This My Tank And I May Need Help Lol

Hello everyone!!!

After getting validated I'm ready for all the begging questions. Here's what I got, The aquarium is a tall one. *blegh* It's a 46 Gallon the dimensions are bout' 30" Tall 20" wide 20" thick. Oh and I can't reach the bottom! So far i have a 55 oz bag of Laterite and a 15 pound bag of Flourite by SeaChem. Lets see.... my quesion was is We have a pond by our place and It has some gravel that seems like it'd be good to use in it. The pictures are on the bottom. I was wondering if I sifted out the sand if I should use that on the bottom layer and the big peices on the top. So what would you suggest for the sand should I go out and buy a bag of quartz or "silver sand" and gravel or will this work? Ahhh I'm out of room. hang on

okay pics are kind of jumbled. the tank is bigger than it looks I could sit in it.

Hi

Interesting looking tank there-you seem quite amused by it! Anyway, Flourite is generally used on it's own. Some folk don't like it and then add a covering of grit whatever..Bear in mind that the Flourite and gravel/sand will probably mix over time defeating the object of having a layered substrate. Sand will probably also fall into the gaps with the Flourite. If you do want to try it though I'd make sure you have enough Flourite to give at least a 3 inch depth, preferably more if you can-may be deeper at the back.

I guess it's a good thing you can get in it-you might need to to plant it up!

Nick

I guess it's a good thing you can get in it-you might need to to plant it up! smile.gif

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lol

What light you using, i can see this may be an issue, it looks quite deep for the length!


Regards
Chris

I think you're right Chris-a tank that deep might need a MH over it to get the penetration. T5's/power compacts won't penetrate deeply enough.

Oh yeah lighting is my biggest concern. Oh the best thing I went to petsmart to pick up the laterite and the I asked the associate there who knows the most about aquariums and if I could talk to them so here comes this chick. So I explained what i had and even showed them something really close to what I had and asked what kind of lighting would be the best for a planted tank. She said "Oh whatever lighting that came with the tank should be fine!"
"Eh that's not even 1 watt per gallon" I said
"Oh you should still be fine plants don't need that much light mainly oxegen to survive"
WHAT So Before I walked out I asked her "Gee, with humans animals AND plants breathing oxgen it's a wonder how we all survive?" Oh man she was a floozy, I put that Leterite down and didn't go back since.

I have not got a lighting system yet. I figured that's the one gonna cost the most and be the most complicated. I've been saving for a good lighting system. I know that i'll probably have to go for Halide lighting to get deep enough. It'll be a loooonnnngggggggg picture process. I'jm also planning on getting plants that attach to the rocks and driftwood as I will have a preety complex rock set-up in there.

So Is that rock I showed gonna be okay to at least put in the tank. I know you wont know if it'll affect the chemistry but I'm getting water in it long before I put fish in there so with giving it time leach out the bad stuff in it.? Was that confusing

chameleongeekgrl said:

the tank is bigger than it looks I could sit in it.

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Lol that's one way of cleaning it.
As to the gravel from the pond , i wouldn't as you could introduce allsorts of nasties into your tank.
Id love to scape that tank, have you any ideas as to the planting and aquascape?

No, No clue yet on how to aquascape it. I'd like to have Rock Ridges and definantly some tall plants in the background. The gravel to be really tall and deep in the back and shallower in the front as it slants.

Okay So, I will not use the river rock. Would I be okay just using the LAterite and Flurite or should I mix addintional types of substrates in therel.

BTW if anyone has any ideas on aquascaping it let me know. I'll give you credit when It starts coming together.

Thats one odd shaped tank, was it custom made?

I think you are going to have an incredibly hard time trying to get enough light in the tank and trying to aquascape it. I am at a loss for what to suggest to be honest. The base looks a bit unsturdy too, have you filled the tank before? Water pressure from that kind of height forcing down will put a lot of stress on the tank especially round the base. The shape of the thing worries me.

AMS said:

Thats one odd shaped tank, was it custom made?

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No it was bought like that. it was originally bought for a panther chameleon but we have moved him.

fishkiller_nomore said:

AMS said:

Thats one odd shaped tank, was it custom made?

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I've seen those tanks used for paludariums a lot (only halfway filled with water). Some even have water falls trickling from the top, really cool.

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Yeah that's what we had in there orginally (sort of) But it wasn't done right the first time and kind made a mess.

oldwhitewood said:

I think you are going to have an incredibly hard time trying to get enough light in the tank and trying to aquascape it. I am at a loss for what to suggest to be honest. The base looks a bit unsturdy too, have you filled the tank before? Water pressure from that kind of height forcing down will put a lot of stress on the tank especially round the base. The shape of the thing worries me.

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See that's what I was worried about. The base seem really sturdy. I've had to stand on it before and it doesn't wobble even with me moving around. But again i'm not 368 pounds. It's wider on the flat part where the tank lays than the tank itself. it was also bought as a "aquarium Set Up" So the stand was made for water to be in it. I was also wondering about MH pendants. maybe ones that concentrate on one spot. I'm okay with keeping low light plants and what about plants that anchor to the rocks because the rocks will be closer to the surface.

Its like Nick and I said at the start of the post, i think you will need Metal Halide lights like the Giesemann range that AE have started stocking. Your talking big bucks,
£330 will get you like a T5 MH combo, 1 x 150W MH and 2 x 24w T5 giving you just over 3 wpg.

People may wish to argue me wrong but imo the wpg can be ignored a tiny bit in some circumstances because it doesnt always take into account the depth. You have a 20 x 30 x 20 inch tank with 3wpg, now if i had a long 40 x 20 x 15 inch tank, much longer but the same volume, both work out 3wpg, yet you can`t surely convince me that the same light intensity will reach plants at the bottoms of the big tank to that of the smaller.

So my point is, not only do you require high light to reach the magic 3wpg figure, you also need the penetration.

I am interested to see if others agree with what i said.

Chris