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My 6x2x2 Tank


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#41 Kleinz

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Posted 15 November 2011 - 10:07 AM

They do lil nano ones and pretty standard looking ones up to 300w too

#42 Westie

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Posted 15 November 2011 - 09:55 PM

I considered not buying river stones, filling the tank up, and hooking up a canister filter, but when I put the lids on, I only got one corner cut out to fit the filter pipes. Therefore I think I'll just run the one filter, the fx5 which I pick up tomorrow. It looks like I'll probably end up buying the river stones after all. I suppose my patience is starting to wear thin, as I'm so close to putting fish in, and won't be able to get to soils aint soils until the weekend (stupid work). I got a 4ft light today. 2x54w t5's, one white and one blue bulb. I put it on top of the tank and took some photos. Just wanting everyones opinion on whether I should use these lights and remove the t8's in the hood. Do you think it's okay to leave the lighting sitting on top of the tank? Or should I lift the lighting off the glass by mounting it to the inside of the hood?
Photo's below:
white light on

blue light on

both lights on

I look forward to the comments


#43 dazzabozza

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Posted 15 November 2011 - 11:01 PM

The white/blue combo kills the red & yellow tones of the background. May not be as bad once filled.

Also the blue light benefits blue fish. Not many solid blue Tropheus around wink.gif. Would look nice on a Malawi tank though.


Daz

#44 Westie

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Posted 15 November 2011 - 11:30 PM

Should I go 2 white lights dazza?

#45 scottyhooton

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Posted 15 November 2011 - 11:36 PM

This was my tank without blue tube


This is it with blue tube / and white tube


I find the blue tube helps the water clarity , and brings out nicer color in my Simochromis wink.gif

#46 Bowdy

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Posted 15 November 2011 - 11:47 PM

Keep the T8's aswell but move them to the very front of the hood and have the T5's in the middle. And the light unit sitting in the glass is fine I have 8 T8 tubes under my 4x2 and they all sit on the glass and never had a problem.

#47 dazzabozza

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Posted 16 November 2011 - 06:48 PM

QUOTE (Jason82 @ Nov 15 2011, 11:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Should I go 2 white lights dazza?


Scotty's pics with blue on look nice. Check again once u have water in the tank I reckon.

#48 Westie

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Posted 17 November 2011 - 10:19 PM

I finally filled the tank with water and got some goldfish cycling the tank.


I decided to get another white bulb to see what the lights look like with 2 white bulbs on. Problem is, dude I bought the lighting off said it was 2x54w t5 lights. I got a white silvana 54w t5, but when I got home with it, it was too big. I looked in the instructions for the lighting, and it turns out its only 2x24w bulbs. Looks like I'm gonna have to eventually upgrade that, but not a priority right now. Here are some photos of what the lights look like with the water in it:
white only

blue only

white and blue on

As you can see from the photos, I'm only running one canister at the moment. I got some of those media bags with the zip, so future maintennance of the filter is nice and quick. The bend in the pipes are too narrow to fit in the tank though, so I'm gonna have to work out how to fix that. Might have to bribe riggers to come have a look. Does anyone know if I can change the spray bar and intake to something with a wider gap in the bend so I can fit it in the tank? It sticks out like a sore thumb as it looks now, and I won't be able to fit the hood on later if I cant fix it. Here is a photo of what I'm talking about. You can see the green stuff at the top is just some amazon frogbit I though I'd throw in there. It was either that or throw it in the bin. Bit of food for the goldfish i guess.

Here's a quick vid of the tank. I uploaded in 1080 res, so if you got a decent connection, watch it in HD.

Please if you have any advice on how to fix the piping, plese let me know. Thanks for looking again!

#49 dazzabozza

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Posted 17 November 2011 - 10:29 PM

QUOTE (Jason82 @ Nov 17 2011, 10:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
white only

Get's my vote cheers.gif

#50 Bowdy

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Posted 17 November 2011 - 10:38 PM

Lookin good man. The pipes if you cut the pipes in half at the top of the bend and use a piece of the canister hose to join the two halves together that should do the trick.

#51 Westie

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Posted 17 November 2011 - 10:44 PM

QUOTE (dazzabozza @ Nov 17 2011, 10:29 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Get's my vote cheers.gif

I agree, white only looks better

QUOTE (Bowdy @ Nov 17 2011, 10:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Lookin good man. The pipes if you cut the pipes in half at the top of the bend and use a piece of the canister hose to join the two halves together that should do the trick.

Sounds a bit MacGyver-ish. I think if I do that, I'll prob end up flooding the house. I'm a bit special with DIY (challenged). I'm gonna measure the pipe diameter and see if the canister accesory packs @ Aquotix will do the trick.

#52 Bowdy

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Posted 17 November 2011 - 10:50 PM

Make your own custom pipes with PVC or black Polly retic fittings. Easy as. Im off to total eden soon so Throw me the measurements and il knock them up for ya.

#53 Westie

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Posted 17 November 2011 - 11:03 PM

cheers ray but the pipes are all good now, check post below

Edited by Jason82, 20 November 2011 - 07:02 PM.


#54 Westie

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Posted 20 November 2011 - 07:31 PM

I got both canister filters running now. First one I set up is a sunsun 1500lph job. It has 3 media baskets, and the media I used is a layer of filter wool at the bottom of all 3 media trays, and a media bag full of matrix in the top and middle tray, then a media bag of noodles in the bottom tray. The media bags I used for this filter are the zip up media bags. I wanted to use media bags this time around, as it will make cleaning the filter a lot faster. Here's a pic of the canister, and the pipes all sorted now.




Then over the weekend I set up my fx5. This filter has awesome power, but I'm not a huge fan of the pipes provided. I got the draw sting media bags for this filter for ease of cleaning the filter. The design of this filter has these foam pads that go around the outside of the media trays, then 3 media baskets in the middle. The media I used is 2 layers of coarse filter sponge on the top tray, then a drawstring media bag full of Eheim Substrat in the middle tray, and a drawstring media bag full of Eheim Mech in the bottom tray. I wanted to use the best media I could afford for this filter, and it should do a good job. Here are a couple of photos of the fluval:



I also replaced the blue light bulb with a Silvania 10000K bulb. It turns out that the bulbs in this light fitting are 39w bulbs. I put the lights on a timer, 7am to 7pm so I don't have to worry about flicking the switch. Here are a couple of photos of what the fish tank looks like with the 2 white lights. The new light is a bit pinkish because its a plant spectrum bulb, but I think it looks really nice.


It should look sweet once I put the hood on top. Hoping there is enough clearance between the hood and the top of the lighting unit. Thanks again for looking!

#55 STEVEGREEN

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Posted 20 November 2011 - 09:34 PM

Nice goldfish man !!!

Cheers
Steve Green

#56 Poncho

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Posted 20 November 2011 - 09:44 PM

QUOTE (Jason82 @ Nov 15 2011, 09:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
blue light on


I know I'm too late for commenting as you've changed it up but I saw this shot and thought it would look killer as a P nigripinnis species tank

#57 Bowdy

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Posted 20 November 2011 - 09:46 PM

Lookin good mate. You will probably find 7-7 won't really work, by the time your home had dinner stuffed around the light is off before you get a chance look and enjoy the tank. Save yourself some money have the blinds open during the day for natural light and the tank lights come on bout 4 go off bout 10. Do it what ever way you like that's just what I do.
Look forward to seeing it full of T's.
Cheers.

#58 scottyhooton

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Posted 20 November 2011 - 10:00 PM

My lights go 11-11 wink.gif

#59 Westie

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Posted 21 November 2011 - 04:42 PM

QUOTE (STEVEGREEN @ Nov 20 2011, 09:34 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Nice goldfish man !!!
Cheers
Steve Green


Didn't notice the fish in front of the right intake on the last photo greeny? The goldfish will end up as feeder fish soon. Handy fish to cycle the tank

QUOTE (Poncho @ Nov 20 2011, 09:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I know I'm too late for commenting as you've changed it up but I saw this shot and thought it would look killer as a P nigripinnis species tank


I dont even know what P nigtipinnis are?

QUOTE (Bowdy @ Nov 20 2011, 09:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Lookin good mate. You will probably find 7-7 won't really work, by the time your home had dinner stuffed around the light is off before you get a chance look and enjoy the tank. Save yourself some money have the blinds open during the day for natural light and the tank lights come on bout 4 go off bout 10. Do it what ever way you like that's just what I do.
Look forward to seeing it full of T's.
Cheers.


Yep still got my heart set on a tropheus colony. Single species tank is what I want

QUOTE (scottyhooton @ Nov 20 2011, 10:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
My lights go 11-11 wink.gif


I do 7am to 7pm as I'm usually up early every morning, and feed the fish by 7:30am. Then I'm almost always home by 4:30. Might put the lights on longer, but so far I'm happy enough with 7am to 7pm.

Cheers for the comments guys

#60 Westie

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Posted 24 November 2011 - 09:49 PM

Time for another update. Decided to take the T8 lights out of the hood.
Here are the lights that came with the hood:

I took those lights out, and put the hood on.
Pic before hood:

Pic with hood now on:


I'm really happy with how nice the tank now looks. I changed the light timer to 7am-7:30pm. Extra half hour of light works for me. There are a few minor scratches on the cabinet and hood, so I will go to a furniture store to buy one of those correction pens to cover up any scratches. I havent done a water change yet, might do one on the weekend. I havent tested the water yet either, so I'm not sure how far the filters have cycled. At this stage, I think I've left it too late to have the tank ready for the Auction. I don't really want to spend dosh on nice fish and put them in a tank that isn't yet cycled. I will take a photo of the tank with the lights on, as it will look heaps better than the photos I've taken in the dark. I'm thinking of buying some more river stones too, stack them in the 3 existing piles of rocks. Thanks again for looking.




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