Carpergt
New Member
Hi all,
As you can see i'm new, but have been loving fishies for a number of years now, so much so that i have a koi tattooed on my back, but thats another story.
This is my fish tank story,
I originally started off with a tropiquarium 68 (i didnt know they were so terrible till after i had bought it) with a small variety of coldwater fish in it. The tank was then put away once they all died and stayed away for a number of years.
Until recently i had started up this small tank, which was going pretty well, until a trip up to the loft reminded me that i still had the tropiquarium.
This wasnt a bad start, a few live plants and some fake ones.
Then i cleaned it out and started on my new tank setup.
Tropiquarium Setup
I discovered the usual problems that seem to come with the tropiquarium, of the timer being dead, so unscrewed it and joined the two white wires together, so two new T8s and 2 new starters later and they were working fine, then i discovered that if i wanted to be able to switch the lights on and off, either manually or via a timer, i would need to add an extra power cable into the choc block on top of the tank (the filter, the heater and the lights all run off of one power cable) so with some cutting and re wiring later i managed to put the lights on their own supply, which is now plugged into a timer.
The filter was the next problem, it had also died, took the biolife apart and cleaned up the fan, which allowed it to work again, then i realised how hard it is to get hold of filter parts for it, so i binned it and bought a new U2 fluval internal filter, runs better, smoother and so much quieter.
So all in all, its been an interesting job just to get it all working again.
However, i am looking to change the whole hood unit (from looking over at Bloo's thread from back in 2005) maybe build a new wooden lid with my own light setup (any relativly cheap but good options?) I've read, possibly upgrading to T5 tubes would be far more efficiant and provide better lighting for the plants?
So, the tank is now all set up.
Quarts gravel,
Plant fertilizer balls pushed into gravel,
U2 internal filter,
2x T8 15w tubes,
large heater,
Assorted plants,
Fish:
2x male blue/black silver bellied platys,
2x platinum angelfish,
1x flame red female guppy,
2x male endler guppies,
2x Trilineatus Corys,
2x baby panda Corys,
5x cherry shrimp,
1x giant fantail shrimp
4x amano shrimp
1x Japanese fighter,
& umpteen million and one baby guppies.
Just installed one of them horrible co2 producing canisters (yeast and what ever else it is) i dont like it, so i have purchased one of the smaller Fluval mini co2 pressurised kits (i have air rifles, so i have plenty of the little canisters)
current levels are as such :
GH = 14d
KH = around 15d
PH = 8.2
Co2 is around 50ppm (very very minature bubbles)
Pics to follow. Its only been setup for about 3 weeks now.
Co2 kit.
Any critisisms or improvements would be greatly appreciated.
As you can see i'm new, but have been loving fishies for a number of years now, so much so that i have a koi tattooed on my back, but thats another story.
This is my fish tank story,
I originally started off with a tropiquarium 68 (i didnt know they were so terrible till after i had bought it) with a small variety of coldwater fish in it. The tank was then put away once they all died and stayed away for a number of years.
Until recently i had started up this small tank, which was going pretty well, until a trip up to the loft reminded me that i still had the tropiquarium.
This wasnt a bad start, a few live plants and some fake ones.
Then i cleaned it out and started on my new tank setup.
Tropiquarium Setup
I discovered the usual problems that seem to come with the tropiquarium, of the timer being dead, so unscrewed it and joined the two white wires together, so two new T8s and 2 new starters later and they were working fine, then i discovered that if i wanted to be able to switch the lights on and off, either manually or via a timer, i would need to add an extra power cable into the choc block on top of the tank (the filter, the heater and the lights all run off of one power cable) so with some cutting and re wiring later i managed to put the lights on their own supply, which is now plugged into a timer.
The filter was the next problem, it had also died, took the biolife apart and cleaned up the fan, which allowed it to work again, then i realised how hard it is to get hold of filter parts for it, so i binned it and bought a new U2 fluval internal filter, runs better, smoother and so much quieter.
So all in all, its been an interesting job just to get it all working again.
However, i am looking to change the whole hood unit (from looking over at Bloo's thread from back in 2005) maybe build a new wooden lid with my own light setup (any relativly cheap but good options?) I've read, possibly upgrading to T5 tubes would be far more efficiant and provide better lighting for the plants?
So, the tank is now all set up.
Quarts gravel,
Plant fertilizer balls pushed into gravel,
U2 internal filter,
2x T8 15w tubes,
large heater,
Assorted plants,
Fish:
2x male blue/black silver bellied platys,
2x platinum angelfish,
1x flame red female guppy,
2x male endler guppies,
2x Trilineatus Corys,
2x baby panda Corys,
5x cherry shrimp,
1x giant fantail shrimp
4x amano shrimp
1x Japanese fighter,
& umpteen million and one baby guppies.
Just installed one of them horrible co2 producing canisters (yeast and what ever else it is) i dont like it, so i have purchased one of the smaller Fluval mini co2 pressurised kits (i have air rifles, so i have plenty of the little canisters)
current levels are as such :
GH = 14d
KH = around 15d
PH = 8.2
Co2 is around 50ppm (very very minature bubbles)
Pics to follow. Its only been setup for about 3 weeks now.
Co2 kit.
Any critisisms or improvements would be greatly appreciated.
