My 180L Project

[Too Fast]

I upgraded my 135L tank to 180L a few weeks ago.

After a bit of advice from here I made a couple of changes.

I am intending to spend the next 6 months increasing the filtration and stock as well as letting the plants mature, hopefully ending with the tank that I have planned in my head.

Hopefully i'll post updates as I go along so I/we can see how it goes.

Any comments or suggestions both positive and negative/constructive gratefully received.

 

[Wills]

Really love the idea of the cherry barbs and the blue tetras what a fantastic combo! I would up those numbers just to increase the incredible effect they are going to produce. When the plants fill out its going to be amazing

One note on the blue tetras, they sometimes are a bit nippy so get a big school of at least 12 or so to keep their attention on each other. Dont worry about the high numbers in the tank though as they are really really slender fish so wont be too much of an issue with regards bio waste etc.

As for feature fish, have you had any thoughts? I would stick with the luminous fish So how about some yellow panchax for the surface? And the feature fish what about some Cupid Cichlids? Or some kind of Acara like a Blue Acara or a Yellow Acara?

Wills

 

[Too Fast]

I'm looking at adding a shoal of 12-15 Cardinals which I think will work well against the green of the plants when established. I'm looking at a couple of three spot Gourami' for the top half of the tank and my misses really wants a chocolate zebra plec.

I do like the idea of a proper centerpeice fish though. How do the Acaras work with the tetra? from what I've read they could be agressive to them. I don't know much about the cupid cichlids but will look for some info.

The whole plan is very flexable and until the tank is finished, my ideas will no doubt change so keep the ideas coming.

Thanks

 

[Carlovel1]

A German Blue Ram is an excellent centre piece fish.
BTW nice tank

 

[Jenste]

love the look of your tank already...can't wait to see those live plants fill out!

 

[Too Fast]

I do like the idea of blue ram.

I'm going to spend a bit of time looking at peoples suggestions and seeing what I can source locally.

Off today for a look at Maidenhead Aquatics at Cambridge (about 50 miles away). I've never been before so hopefully they have some diferent stock to the more local fish shops.

 

[Wills]

I do like the idea of blue ram.

I'm going to spend a bit of time looking at peoples suggestions and seeing what I can source locally.

Off today for a look at Maidenhead Aquatics at Cambridge (about 50 miles away). I've never been before so hopefully they have some diferent stock to the more local fish shops.

I think Cambridge is one of the best Maidenheads so I bet you will find something good

 

[Too Fast]

I can stroke cardinals off of my wanted list!!!

only went for a look but I guess thats how most of us end up with the stock we have!

 

[Too Fast]

A trip to MA at Cambride saw a few new additions to the tank.

I have been dosing Flourish Excel daily as well as a twice weekly dose of Flourish hoping to see growth in the plants. Generally this has been the case however the Amazon swords aren't really looking the best so going to post on the plant section for advice on that side.

Next step is a bigger external. Looking for an FX5 or 405 but not sure which yet. Watch this space.......

 

[lilfishie]

Tank looks great, i agree a pair of blue rams would look great in there, nice to see tetras in a decent sized shoal

 

[markandhisfish]

coming along nicely . try some root tabs for teh amazon swords as they are more root feeders .

 

[Verminator89]

Certainly coming along nicely. Definately second the idea of root tabs under the swords, should perk them up somewhat. You can keep adding more as they get used up over the coming months/years The crypt might benefit from the odd tablet too, as they are also root feeders.

Are they red pencilfish in there or are they a barb? Can't tell from the pictures.

 

[Too Fast]

Are they red pencilfish in there or are they a barb? Can't tell from the pictures.

Cherry Barbs, you can see a couple of males and a couple of females in the pics. There are 2 males and 4 females in the tank.

I'll lokk at some tablets for the swords. Thanks for the comments.

 

[Too Fast]

There have been a few minor changes over the last couple of months.

I added 2 Pearl Gourami's and a Golden Gourami (The Golden died the next day unfortunately).

I started feeding Flourish twice weekly and Flourish Excel every day and noticed huge improvements in the plants. The Valis are particularly good as they need cutting back every week. The java fern was just a group of leaves that was pushed into the substrate, they started producing plants on the leaves so when big enough I cut them off and put them onto bogwood with fishing line so growning my own cuttings now . The swords have been struggling but I put in a couple of Flourish root tabs on wednesday so hoping for improvement soon. The moss balls had to go as they were at least 6 inches across (only 1.5 inches when I bought them).

I'm water changing twice weekly now as I have alot of fish for the size of filter but they are all healthy and happy so conditions are good. Next step is to up the filtration so will look at that next month.

Hopefully a big improvement on the origional set up now, It's coming together as it matures so not much left to do.

Please forgive the ropy photography - especially the reflections of the lights on the tank!!!

 

[Amunet]

Your tank is beautiful Love the big crypt? plants you have in there. Very nice!