40 g Project

Just a blog type thing for my new 40g adventure.
(Old tank, new adventure)

How this came about:
55g as shown in my sig, had the back glass crack from top to bottom around 2am about a year ago.
Gave all the contents to my brother to put in his 40g(this one).
We've been wanting to remove the indoor pond for a while now. So he's letting us use his 40g to house our Syn. eupterus that we've had for somewhere around 18 yrs.
He's typically hung around(upside down) under a rock(cave) in the pond for a long time. So I wanted to try to come up with something for him to "hang out" under.

Here's how it's starting out...



So far 2 "Cat Ports"(as we call'em) made out of some scrap acrylic sheet and tubing I had laying around.

Just giving the few plants some time to grow some roots. So they don't get up rooted because he just happen to swim by.
This is around day 5 for the 4(Wysteria) in the back, and day 3 for the two in the tubes. Not sure about the 2 up front. Should be anubias lanceolata, anubias afzelli.

I didn't think about taking picks of the "Cat Ports" before putting them in.
The back part has Flourite Black Sand in it.
The floor is bare except for a little flourite thats made it's way there.
The back and bottom were painted flat black(outside).
HOT 250 Magnum on the back for filtration.

Got a Question!?

I know I could miss out on alot of people seeing this question. But I would like to try to keep all info in this thread if possible. So...

I read many years ago about Fish Not being able to See RED lights.
I've been considering(really want to) put some sort of Red Light above or in the tank. So we can see the cat when the main lights are off.
I'd like to hear any thoughts about this Fish can't see Red Lights thing...
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I just saw this doing a quick look around this morning.
Hydor LED Aquarium Light
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=23637
this could work good for In his house.

But, I'd also like to somewhat light the rest(most) of the tank too.
While getting that link, I just saw this. Maybe confirming what I'm asking?

Zoo Med Incandescent Nightlight Red Reptile Bulb
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=6534
Quote from their discription:
"The perfect "nightlight" for viewing the nocturnal behavior of your animals. Nightlight Red Bulbs give off very little visible light so they won't disturb your pets' sleep. The true red glass (not painted or coated)..."

The problem I might run into with the latter. Is that I'm running the tank, open top.
I have very limited experience with DIY Lighting. So any thoughts about how I might want to go about this, also, would be appreciated.

Lastly and Mostly...
I need to accomplish any and all of this very cheaply. (always the bummer)

Thanks for any help!

Thanks everyone! : )

The lastest...

Pond is gone.
Bala Sharks and Clown Loaches went to my favorite LFS. She(the owner) ended up sending a few plants home with me, that she'll deduct later from any credit for the fish selling. Way cool! She's awesome!
The bad part was half of them floating around in the tank for almost a week. While I was remodeling the Cat Port.
(If someones scrathing their head about a "Cat Port", it's like a "car port" but for a cat fish) : )

The Cat Port "remodel"...
Of course, since I was thinking of humans when I designed it. He didn't like it. As in, stood on his head over in left corner, between the big cat port and the glass, 99.9% of the time.
So I took out the small one, to not bother him. Chopped it down and made the whole roof into a growing area.
This works out great for both of us. I get more plant area, and he is Obviously really, really content with his new home.

Yesterday, I was adding flourite sand to his roof. Made a major mess, so he got some major water changing to clear it up quick. I felt bad, because he came out with it all over his head.

I am getting Alot of unexpected interactivity with him!
Last night I was trying to look in the tank with the lights out, to see if he ate his food. I turnt my head to see if I could see him in his house, and he was right there looking at me.

Then tonight he was being pretty active, even with the lights on. So I tried to get some pictures.
It's an old 3.2 mp camera, and not doing to good at it.
While doing that, I noticed him reacting to my hand. So I put my finger up to the glass and he came right to it. Too cool.

I still haven't got a real good calculation of his age. But I'm real deffinate he's 17 yrs old and possibley up to 19.
The sad part is that I've never seen much of him for all these years, because he's always been with other fish.
So this is pretty awesome, how things have been the past few days!

Ok, here he is... (like you haven't looked already. lol)