My first journal; Multiple tanks - Video updates

[beeky]

Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Vaseline?!

When I put my tank together I tried putting a black bin liner as a backdrop. It looked better than I expected it to, but was just too shiny for the amount of light I had. My wife then came back with some matt black card from a local stationers which looks much better but unfortunately is a little too short so will need a bit more stuck on.

 

[Azaezl]

Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Can you not slide a sheet of acrylic behind in the colour you'd like. I know it's not quite as good as an actual background but it might be better than the red.

I had great 'fun' fitting my plain black background... note to self, in future always leave a little more than a hand width between the back of the tank and the wall behind! Vaseline got on everything, it was a nightmare keeping it out of the tank during the process... and it still has some bubbles which I can't get at

I have the same problem, I can't get my hand around the back of the tank, I can reach the back on the left / right sides but can't get to the centre. It's beause it's the bottom tank on a double stand and I put it very close to the wall. It was easy enough to do the top tank because I can slide things down the back from the top but can't do that on the bottom tank.

Took a pic this morning of the goldie tank, nice and clear now but still looks pants

I shouldn't have moved the wood, I think it looked better where it was, I'll move it back next week, this week I'm concentrating on the top tank.

Here's the double tanks(and my frog tank to the left);

As you can see it's very difficult to do anything on the bottom tank because of the top one.

It's all temporary anyway, hopefully by september I'll have my double 4ft setup, this one will be going and I'll have the goldie tank back on it's original wooden stand.I will remember to order and stick on some black backing before I do anything with any of them. I need to clean that big water stain off the back of the goldie tank as well, it drives me mad but can't reach it to clean it Once I've moved everything around I'll have a 2ft tank empty, will be fun stocking that

 

[Egmel]

Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Vaseline?!

A brilliant non-permanent adhesive for film backings. Smear onto glass, apply backing, smooth out with credit card to remove bubbles, seal edges with electrical insulating tape or similar. Job's a good'un ... which all works wonderfully well as long as you can get to the back of your tank

Azaezl, I think the card option is probably a good one, it's cheap, will last until Sept when your new tanks get there and stop you saying... damn, I don't like the red.

The other option is to make the red a feature, get some red plants or ornaments that set it off. You could make quite a nice Japanese style with the white sand and some black accessories. That would also contrast really nicely with the natural style of the top tank.

 

[Azaezl]

Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

It was annoying at first egmel but the tanks only temporary so I'm not too bothered now, if I can't get a background on then so be it, it's only going to be like that for another 5 / 6 months

Just a couple of new pics, added some blyxia I got off Andy, haven't decided where to put it so just stuck some in the 35 and the other in the panda tank see where it grows best. I'll be getting my new plants tomorrow so expect some new pics soon and a shed load of new pics on monday as I'll have a good camera then

The 35;

The 5;

 

[beeky]

Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

I love the cladaphora algae in your tank. If it wasn't called algae it would be a must have plant!

Is it growing at all?

 

[Azaezl]

Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

I would still say it's a must have 'plant', alot of people have it because it is an algae ball and stays in a ball(unless manually broken up) so any excess nutrients are sucked up by it rather then unwanted algaes but it doesn't cause an unsightly mess. Plus it does really well in very very low light, such as my frogs tank that was lit only by a 40W table lamp next to it.

Another bonus(or bad point depending on how you look at it) is that it's very slow growing, so I estimate that all I need to do to this tank for the next few months is change the water and feed the shrimp, how low maintenance is that!

 

[Azaezl]

Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Well the plants turned up today, I almost ended up with a parcel for the local doctors rather then my plants but I caught the guy in time to get the right parcel.

I'm very very disappointed with the quality of the plants, usually I get really good quality plants but this time they were awful. The 50 H.polysperma I ordered were very very bad, I had to take half the leaves off most of the plants because they were dead / dying. The 63 plant collection I ordered was better quality but was ridiculously small, I'd have been very annoyed if it was intended to setup an entire tank, it's ok for adding to existing tanks but the background plants were smaller then usual, normally when I get vallis from there it's normally 12 inches or so wheras this time it was only 7 inches.

Anyway onto the photos, I've only put an extra dozen or so plants in for now as I was pushed for time(it came at lunchtime) but will add a few more as well as move a few things around later on. So here are 2 pics for now, I also recorded a video but haven't the time right now to edit it, add some music, upload it etc so I'll do that later as well.

Different / closer angle;

 

[Azaezl]

Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

right here's that video as promised;


I'm right in the middle of re-scaping the panda cory tank, started about 30 mins ago should be done within the hour so expect some cloudy pics soon

 

[Azaezl]

Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Panda tank is now done, haven't got time to do the goldie tank so will have to do that tomorrow, couple of cloudy pics for now but once the filters clear the water I'll take some more;

Here's a poorly exposed video of the tank as well, complete with a few rogue plant leaves I didn't spot floating about

 

[Azaezl]

Clear pic from this morning;

The flow from the filters is blowing the vallis in the left hand corner over a bit so I need to turn it down and point it more towards the glass.

 

[Azaezl]

Goldfish tank is now complete, totally random placing of the plants, I'll wait a few weeks and then decide what I want to do with it.

 

[beeky]

Nice setups you've got there. How many pandas have you got in their tank? Anything else in with them?

I've only got two at the moment but hoping to get some more and then try my hand at breeding them. I've kept fish for quite a long time, but only ever made a token effort at breeding in the past.

 

[Azaezl]

Thanks beeky

I have 6 pandas at the moment and 5 trili corys as well as 10 amano shrimp. I'm looking for a new home for the trilis and will be replacing them for more pandas. pandas can be a bit iffy to breed depending on where they are from, from what I've found out the ones more commonly sold in shops are mass bred / interbred and some are sterile / difficult to breed. They aren't impossible though, just could be difficult if you get the poorer stock.

 

[beeky]

Hmm....seems to be the way with a lot of fish these days.

I orginally bought 6 but 4 died within 48 hours. I bought them from a tankful in the shop and when I went back they had 3 left and they didn't give me a refund Needless to say I won't be buying from there again. I went into a better shop some time later and asked if they ever get pandas in and they said they avoid getting many of the corys in because they can't get decent quality and they don't last very long!

 

[Azaezl]

Sounds like a familiar scenario, seems to be a misconception that panda corys are weak and sensitive but IME they are just as hardy as the common bronze but it is the poor quality stock due to mass breeding that's the problem, find a good shop and your set. I used to buy my fish from a local chain shop because it was the lesser of the 2 local evils and pandas were always hit n miss. Then I discovered a good chain shop(maidenhead aquatics) and their stock is very very healthy, I haven't had a single fish die and have never seen a dead / ill fish in the shop.

Good luck with the breeding

 

[Azaezl]

Just a very quick update, the new plants are settling in well and growing very fast, it hasn't even been a week since I last trimmed the vallis and I had to cut it again, brilliant Anyway the hygro survived, I was worried as it looked very sorry for itself, I've only had time to take some pics of the largest tank, I'll snap some pics of the others later tonight. I also finally added the jbl balls, I didn't add them at first incase I decided I wanted to move any of the swords / crypts about but I've decided everything is staying where it is apart from the forground plants that I still need to arrange properly but I want to make sure they are going to grow alright in my tank before I fiddle about planting each individual plant.

 

[Azaezl]

Got a quick 5 mins before putting my daughter in the bath so here's the panda tank;

The tannis off the wood is really noticeable in this tank, I'll post another pic of it on thursday after a water change, shouldn't have such a yellowy tinge to it then.

 

[Themuleous]

You like sand, dont you!

Have you got the panda's to breed?

Sam

 

[Azaezl]

What can I say, it's cheap my corys love it as well and I put the fish before the plants

I'll be going for sand again in my next setups but black sand this time. I have been toying with the idea of eco complete with a sectioned off area of sand just to keep the cost down.

I haven't managed to breed them but they do show the initial signs of breeding just nothing follows through, bit like my 2 smaller golds, i often see them in the T position but nothing comes of it.

 

[Azaezl]

Just a quick update.

Largest tank I've moved that big sword back as it was getting a little too large for how forwards it was, I've also moved the polysperma around a bit and moved the forground plants, first a before pic;

and after;

Next is the panda tank, which wasn't yellow because of the tannis, it's because stupid me had left the setting on cloudy lighting when we were out at the farm saturday, so as promised here are some clear pics;

And lastly the 5 Gal tank, nothing has changed,except I added a little riccia to see how well it would grow I did a water change and thought I may as well snap some pics

I was going to add a video of all 3 tanks but for some reason youtube doesn't want me to upload it oh well you'll have to wait