Antony
Fish Fanatic
Ok so the past month or so all my fish dwindled away and i decided it was time for a change whilst there was only a few small occupants to re house so here's what happened...(sorry for the lack of picture's during the operation of emptying the tank which is upstairs required a lot of stairs walking but i do have some before and afters) 
Day 1:
Out came all the old decor the substrate the fake plants ....everything untill i was left with a bare glass tank and hood.
I then cleaned it all down and decided on the first thing of importance...Substrate , it wasn't an easy choice as this was my first attempt at making a set up from scratch.
Day 2:
After a few days searching i returned home one night with 15kg bag of (Argos)play sand at a nifty price of £2.99...not bad if i do say so
and a bucket for washing it
After an hour or three washing the sand it was nice and cloud free and i decided to add around half the bag....then after i realized i under estimated the amount needed and decided on adding the full load (15kg) this looked better and gave me around 2.5" of sand bed to work with easily enough for anything i could throw at it.
It was then getting late so i called it a good days work.
Day 3:
the next day i woke up and couldn't wait to get the water in to the tank so at 7am sharp i rose from bed and two hours of running up and down the stairs with a 2 liter jug in hand she was full .... and about as cloudy as a brewing pint of bitter ...i kept putting off the thought for the next two days thinking that it would clear but after constant water changes and multiple filter attempts it dawned on me that i forgot the cup and saucer re-fill technique so....... out goes all the water and away we go ....
Day 4:
Decided to pull in some help from a friend on re filling the tank and this time i wasn't taking chances so i placed a diner plate with a shallow bowl on top of the sand and we proceeded to fill it , 25 minutes later and it was finally full and barely any clouding ....Bingo! insert polishing filter and only time will tell..... 3 hours later and it was as clear as glass and out came the polish filter, I then decided to pull out my potion kits and make a few vital additions of a heater some and tap safe alongside other various bottles of liquids and a mature filter from the original tank and the all important thermometer.
Around 1 week after starting:
After leaving the tank running for a long while i decided it was time to throw myself at it again and prepare to be disappointed but to my surprise i tested my water and all was as it should be ... but a stuck ph of 8... not a clue whether this is ok? but it is Un move-able
i decided over the next few days that the water chemistry wasn't budging so decided to take a trip to the lfs to vent my obsession and just generally get ideas after 3 hours of pressing my face against tanks of fish ad plants and pretty much handling everything in the shop i walked out with a few bits of un-known greenery and a skull ornament in a bag and very tired feet but still totally satisfied look on my face.
soo after planting the plants and positioning stuff untill the early hours i added the two lone survivors of a random streak of deaths to the tank ....one young and healthy albino rainbow shark , and one banjo cat fish that were totally un-touched by whatever had occurred weeks before with my guppies
These fish happily occupied the tank for what seemed like a lifetime the banjo loving the sand burying himself deep down and the shark loving the freedom of the tank practically to himself with all the new plants to explore even swimming upside down at times on the glass eating algae 
so after my tank spending the whole christmass period and well into january in a lonely state i decided it was time to take a dive into the stocking of my new tank for the new year and pushed the boat out a little and on Saturday ended up at Ferry Bridge Aquatics (www.ferrybridge-aquatics.co.uk)
Which resulted in a speedy drive home with a occupied bag of water containing a stunning L128(Blue Phantom) Pleco of approximately 1.5" for a reasonable price... £30 just dont mention it to the Father 
yesterday also saw the release of two Apistogramma sp. "Steel Blue" ... not really clued up on cichlids but i was assured by the lfs worker that they were fine with what i have so far plus given my water details ...
so yeah thats it.... for now although i will try and get pictures of where i'm at with my tank and fish etc... so heres just a before and after plus a cool one of the rainbow ...sorry for the quality i could not find the camera at the given time
Before
After
Night Light view
Tag the albino Rainbow Shark
Any comments welcome good or bad, open to ideas on stocking and decor ,
if anyone can identify plants, fish or pretty much anything that would be great also.
all tips welcome , questions i will try my best to answer ....
I will also try to get a sanp or two of better quality and i shall attempt to get a picture or two of some of the more illusive occupants.
So What's everyone think?.... don't be shy constructive criticism welcome
Day 1:
Out came all the old decor the substrate the fake plants ....everything untill i was left with a bare glass tank and hood.
I then cleaned it all down and decided on the first thing of importance...Substrate , it wasn't an easy choice as this was my first attempt at making a set up from scratch.
Day 2:
After a few days searching i returned home one night with 15kg bag of (Argos)play sand at a nifty price of £2.99...not bad if i do say so
and a bucket for washing it After an hour or three washing the sand it was nice and cloud free and i decided to add around half the bag....then after i realized i under estimated the amount needed and decided on adding the full load (15kg) this looked better and gave me around 2.5" of sand bed to work with easily enough for anything i could throw at it.
It was then getting late so i called it a good days work.
Day 3:
the next day i woke up and couldn't wait to get the water in to the tank so at 7am sharp i rose from bed and two hours of running up and down the stairs with a 2 liter jug in hand she was full .... and about as cloudy as a brewing pint of bitter ...i kept putting off the thought for the next two days thinking that it would clear but after constant water changes and multiple filter attempts it dawned on me that i forgot the cup and saucer re-fill technique so....... out goes all the water and away we go ....
Day 4:
Decided to pull in some help from a friend on re filling the tank and this time i wasn't taking chances so i placed a diner plate with a shallow bowl on top of the sand and we proceeded to fill it , 25 minutes later and it was finally full and barely any clouding ....Bingo! insert polishing filter and only time will tell..... 3 hours later and it was as clear as glass and out came the polish filter, I then decided to pull out my potion kits and make a few vital additions of a heater some and tap safe alongside other various bottles of liquids and a mature filter from the original tank and the all important thermometer.
Around 1 week after starting:
After leaving the tank running for a long while i decided it was time to throw myself at it again and prepare to be disappointed but to my surprise i tested my water and all was as it should be ... but a stuck ph of 8... not a clue whether this is ok? but it is Un move-able
i decided over the next few days that the water chemistry wasn't budging so decided to take a trip to the lfs to vent my obsession and just generally get ideas after 3 hours of pressing my face against tanks of fish ad plants and pretty much handling everything in the shop i walked out with a few bits of un-known greenery and a skull ornament in a bag and very tired feet but still totally satisfied look on my face.
soo after planting the plants and positioning stuff untill the early hours i added the two lone survivors of a random streak of deaths to the tank ....one young and healthy albino rainbow shark , and one banjo cat fish that were totally un-touched by whatever had occurred weeks before with my guppies
These fish happily occupied the tank for what seemed like a lifetime the banjo loving the sand burying himself deep down and the shark loving the freedom of the tank practically to himself with all the new plants to explore even swimming upside down at times on the glass eating algae so after my tank spending the whole christmass period and well into january in a lonely state i decided it was time to take a dive into the stocking of my new tank for the new year and pushed the boat out a little and on Saturday ended up at Ferry Bridge Aquatics (www.ferrybridge-aquatics.co.uk)
Which resulted in a speedy drive home with a occupied bag of water containing a stunning L128(Blue Phantom) Pleco of approximately 1.5" for a reasonable price... £30 just dont mention it to the Father
yesterday also saw the release of two Apistogramma sp. "Steel Blue" ... not really clued up on cichlids but i was assured by the lfs worker that they were fine with what i have so far plus given my water details ...
so yeah thats it.... for now although i will try and get pictures of where i'm at with my tank and fish etc... so heres just a before and after plus a cool one of the rainbow ...sorry for the quality i could not find the camera at the given time
Before
After
Night Light view
Tag the albino Rainbow Shark
Any comments welcome good or bad, open to ideas on stocking and decor ,
if anyone can identify plants, fish or pretty much anything that would be great also.
all tips welcome , questions i will try my best to answer ....
I will also try to get a sanp or two of better quality and i shall attempt to get a picture or two of some of the more illusive occupants.
So What's everyone think?.... don't be shy constructive criticism welcome
haha silly pet store D:
