mj,

Remember you need enough room above the tank to be able to get in yourself and somehow reach the bottom for planting, cleaning placing rocks/wood etc.

There are a lot of tools available to assist you but you will also need enough room to get these in the tank.

I think you need at least 12" at all points or you are really going to struggle with maintenance.

Cheers
Lee

 

Great Tank I used to keep fish for years and seeing yours I am tempted again.

Word of advice, if the bogwood has not been in a tank before you need to keep an eye on the ph levels. It sound like you are anyway but just in case you did not know

Mate used to have piranha's he used to feed them goldfish LOL

 

John,
Check your local free ads. people give up looking after fish all the time. I got the Juwel Trigon 350 and other kit (prob around £1200 worth new + fish -which I traded in- for £350 !!)
Alternatively Buy my old tank !!


Much cheapness ! ....could deliver

 

nothing wrong with the minimalist look, I was considering just puting a "back to nature" backdrop in the tank with minimal planting but unsure as to the finishing edges with it being a corner tank.....oh ! and its fookin dear too !
How much lighting does your tank need ?
As for your water changes ....Your fooking keen, I'll give you that !

 

The tank doesn't really need much lighting, and infact piranha prefer it dimmer, they are just for aesthetics really. I installed 4 tubes (2x marineglo and 2 x aquaglo) that come on in pairs so I have 3 variations of brightness to play with, each with varying UV content. They are bright tubes, maybe too bright, but then they do have 30" depth to penetrate.

Unfortunately the tank is clouding again (par for the course I suppose) so it doesn't look its best at the moment, but whilst it was clear with all the lights on they really picked out the fish brilliantly. You get a very clear untinted view through acrylic and when the fish are up close to the side it looks like they are floating in mid air beyond the front of the tank. its an amazing effect!

The fish temselves are looking very happy now. The tern in particular is really enjoying the space and is burning up and down the full length. He has spent a couple of months in a tank he could barely turn around in so he must be loving the extra room!

 

ajm, looking good mate.

logiclee, is that a few bloodfin tetras I see in one of your pics? I bought some of these recently and am really pleased with them. Kind of remind me of Pirahna with the flashes of red, just a bit smaller though

 

Can't really remember what tetras were in when the pictures were taken. I'd just transfered the fish from my old tank when the pictures where taken.
The main fish on view are clown loaches, I have six it total, three of which are over 15years old.

Cheers
Lee

 

Yeah, I noticed your loaches!!! Not your average size, but I suppose they're not your average age!!! I've got 4 in my tank and one is much much bigger than the others and they were all bought at the same time and at the same size. They are fairly shy and tend to stay in a hollowed out type log that I have in the tank so you dont see them much. If I remove the log they are very skitish/nervous so I leave the log in.

 

ajm, hope you havent got any catfish in your tank, else they might try and eat all your other fish

 

Actually I did have some plecostamus, which is a type of catfish, in there and they all got eaten! I doubt an actual cat would fare much better either!

Anyway, what has this thread got to do with cats? Honestly, you people are obsessed with cats!

 

Well... the water looks like it is finally clearing, it got VERY murky for a while. It is also very tinted with tannin frm the wood. I have added carbon to the filter to take some of that out.

Here's a pic of it at the moment. (unfortunately I only have a video camera at the moment and its crap at taking stills of the tank, it can't handle the contrast and the lens is nowhere near wide enough which means I have to take it from a distance and then it comes out grainy )



The fish are absolutely loving it in there. I have never seen them so active and the two new little piraya have settled in well with the rest of the shoal!

Edited to add: I have also put a Tunze current pump in the tank to give them a bit of a current to swim in. I couldn't find a normal powerhead big enough, but Tunze pumps, designed for wave makers in reef aquariums, push out loads of current in a wide stream and its perfect for the job. The caribe seem to like swimming against the current and they power themselves right up to the nozel of the pump against 7,000 ltrs per hour!

 

That's looking cool (but get yourself a proper camera ffs ).

The more I see of this, the more I want to get back into fish keeping. I'm thinking: 5' tank with some of these babies:

 

looks mint, I thought on earlier shots it looked a bit bare, but the shot of the whole tank has changed my mind, and I'll bet the camera isn't doing it justice in terms of lighting & overall effect etc.

Nice work

go on, how much ££ ?

 

Cheers mj, its getting there!

Personally I'd love to add some plants to make the whole thing more natural but I know it will be a huge maintenance burden. You are right about the shot doing them no justice, I'll try and get some better shots of the tank with the fish shoaling. To be honest when I'm watching them my eyes are focused on the fish and the surroundings fade into the background. I know I'm not going to win any prizes for overall beauty as it stands but in terms of presenting the fish themselves it does work well.

Closer pics seem to work better... Check out these pics...

Lecter the big 10" Ternetzi (left) plus red bellies and a piraya (back centre)


Contrast of red (caribe) and gold (piraya)


Caribe, piraya and redbellies


Here is another full tank shot, seemed to word a little better with the room lights turned on but dimmed, less contrast for the camera to deal with I guess!



Probably about 2 grand excluding the fish... maybe 2,250 because I fecked up with the pumps and tried two cheaper alternatives before settling for the more expensive Eheim that I should have bought in the first place!

I reckon the current value of the fish in there at the moment is about £500

 

Looking nice - well done Last link doesn't work?

Need something outside tank to appreciate size - a human or a light or something (cat sitting on top ) ?? Also are you going to put any plants and stuff next to tank (if there is room) to set it off? DL

 

Last link shouldn't have been there - now fixed!

There is 19" either side so not a lot of room really.... maybe a tall thin plant either side?

As for scale... here's an armchair!

 

Is that Courts? OK - I guess not too much space for plants - you're just going to have to move it..... May be some small pics on wall - it just looks a bit stark at the mo but a bit unfair to criticise/comment without being in the room itself. DL

 

AJM, absolutely first class mate, better than any T.V I am jelous!!! brilliant job and well documented project

David, hows that lake of yours since we last spoke I now have underwater lighting in mine but a camera is out of the question as its too far from the house

andy

 

LOL! In the duration of this thread I have had my taste called into question on my curtains, my brick wall and now my armchair and my sparse walls!

You are right, it is bare in there, I decorated the room, chased speaker cables into the walls, extra spurs off the ring main for a home cinema, laid the laminate floor, tore out the old gas fireplace and then ran completely out of enthusiasm. That's when I started on the fish tank!

I'm still minus a set of curtains, a fireplace oh and the home cinema!

 

I think the baron look is by far the best, then you dont detract attention away from your main focal point being your huge and expensive project

use it as a chill out room

andy

 

Looks grand ajm !
I like the minimalist look. It doesn't detract from the fish plus the extra maintainance is prob something you could do without.
Could you not move the socket behind the stand and put in a couple of uplighters in the floor ?... like I did under the stairs

 

ah, just read the other replies. you must have solid walls so moving the socket might not be possible ? Chrome / SS ones ?

 

That does look good but the tank weighs 1500kg and the floor is made of concrete so I have no intention of messing about with either for the foreseeable future!!!

 

lol

 

Andy - hi. Lake is fine thanks Sorry for interruption ajm....

 

Some large plastic plants designed for ponds (hopefully piranha proof) now added. I drilled holes along the back of some pieces of bog wood and seated the plants into them. Works quite well!



I'm going to buy a proper camera this week and get some better shots 'cos 1.5 megapixels using a digital video camera just doesn't do it justice!

 

Alex well done that looks smart,i have just read in nuts mags from work that samsung have just brought out a 6 or 7 megapixel camera for about £250
or something like that.

 

Very AJM.

 

Lovely job ajm. I could sit there for hours looking at that.

Les

 

Cheers guys!

Here's a slightly better pic....