Alasse

Cleared, a few more java ferns added. Neons and cories in residence

Soooooo its done, well pretty much, needs a few more plants, but this is all i have at the moment. A pic of wood and some plants being placed Now filled, lights running. Still gotta fix up the canister, then plug it all in I must say i'm rather proud of how it turned out

Finally picked up the bag of gravel i needed (behind the wall is approx 20kg of gravel). So substrate is now in

Update: I did a test fill on the tank and wall. Wall stayed siliconed to the base, phew *L* Actually looks really good under water too. Ive started putting the substrate into the plant section, miscalculated how much i would need though, grrrrrrrrrr, i'll need to drop into the lfs and pick up more gravel! Stay tuned, i'll try to grab pics as i'm 'scaping

Actually it doesnt take long at all, the time is in waiting for the silcone to cure..all up it took 2 hours, but around 1 hour of that was waiting for silicone to partly cure ( the wall is 4 sections siliconed together, then sand on top surfaces, then sand on side surfaces) 1st pic taken at 8:31pm, last pic (full sanded wall in tank) taken at 10.25pm

Thanx I carved rock shapes into the foam with a knife and melted areas with a lighter to make it more realistic. To coat in sand - Work in snall sections, spread silicone onto foam fairly thinly (like icing a cake), sprinkle sand onto it and gently press into silicone. Continue until you have coated all areas that will be visible. Gently shake off excess, fix areas you may have missed with a small dab of silicone of your fingers, put sand on and gently squash down to match in with surrounds.... Then completely let silicone cure

I've decided to take this tank back to a planted tank....so for starters i wanted a way to separate the plant substrate from the sand i want to use at the front (for my cories) So i decided to build a wall, quite pleased how it turned out actually So the wall is done. All that was used was foam, silicone and black quartz sand. It is now siliconed into the tank, just have to wait until silicone cures before i can procedd further. Rough foam draft Full wall 'rock' Close up

My tanks wont tank terribly long, they may mini cycle, if they restart the cycle process at all (some substrate was left dirty, and filters were kept running, most decor came from other tanks)

*lol* yep prolly is a female thing, my other half just rolls his eye and say 'so where do ya want it!' i'm a shocker for doing full doing furniture moves and sudden ones, my OH and kids are like gawd she's at it again *lol*

*L* i am gad i am not the only one that has these temporary insanity episodes :D

OK, so today i decided i needed some tank to swap places and fish to move, why oh why does it sound soooo simple til you start *L* I still have 3 tanks to move and have been going for many hours already..... Soooo the 3ft (guppies & apple snails) has been fully emptied, sand substrate removed, black gravel in, its moving to where my 3 tiered stand is and will be holding my goldies when finished The 3 tiered stand holds a 2.5ft (pond snails) and 2x 2ft's (BN trio & guppy fry). I want to move it to where my 3ft tank is sitting. I've setup my new 3.5ft that is under my 4ft, the BN trio will be moving into here, just waiting for it to warm up, once it right the BN will move in. Their tank will be emptied and taken off the stand. The 2ft golding guppy fry has already been emptied. The 2.5ft will then be emptied and pond snail held in a bucket for a bit. The big swap will happen and then the resetting of tank The 2.5ft will be housing the apple snails, the 2x 2fts will be holding guppies (male tank and a female tank) The 2.5ft that is the goldies temp home will be fully cleaned ready to go salty at some stage. See sounds simple Pics to follow at some stage

updated pic, taken tonight

Hiya daniel. Being in Brissie, if you are after top quality Betta look up LFS in Annerley, someone imports absolute stunners!

I've had it planted before, the loaches are pretty quick to clean up fry, as will the angels. I currently feed them guppy fry (and of course other food) and they hunt every last one into extinction *L* I have no doubts the platy fry will have the same type of fate

Thanx guys There are 4 albino BN in there as well as, 2 clown loaches, 1 redtail shark and a breeding pair of angels I'm thinking of adding platys to the tank for colour, the other predators should keep the population under control.

My pride and Joy...setup early Oct. Not fully stocked yet

Thanx guys I do not test for PH or hardness, no need really as i'm not going to muck around changing them with chemicals. The fish are healthy, they're breeding, the plants are doing well, so it must be all good *L* If you like i can take a sample at some stage for testing, if you really would like to know

Bunnings sell RichGro Aquatic plant mix, i used this when first starting, was quite good. You really need to wash it and wash it some more, its a strange stuff *L* I never got any major clouding, but i have heard of others that had that problem. I topped it with around 1 1/2 inches of plain gravel. I used, if i recall correctly 2-3 bags in my 5ft. The plants grew really well. I now use laterite (it is a bit expensive, but you really dont need that much) and Dino Dung (awesome awesome stuff). The Dino range rivals many of the very expensive additives, you can get them from Aquagreen online. You can also get plants from there. Java fern and moss dont really need any fertz though, the fish waste is all i use in mine Best place to get plants from is fellow aquariasts Java fern, Java moss, Anubias, Val, Wisteria, Elodea are good starter plants.

This pair have been spawning for a long time, they got the last batch to free swimming, then they either ate them or the other angels did. This is the 1st time they have had a tank to themselves (other than a bristlenose) and they seem happier and far more relaxed, so fingers crossed they've finally got it right :)

I snapped a quick pic of my breeding pair and their fry tonight... Dad is the one at the back, the Mum is the one near the front

Thanx guys They are forever diving in and out of the caves and hollows I dont know paul. Many say the same thing, they will shred any plants, i should remove them. I just go by these have been with plants for ages now and havent done them any harm. But then i am a believer in giving things a go *L* and it worked for me at least. Swords do not do well in there though The breed like rabbits, though the clown loaches clean quite a few fry up. I did sell off about 20 a while back (before i added the loaches). I am selling a few males and some of the smaller females shortly, the dominant male gives them a real hard time. I dont mind them not multiplying at present. I got angels breeding, guppies breeding and bn breeding lol.

Swords, large and pygmy chains. Anubias Java fern Ambulia Java Moss

Only setup yesterday (7th July 2010) so still quite cloudy, though is better today than yesterday *L* Substrate: Rocks and white sand Plants: Java fern, Anubias and Crypts Lighting: Horrid *L* Will be replaced by 2x T5s Filter: Small internal plus there is an undergravel in under the rocks with a powerhead Will add new pics as it clears

Set up in April, no CO2, no fertz, does get some dino spit (carbon source) when i think of it (not often) In April (5 angels - 2 breeding pair and odd bod) Today (1 breeding pair, currently with fry)

My much loved cichlid tank. Substrate is fine shellgrit/sand mix. Decor includes wood, rocks & broken terracotta pots Plants include crypts (majority, growing like weeds) and some java fern. Fake plants also