Biulu
Fish Aficionado
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2007
- Messages
- 3,329
- Reaction score
- 2
Hi all,
This is my first journal, and my first serious attempt to a scape with plants.
How it all started:
After a few years absence in the hobby, I thought it would be nice to have another tank, and so I bought myself a 'package deal' 60 litre bowfront tank. Package deal means that it came with an undergravel filter, pump, gravel, background, flakes, a net and 3 goldfish to cycle the tank (yes, I know now...!).
After several months I had decided it would be nice to add some gouramis, so I bought myself 2 male dwarf gouramis. By that time one goldfish had died and I decided to change the culprit for a pearl gourami, and bought another one. These turned out to be male and female. I completed the stock with 2 flame dwarf gouramis, not knowing these fish were territorial. One flame gourami died quickly, as he was driven into a piece of bogwood without escape possibility. Another one developed an ulcer out of stress of being the lowest in the picking hierarchy. He is still in a hospital tank on his own with medicated foods, lost eyesight in one eye due to the disease, and I noticed this morning that another wound appeared right above the other ulcer. I am afraid he will not make it much longer.
So, time for another tank. I had thought about a tank twice the size of the current one, but had my mind set on a bowfront, as I love the panoramic view. After extensive visits to the few aquarium shops in town, I had persuaded one to bring me a 1 metre bowfront tank from Mexico city. When it arrived, it turned out to be 180 litres, instead of the 120 I had expected! I had forgotten to take account of the belly..... it being a bowfront tank.
Here is a picture of it:
As you can see, it is just a plain tank. It is very difficult here to get tanks with custom made bases, so I had to get a base myself. I asked my local carpenter, and I think he did a very good job with producing this base:
And the inside:
Friends are telling me that if I don't want to continue with the hobby, I can always use the base as a bar!
He also made a hood for it, but my 'compadre' is currently installing the lights in it, so no pictures of that yet.
The search for an external filter eventually led me to import a Marineland C-220 alias Tetratec EX-700 from the United States. Another story, as most companies only deliver within the country. Luckily I have a friend which lives just across the border in Texas, and he was willing to receive it for me, drive it across the border, and send it with a courrier to the south of Mexico. I personally think it was a very good investment, and a quality filter that I would not have been able to get here.
A week ago I brought the lamps from Europe. I had first wanted to bring 2 90 mm tubes, but then I realised I had to fly from England, and they probably wouldn't allow me take these lamps in my hand luggage, so I decided to get 2 T8 Dennerle Kongo-white 40 mm and 2 T5 JBL full spectrum natur 55 mm instead. This is giving me 2x15 and 2x24 = 78 W for an almost 48 US gallon tank. So, low light.
I had planned that anyway, as I travel regularly for work, so I need a low maintenance tank. No CO2 for me either, as it is not available here. I am pretty restricted with my technology options; it is a poor rural area, and people simply can't afford to spend much money on a nice tank. Basically everything has to come from Mexico city, which is 6 hours away.
I will still give it a try though getting as much as I can from either Mexico city, or order it by internet. Of course I love to get a nice scape, but my principal aim is to give my gouramis a proper housing. They have already suffered enough due to my ignorance.
This tank will take quite a lot of time, as I have to figure out how and where to get things, as well as having to travel for work. As I am a total beginner on planted tanks, I hope to receive a lot of help from you guys.
The current issues are: getting the lights installed in the hood, and looking for a decent substrate. But more on that in the next messages.
I hope you enjoy reading this journal!
Eleonore
This is my first journal, and my first serious attempt to a scape with plants.
How it all started:
After a few years absence in the hobby, I thought it would be nice to have another tank, and so I bought myself a 'package deal' 60 litre bowfront tank. Package deal means that it came with an undergravel filter, pump, gravel, background, flakes, a net and 3 goldfish to cycle the tank (yes, I know now...!).
After several months I had decided it would be nice to add some gouramis, so I bought myself 2 male dwarf gouramis. By that time one goldfish had died and I decided to change the culprit for a pearl gourami, and bought another one. These turned out to be male and female. I completed the stock with 2 flame dwarf gouramis, not knowing these fish were territorial. One flame gourami died quickly, as he was driven into a piece of bogwood without escape possibility. Another one developed an ulcer out of stress of being the lowest in the picking hierarchy. He is still in a hospital tank on his own with medicated foods, lost eyesight in one eye due to the disease, and I noticed this morning that another wound appeared right above the other ulcer. I am afraid he will not make it much longer.
So, time for another tank. I had thought about a tank twice the size of the current one, but had my mind set on a bowfront, as I love the panoramic view. After extensive visits to the few aquarium shops in town, I had persuaded one to bring me a 1 metre bowfront tank from Mexico city. When it arrived, it turned out to be 180 litres, instead of the 120 I had expected! I had forgotten to take account of the belly..... it being a bowfront tank.
Here is a picture of it:
As you can see, it is just a plain tank. It is very difficult here to get tanks with custom made bases, so I had to get a base myself. I asked my local carpenter, and I think he did a very good job with producing this base:
And the inside:
Friends are telling me that if I don't want to continue with the hobby, I can always use the base as a bar!
He also made a hood for it, but my 'compadre' is currently installing the lights in it, so no pictures of that yet.
The search for an external filter eventually led me to import a Marineland C-220 alias Tetratec EX-700 from the United States. Another story, as most companies only deliver within the country. Luckily I have a friend which lives just across the border in Texas, and he was willing to receive it for me, drive it across the border, and send it with a courrier to the south of Mexico. I personally think it was a very good investment, and a quality filter that I would not have been able to get here.
A week ago I brought the lamps from Europe. I had first wanted to bring 2 90 mm tubes, but then I realised I had to fly from England, and they probably wouldn't allow me take these lamps in my hand luggage, so I decided to get 2 T8 Dennerle Kongo-white 40 mm and 2 T5 JBL full spectrum natur 55 mm instead. This is giving me 2x15 and 2x24 = 78 W for an almost 48 US gallon tank. So, low light.
I had planned that anyway, as I travel regularly for work, so I need a low maintenance tank. No CO2 for me either, as it is not available here. I am pretty restricted with my technology options; it is a poor rural area, and people simply can't afford to spend much money on a nice tank. Basically everything has to come from Mexico city, which is 6 hours away.
I will still give it a try though getting as much as I can from either Mexico city, or order it by internet. Of course I love to get a nice scape, but my principal aim is to give my gouramis a proper housing. They have already suffered enough due to my ignorance.
This tank will take quite a lot of time, as I have to figure out how and where to get things, as well as having to travel for work. As I am a total beginner on planted tanks, I hope to receive a lot of help from you guys.
The current issues are: getting the lights installed in the hood, and looking for a decent substrate. But more on that in the next messages.
I hope you enjoy reading this journal!
Eleonore
Ill be sure to show you a pic 
wont be for a little while yet though. 
I will go and pick it up tonight. To my frustration, I noticed that they had given me 1 blue lamp and 1 plant lamp in the store, and not 2 blue lamps. Oh well, I hope it will just make my plants grow a bit better. This means I now have 3 plant lamps, and 1 blue one. Due to the configuration in the hood, I don't think that the blue will come out much though. ANd it will be another year before I can buy other T5's in Europe.....
