I have always been fascinated by the fish and have always wanted a tank of my own. We had a goldfish before which lasted for several months. I even bought a small 2nd-hand tank in the past but it was in poor condition so I wasn't really interested at the time.
Anyway, my son has been fascinated with fishes recently (he always enjoyed our trip to the mall and will spend a lot of time in the pet shop looking at the fish). And the CFO agreed to us having a tank. What started out as canvassing for a $200 AUD all-in-one tank turned out to costing something around $1800 AUD (I've stop counting). The tank was initially going to the dining room. The $200 tank is fine in dining room but not the tank that I bought so it has been placed in the "den" (which is our 2nd lounge room).
The setup will be an tropical Australia biotope that will house 2 species of rainbowfish + glass shrimps (for clean up duty). I do not know of any Australian moss that I can tie to driftwood so I may have to resort to imports. I'm thinking of using flame moss. The driftwood will house imports as well (narrow leaf ferns) as I do not believe Australia has a suitable replacement.
I will be buying my plants/fish from aquagreen.com.au. The glass shrimps will come from livefish.com.au as they have a nice promo on these. The flame moss and fern will be sourced from local hobbyists (either through a local fish forum or ebay).
anyway here are some pics of the stuff I had to do. (no tank pics yet)
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cabinet hack: I had to drill 4 big holes (only for the side cabinets) to fit the tubing. The hole that is in there wouldn't work with my canister.
The stand came with 2 cabinets only. I had to convert the middle portion (open and didn't come with a door) into a makeshift cabinet. This will house the fire extinguisher setup. You can see the rectangular hole I had to cut on the bottom plate to make the FE fit as it's too tall. The small hole on the middle cabinet is used for the 4mm CO2 and the bigger hole is for the solenoid power cable.
Here's the front and back photos of the makeshift door for the middle cabinet. The door was constructed using the cabinet dividers that came with the stand.
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here's the MH system being tested. The lighting consists of 2x 54W T5HO, 2x 150W halide and 2x LED moonlight.
I need to replace the power cables as it's too short for my taste. I will probably just buy cheap extension cables from the "$1" shop. And The seller sent the wrong halides so I'm waiting for replacements.
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Here's my electronic timer. All sockets can be timed. I got 2 of these. 1 board will house cables for the MH system (which has 3 cables) while the 2nd one will be housing the solenoid from the CO2 regulator. I may connect a wavemaker in the 2nd electronic timer if required. The timers/powerboards will be mounted on the back of the stand. I thought of putting them inside the cabinets but there isn't enough space.
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I spend most of the afternoon today putting in ceiling braces (got 2 of them up in the ceiling) for the lighting. very hard work and back-breaking due to cramp space. But I got it done in the end. Thought I will check-out the hardware shop tomorrow to see if I can find something to secure the steel wire. The steel wire is secure by a round screw (beneath the electrical tape in this photo). I need to include an "insurance policy" to my setup in the possibility that the round screw was somehow loosened.
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The tank is still in the floor. Due to the tank's weight, it is impossible for me to easily move it around. So everything must be set first (timers mounted, lighting position calculated and mounted and anything else that requires me to move the stand) before I move the tank.
anyway, a lot of forum members has helped me so far. So big thank you to all of you. more pics to come!!
ps. hopefully, the halide lamps will come soon so I can start planting!!
Anyway, my son has been fascinated with fishes recently (he always enjoyed our trip to the mall and will spend a lot of time in the pet shop looking at the fish). And the CFO agreed to us having a tank. What started out as canvassing for a $200 AUD all-in-one tank turned out to costing something around $1800 AUD (I've stop counting). The tank was initially going to the dining room. The $200 tank is fine in dining room but not the tank that I bought so it has been placed in the "den" (which is our 2nd lounge room).
The setup will be an tropical Australia biotope that will house 2 species of rainbowfish + glass shrimps (for clean up duty). I do not know of any Australian moss that I can tie to driftwood so I may have to resort to imports. I'm thinking of using flame moss. The driftwood will house imports as well (narrow leaf ferns) as I do not believe Australia has a suitable replacement.
I will be buying my plants/fish from aquagreen.com.au. The glass shrimps will come from livefish.com.au as they have a nice promo on these. The flame moss and fern will be sourced from local hobbyists (either through a local fish forum or ebay).
anyway here are some pics of the stuff I had to do. (no tank pics yet)
------------
cabinet hack: I had to drill 4 big holes (only for the side cabinets) to fit the tubing. The hole that is in there wouldn't work with my canister.
The stand came with 2 cabinets only. I had to convert the middle portion (open and didn't come with a door) into a makeshift cabinet. This will house the fire extinguisher setup. You can see the rectangular hole I had to cut on the bottom plate to make the FE fit as it's too tall. The small hole on the middle cabinet is used for the 4mm CO2 and the bigger hole is for the solenoid power cable.
Here's the front and back photos of the makeshift door for the middle cabinet. The door was constructed using the cabinet dividers that came with the stand.
--------------------------------
here's the MH system being tested. The lighting consists of 2x 54W T5HO, 2x 150W halide and 2x LED moonlight.
I need to replace the power cables as it's too short for my taste. I will probably just buy cheap extension cables from the "$1" shop. And The seller sent the wrong halides so I'm waiting for replacements.
--------------------------------
Here's my electronic timer. All sockets can be timed. I got 2 of these. 1 board will house cables for the MH system (which has 3 cables) while the 2nd one will be housing the solenoid from the CO2 regulator. I may connect a wavemaker in the 2nd electronic timer if required. The timers/powerboards will be mounted on the back of the stand. I thought of putting them inside the cabinets but there isn't enough space.
--------------------------------
I spend most of the afternoon today putting in ceiling braces (got 2 of them up in the ceiling) for the lighting. very hard work and back-breaking due to cramp space. But I got it done in the end. Thought I will check-out the hardware shop tomorrow to see if I can find something to secure the steel wire. The steel wire is secure by a round screw (beneath the electrical tape in this photo). I need to include an "insurance policy" to my setup in the possibility that the round screw was somehow loosened.
--------------------------------
The tank is still in the floor. Due to the tank's weight, it is impossible for me to easily move it around. So everything must be set first (timers mounted, lighting position calculated and mounted and anything else that requires me to move the stand) before I move the tank.
anyway, a lot of forum members has helped me so far. So big thank you to all of you. more pics to come!!
ps. hopefully, the halide lamps will come soon so I can start planting!!
