Aquarium

[Rob]

When I was born, they brought me home from the hospital, and in my bedroom was a 30 gallon fish tank. The old kind with metal frame (yeah I'm old, get over it). Since then, I have pretty much continuously had aquariums. I dragged one of my 55s into my dorm room at college. I've kept about every kind of fish available to the trade at one point or another (my dad owns a fish store, so it possibly was inevitable).

But when I moved to my new house in '04 I found myself living without an aquarium for the first time. I did eventually put a 20 high in my son's room. But it was kind of weird to be without a big old tank--I'd usually run a few 55s. In the first house we had 2 end-to-end in the master bedroom, fully planted out and stocked. One was discus and the other was community.

Anyhow, last week a friend of ours who is a real estate agent told us about a client with a tank that needed to be moved, who had procrastinated dealing with it and needed the thing gone. She described it as "huge," but it turned out to be a 55. That's okay, that's the smallest tank I'd ever want to fool with though. We negotiated a "make it go away" price  and I'm gonna pick the thing up tonight. It's an Oceanic brand, which are a little nicer than most. One minor gripe is they don't use tempered glass in their 55, so it's heavy.

I'm really hoping to come across a good deal on a 6-foot tank (the 100+ gallon ones) for the purpose of building it in to the basement rec room that's currently on the drawing board. I know they come up a lot on the used market, I just haven't been too serious about looking. My idea is to build it into a wall, and have a "fish room" behind the wall to support the big tank--with a sink, and a rack of small holding tanks for quarantine or breeding or whatever makes me want to yank a fish out of the big one. I'd like that tank to be as big as possible, and I've considered fabricating one since only the front needs to be clear. When I first had the idea, I also designed a custom biofilter system that uses removable trays in a rack and a drip system to return water to the tank.

I'm a little carried away perhaps, but I'm just happy to get a sizeable working tank again. I'm still considering what to keep in it. I'd entertain about any suggestion, but I want to stay with freshwater and I enjoy the plants.

[Synapse]

Hi Rob,

Great to know that some other ppl here have the same hobby. I cannot suggest not knowing the fish you previously had, but for a planted tank you'd probly appreciate a dozen Kuhli Loach. Perhaps a couple or two of German blue ram (the have the nicest colorations) and some Siamese algae eater and cherry shimps to keep things under control.

Look forward to see pics of your futur setup.

[Rob]

I previously had everyting, although over the course of some 35 years.

I'll probably start yet another blog about this project. I am planning on doing CO2 injection (I have that gear from doing this previously), and I'm desigining a DIY heating cable system for the substrate. I aim to adhere to Takashi Amano's Nature Aquarium concept as much as possible. I have his books and I'm pretty sure I have the gear I need to make it work.

[Zippy2]

Rob,
I have lots of self regulating industrial heat trace cable if you think you can adapt it. 5 watts per foot at 110 VAC. It can be run at lower voltages. I have no idea if this is practical. I had a pond at my old house and had the same four fish, three comets and a shebunkin for 12 years. But never had an aquarium.

I'll post photos of a very recent attempt to make an aquarium. Goofy idea gone bad.

Go here for info on the cable. I have lots of LT5-J but also have others.   
http://www.nelsonheaters.com/DownLoad/TechDocs/Specification/Heaters/LT%20Self-Regulating%20Heater%20Cable%20Lit.pdf

Charlie

[Rob]

Hmmmmmmm intriguing.....I need to run some numbers and see if that cable will work out.

I'm dying to see those pics though.

Just went to grab the tank, it's in the back of my car now.

[Rob]

Progress report...

I have the thing cleaned, and I rearranged my office (pretty much totally--it took all day) and found a nice spot along an inside wall. I'll be putting up a webcam as soon as I have something to show.

I've been hitting various accessories with black vinyl dye so they'll disappear against the black background. I'm gonna probably use one of those backgrounds on a roll. I used to paint the back glass on the outside, but I'm too lazy to drag the thing around. If I get some thin acrylic sheet cheap maybe I'll make it black and use that.

I'll post up a shot later tonight, I'm still chasing the kids around.

[Rob]

Just got around to setting the thing up tonight.

wow, 6000 posts.

[Rob]

Starting to look like something now. I have 6 quarter-sized black angels.

[Rob]

They can't say no to brine shrimp even if they are totally stuffed full. This guy is the favorite subject in these photos, because the other 5 in there are more or less staying hidden. Not him, he's as bold as you please.

[Rob]

And here we have the CO₂ reactorizer. And the CO₂ supply. I am looking for a fitting (damn you lose stuff easily when you move) to go from the 3/8 tubing out of the bottle to the 3/16" that goes to the reactorizer. If I had that, I'd be up and running right now. 

[Rob]

Success! I found my fitting. 

Here's the installed reactorizer. Works fabulously.

I did a little test yesterday. I inverted a glass jar under water and bubbled CO₂ into it. With no moving water, only about 30% (eyeballed) of the gas dissolved in 24 hours. I bubbled a lot more CO₂ into this reactor. It went into solution entirely within a minute. Agitiation is where it's at. 

The power head is rated 900 l/h. So it can run the entire tank volume through the reactor once every 15 minutes or so.

That Rotala (the pinkish plant) next to the reactor, I had that stuff growing up to the top and beyond last time I tried this stunt about 15 years ago. I'll post some pics in here every day of it to show you the kind of growth that this fertilization technique can give.

[justDIY]

would hitting the "bio balls" with a quick shot of black dye detract from their bioness?

setup a routine to take a pic daily, it'll make a fun flipbook later!

[Rob]

I though about dying hte bio balls. I dyded the tubing and lift tubes, don't I get points for that?

To be honest, I was in a hurry to get it installed. I have the bunch plants in and I wanna get them jump started. My dad is gonna be in town for t-day and I want something to show off.

Daily shots, check. I'm working on a live(ish) webcam for it too. It's close enough to an always-on peecee to make that a viable choice if I can work out a camera mount.

[Rob]

okay, here's day 2.

[Rob]

Here's some of the plants in the other end. This stuff is by and large slower growing than the bunch plants so it won't be as fun to watch.

Anubias, Microsorium and Vesicularia. The Java moss is in there as a sort of sponge to help me avoid algae in the early stages--I'll (try to) remove it later on in favor of more leafy plants.