tunagirll

Not fish related but still awesome

http://www.gumtree.c...here/1049639895

Yep use stockings with gravel, just need to be careful because your overlying gravel is still of course subject to flow and gravity. If you're planting you have to make sure you have enough overlying gravel to plant out properly.

Mixed bag of unsuitable fish, that is

The backstory is that my mum moved from Kalgoorlie down to live with us and brought her fish along. Turns out the fish have been living in a 100 litre including bala sharks, silver dollars, clown loaches etc etc and she picked up a ghost knifefish just to add to the fun.

Couldn't quite convince her to go for a 6 foot tank, so a 4 footer will do for the meantime as they are still juvies - at least until we rehome or she springs for a proper size tank.

Anyhow, picked up a nice 4 foot tank and cabinet stand on ebay for $150 with a Aquis 1200 filter and Eheim heater.

$400 later with the help of the good people at Aquotix, we have fantastic materials to decorate. Finally found someone with a crinum calamistratum another $100. Found a super piece of golden vine I couldn't walk past at City Farmers, shopping for parts (which of course they didn't have, even though they sell the actual filter). Another $50 to buy said parts for the filter online to stop the bugger leaking. Well at least the tank is watertight

Just one pic for now with the final layout. Limestone rocks and driftwood, natural gravel. Oiled some garbage bags onto the back for backing. A few tactical slices with the recip saw and the vine is nicely set, secured with a rock on top which hopefully is heavy enough to keep it stable. I'm going to dig out behind the cave and put in some substrate for the crinum and a couple of sword plants. Also made a viewing tube for the knifefish while it lives here, hopefully it will set up residence in it and not the driftwood. I'm going to pop another sword or java fern behind the tube to provide more shade for the knifefish. Hopefully the plant munchers will only have a nibble, I picked tougher plants and onions to put them off.

Just waiting on parts to arrive to make sure everything is working okay before putting the tank in its final position and filling up. Pretty pleased with the layout, largest tank I've put together.

Can I swear on this forum? I really want to. They're a bunch of louse-faced monkey arses.

Sure is, from my dumbo salamander HM pair

Nice tank! Got some of the Hydrocotyle Sp. Japan myself, seems to really take off once the roots establish.

It does, but I'm having a bugger of a time keeping it anchored with the gobies being so rambunctious, I'm toying with the idea of mixing it with an even lower lying plant like hemi cuba or marsilea hisurta.

Just a quick tank snap from today. I've added some endlers to brighten up the top of the tank. Maggie chased them around for a while, but has quickly gotten bored of that game as they are much faster than she is.

In addition to the made up goby chow for the gobies and boiled lettuce for the DRNS, I've also added frozen daphnia for all the fish but mainly for the endlers. Seems to be going well so far.

We also have a lot less detritus in the tank now since most of the plants that were planning to die have up and died (mostly bits of hairgrass). Pogostemon stellatus growing roots and picking up now. Really pleased

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Busy busy

First off, a trip to Aquotix to empty the wallet (thanks Nathan). They were slightly confused by my turning up not in work clothes, but recovered well!

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A nice upgrade from the Fluval 88 to a 1 litre refillable and regulator with solenoid. That will stop me worrying about the plants fish when I am away at uni

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And a quick duck into Bunnings to pick up a couple of power timers to automate the CO2 and lights separately

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All assembled and tucked into the cupboard below the tanks. Note my professionally inserted hole in the back. 'Straya!

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Bubble counter doing its thing

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With three tanks, the CO2 gets split between them and I need something to control the feed to each tank but most air filter lever type jobs leak under CO2 pressure, so I opted for a couple of air splitters for the time being.

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The business end, looking like the business

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Fabio approves, and celebrates by building an enormous bubble nest, which he and his girlfriend Margie are busy filling with eggs as we speak

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Busy, busy... all kinds of thing happening. First off Nigel was removed from this tank as the gobies decided his fins looks like a nice midnight snack. He's now in a new 20l tank. My female betta is now in this tank, and she gives as good as she gets. The gobies are now respectful and know not to mess with mama

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The pogo and dwarf hairgrass I ordered arrived, and the scape commenced. I still have to get nymphaea nouchalis in but I can wait. Looks pretty rough at the moment but it'll get there in the end.

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There was a lot of mess in the tank to clean up, it's still filtering this morning.

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And I went to pick up my order of purigen to clear the tannins from the tank - out of stock! The lovely gent at the counter recommended this stuff instead, so we'll see how it goes.

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Make sure you let us know if it works

Hi, yes I have Darwin algae shrimp. You can have them as they are native. If you contact Dave at Aquagreen, he is able to ship you them from the NT as he is licenced to do so

They are great shrimp and absolute machines on the algae. You could also look at Darwin Red Nose shrimp which I also have and these tend to nibble the plants a bit (like the soft stuff) but it's more than made up for by how pretty they are. Both species are currently kept at around 26-28 degrees C in planted tanks run with EI and injected CO2; I know they say to use naturally aged water for changes but I've found mine have handled dechlorinated water quite well, I'm using the API water conditioner not prime at the exact listed dose rates. The DAE get the odd shrimp pellet and the DRNS get the odd bit of boiled lettuce to spare the plants.

I go the other way - small I have a couple of nano tanks with natives in them.

The 60l tank has Finke gobies and Darwin Red Nose shrimp, and the 30l tank has Darwin algae eating shrimp. The gobies are just fun to watch, only grow to around 5cm and are territorial, sit at the bottom of the tank but hop up regularly. The shrimp are a lot nicer to watch than I thought; the DRNS like to go for a swim and float about the tank.

A bit of footage of them here along with a macro stowaway.

Name: Lilaeopsis brasiliensis (Brazilian micro sword)
Size: 1-2" high,
Number: 10, ~ 1" x 1/2" pieces
Price or a ballpark figure: $10 for the lot
Shipping available? Pickup

Name: Narrow leaf val
Size: foot long, a little bit damaged but ok
Number: 2 pieces
Price or a ballpark figure: $5 for the pair
Shipping available? Pickup

Name: Hygrophila corymbosa (Narrow leaf giant hygro)
Size: foot high,
Number: 2 pieces, one is a bit chewed up from the shrimp
Price or a ballpark figure: $10 for the pair
Shipping available? Pickup

Name: Dwarf hairgrass
Size: 10-12cm high, one big chunk ~ 50c piece thick out of water
Number: 1 piece
Price or a ballpark figure: $5 for the whole piece
Shipping available? Pickup

Piccie: microsword in the foreground, hygro midground left, val left background.

Some footage of the tanks and their occupants

You too can be the lucky buyer of this HUGE AQUARIUM

http://www.gumtree.c...sale/1038788714