Here is the 2nd week of my SA 85 gallon biotope tank. Its a custom made 60X13X25 and I am running an Eheim 2028 with the upgraded spraybar and pickups.
I had to compromise with the wife for a slimmer (13") tank so there would be no problem getting by the island in the kitchen. I also have a 36 gallon bowfront in the livingroom which serves as a community tank with 5 Austrailian rainbows, 3 Julii cory's, a yellow lab that I've had for about 4 years, and a rainbow shark. Its quite a tank, everyone gets along and there's always something going on...lots of movement.
Anyway I am into my first week of the fishless cycle. I am using pure ammonia from Ace Hardware and I seeded the new tank with used filter media from the very healthy community tank. You can see it in the pic behind a piece of driftwood.
I now realize that pics just dont do these tanks justice...so many small details cant be seen. Background is painted and looks darker in person...its textured sandstone type paint....overlayed with a coat of polyurethane. Came out really well...and yes its painted on the outside BACK of the glass...
I just planted it yesterday, 3 different SA swords, Vals, and Cabomba...substrate is a flourite bottom with Odessea black pearl on top. I am running 24" twin bulb Day-Glo T5 HO fixtures (48w each) on each side of the tank and mounted them to the wall on custom brackets, leaving a nice shadow in the middle of the tank over the driftwood. I plan to buy a piece of black acrylic to put over the center glass top to make the shadow even more pronounced. Im sure tank will look much different when everything grows up...
Anyway, Im taking it slow and steady...adding ammonia and testing daily...Its the first week of dosing and I'm already reading some nitrates! That is a good sign indeed, I'm sure that seeded filter is helping a ton.
I'd like to stock with some rummynose, silver or marbled hatchetfish for the top levels, plus some cardinals, cory's, bristlenose...and maybe some juvi silver/peruvian angels last after the cardinals grow up some. I also like the bloodfin tetras, they seem to school well.
Thanks for looking, and hello to all at the Houston FishBox...
By the way, any suggestions on running peat to lower the PH and add some color? Is it better to add it as filter media or boil and bottle it to make blackwater additive?
I had to compromise with the wife for a slimmer (13") tank so there would be no problem getting by the island in the kitchen. I also have a 36 gallon bowfront in the livingroom which serves as a community tank with 5 Austrailian rainbows, 3 Julii cory's, a yellow lab that I've had for about 4 years, and a rainbow shark. Its quite a tank, everyone gets along and there's always something going on...lots of movement.
Anyway I am into my first week of the fishless cycle. I am using pure ammonia from Ace Hardware and I seeded the new tank with used filter media from the very healthy community tank. You can see it in the pic behind a piece of driftwood.
I now realize that pics just dont do these tanks justice...so many small details cant be seen. Background is painted and looks darker in person...its textured sandstone type paint....overlayed with a coat of polyurethane. Came out really well...and yes its painted on the outside BACK of the glass...
I just planted it yesterday, 3 different SA swords, Vals, and Cabomba...substrate is a flourite bottom with Odessea black pearl on top. I am running 24" twin bulb Day-Glo T5 HO fixtures (48w each) on each side of the tank and mounted them to the wall on custom brackets, leaving a nice shadow in the middle of the tank over the driftwood. I plan to buy a piece of black acrylic to put over the center glass top to make the shadow even more pronounced. Im sure tank will look much different when everything grows up...
Anyway, Im taking it slow and steady...adding ammonia and testing daily...Its the first week of dosing and I'm already reading some nitrates! That is a good sign indeed, I'm sure that seeded filter is helping a ton.
I'd like to stock with some rummynose, silver or marbled hatchetfish for the top levels, plus some cardinals, cory's, bristlenose...and maybe some juvi silver/peruvian angels last after the cardinals grow up some. I also like the bloodfin tetras, they seem to school well.
Thanks for looking, and hello to all at the Houston FishBox...
By the way, any suggestions on running peat to lower the PH and add some color? Is it better to add it as filter media or boil and bottle it to make blackwater additive?
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