Leichardti

I could only wish [emoji30]

That moment you wak into Aquotix and stumble upon an Aussie Lungfish...
Just thought Id share - Pretty darn cool.
Couldnt get great photos due to the height and reflections 😕
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$$$$ 😬

Lights have been hung and Vallisneria seems to be doing well - Got 4 more pots of (very) thin Vallisneria from Aquotix today + an Aponogeton Crispus... invader! [emoji51]

Going to be attaching the side panels to the stand and sandwiching a bit of foam between that and the tank to hopefully make it a bit more safe, honestly is a bit worrying but think it should be okay..

Anyways here’s a bit of an update:
Had a small rescape of the rocks, flattened them out a little and think its looking pretty great currently.
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Also got two pots of Vallisneria sp. “Narrow” for the tank from AquariumGallery. Told myself I wouldn’t get any plants until I had the Co2 sorted but I don’t need that for Vallisneria and the white spectrum of the lights should be good for them.
Two pots of Val buried with a Dino Dung ball

As you would notice I’ve put some rocks around the Val to discourage uprooting by this whiskery fella, who happens to be having a good recovery after his attack from the Sooty.
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I did a bit of a DIY with the LED's and attached them to each other by putting two screws through the air vents and bolting them together. Then hung them from my curtain rail just to get them off the cover glass. Going to be hanging them from the ceiling soon

Thats all for this update, here's some full-tank shots [emoji8]

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Just cut all of the MDF to size:
Have just slotted them all into place atm

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Now to just wait for a dry night to paint it all up.. doesnt seem like a common occurance atm [emoji53]
Really liking the way everything’s come together so far, really turning into my dream tank

@Chris noo not dumb at all, actually a good question. Currently my lighting and Co2 system aren’t fully up and running so there is no point in putting plants in just yet. At some stage I’m going to be getting some new lights up and running and then I’ll have some deep root feeders like Vallisneria in there plus a buch of others like Bacopa and Limnophila. Just waiting until everything’s up and running properly so that I don’t end up just killing plants becauss it’s not done properly

Update
Chopped up some spare eggcrate yesterday and divided the tank - Coal Grunter and Sooty Grunter on one side and N. Ater and Sleepy Cod in the other. Sooty managed to find his way in at one point so I dumped a bunch of scoria in the way of any gaps and he stayed out. Sooty Gunter sold today so divider’s been taken out n I only have 3 fish - real shame as he was a real cool fish but I didnt want anyone else being attacked or killed.

As you can also see I’ve gotten a bunch of MDF to clad the stand with. 4x 60x90cm sheets for the front and side and 1x 30x180cm for the side cabinet
Finished product will be something like so;

Otherwise, here’s just an update photo:

SOLD
$40 or offer
Being A menace in my tank, would’ve loved to have kept him but fights with everyone as a Sooty does. Best kept on his own, successfully shredded my largest fish 3x his size
Awesome looking fish however with a personality to match
Located in Butler

Hey sorry Chris, forgot to reply to this ^
Wasnt going to bother with airline in the sump, not really worth the hassle imo and means I have to buy an airpump hahaha

Lmao at the story hahaha, I keep getting wet with these fish flicking water outta the tank ‍♂️

Actually looks like I might go a different way relevant to sump. Thinking it’ll be too noisy right beside where I sleep tbh so looks like I’ll keep the canister and possibly get a second later on.

Potentialy cladding the stand this week, hopefully

Also still deciding on lights atm; prettty keen on three SBReef Planted 16” Basics currently. Very well priced and do a great job, anyone have any experience with them?

Not much has changed with the tank since last update, so here’s just a photo of how it looks at night:

Love how it makes my whole bedroom look at night, awesome to just lay here, watch and chillout

Ordered baffles today - should get them delivered on Tuesday. Then just need a pump and some media.

Today I was thinking about the sump and figured having a background on it would help make everything a bit easier visible.
I decided to paint the back white as it will likely contrast all the media best - matches the cabinet too [emoji18]

Nice and shiny

Plan for the sump - first section just to overflow and settle the water a bit. Second for mechanical filtration. Likely JapMat or Sponge + wool. 3rd and fourth section for biologica media. Originally I was going to have a K1 section however I’ve decided against it due to the noise. The biological sections instead will be filled with ceramic noodles and volcanic rock.

Some volcanic rock soaking
The fifth section will contain a reactor with macropore to keep things really clear. Finally the sixth (last) for obviously the return pump. I’ve chosen to go with a Jebao dc 5000 for the return.

Threw a wavemaker that was sitting aroud into the tank a few days ago - Just for the sexy rippling effect from the halide

Carved out the seals and resealed the 4ft yesterday - Some were in pretty bad condition, others completely without a seal. Better safe than sorry

Does look like a massive pita to get into however it really isnt too bad - Gap between top of stand and sump is about 20cm, can easily gets arms under and in. Not a massive amount of room but still way easier than a cannister IMO

Yesterday I got my sump tank, a shitty cheap 4x1x1.5, perfect for what I needed and keeps costs low.

Came pretty dirty - Razor blades helped a great deal getting the algae off

In my bedroom doing the last of the cleaning. As you may have noticed I used fishing line to remove the bracing and lid holders. The baffles will act as bracing in the sump and the lid holder can go on the 6x2x2 which is lacking them.

Here’s a crappy “plan” of the sump, gives a rough idea of how it’ll be set up
For the return pump I’ll be going with something such as a Jebao DC pump aroundthe 5000lph mark
Fits under perfectly


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just a funny clip I got the other night with some actinic fluros on; Sooty having a dig around the place

The tank hasn’t fully cleared up yet - Been doing daily 50-60% waterchanges and it’s nearly clear. I realllly should have washed that river sand first [emoji51]

During a 50% waterchange today I started to put some rocks in the tank.

Building up around the wood. Still moving them around a bit to get them looking the way I want.




Sleepy and Coaly seemingly enjoying having some rocks in the tank

Perfect timing... Coaly having a go at the Sleepy Cod [emoji58]


Now all filled up. Satisfied with the way the rocks are for now, might still move them around though.
Seriously thinking about getting a / some bullrout for this tank. Want an oddball of some sort. Would love to have redclaw crays...
Back right third of the tank will be planted up with Vallisneria and Limnophila Aromatica.

Just a bit of a photographic update [emoji4]

Yesterday I got the substrate side of things done.
Using three large black bins I drained ~250l of water from the tank which the fish went into, and drained out the rest.
About 1cm of propogating sand was spread around the base of the tank for the base layer.
On top of this I added a layer of shell grit + blood n bone. Roughly a handful of shell grit went in per square foot, and roughly 3 tablespoons of blood n bone around the whole base, not something I was keen on overdosing.
Once the “base layers” were finished I capped it all with about 1.5 inches of GinGin Quartz (River Sand). This keeps all the nutrients, minerals and all the plant goodies out of the water column.

All done and (carefully) refilling

Layers from bottom; Propogating sand (brown sand), shell grit & blood n bone, riversand cap. Layers look pretty cool imo aha

Fish back in a very cloudy tank... not a happy chappy.

Photo from just now. Tank is clearing up, did a 40% waterchange just before this photo to help it along a little

Now that I have a reasonable substrate in the tank I need to work on the other important things - Lighting, fertilizer and Co2. Currently I have a metal halide on the tank which would do the job, however I don’t like the weight of it, nor the fact that only one side works.
Some potential lighting upgrades include:
2x MicMol AquaAir 90 “Planted”

OR
3x Aqua Illumination Prime HD “Planted”

I think the latter would be the better option, but the former the cheaper. Opinions on lighting welcome [emoji4]
On the other hand I also need to get my Co2 back up and running. I have everything needed however my regulator and gauges have stuffed themselves.
For ferts I’ll be using the EI method + root tabs for heavy root feeders.
A long road to get everything setup the way I plan, but looking forward to it