New tank! Finally!

[Tifftastic]

Woot! I'm finally making some progress on this tank. I went ahead and took some free sand from my work and managed to stop into the pet store this morning. After doing that I was happy I decided to take the free stuff, as they didn't have any black sand anyway. They didn't have Prime, but had Fluval water conditioner, so I went with that for now. I'll order some Prime next time I need a water conditioner. They had an ok plant selection too, so I'm going to swing by and grab some java fern tomorrow on my way to work. I found some nice rocks in the basement storage, so I'll grab those tomorrow as well and I'm hoping to make my way out on a hike on Sat to find some natural wood I can use.

Unfortunately because it is rimless it has to sit on the styrofoam. I think keeping the black bag makes it look a little better at least than just dirty styro. I've got a heater to clean up and use, but I want to see what the temp is without it as the killi's like it around 70ish from what I read.


I'm currently scouring Amazon for a light fixture, I'll be taking some perspex for a temp lid and found a local glass shop that I should be able to get a custom cut lid from. Its getting there, slowly, but its getting there.

 

[myswtsins]

Loving the progress Tiff! For a cheap light fixture I can recommend THIS guy. It's not as nice as my vivagrows at the same price point but vivagrow doesn't have a 24" version. It has decent colors and grows your basic low lights plants just fine in my 29g so it will be more than enough for your 10" high tank. (Vivagrow 30" just in case you r interested, I LOVE these lights)

 

[dougall]

It looks great.. I love the rimless look on tanks..

Can you use something like a cheap yoga mat cut up to put it on, or some shelf/drawer liner, maybe a piece of cork... anything to avoid using a styro.

And I expect anything you get lighting wise, it will be best to get something dimmable.. just in case it's too much.

The best of luck with the lid... I'm personally not a huge fan, but it'll be needed with killies

 

[Tifftastic]

Loving the progress Tiff! For a cheap light fixture I can recommend THIS guy. It's not as nice as my vivagrows at the same price point but vivagrow doesn't have a 24" version. It has decent colors and grows your basic low lights plants just fine in my 29g so it will be more than enough for your 10" high tank. (Vivagrow 30" just in case you r interested, I LOVE these lights)

Oh! Thanks for the tips! I'll take a look and see if I can get them in the UK.

It looks great.. I love the rimless look on tanks..

Can you use something like a cheap yoga mat cut up to put it on, or some shelf/drawer liner, maybe a piece of cork... anything to avoid using a styro.

And I expect anything you get lighting wise, it will be best to get something dimmable.. just in case it's too much.

The best of luck with the lid... I'm personally not a huge fan, but it'll be needed with killies

Ooh a yoga mat is a great idea, I think I can source one for a couple of pounds. It'll just mean draining and moving it again . . . which isn't fun, but it will look so much nicer than the styro with the trash bag lol. I feel the same about the lid, if I wasn't getting these killies I would just be leaving it open top.

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

I like the yoga mat idea, too. Though if you don't want to go through the trouble of draining it, I completely understand. ^_^;

-Kamran

 

[Tifftastic]

So, the shop near me has super cheap mopani. I got a nice piece for under £5 and may pick up a few more. In the mean time, its too big for any of my pots to put it in boiling water, I also don't have a tub so I can't easily pop it in a storage tote. I know you can bake it, but I cannot for the life of me remember the temp to do it at and for how long. Also, is it worth it? I mean it sinks already and the killifish will like the tannins I suppose. Thoughts?

I've also just ordered my API kit (local shop didn't sell the master kit as they are too hard for him to move), a dimmable LED light, and a few plants. I'm really excited about the plants! Its been too long since I have had a planted tank! I only went with moss balls and Anubias for now, but its a start. I managed to find a 20 leaf Anubias nana for £6, ~8 USD, when I remember spending at least $15 for a plant that big, I'm interested to see the quality of it. . . but will know in a few days.

I also haven't painted the background, because I didn't want to hunt for spray paint and I don't really have a place to leave it to dry (I'm on the 4th floor of an apt building with no outside stairway). So, I have been thinking of building a moss wall. Does anyone have any first hand experience with this that they can lend some advice? Like, what size mesh, for example? I can source almost anything like this from the building so don't want to order one of the kits when I can get it for free.

 

[SnakeIce]

Boiling or baking it is much more needed if it is wild collected and used in that instance to sanitize it so you don't introduce something to the tank you don't want in there. Since it is dry and has been for a bit that is almost a non issue. The only reason I can think of at this point to boil or soak dry driftwood is to reduce the initial tannin release or to help it sink. I think you can use it as is.

Choose a mesh size based on your short and long term patience. If you have the patience to fasten the moss to many spots a fine mesh can give you almost instant coverage. A very large mesh would reduce the potential fastening, but take longer to fill in. If you use some type of plastic mesh, scuff it up with some sand paper. That will give the moss something to hold onto a bit easier.

 

[Tifftastic]

Oh thanks for the tips on the mesh. I plan on spending a day during the holidays just working on the moss wall, so I may go with a finer mesh and just attach a bunch of it.

I may go ahead and just throw this piece of wood in then, I'm sure fish from mangrove swamps might like a bit of tanins anyway.

 

[dougall]

I'd vote for just tossing in the wood too.

If it's been dry for some time, there's little chance of any bad effects (IMO)

I also wouldn't worry too much about the mesh,

 

[myswtsins]

Throw the wood in - vote #3

Agree with the mesh talk so far. Also chop the moss into smallers pieces, it will grow faster. I made my wall removable so I could flip it because in the low light the top of it grew much faster than the bottom. Make sure you either leave plenty of space behind the wall for fish to get in and out OR make sure it is tight to the wall so they can't get back there at all. I sandwiched mine between 2 pieces of plastic grid that you get at craft stores, it's you so sort of needle point type thing.

Instead of paint or a moss wall you could also just get some posterboard from the $1 store. Not the thick folding stuff but it is like thick construction paper and like $0.59 for a sizable sheet (2ftx3ft?). I use it on most of my tanks now and it looks just as good as paint but is easy, fast and can be switched out easily too (although I always stick with black lol)