What did you do with your fish tanks today? Pics appreciated!
- Thread starter Cory
- Start date
hose91
Member
Got around to setting up a 40B that I've had for the last year or so. This summer I bought a 2 tier custom steel stand from @aaronfeeney and put my 29G planted community tank on the bottom tier. Instead of a black background, I decided to try one of the flexible backgrounds from Universal Rocks. I bought the flat sheet type that is not very 3D, but still offers some nice texture to the back of the tank. It IS flexible, but not as flexible as I thought it would be, so I ended up siliconing it to the back of the tank. I am planning on a Tanganyika tank and would like to find some non jumbo cyps, some multies, and maybe a calvus/comp or julidichromis group. Pics follow. I used the "thumbnail option" and they're pretty small, but if you click on the first one, you can page through them all without coming back to my text.
Awaiting Pool Filter sand (terrible glare on the left side, was too lazy to close the garage door)
Better look at the background. Universal Rocks makes some cool stuff
Standing over here in my garage reduced the glare a bit. 30 pounds or so of PFS rinsed and in the tank. Going to use an AC70 for filtration.
Filling it up. Bought the lace rock from another user here a while ago. Realized that the background limited where I could stick the heater, so I improvised and stuck it low on the left side of the tank. Seems a little cloudy yet, so either I didn't rinse the PFS or the background (or both) very well. I'm using an AC70 (this is my 6th AC series filter, I really like the media basket setups and ease of use), and swapped some media in from one of my other filters to get the cycle jump started. Once it's a bit more established, I'll do a water change and see if I can get it to clear up.
Bought the escargot shells off amazon and had a few others laying around (from a GSAS auction lot buy, I think). It's been running for a couple of days now. I have some val and perhaps an amazon sword to go in the middle for a LOS break between the lace rock and shell bed, and some anubias petite to superglue to a smaller piece of rock that will also go in the tank. Time to be on the lookout for fish. If you've got some multies, cyps, or altos for sale, feel free to PM me and see what we can do!! View attachment 1982
Awaiting Pool Filter sand (terrible glare on the left side, was too lazy to close the garage door)
Better look at the background. Universal Rocks makes some cool stuff
Standing over here in my garage reduced the glare a bit. 30 pounds or so of PFS rinsed and in the tank. Going to use an AC70 for filtration.
Filling it up. Bought the lace rock from another user here a while ago. Realized that the background limited where I could stick the heater, so I improvised and stuck it low on the left side of the tank. Seems a little cloudy yet, so either I didn't rinse the PFS or the background (or both) very well. I'm using an AC70 (this is my 6th AC series filter, I really like the media basket setups and ease of use), and swapped some media in from one of my other filters to get the cycle jump started. Once it's a bit more established, I'll do a water change and see if I can get it to clear up.
Bought the escargot shells off amazon and had a few others laying around (from a GSAS auction lot buy, I think). It's been running for a couple of days now. I have some val and perhaps an amazon sword to go in the middle for a LOS break between the lace rock and shell bed, and some anubias petite to superglue to a smaller piece of rock that will also go in the tank. Time to be on the lookout for fish. If you've got some multies, cyps, or altos for sale, feel free to PM me and see what we can do!! View attachment 1982
Congrats, Cory! You two should go to Lake Malawi for your honeymoon.
I think our honeymoon will be in April and we are going to Japan. I want to visit Koi farms and the fish market alley. And some wholesalers etc. Will be there 1-2 weeks. My sister in law lives there, so we have a free place to stay and an interporater
The structural engineer (my day job) in me has to ask: Did you brace those stands Cory? stacked cinder blocks are really strong, but will tip right over in an earthquake - the Seattle area is due for another medium (6ish) quake in the next 20 years or so.
-Justin
They are not braced in any way yet. That being said in my experience, the more rigid the stands are, the more the tanks just slide off and crash to the ground in an earthquake. Water and fire are a much more real threat than an earthquake. I have thought about making them a bit more rigid. But really it's for function as opposed to safety. Adding some wood on the ends of the stands allows me to hang things etc. This will add anti racking strength. But I wouldn't be installing it for that reason.
Most people will run into black mold issues, water touching electricity issues etc. In my lifetime no earthquake has done enough damage to a fish store/fish room yet. However I do have earthquake insurance on my home. I don't expect it to do much for me for my fish room, but my fish room is a completely separate building than my home.
Most people will run into black mold issues, water touching electricity issues etc. In my lifetime no earthquake has done enough damage to a fish store/fish room yet. However I do have earthquake insurance on my home. I don't expect it to do much for me for my fish room, but my fish room is a completely separate building than my home.
Today I did a complete cleaning of the bedroom tank (75g Cory/plecos / loach tank) as I found my biggest albino bull bristle nose male floating at the top of the tank ..... I have had only for about five months but I'm guessing he was older as he came this way and bred readily when first introduced into the tank and of late hasn't had any interest in the females or the plecos cave
Yesterday I added lighting to the inside of my stand! I cant stand how dark it was when I was servicing the filters so I got a simple little kit from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N2M5EDQ/?tag=wafishbox-20
So I mounted this on the front inside portion of the stand
Looks like this in total darkness, not too bright but just right
Bought a cool piece of mopani to add, looks like an old stup. Pretty hard to find Mopani that looks like that
So I mounted this on the front inside portion of the stand
Looks like this in total darkness, not too bright but just right
Bought a cool piece of mopani to add, looks like an old stup. Pretty hard to find Mopani that looks like that
