200L Tiger Barb Tank

your pipework for you external needs cutting down, it needs to go straight down to the filter from the tank, no looping down. it will be easier to pri as well.

Yeah I know about the pipes. It was set up initially just so we knew that all the knocking about while travelling hadn't damaged anything. In the next few days, once the boyfriend is back in town, he'll be cutting them down to size for me as I'm too worried about damaging something I shouldn't 
 
Picked out names for the Kribs! My brother has a baby due later this year and his girlfriend was horrified by some of the names he wants so, to stop him using them (you can't name kids after pets in our family) the Kribs names are Bartholomew and Bertha. Bartholomew has claimed the left side of the tank and Bertha has the right. 
 
We'll be heading down to the LFS again tomorrow, to see if there is anything we could potentially have along with Bart and Bertha  If I need to split them up down the line, I may just do it, though it does depend on if I actually have a male and female.

From the pics it very much looks like a pair of kribs. The lower one is definitely a female. Btw kribs need caves and hiding places.

Yeah, I ended up getting a few pots for the kribs the other day. I no longer have them though, one of my friends asked if she could have them as she has had issues getting them. I ended up getting 8 albino cories I didn't really want in return. My boyfriend has taken a liking to them though, so it looks like this tank will be converting to sand eventually.
 
I'm also having issue with BBA on one of the pieces of wood. It's been removed from the tank for now. 

It's been a while since I last updated this journal.
 
Here is what the tank looks like now.
 

 
Current stocking is:
8 Albino Cories
12 Rummynose Tetra
1 Angel Fish
4 Platy
 
Plants are:
Vallis
Various swords
Something I have no idea what it is
Hornwort
Anubias
Spiral Crypt
 
And I've been using liquid CO2 as well as root tabs.
 
I will be adding a few more Rummies when my LFS gets them in again but that might take a while as they're having issues with their supplier...

Here's a few of the platy and some cories just chilling in the mystery plants.
 

 
 

I've got 4 different pieces of Anubias currently attached to the wood with string. The ones in the picture above have only been there a week but have already shown obvious growth. The photo below have been there for 2 and have exploded with growth.
 

 
The wood is going fluffy again, you can kind of see it in that photo. I'm not entirely sure what it is but reducing light times and dosing more CO2 hasn't helped. I got some more Flourish Excel today and I'm hoping that helps deal with it. Also, I only added the Hornwort yesterday and I've heard it's good in tanks with excess nutrients. Fingers crossed that something helps.

Looks great!! Question though. With all the rocks and stuff on the bottom. How do you vaccum that thing?

I've pretty lax with it. I only vacuum the parts I can reach without uprooting everything. By the time the plants have really grown in, there'll barely be any visible gravel left.
 
I am looking at switching to sand down the line, I've been practising with one of my smaller tanks. So far, I don't really think I could be bothered dealing with sand. I'm having so many issues with the small tank already.

Tank looks great! Got any close ups of the fishies?
 
What sort of issues are you having in the small tank with sand?

I'm hoping to borrow my mother's camera in the next few days. My camera is really bad at taking photos of the little guys.
 
It's been cloudy for 3 days and I can't get the muck off the top of the sand. It's frustrating.

Ooh okay. I look forward to them when you're able to take some!
 
Did ya wash it really well? What sort of muck is it? D: I havn't had any issues with sand so stinks to hear you're having trouble with it.

The Angel is very camera shy, as soon as I come close he always darts back into the plants. He's still only really little so maybe that is why 
 
I spent two hours washing all the sand. I heard that you should wash it even after it appears clean so that's what I did. It's like a grey muck on top and when I try to vacuum it up, it just disturbs all the sand and the tank goes cloudy for the rest of the day. Then the muck is right back on top the next day. I was going to get some Panda Cories for the bottom but I don't want to until I've dealt with this sand business 

Here's a couple of photos. They're literally the best I can do with my current camera.
 
Below are Cookies and Cream and Pine Fresh the platies.
 

 
And here are a couple of the cories just chilling.


 
The Rummies are too fast for my camera to get pictures of and the Angel is seriously camera shy.

Well, I've decided I will slowly be changing this tank over to sand. I changed the substrate in one of my 65l tanks for practice and, after initially hating it for being so messy, have decided I quite like the look of it. I got some Panda Cories yesterday and watching them digging around has kinda cemented the idea in my head now. 
 
I've got work all day tomorrow but I don't work until Tuesday after that so I might start doing a little bit of a switch over on this tank.
 
Also, I was going to get some more Rummies but the LFS does't have any and apparently they're not getting any more fish in stock for more than a month. Argh. 

You will be very satisfied seeing all your fishes enjoying the sand!

Especially the cories!

I actually like the cloudy look of my tank. It looks very natural. As long as its not extremely cloudy that is!

Can't wait for more pictures!

I finally managed to borrow a better camera so here is some photos
 

 
 


 
Finally got some photos of the rummies and the angel where you can actually tell they're fish and not jut blurs.
 
I'll be going to sand when I can next get some time off and am not exhausted