165G Build
- Thread starter mountain_webste
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i wish i had a tank that size. i picked up a 125 setup for a steal right before i went overseas. she almost killed me when she saw just how big it is in person.
Keep the 55, ditch the wife.
Just kiddin'.
Schools are cool in 6' tanks. Cardinals, Danios and one of my favorites corys. When you see a dozen or so swarming like bees up and down the sides of the tank it's a trip. Never fails, no matter what else is in there every time a kid looks at my community tanks they all flip over the corys.
Just kiddin'.
Schools are cool in 6' tanks. Cardinals, Danios and one of my favorites corys. When you see a dozen or so swarming like bees up and down the sides of the tank it's a trip. Never fails, no matter what else is in there every time a kid looks at my community tanks they all flip over the corys.
Just thought I'd post a quick update.
I've really been fighting with cloudy water since my addition of play sand for the substrate. You may have caught my thread on the subject: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215460&highlight=cloudy+water
For the past couple days, I've stirring up the substrate, letting the big grains settle for a few hours then doing 100% water changes. It is finally starting to look better, but the water is still pretty hazy. This leads me to a couple questions:
1. Is some hazyness to be expected at this point - i.e. am I wasting time, effort and water with all this stirring and draining?
2. If the answer to my first qustion is yes, is it OK to add some fish despite the haze? I still have to aquascape, so some sediment is bound to get stirred up again.
My next step is aquascaping. I've a few pieces of drift wood soaking in the tank now and I have another large piece that will come over from the 55. Wanted to forage for some river rocks but with temps below freezing I may put that off till it warms up a little.
Anyway, rambling as usual...comments and suggestions welcome.
I've really been fighting with cloudy water since my addition of play sand for the substrate. You may have caught my thread on the subject: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215460&highlight=cloudy+water
For the past couple days, I've stirring up the substrate, letting the big grains settle for a few hours then doing 100% water changes. It is finally starting to look better, but the water is still pretty hazy. This leads me to a couple questions:
1. Is some hazyness to be expected at this point - i.e. am I wasting time, effort and water with all this stirring and draining?
2. If the answer to my first qustion is yes, is it OK to add some fish despite the haze? I still have to aquascape, so some sediment is bound to get stirred up again.
My next step is aquascaping. I've a few pieces of drift wood soaking in the tank now and I have another large piece that will come over from the 55. Wanted to forage for some river rocks but with temps below freezing I may put that off till it warms up a little.
Anyway, rambling as usual...comments and suggestions welcome.
I agree on the rainbows suggestions, a few different species are really eyepopping, especially on dedicated rainbow forums.
I avoided a cloudy tank with playsand by washing and rinsing it in a kiddie pool a couple times before adding it to my tank. Kinda too late but a suggestion.
Which ever route you go I think the tank will be really cool. Some big cichlids might work as well but more peaceful like chromis and geophagus.
I avoided a cloudy tank with playsand by washing and rinsing it in a kiddie pool a couple times before adding it to my tank. Kinda too late but a suggestion.
Which ever route you go I think the tank will be really cool. Some big cichlids might work as well but more peaceful like chromis and geophagus.
Been a little while so thought I'd post an update on my progress...plus, I have some pics. Everyone likes pics...
I finally got through my cloudy water problem by the end of last weekend. A couple more 100% water changes and running the old filter crammed with floss did the trick. The first two shots are the tank with clear water earlier in the week.
Last night, I set up my new Rena XP3. It didn't come with much media for biological filtration. To get more surface area, I cut up the excess tubing from the water lines into 1/2 - 1" rings. I also had some plastic drywall anchors floating around so I used them too - dunno if it'll help but worth a shot. You can see quite a bit of air coming out of the spray bar - I was concerned at first but that had subsided when I checked on it this morning.
The next shot is just a pic of the drift wood I've had soaking. Obviously, that is not its final location.
Today, I went on a little adventure at lunch in search of some decorative rock. Normally, I'd forage through nature but given it's January and all I decided to explore other options first. Besides, I'd read of folks getting stone real cheap from building supply places here on AC. So..off to Lowes, but they didn't have anything. Someone at Lowes suggested a wholesale place around the corner that deals with patio and retaining wall materials; they were real nice and were just going to give me some stuff but all they had were small stones and pavers. That guy suggested a stone place up the road aways - he drew me a map. Off to that place, Badolato Stone; they were super cool (hense the plug) and let me rumage through their pile of loose river jack. Got a trunk full and they only charged me $15! :headbang2: $15 would have gotten me 1 fake rock at a mega pet store. :headshake2: See the last 2 pics. I didn't realize how dusty they were until I rinsed them off, I'm real happy with the variety of colors and sizes.
Lastly, I swung by my LFS on the way home from work and picked up a few more pieces of drift wood. I'm letting it soak overnight.
I'm on-call for work all weekend so I'm homebound. I'll homefully have some aquascaping done in the next day or so.
Thanks for reading...sorry I wrote so much...
I finally got through my cloudy water problem by the end of last weekend. A couple more 100% water changes and running the old filter crammed with floss did the trick. The first two shots are the tank with clear water earlier in the week.
Last night, I set up my new Rena XP3. It didn't come with much media for biological filtration. To get more surface area, I cut up the excess tubing from the water lines into 1/2 - 1" rings. I also had some plastic drywall anchors floating around so I used them too - dunno if it'll help but worth a shot. You can see quite a bit of air coming out of the spray bar - I was concerned at first but that had subsided when I checked on it this morning.
The next shot is just a pic of the drift wood I've had soaking. Obviously, that is not its final location.
Today, I went on a little adventure at lunch in search of some decorative rock. Normally, I'd forage through nature but given it's January and all I decided to explore other options first. Besides, I'd read of folks getting stone real cheap from building supply places here on AC. So..off to Lowes, but they didn't have anything. Someone at Lowes suggested a wholesale place around the corner that deals with patio and retaining wall materials; they were real nice and were just going to give me some stuff but all they had were small stones and pavers. That guy suggested a stone place up the road aways - he drew me a map. Off to that place, Badolato Stone; they were super cool (hense the plug) and let me rumage through their pile of loose river jack. Got a trunk full and they only charged me $15! :headbang2: $15 would have gotten me 1 fake rock at a mega pet store. :headshake2: See the last 2 pics. I didn't realize how dusty they were until I rinsed them off, I'm real happy with the variety of colors and sizes.
Lastly, I swung by my LFS on the way home from work and picked up a few more pieces of drift wood. I'm letting it soak overnight.
I'm on-call for work all weekend so I'm homebound. I'll homefully have some aquascaping done in the next day or so.
Thanks for reading...sorry I wrote so much...
