Owen's Riparium

[OwenB86]

Update!

New high tech background (lol):

I also ordered 25 tropical plants from last trading post as a sort of experiment to see which would grow well. They arrived today so I put them in straight away:

Can anyone help me identify all of the plants? I can see that I got some cabomba, amazon sword and elodea but I'm clueless about the others

 

[OwenB86]

Glass is getting ordered for my main tank tomorrow! Dimensions will be 36"x19"x18", 53US gallons I've also decided it will stay as a biotope.

 

[OwenB86]

The glass arrived yesterday so I started putting the tank together today

The silicon still needs to dry and I need to attach the braces, but hopefully it will be ready for fish by the weekend

 

[OwenB86]

Update

While the tank was leak testing the seal broke on one side and it ended up spraying water everywhere Luckily it was outside so no damage was done, so I drained the water and re did all the silicone with about triple the thickness I originally used and now the tank is finally ready!

Pics:

In its final position

Compost and soil retainer added so it won't get disturbed during scaping

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Looking good, cant wait too see it running.

 

[OwenB86]

Well I finally pulled my finger out today and made some major progress on the tank. Here's how it looks now:

I know the scape isn't the best but I just want to get it running now Next step will be adding plants, I'm going to be ordering some water lettuce, java ferns, sagittaria, hygrophilia, nymphaea stellata bulbs and crypts.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Sounds a good plan mate and some good progress too, where did you get that large wood on far right? Looks amazing.

 

[OwenB86]

Cheers, it's flamed heather from northumberland mate I got the idea from this thread.

 

[OwenB86]

Just ordered some plants:
50x Java fern
10g Java moss
20x Dwarf water lettuce
10x Hygrophila polysperma

 

[OwenB86]

I know it's been ages since my last update but I've been busy with work and not got round to posting. Anyway the tank has had some large changes:

Stock:
10x Kuhli loaches added
11x Assassin snails added
Moved the rasboras over from the 30L

I've also added a load of plants
5x Water Lettuce
10x Dwarf Water Lettuce
10x Hygrophila Polysperma
50x Java ferns
1x Cryptocoryne Bullosa
1x Cryptocoryne Wendtii
1x Unknown crypt
1x Nymphaea Stellata bulb (in the post)
I've also been gradually attaching java moss to the wood and have moved over some unknown hygrophilia from the 30L

Pics:

Sorry about the quality, need a new camera! I know it's not the best compared to some on here, but I'm happy with it so far and all the plants seem to be doing great.

Plans:
Get some proper lighting (suggestions?)
Add more crypts
Add some sparkling gouramis and more rasboras, possibly some shrimp


Thoughts so far?

 

[ghettofarmulous]

looks bangin dude

 

[DanTheFishMan11]

LED's from steve

 

[OwenB86]

looks bangin dude

cheers mate

LED's from steve

Didn't know he did them I'll have to pm him at some point

Right minor update, wired up the light I was originally going to fit and you can now see all the tanks flaws Also picked up 6 sparkling gouramis but haven't been able to get any decent pics of them.

best pic I could get of the gouramis

 

[OwenB86]

Another update!

Picked up 13 harlequin rasboras today for £10 Also got 10 cherry shrimp on the way, and ordered 1x Rotala rotundifolia, 1x Cryptocoryne willissii, 1x Cryptocoryne nevellii, and 1x Cryptocoryne diversen.

Pics:

FTS

Tank is nearly finished, only changes will be to add more rasboras and maybe some more crypts.

Thoughts so far?

 

[OwenB86]

Ok so I went a bit mad this week...

Added:
4 more kuhlis
4 more harlequins
2 pearl gourami
10 cherry shrimp
3 more crypts
10 ish stems of rotala

I know it's probably a little overstocked but I'm confident my filtration can keep up and my water stats are all fine. Anyway, pics (sorry for the quality):