks though to play with, preferably the same colour.
combination of black and white looks a bit messy imo.

and argggh! planting hc is the single most annoying thing anyone will ever do :p
 
Glosso is worse! :lol:


I don't like ur rocks.
I like Seiryu Stone or dragon stone more.
 
Thanks for the comments guys - Im 'trying' to stick with my rock style as it is all from local rivers, and the sand is from local dunes, so its kinda personal to me - but I appreciate that they are possibly not the best rocks available.
(plus they are free and I'm trying to keep the costs down!)

Anyway - I am still undecided whether to go for all black, all grey or a mixture. More pics to follow, I just fitted the lily pipes and they look lovely. Both rocks become a lot darker when wet i've noticed.

As for plants - I want fairly hardy beginner plants, and particularly grass/hairgrass type stuff at the back. And the front will be sand, in an effort not to get caught up in a HC nightmare, as I'm such a newbie. I also don't plan on CO2 for the time being. Plant suggestions are welcome.

One question, when I look from the end of the tank (where one sofa is placed) the rocks look a bit too all-in-a-line. Do you guys place some near the front and some at the rear in order to break this up?

Ger
 
Well, ive been messing around with my rocks, and ive fitted my lily pipes (which I love as the tank look so clean and clutter free).





With regard to the lily pipes, should the inlet be at the back of the tank and the outlet at the front etc? or does it not matter?

Ger
 
regards your rocks, now if there personal to you and there from a river....you may just pull his off if you invest in some graded gravels and attempt a river scene. rather than attempt iwagumi style placement, lay them down as if they were in a river bed.

the gravels, should help to break up the colours a little or rather make them appear in a natural way. it's a long shot but could work. after all some quick rivers i've seen NEVER have the same coloured pebbles and stone!

good luck :D
 
Thanks for that Saintly - I needed some advice! I will try that when I get some time this evening.

I quite like the idea of a shoal of tetras swimming around the big dark stone, so may try some layouts with that one still in its place, plus it shields the TV from the fish's view, I thought this would be good for their welfare in case they get distressed by the tv.

More to follow!

Ger
 
Hey guys, dont know if you can help me, but my cycling seems to be stalling.

On day 1, I planted, added 'bactinettes' to the filter, then I added 4ppm of household ammonia to the tank.
Now on days 2,3 & 4 the ammonia has remained at 3.7ppm. So Im not sure if it has stalled, or what to do next.
The lady from Maidenhead Aquatics said it would cycle in a week with Bactinettes. Should I consider a partial water change to lower the ppm of ammonia, and possibly kick-start the cycle?

What would you recommend in my situation?

Thanks,
Ger
 
Cycling can often take a few weeks. Ive had my new tank set up for 18 days now, It was 2 weeks before my Ammonia dropped and now the Nitrite is very high The Nitrite should start to drop any day now then the jobs mostly done.

But its seemed like an age, I think patience is the key, I just wish I had some :rolleyes:
 
I really like the arrangement of the rocks on the right side. Very natural. On the other hand, the standing rocks on the left look a bit precarious if you ask me. If you laid them down more flat, I think they'd match the right side and you have a very pretty rock arrangement that looks very natural.

So glad I see vallis in there! I was about to suggest Vallis nana, which has very lovely, fine leaves.

llj
 
Well the cycle is moving along just fine now - nitrites are on the rise!

I see what you mean about the left - I might fiddle with that later today.

I want more plants - I fancy some Rotala, but the Mrs. says it looks like enough plants :eek: :?

Ger
 
i thought it would look a mess with the black bits removed but it doesnt look that bad.

I want more plants - I fancy some Rotala, but the Mrs. says it looks like enough plants

everyone says that too me, but once the next plant is in they're always like "yeah it does look better" lol. Kepp adding and i am sure she will be persuaded to :p
 
aaronnorth said:
everyone says that too me, but once the next plant is in they're always like "yeah it does look better" lol. Kepp adding and i am sure she will be persuaded to :p

Completely agree with that. My missus insists the tank looks nice and doesn't need anymore plants. Then once it's in, "that looks nicer like that". Bloody women :lol: :rolleyes:
 
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