thought i'd better do a write up on my new tank. abit of history first
i've had a 40ltr cube prior to this that ran a small external filter filled with all the usual stuff like phosphate remover, lr rubble etc. had my ups and downs with this, lost a few fish on the way but things slowly started to take shape and it ended up like this...
i also had a malawi tank in the lounge but i really could not be bothered with two tanks, i put them both up for sale and thought i'd see what sold, what ever was left if anything was what i was going to keep. as it turned out i sold all my malawi stuff on forums and ebay, this left me with my marine tank in the kitchen. my master plan was to move into the lounge and sump it.
i saw an aqua nano 40 55ltr on here for sale, think it was about £75, a few days later saw it up on ebay and got it for about £40 and so the fun began.
i set the 55ltr up in the lounge, as i was in no worry (nor had any reason to rush) i took my time sorting out the sump and getting the tank drilled.
first thing was remove the back from the aqua nano, i got two holes driller in the back pane of glass and bought all the piping to link to the sump, i then re-stuck the back pane to the tank. as a temporary solution i used an old salt bucket as the sump and used an old pump, it just about pushed water to the main tank (turn over was about x1 lol). i filled it with my old crushed coral sand out of my malawi tank, everytime i did a water change on my eixsting tank the water went into this new tank. it stayed this way for about 4 weeks.
at this point i decided i can't put it off any more and moved my tank over, all went well but it looked messy as i was using my power head (which was not my intention, the aim was to use my return pump as the main circulation)
i went through a few return pumps until i found the best one. i actually tried a eheim compact 2000 +, eheim 1262, sicce syncro 2.0 and finally settled on a newjet 1700. the quietest pump was the new jew, the others all sounded like lawn mowers. after sorting the pump i was able to ditch all the internal pumps etc in the main tank and this is the end result
my aim was to use my old 40ltr as the sump but it turns out i can't measure and it refused to fit in the cabinet below my tank, so i bought my mates old 28 aquael tank which fitted a dream.
once all the sump was setup how i wanted it the tank was still too noisey (because the sump is in a wooden cabinet it just magnified everything). to this end i bough some sound proof material and covered the inside of the cabinet with it, i also hung the pump in mid water via avery diy cradle, it now runs silently (and i mean silently), the only noise i hear is the small trickle of water down the waste pipe (but i actually don't mind this at all).
in the sump i have a deep sand bed on one side, lr rubble just scattered about and some chaitico (or however you spell it) in a hob refugium thats sits in the tank, its lit by a submersible aqua led unit.
oh and one big black legged crab
pics of the sump
as for live stock i currently have a tail spot blenny, bloody shrimp, pom pom crab, pistol shrimp (did have a highfin goby but he jumped ship) and some other cuc.
oh and also bought this lovely chap on sunday from deep blue in hickley, he is doing really well. i had read that they are really hard to get settled but within hours of him been in the tank he was out and about. day 2 i tried to feed him flake (knowing this would not work i had live food in readiness which he had no problem eating). the 3rd day he was really swimming all over the place, not shy at all. i thought sod it i'll try him on flake again, to my amazement he eat it, to say i'm pleased is an understatment.
i'm not sure what other tank mates to get, i do want another goby to pair with my shrimp. i may get a pair of neon gobies or a clown goby. i would like another fish that swims about but i don't think my tank is big enough for this, any ideas?
thanks for reading
i've had a 40ltr cube prior to this that ran a small external filter filled with all the usual stuff like phosphate remover, lr rubble etc. had my ups and downs with this, lost a few fish on the way but things slowly started to take shape and it ended up like this...
i also had a malawi tank in the lounge but i really could not be bothered with two tanks, i put them both up for sale and thought i'd see what sold, what ever was left if anything was what i was going to keep. as it turned out i sold all my malawi stuff on forums and ebay, this left me with my marine tank in the kitchen. my master plan was to move into the lounge and sump it.
i saw an aqua nano 40 55ltr on here for sale, think it was about £75, a few days later saw it up on ebay and got it for about £40 and so the fun began.
i set the 55ltr up in the lounge, as i was in no worry (nor had any reason to rush) i took my time sorting out the sump and getting the tank drilled.
first thing was remove the back from the aqua nano, i got two holes driller in the back pane of glass and bought all the piping to link to the sump, i then re-stuck the back pane to the tank. as a temporary solution i used an old salt bucket as the sump and used an old pump, it just about pushed water to the main tank (turn over was about x1 lol). i filled it with my old crushed coral sand out of my malawi tank, everytime i did a water change on my eixsting tank the water went into this new tank. it stayed this way for about 4 weeks.
at this point i decided i can't put it off any more and moved my tank over, all went well but it looked messy as i was using my power head (which was not my intention, the aim was to use my return pump as the main circulation)
i went through a few return pumps until i found the best one. i actually tried a eheim compact 2000 +, eheim 1262, sicce syncro 2.0 and finally settled on a newjet 1700. the quietest pump was the new jew, the others all sounded like lawn mowers. after sorting the pump i was able to ditch all the internal pumps etc in the main tank and this is the end result
my aim was to use my old 40ltr as the sump but it turns out i can't measure and it refused to fit in the cabinet below my tank, so i bought my mates old 28 aquael tank which fitted a dream.
once all the sump was setup how i wanted it the tank was still too noisey (because the sump is in a wooden cabinet it just magnified everything). to this end i bough some sound proof material and covered the inside of the cabinet with it, i also hung the pump in mid water via avery diy cradle, it now runs silently (and i mean silently), the only noise i hear is the small trickle of water down the waste pipe (but i actually don't mind this at all).
in the sump i have a deep sand bed on one side, lr rubble just scattered about and some chaitico (or however you spell it) in a hob refugium thats sits in the tank, its lit by a submersible aqua led unit.
oh and one big black legged crab
pics of the sump
as for live stock i currently have a tail spot blenny, bloody shrimp, pom pom crab, pistol shrimp (did have a highfin goby but he jumped ship) and some other cuc.
oh and also bought this lovely chap on sunday from deep blue in hickley, he is doing really well. i had read that they are really hard to get settled but within hours of him been in the tank he was out and about. day 2 i tried to feed him flake (knowing this would not work i had live food in readiness which he had no problem eating). the 3rd day he was really swimming all over the place, not shy at all. i thought sod it i'll try him on flake again, to my amazement he eat it, to say i'm pleased is an understatment.
i'm not sure what other tank mates to get, i do want another goby to pair with my shrimp. i may get a pair of neon gobies or a clown goby. i would like another fish that swims about but i don't think my tank is big enough for this, any ideas?
thanks for reading
. I see it's moved into the living room now 
. You manage to shift your old tank and light unit in the end?
