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My first journal; Multiple tanks - Video updates

Azaezl

Member
Joined
4 Nov 2007
Messages
145
Location
cambridgeshire
I thought I would finally start a journal on here, I will be documenting 4 seperate tanks in this 1 journal rather then doing 4 seperate journals, I'll have enough trouble remembering to update this one never mind 4 of them :)


So to start with is my largest tank which I've named 'Cory alley' because of the little pathways I've made around the back of the tank for them to weave in and out of. I had a lot of trouble with the larger corys knocking over some of the plants because I had planted them rather sporadically wheras now they have set paths going from 1 cave to under bogwood to around the back of more wood and so on. So the shy ones can get from hiding place to hiding place clearly without having to dodge several plants or as was the case knock over most of the plants.

Tank - Plain glass tank, non branded(second hand, looks very old)- 39" x 14" x 16" - approx 130Litres

Lighting - 2 x 28 W T5 unit with built in reflectors, wrong bulbs at the moment, one is blue the other is 12,000K, again second hand unit which must have been used on a mraine setup, I will be changing the bulbs soon but so far plant growth has been fine. Lighting period 9 hours.

Filtration - Aqua pro 2, 800L/hr.

Dosing - Tropica plant nutrition +

CO2 - 2 x Nutrafin cannisters & Flourish Excel

Plants;

Straight Vallis
Twisted Vallis
3 x Unknown Swords
Java Fern
A little Saggittaria
Egeria(will probably remove this evetually)
Lots of Hygro polysperma

Fish / inverts
5 Corydoras Melanotaenia(beautiful golden corys, highly recommend them)
5 Corydoras Aeneus
7 Otocinclus
6 White cloud mountian minnows(+ 1 WCMM fry)
Plenty of Malaysian trumpet snails

This is the tank before I started;

before-2.jpg


Then when I'd removed all of the plants and started planting the vallis as well as moving the bogwood to the left;

halfway.jpg


Plants all back in, well the ones I'm using anyway as well as the addition of a large sword & some wood out of one of my other tanks;

nearlthere.jpg


And with a black background;

done.jpg


now I'm just waiting for some wood & hygro to turn up in the post so i can fill it out, I'm expecting the wood today but the plants I probably won't get until next wed / thurs.

The next tank is my goldfish tank, I haven't started on this one at all and I don't really know what I want to do with it yet, I'm going to do the others first and then see what plants I have left over and take it from there.

Tank - Hasn't got a name on it but I'm assuming it is some sort of brand as it came with a nice looking hood & cabinet, I think maybe it's an old fluval tank or something. 32" x 14" x 16" - approx 105Litres, guess I was slightly off with the 30G after adding sand etc the PFK volume calculator says it's 28G oh well close enough :p

Lighting - 2 x 20W built in lighting.

Filtration - Fluval 305

Dosing - Tropica plant nutrition +(half dose as the goldies are high waste producers)

CO2 - Just Flourish Excel

Plants; - I can't remember them all off hand it's a bit of a jungle in there, once I've re-scaped I'll give a list.

Fish / inverts
2 x fancy goldfish
Half a dozen Malaysian trumpet snails

goldietankapr-1.jpg



16G(I thought it was 18 but after checking, it's not, silly me!) next, this has yet to be scaped as well but I do have a plan, fairly similar to the setup in the 35G but in a smaller space.

Tank - Clearseal tank 24" x 12" x 15" - approx 60 Litres

Lighting - 1 x 18W arcadia 'freshwater' bulb.

Filtration - 2 x fluval + at the moment,I'm waiting on a Tetratex Ex600 to be delivered for this.

Dosing - Tropica plant nutrition +

CO2 - Just Flourish Excel

Plants; -
Hygro siamensis
Egeria
Straight vallis
Swords
Saggittaria
Bacopa monniera
Hygro polysperma(to be added)

Fish / inverts
6 Corydoras Panda
5 Corydoras Trilineatus
10 amano shrimp
5 or 6 Malaysian trumpet snails

18Gtank.jpg



5G shrimp tank, this is the tank that set me off re-doing all of the tanks, I'm not at all happy with the tank so decided to get some mini landscape rocks for it and then decided to get some stuff for the other tanks.

Tank - No idea, again secondhand, I got it free with the 35G, it has a sticker on the back with the words Moby blahblahblahblah :lol:

Lighting - 1 x 8W built in bulb.

Filtration - Stingray elite 5, I hate this filter, it's big, it's ugly but it does the job so it'll have to stay until I get a cosmetically better one.

Dosing - Tropica plant nutrition +

CO2 - Flourish Excel

Plants; -
Lots of Java
Alot of diferent plants in here but I think once I re-scape I'll just have java fern, just have to wait and see :)

Fish / inverts
A dozen cherry shrimp & malaysian trumpet snails

5gtankapril.jpg


So that's the tanks, I'm expecting my delivery from Aqua Essentials today so I shall be re-scaping the 5G but the others will have to wait until I get the plants next week so watch this space! :D
 
Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Well I got my order, I'm very pleased with the shape of the wood, was slightly concerned but it's exactly what i was after. Had a good laugh breaking up the rock, I managed to chisel a few bits off before asking my husband to help, of course he just slammed the hammer down, broke it into a few bits and shards went everywhere including a bit up his nose :lol:

Anyway here is what the 5G looks like now, I'm not happy with the placement of the rocks & the java but I had 30 mins to do it(lunch is nearly ready) so I'll have a good fiddle about later. Any suggestions? :D

afterwards.jpg
 
Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

If I we're you I'd replace the java some some anubias petite some moss and some Echinodors tennelus, the smaller scale will help to make those amazingly well placed rocks really shine.
 
Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Garuf said:
If I we're you I'd replace the java some some anubias petite some moss and some Echinodors tennelus, the smaller scale will help to make those amazingly well placed rocks really shine.

I agree, the java just doesn't look right, it's too large not just for the rocks but the tank itself, I was limited though because it's a very very low light tank and I only have java no anubias but I'm sure I could spend just a little bit more money to get a few more plants :D It took me ages to place the rocks and I'm still not happy with them, I'll probably move them around again once I get some replacements for the java.

SteveUK said:
I would be tempted to move the sword. Its very central at the moment. It definately needs some more plants to fill it out but its a great start :) Something bushy in the right corner perhaps?

As you will see below I did move the sword, it was very overpowering the way it was positioned, I think the wood helps blend it in more. I'm hoping the 100+ plants I'm waiting on will help fill it out :lol: but I am quite pleased with how it looks at the moment.

right onto the photos, I decided 10 mins before going shopping that I just had to see how the wood would look so I put it in and then of course i had to move a few plants around, move the wood, stand it up lay it down etc, after 20 mins I ended up with this;

35grescaped.jpg


Left side;
left-2.jpg


Central;
central.jpg


Right side;
rightside-1.jpg


Then when I got back from shopping(an hour ago) I figured i may as well do the other, I'm not happy with how I've placed the wood in this one but I have to put my daughter to bed soon and I'll be fidlding with it once all the new plants arrive anyway so it'll do for now;

18grescape.jpg
 
Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Looks much nicer with the wood, seems to add more structure :)
Azaezl said:
I'm hoping the 100+ plants I'm waiting on will help fill it out :lol:
I had that theory with my 2ft tank, ordered 2 collections of 70+ plants each and a couple of specimen bits and pieces, I used almost everything and what I didn't use I can fit into my breeding net while I decide what I want to do with it! :wideyed:
 
Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

I orded 50 hygro polysperma & a 63 plant collection, from the last order I did (200 fast growers) I know that this should be enough. The tanks aren't completely bare as you can see and I only really want the background densly planted. Not to mention I have all the plants I took out of the 35G floating around in my goldie tank until I know whether I need them or not, ideally I want to stick to just a few different plants rather then dozens and dozens of different ones, the tank looked too messy, wheras now I think it looks alot tidier :)

I wish i'd ordered more wood now though, just isn't enough for the look I wanted, although all these setups are only temporary, everything will be moved about / uprooted in august / september to go into larger tanks and then I'll be getting rid of a few tanks. although i won't really be cutting down on the tanks as I'll be buying another small tank later in the year as well :lol:
 
Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Cool, well I look forward to seeing it, where are you getting your collection from?
Azaezl said:
ideally I want to stick to just a few different plants rather then dozens and dozens of different ones, the tank looked too messy, wheras now I think it looks alot tidier :)
That was my plan too by getting 2 of one collection rather than 1 larger collection, not sure it's entirely worked but seeing as I'm going with the 'plant it and see' attitude at the moment it doesn't matter really.
I wish i'd ordered more wood now though, just isn't enough for the look I wanted, although all these setups are only temporary, everything will be moved about / uprooted in august / september to go into larger tanks and then I'll be getting rid of a few tanks. although i won't really be cutting down on the tanks as I'll be buying another small tank later in the year as well :lol:
I know the feeling, nothing ever arrives quite as you'd imagined it, it's one of the bugbears of not having a local shop you can just walk into and pick things off the shelves.

New tanks, lucky so-and-so :D ;)
 
Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Egmel said:
Cool, well I look forward to seeing it, where are you getting your collection from?

I'm getting my collection from greenline as usual, I've always had great service form them in the past, so if it ain't broke don't fix it :p

Egmel said:
That was my plan too by getting 2 of one collection rather than 1 larger collection, not sure it's entirely worked but seeing as I'm going with the 'plant it and see' attitude at the moment it doesn't matter really.

I did that with my first collection, and ended up with this in my old rio 240;

plants1.jpg

after a few weeks;
fullshot.jpg


Egmel said:
I know the feeling, nothing ever arrives quite as you'd imagined it, it's one of the bugbears of not having a local shop you can just walk into and pick things off the shelves.

New tanks, lucky so-and-so :D ;)

Oh I have a local shop, just I figured I may as well buy the wood from AE get some aqua points and free postage, the wood I got was a really nice shape and 1 piece in particular was exactly what I was after, a nice arch for the corys to hide under :D

The tanks aren't really new I bought a secondhand double 4ft stand with 2 4ft tanks on it(bargain at £45!) I don't know what kind of shape the tanks are in now as they are being stored in a relatives garage and well last time I checked he had allsorts of crap ontop of them and they looked very dirty. Good thing about clearseal is if the tanks are badly scratched it will only be £100 to replace both. I've also estimated it's going to cost around £360 to set them both up and that's not even with pressurized Co2, why did I have to become addicted to such a pricey hobby! :lol:
 
Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Well the java fern has been taken out of the 5G it just did not look right, I've replaced it with....

:wideyed: ALGAE :wideyed:

:lol: I broke up a Cladophora aegagrophila and tried to make a grass effect, not quite managed it but it looks better then before. I need to place it on the rocks a little better, the right hand side is ok it's the left I couldn't do. Any suggestions on plants to add plus where to position the Cladophora would be more then welcome, I still have lots of it left as well so I can add more if recommended.

Before;
afterwards.jpg


Java removed(sorry about the reflections);
5gnewscapebefore.jpg


After(blurry pics and the waters a bit cloudy, will get better pics soon);
5gnewscapeafter.jpg


5gnewscapeafter2.jpg


5gnewscapeafter3.jpg
 
Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Azaezl said:
I broke up a Cladophora aegagrophila and tried to make a grass effect, not quite managed it but it looks better then before.
That's a really interesting idea, did you have to weight it down in any way or is it just resting on there?
 
Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

On the substrate it's just resting, on the rocks I've tried to cram it into little nooks & crannies, it sinks naturally so I did't need to weigh it down :)

Managed to get a couple of clearer pics;

5gclear.jpg


5gclear2.jpg


I definately need to thin it out on the substrate, it looks too high and it needs flattening down on the rocks more, it just doesn't look right.
 
Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Thanks Arana :D

One thing I definately need to do is get rid of that internal...I hate it! it's so ugly! but it will have to do for now, I'll just remove it when taking pics until I can replace it.
 
Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Thanks Dragon :D I plan on doing video updates as well. I wish my new plants would hurry up and get here :rolleyes: ....roll on thursday!!!

Tonight to keep me busy I shall be re-scaping the goldfish tank, moving the wood over a little adding some java fern to it. The vallis has grown alot since the last photo I took so I'll space that out a bit more(vallis just loves the goldie tank). I really hate the cabomba but it will have to stay until I can get something I like to replace it.
 
Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Thanks :) It's simple really, water changes on monday nights(using back breaking buckets), major plant trimming on thursday nights. I've done all the water changes already so tonights free for the goldie tank to be done.

Any other days / nights I will be fiddling or adding ferts or whatever needs doing, or like last night a late night filter clean. I could quite easily look after twice the amount I have now, it's just having the space for them that's the problem :lol:
 
Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Well all I can say is I'm very annoyed, I hate how the tank looks now even more then I did before, the thing that annoys me most is I can't get a backgorund on this tank and I'm stuck with my bright red walls as a background!

Still a bit cloudy as I removed all the plants and swirled up the sand alot;

goldietank.jpg
 
Re: My first journal - Multiple tanks

Azaezl said:
Well all I can say is I'm very annoyed, I hate how the tank looks now even more then I did before, the thing that annoys me most is I can't get a backgorund on this tank and I'm stuck with my bright red walls as a background!
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 :mad:
 
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