Yet Another Tank Journal By Ch4Rlie!

[Ch4rlie]

Hello
 
Yup, its that time again.
 
MTS strikes once more in my household!!
(Multiple Tank Syndrome for those unaware of that

)
 
This time, due to the lack of space in my flat, there is no real room for another tank and have been formulating a plan in my mind for some time as my partneer, Tina, is pretty adamant there will be no more tanks until we move house. Well, the force of  MTS is strong and makes folks do mad things to their house and home.
 
I really would like to get my amano shrimps separated from my small danios, I have had these 4 (or is it 5 ?!? ) amano shrimps for nearly 2 years and they have grown, nearly 3 inches now and large amanos have been known to munch on small fish

 
Soooooo, i gently broached the subject to Tina and gave her my plans and ideas with details, she was surprsingly agreeable

 
No sooner said than done, tried for several weeks to get this particular tank cheaper online but usually either the seller was asking too much or way too far away to pick up and my patience finally ran out and therefore dashed off to LFS to buy this tank.
 
What did i get, well not a large tank at all, in fact a tiny tank

 
I got a Interpet Fishbox LED - 19 Litre Aquarium
 
That tank is perfectly fine for just a shrimp set up or even makes a decent betta tank as well actually but that about it imho due to the size and shape of that tank but suits my puposes perfectly.
 
I have just started this, so will be a few weeks before we will be seeing the end results!
 
Right, I digress, lets get on with the pics now........
 
The new tank in the box..
 
         
 
I am not too keen on the standard LED and Filter that came  with the tank, for one the filter intake is on the wrong side of the tank for me and the way this tank is constructed you cannot swap the filter to the other side of tank!
 
                               
 
So I have removed the filter and LED and will get replacements soon.
         
 
So thats the next part of the plan, to order these parts that will fit in this tank, oh and also to take the 25w nano heater from a tank I have in the garage and somehow try to hide the heater behind some decor or plants.

 

[Akasha72]

I've looked at this tank myself a few times as I think it would make a good little fry tank. My lfs have one of these on the counter ... I think the last time I looked they had some micro rasboras in it.
 
Anyhow's I'll look forward to see what you do with this

 

[Ch4rlie]

Yep, have see this tank before in LFS and they're all around the same sort of price about £55, not the cheapest tank hence my search online for a cheaper second hand one which turned out to be fruitless.
 
Probably mainly due to the fact the LED is a newer version of this tank, used to have the bulb type lights in the hood which made the tank higher than I wanted.
 
You'll soon se why I am so specific

 
 
To be honest I don't think I would even put microrasboras in these tank, too small and not enough proper swimming space for them, I have had microrasboras before so imho, its a no from me.
 
However I reckon its perfect for shrimps, or even a betta set up or as you say could be good for a fry tank perhaps.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Now, the plan I have in mind is to sort of combine two tanks together, the new tank with my main 3 foot tank and  to make it sort of look like one loong tank.
 
Confused huh?.....
 
OK, my main three foot tank as it is, this is an old pic when I was setting up this 3 foot tank,  (incidently its the same tank as in my sig) , it shows the tank being central on that stand -
 
                [sharedmedia=core:attachments:76495]
 
Right, I moved this tank about a half foot to the left on that stand.
 
A note - moving a tank is not recommended but I took out about 85% of the water, leaving enough water for the fish to swim upright and even with all that water out, with the subrate and plants etc it is HEAVY, I do mean HEAVY with a big capital H, seriously, unless you plan on having a hernia, do not move a tank with substrate and some water

 
Boy, I sure won't be doing that again in a hurry!
 
A preview of my plan -
 
             
 
 
Now hopefully you can see what I meant about sort of merging two tanks to make it look like one longer tank. Hence why i was fussy about what tank to go for and that matches the nearest to the tank height and width

 

[Akasha72]

clever ... and a little bit sneaky lol 

 

[Ch4rlie]

clever ... and a little bit sneaky lol 

 

 
Well, it was the only way I thought the GF would agree to another tank in our flat.....
 
 

Anyway, it worked

 

[Ch4rlie]

Now for the boring part, cleaning and rinsing of the substrate.......whoopee.........yay........note my enthusiasm......!
 
Am using some spare bags of gravel that I had leftover from the 3 foot tank.
 
Its Unipac Senegal Sand and as mentioned before, its what i used in my main tank and never had any issues with thais and also it helps with the look that I am after

 
         
 
Guess which bucket of gravel still needs cleaning and rinising? This is exactly why we do this, imagine having this colour of water inside your tank!
 
        
 
Eventually, finally job done, now just need to add it to my tank when I am ready.
 
                
 
 
Slowly but surely, we'll get there!

 

[Ninjouzata]

That's going to look so lovely! Looking forward to more pics

 

[Ch4rlie]

Next stage, painting the back of this tank.
 
I have never painted a background on a tank before, so I thought might as well give this a go since its a small tank.
 
So i bought some acrylic paint. Which i belive to be safe to use on back of tanks and left to fully dry before doing anything with the tank and filling with water.
 

 
I put on masking tape along the black trim edges to help keep paint off this part and to make it easier to paint. I used a combination of a small paint brush and a small roller to put on a even coat of paint, seems to do the trick.
 
                     
 
 
Three coats of paint later, am satisfied with the results. The main reason I am so thorough is that I know this tank will be sitting next to my display tank and that will have lights on and do not want any spots of light showing through the background. Want it completely black and it will look all the better for it once it has been set up with plants and decor

 
      
 
 
Looking good imho

 

[Akasha72]

looking good indeed!

 

[Ch4rlie]

Have found a neat piece of wood thats ideal for the size and shape of the tank

 
At the moment its in a bucket with hot water and given a good scrub over to get rid of any nasties.
 
Will put that in the tank tomorrow. Sorry no pic at the moment but will do that asap

 
Also ordered a new led tube and a small sponge filter with a tiny powerhead to replace the standard rubbish that is usually included in tank set ups from LFS.
 
So far have ordered this for the light - Aquael Leddy Tube 3w
 
                          
 
 
As for the filter, ordered this - Aquael Mini Filter
 
                         
 
 
The LEDDY tube should fit on the hood of that tank, just reckon needs larger lamp clips, which I've ordered as well already. At 3,500k and 3w, should be plenty bright enough for a low tech set up.
 
As for the filter, well, did consider just setting up a simple sponge filter with an air pump which i have in my cupboard but the constant bubbling noise made by such filters drives Tina up the wall, so its not fair to subject her through that.
 
So have ordered that little filter, its the smallest simple sponge filter driven by a small powerhead that I could find at that sort of price. Hope its a good fit.
 
Lets hope both these fit the tank and looks good. Just gotta wait now......I hate waiting for new tank stuff.......

 

[Ninjouzata]

Background looks good, or as good as a solid color can look No pics of the wood for us? Waiting is never fun!

 

[Ch4rlie]

Ok, i succumb to the power that is Ninjuzata, here are some pics of the wood i speak of

 
            
 
                       
 
Hopefully that shows the shape of the wood, its curved and the tank is half moon shape as well the size is spot on actually, a lucky choice of wood really.
 
Do excuse the fairly poor pics, it is evening here at the moment and does not show to the best. (that's what am using as an excuse for my poor photography skills, or lack of skills rather

)

                 
 
 
Due to the glass being curved, there is a little distortion, to be expected but these pics are pretty good in showing that wood fitting pretty good in that tank.
 
                      
 
 
Tank getting there

 

[Ninjouzata]

Oh wow, really like that piece. And it fits great! Lovely little shaded area under it for the shrimps to hide in

 

[Ch4rlie]

As an indirect result of adding that tank to the end of my main 3 foot tank is the fact the tank light had to be raised, it usually sits on top the tank directly without need of supports.
 
Did look up online to buy some suitable light supports but after hours of fruitless searching for suitable supports to fit my tank and T8 light unit weight as well as reasonable costs, can be pretty expensive to purchase.
 
So I ended made up some DIY supports, using some steel flat bar I had lying around and stand off sign brackets i got online.
 
 
                                      
 
 
 
 
I know its not part of this tank's journal but it shows how other things can get affected and having to find remedies to get around that particular problem. So this is a indirect consequence really of having this new little tank but no bad thing, I like it though.