New Setups

Post pictures of your beloved catfish aquaria here. Also good for pictures of your (cat)fish rooms or equipment discussions. If you are posting pictures of identified catfish, please do so in the appropriate husbandry and reproduction forum above.
Post Reply
JamesFish
Posts: 425
Joined: 26 Jun 2013, 18:03
I've donated: $23.00!
Location 1: UK
Location 2: Kent
Interests: Fish, IT
Contact:

New Setups

Post by JamesFish »

To cut a very long and boring story short I have been saving for a while to get a couple of new tanks and setups going. House changes mean it got pushed forward about 8 months and a few losses along the way but now starting to sort it out. Only 1 fish is in an unsuitable long term home atm and he should be out in a few weeks.

Aim of change is to have 3 long term tanks and 2 Q tanks should I need them. They are all 3 ft the only difference being is 1 placed at bottom of the 2 tier rack is 12" tall.

12" tall tank is giving me problems with filter intakes my JBLS are just too long and sit at an awkward angle.

Light unit is also a problem wanted to use an arcadia stretch on it as only low light plants attached to wood and shallow sand substrate. Fish have already moved it around to show bare patches and the light unit after 2 faulty power packs has gone back heading out to get a fluval aquasky (will go on the upper tier tank once plants go in) later today. Using my spare aracaida eco light atm and it seems fine. No lid just cover glasses. Plan is to keep my corys in this one and a few odd balls I have left.

2 Issues so far
Need a light suggestion with a budget of about £80. Needs to fit on ends of tank as cover glass runners occupy the sides. The eco light fittings wont fit due to this.

Thinking of swapping to my eheim ecco 300 as a filter to hack the shepherds crook down to a short length. If I can't find a fix for the JBL the support did not return my email but did add me to the mailing list for marketing. :( JVL have 12/16mm pipe work on them which is a bit bigger than eheim. Also having trouble with air in pump as its nearly as tall as the tank.

2nd tank on top tier which I'm hoping to setup today is 36 x15 x12 (high is 15) no lid just cover glasses
Planning on aquasky light as 1800 lumens not great but hoping enough for average plants. Will this be enough?
Have picked up peat plants to form a good long term nutrient trap.
Gravel tidy in use is HDP plastic 2mm holes which is rott resident (Not 100% aquatic product but can be used in pond plant iners) Wrapped round the plates. Picking up silica rounded gravel later today aiming for a 2-3cm covering tilted towards front. Only expecting to place an ancistrus in this tank catfish wise.
Anyone used this sort of setup anything I need to watch out for apart from it turning my water to tea for a few months? How long do the plants need to root in 2-3 weeks?

Filters have been kept mature on other tanks while drained planning on repeating setup 2 in living room if it works well.

Any suggestions or pit falls I need to be aware of I know with gravel I can't have anything with barbels from the catfish world that needs to root around.
JamesFish
Posts: 425
Joined: 26 Jun 2013, 18:03
I've donated: $23.00!
Location 1: UK
Location 2: Kent
Interests: Fish, IT
Contact:

Re: New Setups

Post by JamesFish »

Long story short both tanks are up and running I'm miles behind where I wanted to be and lots has gone wrong in the process. But the 2nd 3ft is up with water in now. Has had 2 perfect water tests and currently has a platy that has been swimming around for a week in it. I used a mature filter that had been kept alive on another tank for a month or so.

Using a fluval aquasky (Don't like the storm setting but hey rest seems fine) as had a nightmare with Arcadia stretch LED unit.

Having trouble sourcing 2-4mm rounded inert gravel for the final setup anyone able to suggest anything?

Have 2 week wait on another part so doesn't matter if it has a long delay on order as used all my smaller semi rounded inert gravel on the 2nd setup. New bag I bought that claimed to be rounded really wasn't not very impressed.
User avatar
AZCatfish
Posts: 45
Joined: 06 Feb 2017, 04:23
I've donated: $100.00!
Location 1: Phoenix, Arizona
Location 2: USA
Interests: Aquariums, Orchids, classic & antique cars.

Re: New Setups

Post by AZCatfish »

My Cory's love the "Peace River." The "Rio Grande" is a little bigger. The "Sunset Gold" is sand. My tank can't run sand so the "Peace River" is the finest I can go.

https://www.caribsea.com/caribsea_super-naturals.html
Post Reply

Return to “Tank Talk”