330L Tank Journal

[Zikofski]

hello all some may already know i am planning on upgrading my tank from 80l to a 330L tank 54" x 19" x 20"

my tank has now arrived WOOP and i shall be off out later to get some sand for it i thought i shall make a journal with pictures

i hope to get the tank fully up and running by the end of the month

okay so far i have:
- Tetra EX 1200 Filter
- Fluval E300 Heater
- Arcadia Ultra Seal 2 x 54W Lighting
- 2 x 48" Reflectors
- 1 Tank 54" x 19" x 20"

Items still to get:
- Wood from the Woods
- Sand
- Light Tubes for the Lighting
- wood from store to create a lid with will house lighting
- Second tetra EX 1200 Filter

Stocking so Far:
- 4 Angel
- 2 Red Line Torpedo Barb

additional stock to get:
- 6 - 8 more Red line Torpedo Barb
- maybe some Tiger Loaches or a Plec undecided yet

managed to squeeze the tank into my car just fits weighs a ton tho XD me my GF and shop assistant helped it into the back with back seats down glad it fits

going out this afternoon to look for some nice sand and go and walk the dog to look for some nice wood

stay tuned for more updates and more pics to come

thank you all for comments and criticism's are all welcome

 

[gatorsean]

with tank that big you have soo many options. good luck cant wait to see some pics.

 

[Fishy friend2]

I'm definitely gonna follow this thread, and good luck with your tank, I hope everything goes along smooth

 

[mike455555]

what are you planning on putting in it? and i would say it looks good... but its empty

 

[Zikofski]

with tank that big you have soo many options. good luck cant wait to see some pics.

I'm definitely gonna follow this thread, and good luck with your tank, I hope everything goes along smooth

what are you planning on putting in it? and i would say it looks good... but its empty

thank you all , sadly the gf has come down with a fever so no sand or wood yet , also annoyingly i noticed today the tank has a sticker on the inside saying don't fill until 30/12/11 :'( anyone know why that would be, it is a fresh newly built tank, my guess is to let the silicone extract stuff

for whats going in i am not sure yet obviously some nice wood and sand i am very hesitant about plants at this stage allot of money and i have no clue trying to reap as much info from these forums but plants i would love to have in there, my main concern is co2, and i think i can get liquid fertiliser or pellets you put by the plants, i have been told with my light setup we have a medium lighting so co2 i presume is needed i have seen in my LFS a co2 kit for like 30£ using sugar and something DIY kit i think you call it but ye i shall see for now i just need to get the tank ready and fish in

P.S. The fish shop got my dims wrong so the tank is actually 20" depth and 19" tall now not the other way around, i don't see that being to much of a problem still 54" long

ooh sorry for the typo i meant zebra loaches to get not tiger loaches if they exist

here is the tank still wrapped looking all lonely and sad

 

[eaglesaquarium]

More than likely the silicone needs that much time to fully cure. The 30th will be here before you know it! Use this time to get the GF better, first of all. Then keep scavenging for wood, etc. Maybe try to pick up some of the other items online rather than at the LFS... might save you some coin. Since you can't fill it for a week, the delay in arrival isn't a big deal.

Nice tank. It should be great fun to scape and fill. I look forward to your plans for it.


BTW, your lighting seems a bit high, are you planning on planting it? 108W on a 330 liter tank seems like it might be a bit excessive unless you plan to go heavily planted.

 

[mishmash]

Items still to get:
- Wood from the Woods
- Sand

What type of wood will you be getting ? Which woods, lol. And ditto, what type of sand ?

 

[Tizer]

nice tank, but do more research on the red line torps, they need a lower temp range than many other trops

 

[Zikofski]

More than likely the silicone needs that much time to fully cure. The 30th will be here before you know it! Use this time to get the GF better, first of all. Then keep scavenging for wood, etc. Maybe try to pick up some of the other items online rather than at the LFS... might save you some coin. Since you can't fill it for a week, the delay in arrival isn't a big deal.

Nice tank. It should be great fun to scape and fill. I look forward to your plans for it.


BTW, your lighting seems a bit high, are you planning on planting it? 108W on a 330 liter tank seems like it might be a bit excessive unless you plan to go heavily planted.

thank you yep been up all night caring dam fevers she was 40c last night, i did suggest throwing her into the tank to cool down go swim with our fishes lol i am looking forward to scaping it,

regards plants i don't think we will plant heavy, don't think i will plant for a few weeks/months let the fish settle like tizer said understand and research the fish more i am still a newbie don't want to rush ahead of my self again .

i am still unsure on what lights to put in regards to the tubes, not sure 2 original tropical tubes rated 36W each not sure if they will work on the 54W unit, dose anyone know if its upto 54W or will u just blow a 36W tube?

Items still to get:
- Wood from the Woods
- Sand

What type of wood will you be getting ? Which woods, lol. And ditto, what type of sand ?

there is a local woods near by just gone take a look, i have been following a few posts on the forum, this one helped and minnnt stated beach or oak is gd so i was going to look for some oak and sand i have been recommended argos play sand, but i will take a trip down to lfs see what they got but i think i will go with argos play sand

nice tank, but do more research on the red line torps, they need a lower temp range than many other trops

thnx tizer yep I've been doing some and i have been watching them closely i changed the temp down to 24 slowly over the course of 2 weeks now both there red lines did fade but they are back now look healthy i guess they just need larger tank and company

okay i am going to my nans for the weekend that will help with w8ing so i keep looking but next major update will happen after that, remember all advice hep and criticism all welcome thnx have a gd xmas all if i can't get on sooner

 

[Tizer]

good good, hope you got a nice upgrade planned for them when they get bigger

 

[minnnt]

Looking great mate, nice tank! Love it!

Good luck with the wood, there is some great pieces of wood and roots if you look hard enough.

The angels will look stunning in there. I would consider darker substrate though as play sand can sometimes wash out the fishes colours. Although its a great budget option compared with 'proper' aquarium sand.

 

[Zikofski]

okay slight update went to the bottom of my gf garden where they apparently cut down a tree earlier in the year i have found a piece of wood that IMO i love been out side for months so should be good as dead , i have a video of it on the patio is dark sorry but if anyone can tell me what type of wood it is would be great i think its birch but I'm no wood expert look nice i love the arch effect and the kink in it hopefully tomorrow is going to be dry so i shall clean it and try to de bark it, there is something on the bark white spots I'm hoping they are only something on the bark and not within the wood it self

another thing i noticed on forums people like to boil the wood is this absolutely nessasery as i don't know how I'm going to boil such a large piece of wood

- Tizer i was thinking yes once i got some more experience and maybe my own place getting like a 6' or larger tank

- minnnt what do you mean sorry a darker sand or gravel, currently i have blue gravel and ye bait to much blue and my gf dose not like the unnatural look but i was going to the LFS don't mind paying a little extra for some nice sand, i did consider black sand/gravel but I'm not sure we was also thinking either no backing on the tank or a blue/black backing at the rear tank geez so many options

EDIT improved the video slightly made it light and updated the link to youtube

 

[mike455555]

personally i wouldn't boil it id heat it up to like 70 leave it there for about 5 mins then turn the heat off. this should kill most of the bad things in the wood.

id say its birch but im no wood expert... what did the leaves look like?

the white spots are probs fungi

 

[Zikofski]

personally i wouldn't boil it id heat it up to like 70 leave it there for about 5 mins then turn the heat off. this should kill most of the bad things in the wood.

id say its birch but im no wood expert... what did the leaves look like?

the white spots are probs fungi

er i don't know i asked the father whom cut it down and he didn't know its been lying at back of garden for 1 year so no leaves il try to built it some how maybe using allot of water from the kettle its to big to fit into anything and boil over a pan

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The easiest thing to do with a big piece of wood is just to dump it into a 5 gallon bucket (same one you have for water changes, if you have one would be perfect - of course, NOT one that has been used for any type of industrial stuff or anything like that or soap, etc.). Then boil some water on the stove top - large water - lots of water. Fill the bucket up with enough water to half cover the wood - then when the water is boiling - pour it over the wood into the bucket. Let it sit like that for about 24 hours. Rinse, then repeat.


Make sure the wood is thoroughly DRY before you do this, however. If there is still sap inside it will slowly seep out of the wood in your fish tank.