30" Red Brick Decor

[Munroco]

My daughter had found an old fish tank up her loft that a previous owner had left so I claimed it. Its 30*15*12 and in decent condition. Some surface scratches but nothing major. I tested it for leaks and all was good. I decided to set it up using spare equipment I had and that I would hardscape it with what I could find. No money was going to be spent on this, except maybe for a few plants.
 
I had noticed a lot of red rocks on the beach recently while searching for driftwood. They turned out to be worn down bricks that had been in the water a long long time by the looks of them. I thought they would look good in a tank. There were all shapes and sizes and I took home a good quantity of them. I also found a few bits of driftwood that is soaking for now, will likely be a week or two before it is saturated enough to sink.
 
At this point in time I'm not sure what effect putting a quantity of bricks in an aquarium will have, so I don't have any plans for inhabitants as yet

 

[Fishmanic]

post some pics of the brickss
 
guess you could soak in a pot of water them and see if they affect ph...soak in very hot water to kill any bacteria etc...are they from a salt water beach...soak in water extra long to leach out the salt
 
will be curious if you do use them to see what you create with them....you could make some caves if you silicone some together or a bridge...

 

[Munroco]

post some pics of the bricks

Theres a pic on this thread

 

[Munroco]

Day1 Tank Cleaned, apart from little bit top left which I missed and will sort out. Bin Bag backing taped on.
 
First snag is that I don't have as much sand as I thought, 2nd snag is the cheapo LED I was planning on using show the bricks as a dirty brown colour.
Trip to the big city required.
 

 
I bit the bullet and bought a new light. An Arcadia stretch which I have on another tank and I really like. This one is the 60cm version.
Bang goes the budget, NVM got a 10k bag of play sand for under £2.
 
Ready to go now
 
Light fitted, it has 2 modes:normal and night. The night mode uses only red LED's so I'm hoping it will pick out the bricks nicely. Won't find out for a while
as when I added the sand after a few rinses the water turned a lovely brown colour.
 

 
No hurry. I'll wait.....and wait......

 

[Munroco]

Water is almost clear, couldn't resist putting the bricks in.
 
This is normal light
 

 
and this is night light
 

 
I also found a big whitish rock I liked the look of but I think I'll take it out.
 

 
I headed down the beach again to get more bricks as I think more willl be better. They are soaking for now and later I'll scrub them and leave them in really hot water. I put in a couple of plants just to see how they'd look against the rocks.

 

[Munroco]

Results of water tests
 
Pre adding bricks
 
PH 6.8
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
 
KH virtually 0
GH virtually 0
 
After adding bricks (3 days)
 
PH 7.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
 
KH 3 (53.7)
GH 5 (89.5)
 
So there is basically no or very little difference in first 4 results but KH and GH have risen substantially.

 

[Munroco]

After testing I did a big water change to clear what was left of the cloudiness, it had mostly disappeared. I added a lot more bricks and took out the white rock. Then removed a lot of the extra bricks I'd added, I think it was just too much. This is what it's looking like now. 
 

 
Driftwood is still soaking so that will have to wait.
 
I plan to plant it using anubias, java fern and java moss. Not sure about inhabitants yet as I need to see what will fit in with these different parameters. I'll also need to wait and see if they are stable yet. I have a little internal filter running to keep the water moving. When I get round to stocking it, I have a filter in another tank that I'll switch to give me an "instant cycle"

 

[AshGillott]

Sounds good, cheap and very cheerful 

 

[Munroco]

 
Latest water tests -
 
 
PH 6.8-7.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0-5
 
KH 3 (53.7)
GH 6 (107)
 
I put the KH and GH down to the bricks as normally my readings are minimal but it seems reasonably stable at this level. I have a few more pieces of driftwood but its still buoyant so will be another week or so before I can add it. I'm planning on supergluing the java moss to it. I'm not sure whether to leave the water lettuce in or not. I'm using 2 small sponge filters that have been matured in other tanks and I think I'm about ready to go.
 
 
I've decided to give Crystal Shrimp another go. The parameters seem pretty much ideal for them. I'm going to order them over the weekend.

 

[julielynn47]

Very nice!  What kind of plant is that floating on top of the water?

 

[AshGillott]

I like it, you did a great job with your decor


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[Ch4rlie]

Nice looking tank. Neat set up with these bricks.
 
Free is always the best price
 
Keep an eye on your gH and kH levels as think these bricks may be soft and may erode easily after some time.
BTW were these rocks/bricks found in SW or FW area?
 
30x12x15 is a 20 US gals or 80 litres tank. (23 US gals and 88 litres to be exact)
 
Good plan to add filter or filter media from you other tank, will give a much quicker cycle indeed.
 
Whats the stocking plan you may have in mind for this tank?
(being nosey here as usual )
 
Cyrstals can be a bit fickle with water params and nearly always fare better in a tank thats been running awhile. Perhaps stocking the tank with fish first and run the tank for say 3 months THEN add crystals. Just a suggestion.
 
 

Very nice!  What kind of plant is that floating on top of the water?

 
Water lettuce.

 

[julielynn47]

Thanks!

 

[Munroco]

 
Keep an eye on your gH and kH levels as think these bricks may be soft and may erode easily after some time.
BTW were these rocks/bricks found in SW or FW area?
 
Whats the stocking plan you may have in mind for this tank?
(being nosey here as usual

)
 
Cyrstals can be a bit fickle with water params and nearly always fare better in a tank thats been running awhile. Perhaps stocking the tank with fish first and run the tank for say 3 months THEN add crystals. Just a suggestion.

Too late Charlie

I ordered I ordered 10 F1 Crystal red/black Taiwan bee hybrids yesterday.  http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/302013225734?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT They should be here on Tuesday.
 
I'm not sure what SW and FW are but I collected the bricks at Westhaven, which is between Carnoustie and Arbroath. (East Coast of Scotland for those not familiar with these places) I've been keeping an eye on parameters. These things look to have been in the sea for years. I expect them too leach a little but nothing excessive (I hope). I probably needed them to bump up my GH and KH.
 
 

 

[Munroco]

Went shopping today for plants. Hoped to pick up some anubias and came home with 3 pots of crypts (all different and no ID on them) They must have been in the shop for ages as they were totally root bound and bulging out of the pots. The guy in the LFS gave me the one anubias I found which was planted in one of the display tanks for free. Also picked up a nice bit of bogwood and some root tabs. I had £10 credit so I only spent £12.
 

 
I split them into individual plants and must have ended up with about 50 individual plants. I could have split them more but I got bored. Not bad considering they were 3 pots for £10.
 
This pic is what I got from the 3rd and largest pot.
 

 
I had to take some of the bricks out to make room for the bogwood (to which I superglued my new anubias and another from one of my tanks) and to make space for all these plants.
The tank doesn't look so good now, but once the crypts start growing it should be fine. I expect they will melt first before they grow. I also ordered some Indian Almpnd leaves which haven't arrived yet.
This is what it looks like now
 

 
and with the red night mode.