Keiths New Tank Journal

[mattlee]

Keiths had a new tank ordered for him from ND aquatics and it arrives on wednesday 11th may his getting a new shiney tank but its quite a bit smaller than his current 6.5x2x2 tank so i hope he likes it.... it measures 60x24x18 and im a bit concerned its not quite wide enough so ill see how it goes for now and if its not looking big enough then i have a 6x2x2 coming later in the year so he will have to have that instead of the ornatums!

anyway i thought i would start a bit of a journal as a log for my reference and for others to follow, help and comment if they please.

ive ordered the cabinet and hood in opera walnut which is one of the darker browns as i am hoping that the tank will have a moody look to it. the background is painted black and ive bought unipac limpopo black sand which looks like a mix of black and grey. the lighting will be a single 4ft arcadia tropical LED as i dont want too much light in there as i have a few bottom dwelling species at the moment and i get to see more of them in a dimmer tank. ive never used the LED lightsso i hope its not too much for what im after as they arent cheap

decor is going to be very basic ive been and bought several new pieces of redmoor wood so ill have to have a play with them. my other option is to add the same wood from his current tank so its not too much of a shock to the fish but ill see what looks best and go with it. maybe a mix of the two

the stocking will consist of -

1 x oscar
1 x BGK
1 x jaguar catfish
3 x humbug catfish
8 x arulius barbs
1 x banded headstander

ill post pics of the set up and fish moves etc as its happening so watch this space from wednesday 11th may if your interested.....

 

[mattlee]

here are the pieces of wood i have stumbled accross, not sure ill be able to fit them all in though

 

[minnnt]

Looking good! Can't wait to see Keith with a JAG...

 

[mattlee]

the jag is a catfish that currently lives in with him. stunning fish but very rarely see him

 

[mattlee]

new tanks arrived

but.....

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr......................

just found a sticker saying not to fill until the 15/5/2011

ive booked the rest of this week off work to clean it, set it up, wash the sand, arrange the wood etc etc etc and eventually transfer the fish. looks like ill just be looking at an empty tank with my days off

and also im not sure my big bit of wood is gonna fit past the brace bars

 

[mattlee]

the wood fits after quite a bit of twisting and getting in strange positions... but its in now

mmmmmm, how to get it out!!!

 

[SchottayB]

Great looking tank! Let me know if you have any Redmoor wood you want rid of, I'll collect it your only round the corner from me!

 

[mattlee]

Great looking tank! Let me know if you have any Redmoor wood you want rid of, I'll collect it your only round the corner from me!

ive not got any more redmoor but i might have some mopani and bogwood going once ive finished setting this tank up if thats of any use?.

 

[mattlee]

just fitted the arcadia tropical 4ft LED light unit and here are the results

 

[Ronananator]

very nice when i seen ledi was thinking thats gonna be a disaster but it actually lights up pritty well

one question is your oscar in light color sand/gravel atm ?

 

[mattlee]

very nice when i seen ledi was thinking thats gonna be a disaster but it actually lights up pritty well

one question is your oscar in light color sand/gravel atm ?

yeah the pic in my sig is of him in his current tank. i used argos playsand for the substrate which is a light colour.

the first time i saw the LED's actually switched on at a shop i was amazed at how much they lit up the colours on the fish. ive thought about it long and hard as my current tank is only lit using a single 5ft T8 tube so its noy massively bright in there but this suits the BGK and catfish in the tank a bit more and i didnt want this tank to be lit up like a runway. i eventually gave in and ive fitted a single 4ft LED tube, im glad i didnt go with 2 of them as it would have been too bright for the look im after. just 1 is very bright and i guess i wont know if it was worth it until i have filled the tank and added the fish etc.

 

[Proxo]

Why cant you fill it until the 15/5/2011? (i know the sticker says so, but i dont understand why?)
Nice tank too btw

 

[hamfist]

new tanks arrived

but.....

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr......................

just found a sticker saying not to fill until the 15/5/2011

ive booked the rest of this week off work to clean it, set it up, wash the sand, arrange the wood etc etc etc and eventually transfer the fish. looks like ill just be looking at an empty tank with my days off

and also im not sure my big bit of wood is gonna fit past the brace bars

Ok ....... just about still got access to your understairs cupboard then !!!

Gutting about that "fill by" date. You'd be wise to stick to it though as you'll have no come back whatsoever with ND if there's a problem with the whole thing.

 

[mattlee]

just about but its tight.....

yeah im not going to rush to fill it as i dont want a leaking tank

 

[mattlee]

2 days to go until i can fill it............

im so fed up of looking at an empty tank, what a tease