[Sidius]

Nice!! I can't wait to see this fully operational. It looks like you're close. My 180g just got delivered yesterday so I'll be working on it over the next month, until my mom arrives with all the goodies I ordered online in the US (March 20th). Journal for it will probably start this week.

 

[tony1928]

Nice progress Ming! Glad I could share some of my hard learned lessons with you. Just have built and tore apart a lot of setups so those things come as second nature now.

I agree with Gary....that apparent kink in the line under the Hydor heater might cause a problem for you. I had a Hydor on my old 90G before too and I had the exact same problem. The canister is pretty tall so its tough to align the outlet to keep the hose relatively straight. Maybe move the hydor further up?

 

[jobber]

nice setup! L46 would be nice!

Thanks Mike. I think many of us would love to have some L46. Some sort of wholesale group buy would be nice, but boy, this pleco is out of my financial league...for the time being until Lottomax helps me make sure all my buddies on BCA has one .

I know how you feel. I'm currently working on my wife's new angel set up. It's taking longer than I want. I just want the build to be over and done with so I can get the fish in there.. Just be careful where you are getting the alder cones from . Landscape company's and the city will be spraying lime sulfur and Dormant oil soon and that can be bad for your tank.

Well, for me, I ensure the bio media in all three of my xp4 trays were saved. Along with using the water from the temporary tank and dosing Seachem stability, I'll minimize the cycling. I'm just glad I didn't have much stumbling blocks during this transfer. Alder cones, I think I may just pass on that idea after your info. Not worth my while and risk. It's the same with the oak leaves, unless I'm getting it from a provincial park in the back woods. With all that pollution and soot on the leaves. Thanks for the heads up!

Those cardinals would look great to start.....

The 19 lemon tetras (after I find one dried up (ham yu) in the back of the stand) fills up the tank very well. The real question now is...how many in the double digit range. Have a few other tetras in mind also. Rummynoses would be good also. The choices.....

Then the Altums would be really full......

Thanks for remind me too. Would be quite the pricey snack to feed. No wonder Charles says 1000, slowly the school starts thinning out like sailfin marlins swimming through a school or sardines (see Blue Planet for reference).

Nice!! I can't wait to see this fully operational. It looks like you're close. My 180g just got delivered yesterday so I'll be working on it over the next month, until my mom arrives with all the goodies I ordered online in the US (March 20th). Journal for it will probably start this week.

Some more exciting news on both fronts, another big tank is in the works. Wow, March 20th? Are you patient enough to wait that long? Look forward to following your new increase in "gallon'eage" (I give credit for John for inventing that new word; gallon + mileage).

Nice progress Ming! Glad I could share some of my hard learned lessons with you. Just have built and tore apart a lot of setups so those things come as second nature now.

I agree with Gary....that apparent kink in the line under the Hydor heater might cause a problem for you. I had a Hydor on my old 90G before too and I had the exact same problem. The canister is pretty tall so its tough to align the outlet to keep the hose relatively straight. Maybe move the hydor further up?

That's what I've noticed because the filter is tall and the stand is not that tall neither so the tubes need to go over and under to fit out of the stand. I think in that picture, I was playing around with the tubing to get it in place and the tubing was very stiff. But it's fixed itself after the tank water increased above 20°C.

 

[Sidius]

Haha unfortunately I don't have much choice.. My Eheim 2080 + media, UV sterilizer, heater, etc. were all shipped to my mom's place in the US so she's bringing it with her when she comes. It's worth the wait to save hundreds in taxes alone, not including the cheaper prices overall.

 

[jobber]

Haha unfortunately I don't have much choice.. My Eheim 2080 + media, UV sterilizer, heater, etc. were all shipped to my mom's place in the US so she's bringing it with her when she comes. It's worth the wait to save hundreds in taxes alone, not including the cheaper prices overall.

Surprised you didn't ship it to Blaine for quick pickup haha. It's all worth the wait making the whole experience that much more enjoyable.

 

[jobber]

Day 2.5/3:

After filling up the tank with tap water, I was naive to think that my heater would increase the temperature in the tank relatively fast, I was wrong. hour went into the hours. At last, I gave up waiting and went and did a 25% water change and just dump straight hot water into the tank to expedite increasing tank temperature. I should have done that earlier but people in the house still needed to take their baths. When the temperature was at the level I wanted and knew would be comfortable for the fish, I decided to make the call and put the fish into the tank. I let my younger brother who's not that young, net the fish out and put them into the tank as I knew he'd always wanted to see fish being netted into the tank, mind as well give him this chance to Christen the 75gallon with the fish.

Is there a kink in that tubing or is that the picture angle? If it's at an awkward angle, you may want to get a PVC or abs elbow to prevent kinking and subsequent flow stopping once the tubing gets too warm.

Gary you have eagle eyes haha.

After I finished playing around with the tubing and wiggle some things behind the tank a bit; there was less of a kink, but at the time, I figured the kink will work itself away once the tube gets heated a bit. it was very stiff so I couldn't do much to it. It's so nice to see clear tubing and not brown tubing. It's like getting a new canister without having to buy one. I was planning to replace the gaskets this time around but figure I'll just replace them with the kit when the time comes.

Well here were some quick shots of the tanktaken last night/this morning - don't ask me what time...it was a long night . The water is still a bit cloudy since I dosed a bunch of stuff in there and a lot of bubbles.

For the time being, I'm going to leave the rocks in there, but once I receive the sand from J&L's, I plan on rescaping towards a hardscape with minimal plants (I'll try my best) sticking with the South American theme. Since I plan on just a minimal layer of sand...probably less than 1", I will be growing the amazon sword in a basket fill with pebble rocks and my own DIY root fertilizer capsules. Btw, thanks to Mike at Fantasy for getting me a few plantlets of Amazon frogbit (the bigger variant that grows with attachments). Once I get a better ID on it, i'll get some pictures up with the name of it. Hopefully that'll help soak up any nitrates in the tank.

The LED lighting is columnized. It's more observable in pictures, but spreads out a bit more when looking at it normally. I'm going to play a bit with it and see what i can do, I took these pictures with the extensions out so it's laying flat on the glass canopy. This, however, does not provide the shimmering effect. I have since raised it back up and having it sit on the extension legs, looks much better.

Placed 4 big almond leaves and about 15 almond barks to add more tannins into the water.

So far, all fish looking happier with their bigger water volume.

 

[2wheelsx2]

Looks good. I should have loaned you my 250 w Jager heater to double up on the output to get it up to temp.

 

[Sidius]

awesome build man.. I really like how it's starting to look. I'm looking forward to seeing it with the sand and final scape.

Ya I thought about shipping things to Blaine but then I would have to claim $800 worth of goods at the border or risk lying and having them find it. Either way I'd pay duties/taxes at the border. When my mom brings it (or I'm down visiting over 48 hours), there's no charge.

 

[jobber]

awesome build man.. I really like how it's starting to look. I'm looking forward to seeing it with the sand and final scape.

Ya I thought about shipping things to Blaine but then I would have to claim $800 worth of goods at the border or risk lying and having them find it. Either way I'd pay duties/taxes at the border. When my mom brings it (or I'm down visiting over 48 hours), there's no charge.

Thanks Sid for the kind words. Tough having to let go of some of the plants in the tank, but I know some will be put to good use in another soon to new setup. It's pretty tough waiting out getting all the pieces together. I still have a few extra things I like to get into the tank before I acclimatize the tank's centrepiece Love the savings ordering from the States.

 

[jobber]

Day 4:

Since the fish are now all transferred from the temporary tank into the 75g, I can now shut down and clean up the rental tank and return it to oppai. I can't thank him enough for his kind gesture to help me out.

Days do go by fast when kept busy. It's now 3 days after the tank was flooded and the plants in the tank is flourishing. I'm only running a Marineland LED. The Echinodorus Amazonicus I've had for almost 13 years is still with me in this tank. I've originally bought it in 2000 or so from Fraser Aquarium and had it in my dinky little Petcetera 1 gallon tank, 5 gallon planted tank, 10 gallon, in the recently shut down 33g long, and now in this tank. It's the legacy plant. As I have previously mentioned, my plans have and will continuously evolve. At present, my plans are to have minimal plants only keeping with the biotope/regional theme. Right now I have the echino. amazon sword, Brazilian pennywort, and Amazon Frogbit (limnobium laevigatum). It was still pretty curiously happen to find the Amazon frogbit by pure chance after posting a LF in the classified and no one responding; yet, found some at Fantasy Aquatics via Pat. So thanks to Mike and Pat. One thing off the checklist; now hoping the plant will flourish and help soak up some nitrate. I'm hopeful that it'll grow well despite not having T5HO lighting. At the moment I still have some needleleaf java fern which will most likely be rehomed in the near future.

Here's some pictures of the Amazon frogbit (limnobium laevigatum) (pictures obtained randomly on the internet for show and tell purposes):

It's only been day 4 but I'm planning to thin out my school of lemon tetras and rehome a half dozen with their siblings in Gary's 125g. The lemons have grown up to about the size of a quarter. Having planned so, I picked up some rarity from Fantasy Aquatics yesterday which will compliment the existing Lemons well.

These guys obviously look a bit pale as they're still juvies and coming from the store. They are Copeland's Tetra (Hyphessobrycon copelandi) I put them in the tank last night and they obviously were a bit skittish and adapting to the new tank hovering near the bottom in a tight pack. But this morning upon daylight, I can see them swimming together in a nice school mid-water. I turned on the light briefly and found their dorsal fins to have coloured up well - dark black and white tips. The below picture is what they'll looked like once matured.

Plans for livestock, I'd like to find a small group of corydoras and maybe some cardinals and or rummynose tetras. But my biggest plan is for the showcase pack which I have to patiently wait for if it ever gets brought in or have to obtain through other means.

Here's the tank now with crystal clear water with a nice tanic hue. The bottom of the tank is panted white so it's giving out a bright reflection.

Picture taken with a mobile phone.

 

[2wheelsx2]

The floating plants will grow great with the LED as they are so close to the light source. You're going to have too much before you know it.

 

[crazy72]

Looks great, Ming.

Nice tetras you got there. I had never seen them before. Good score there.

 

[jobber]

The floating plants will grow great with the LED as they are so close to the light source. You're going to have too much before you know it.

I think the plants now are melting away. Just not enough light. You know how it is, with our type of tanks with surface agitation, hard to have the plants not swirling around. Well it was worth the try. HOpefully they can adjust and not wither away.

Looks great, Ming.
Nice tetras you got there. I had never seen them before. Good score there.

Just trying something different rather than fish I've had in the past. If the ones in my tank grows up the what I've seen in that youtube video, then I'll be very happy. Good price for a not so common tetra at the LFS.

 

[2wheelsx2]

May be too much surface current, I know I no longer have floating plants for that reason.

 

[jobber]

Day 6:

I think I may have missed yesterday's update, but was caught up reading up on corydoras and dealing with non-fish things. Decide to do a more hardscape now. Moved out the needleleaf java fern to keep the theme all South American abide a few smaller details here and there. Fish are happy. Had a big of an issue with my digital thermometer where the temperature reading was off by 4°C compared to the old school mercury floating ones made by Marina. Compared to the inline heater, the temperature should be around 28°C. All this time including when I had this digital thermometer, it was giving me a reading of 25°C when in fact it was probably really 28°C. So my suggestion to others, always have two thermometers to ensure the integrity of the thermometer readings.

Slowly piecing the tank together bit by bit is so irritating but enjoyable. I obvsiously would want to have everything together at one time; but that's not possible, but the whole process so far has been worth the time and money. Here's a few addition to the tank this evening.

Brochis splendens (Emerald Corydoras)

Here's a picture from Day 5, before I shuffled some things around:

Here's what it looks like as of now with still things to shuffle around:

Day 7:
Can't believe the tank has hit the 1 week mark already. Time does fly. Did not experience any hiccups during the first week of operations so I'm very happy and pleased. It took a few days for the fish to get use to their new surroundings before they began eating but starving them a day or two certain got them hungry. Another day, another few fish after stopping by the LFS.

Wild rummynose tetras (Hemigrammus rhodostomus) with the narrower white in the tail, mid-body line, light black edging on anal fin, the red does not reach well past gill, and lower caudal peduncle spot is present.

 

[panda.lover]

That is such a nice looking scape you have going there.
Good to seee it come along nicely.

 

[Bien Lim]

Very nice rummies man..

 

[jobber]

That is such a nice looking scape you have going there.
Good to seee it come along nicely.

Thanks. I'm still going to move and shuffle some things around. Thinking of just taking out all the rocks, so if you're interested, let me know. Just remember to bring your own bucket.

Very nice rummies man..

Rummies are very nice. Just something different. Very different schooling than the H. Bleheri's.

 

[jobber]

Well, the time has come and got the ball rolling. Had my eyes set on these for a couple of weeks and nice to see them still available after waiting a week's time to see how my tank cycle came about. Lost a few tetras, but that was already expected.

I've placed about an extra 10 almond leaves and about 10 pieces of almond bark into the tank to provide an even more tannic look. Furthermore, I lowered the pH from 6.5 to 6.3 and now to 6.0. This is the lowest pH level I've ever had my tank at. Temperature is dialed in to 28.5°C. GH is minimal, probably less than 9dH.

At this point, as much as I wanted to have the tank prepared beforehand with the wood and sand, I went ahead and picked up part of my center piece. Made the plunge and now I'm a keeper of the "King of the Aquarium".

Thank you Mike at Fantasy Aquatics for helping me out and packing the fish very well. Gave me all the information and steps to properly acclimatize; very knowledgeable and great person to deal with; as well as to the BCA members that I've contacted to provide me with information during my pre-planning stages over the past two weeks.

Been a long day and night, so I'll save uploading and posting more pictures in the coming days. So stayed tuned, this journal has just begun....

 

[Foxtail]

Tease! Looks like discus!

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