My Tropical Tank

[purplekaz]

This is my very first tropical aquarium, purchased a few days ago and currently undergoing fishless cycling.
The plants are all real, I think they look nicer than the plastic ones and they were actually cheaper to buy.
I wanted my tank to look quite natural, no castles or pink jellyfish, so to some it may seem a bit boring but I'm happy with how it's going.
The water has a slight brown tinge to it due to tannins, even after boiling the mopani three times for an hour or so each time, followed by a coldwater soak. But actually I quite like it now!

I am a little impatient though, wish the flippin' bacteria would just get on with their job!...

Any comments are very welcome.

 

[MadMan-JaMeS]

Looks nice

 

[paul_219]

Very nice tank. Looking gr8.

 

[sid.sarah]

yeah lookin good i like the natural look too .SID. 8)

 

[three-fingers]

Love the tank, I actually quite like the bubbles too. Tannins are great, they grow on you .

Only thing is two of your plants are non-aquatic and will soon die and rot in your tank, there's the Dracaena on the far right and what looks like (from here) Acorus on the right hand side of the bubbles .

 

[slakey]

nice size tank for a beginner.

What are you planning to keep? As you may well think about it, while your cycling the tank

 

[purplekaz]

Thanks for the info regarding those plants.
They were all sold as aquatic at the LFS, but a quick google of dracaena tells me it's not really, so will keep a close eye on them.

My ideas for fish go something like this:

3 honey gourami (1m, 2f)
5 corys (not sure exactly which type)
6 black neon tetra
6 other tetra (maybe glowlight/cardinal)
a rock shrimp

But I keep changing my mind! I want to stick to smaller fish as its 96l and I want to keep it as easy as possible to look after, no overstocking etc.

 

[slakey]

hmm... what about:

5-10 Endler Liverbearer
3-4 Corydoras *Three-Lined are really cute*
1-3 Otto's

 

[emmag21]

I think it looks lovely, natural but not too bare.

Emma
xox

 

[xostrawberryox]

Watch out with the neons (if you haven't added them already!) They are a bit sensitive in new tanks, prefer a more mature tank, maybe 6months down the line or something?
Good job though!

 

[cane76]

you have done a great job for a first try
very nice

 

[Straydum]

i second cane's opinion. you've clearly done your research before hand

you might want to add more plants and blogwood to kill of the 'empty' look. a carbon filter would do great in removing the tannins (i think i cant really remember but it should work) if you find them bothersome

 

[Matty P]

Yeh as Straydum said the carbon filter should remove most of the tannins - in my opinion I like the tanned look but it is up to you. The best way to get rid of them is to leave the wood to soak overnight in boiling water, possiblly a couple of days is neccessary. I really like the pepples and the bogwood, maybe need to add some more wood and plants to fill it up a bit more but other than that it is a great first attempt.

 

[calderfisher]

Looking good so far
Let us know how you get on cycling the tank.

CraigM

 

[evilchild]

looks good, i like the bubble effect you got going on.