Ryan's display aquarium

rsevs3

Howdy all,

Just thought i would start a thread for my first system. I have always wanted a display aquarium since my parents had one when i was little. The problem being that i am lazy and i didnt want any fish to suffer for it. Then i heard about AP a few weeks ago and it has captured my attention since. I have spent alot of hours trawling this site (hopefully not annoying too many people) and reading the BYAP mags. This is my first attempt and first time with a fish tank so suggestions and abuse are welcome. Remember it is a work in progress and no where near completion yet. Without further adue, this pics!

Below is a pic of the aquarium. As you can see i still need to trim some of the lid off to make it fit. I also want to swap all of the plants out with live ones, however the pet shop i have been going to only have plants in the cold water area, so im not sure where to get them. The plastic ones will do for now, you cant complain at 9 plants for $6. You can also see the aquarium side of the No Holes Overflow or Water Bridge. The fish in there currently are 6 x neon tetras, 1 x plecto, 1 x bristlenose catfish, 1 x male dwarf gourami and 5 x harlequin rasboras. (1 of the rasboras is currently MIA, he might be in the pipework to the sump tank). I will try and get some pics of the fish and add them later.

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Below the tank is the sump tank. This has a Jebao 4000 pump. The pump is 2000L/h and can pump to 3.2m head. There is also a valve to divert flow from the pump back to sump, which is probably about 75% open atm. So i have plenty of pump capacity to expand. The water level in the tank is much higher than i will normally run it. I had run out of fittings to divert the flow of the pump back down the the sump, so i had to raise the water level above the valve to avoid splashing everything. I also have to move all of the power stuff somewhere away from the water.

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Then above the aquarium i have my grow bed. So far i have put in there strawberries, lettuce and a beetroot. I will also add some chives in there. I dropped maybe 30 worms in there a few days ago so hopefully there is enough food in there for them this early. For some reason the photo makes the plants look sad, but they are growing like mad and look much better than when i got them. I am hoping that they get enough light through the window. I can already see them leaning towards it after a few days so i am not sure. Time will tell. Otherwise i will have to look at a growning light.

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You can see from the last picture that i have the curtain open most of the time. This hasnt been a problem due to algae over the last couple of weeks, but i expect that it will be. If i do start having problems then i will either get a backing for the tank or a UV light to try and keep it under control.

The aquarium was running for close to a month before i installed any of this AP stuff. Although i only had the 6 neons and the plecto during that time. So i am hoping that the system will cycle fairly quickly with the 2 filters sitting in the sump. I did see a significant drop in all the test numbers (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates) when i installed it, but i had probably doubled the water capacity. Before the AP stuff went in amm was constantly 0.25 or below, but nitrite was very high. I am hoping the water quality will remain good enough with the additional water for the nitrite side of the cycle to happen before a water change is needed.

rsevs3

Below is my NHO. It is a bastardisation of info i found from TCLynx and web4dev and some of my own additions. It is a venturi overflow type with an air collection and removal point at the top via the syphon. The valves are there so that i can easily prime it myself without having to remove it. Where the syphon is can be unscrewed and i can pour water in. So to prime it you just pour water in till you hear it overflow to the sump, close the valves, fill it to the brim, screw the cap back in, open the fish tank valve, start the syphon for a while and then open the overflow valve. Easy! Being the venturi style you do get alot of air in the bridge which will cause it to fail, but the syphon seems to be handling it no worries and just spits the air out in the sump. It hasnt failed yet and unless there is a power outage i am hoping it wont.

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Still to do:

Backup power so the pump runs continously (High Priority)

Closely monitor potential algae problems (High Priority)

Make the electrical side safe (High Priority)

Trim the lid so it sits properly

Add more grow beds. I am thinking a 'wall' style down the sides.

Tidy the whole lot up

Wait for it to cycle

You can see more photos on my google+

https://plus.google.com/photos/107745026209570973291/albums/5698758464234843633

Sorry for the crappy quality i only have my phone and dont know what the settings on it do

ghengis

Nice setup.

Don't be surprised though, if the Gourami is all by his lonesome within a month or so. He will eventually destroy everything else in the tank.

It's good that you have a sump. Without one, your stocking density could be considered very dangerous in a brand new tank. The general rule for stocking an aquarium is "slow and steady". Hopefully the added volume of the sump should provide a good buffer though.

Looks like your veggies are doing well! :thumbright:

rsevs3

Thanks for the tip ghengis! I did actually get 2 gouramis, but one had wedged itself between the NFO and the side of the tank

i was devo.

I currently have my eye on a female gourami from an online store in the hopes of getting a few more. The local pet shop wants over $11 each for the males and they dont have any females. I also wouldnt mind getting some glass shrimp too

rsevs3

Also i should mention, the filter that came with the fish tank is in the sump under the return flow from the pump. This filter is about 1 month old and covered in green slime. Would you still consider my stocking density very dangerous? My amm is constantly below or equal to 0.25 and my nitrite is about 1ppm. Might up to twice daily checks just to be sure.

rsevs3

Very exciting last night. For the first time i got these readings:

Ph: 7.6
Amm: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 30

Things are looking good

Will be interesting to see how they are tonight.

rsevs3

Over the last few days i have been increasing the feed rate and the water test are all still looking good. Ph is still higher than i want it, but i will leave it for the nitrogen cycle to lower rather than hitting it with Ph Down. Nitrates are still a long way down from what they were, but have come up to 40 after increasing the feed a bit. I am also starting to see some green growth on the inside of the sump and the syphon line that looks the same as what is growing on the old FT filter. I dont think this is an algae problem though, because the old FT filter couldnt get any light on it.

I have fixed up the lid as well, so that is sitting flat now. I still need to fix up the power, but i cant find my inverter since the move.

rsevs3

Also i dropped some worms into the FT gravel as well as the grow bed. So it will be interesting to see how the worms go in the FT. I gave the gravel a bit of a stir up yesterday and there is alot of sediment in there as expected and the worms were still alive. So they seem to be able to avoid the Gourami, although he didnt seem to interested in them when i dropped them in there. Maybe they are too big for it to eat.

The plants are growing still, however i can see that they are starting to lean towards the window. So it looks like i might have to get a light after all.

lexiegr8

what a clever idea "shelving", i will pinch that idea to make more room in my small laundry which is pack with 4 3footers full of platys,guppies, goldfish and bait. I live in remote Broken Hill, NSW and i have found livefish.com.au is reasonable priced and ship anywhere, they have lots of aquarium plants as well as fish. i have gotten several lots from them and each time the fish are always healthy and alive.

earthbound

I wonder if the fish will start digging in the gravel when they discover the worms are in there.

rsevs3

lexiegr8 wrote:

what a clever idea "shelving", i will pinch that idea to make more room in my small laundry which is pack with 4 3footers full of platys,guppies, goldfish and bait. I live in remote Broken Hill, NSW and i have found livefish.com.au is reasonable priced and ship anywhere, they have lots of aquarium plants as well as fish. i have gotten several lots from them and each time the fish are always healthy and alive.

Just make sure your shelving is rated to the weight! Mine is rated to 150kg/shelf, but it certainly wasnt the cheapest at the big B. Livefish is where i ahve ordered my female dwarf gourami and a few other things. They are upto half the price of the local pet store. Unfortunately they cant ships plants over to WA though

earthbound wrote:

I wonder if the fish will start digging in the gravel when they discover the worms are in there.

Funny you should say that EB, in the last day or two or three the tank has been getting messed up alot. Maybe the gourami has been digging around. It has been happening at night time though, so it could be the plecto or the bristlenose as i think they are mostly night feeders.

DuiNui

rsevs3 wrote:

The plants are growing still, however i can see that they are starting to lean towards the window. So it looks like i might have to get a light after all.

I have an Aquarium system too and have the same problem, the lettuce are really lanky and lean toward the window.
Gonna try some red LED's over the top of them, I've read somewhere that red and blue are the best, white ones provide light wavelengths which aren't used so wastes power.

rsevs3

Thanks for the tip Dui. I was just thinking this morning that they were looking a bit lanky but thought that was just how they looked when they were growing. It seems not

rsevs3

So i went out and caught a few yabbies for my sump tank and i managed to catch a few fish in my traps as well. I was wondering if anyone knows what they might be and whether they can go in my aquarium?

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This fish above actually has red fins along the top but you cant really tell in that photo.

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The pic above and below are of the same fish.

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Sorry for the crappy photos, they are the best my phone can manage.

I also lucked out with the yabbies too. 4 females and 1 male. Hopefully they dont fight or try and walk! :naughty:

camfame23

What kind of trap did you use to catch your fish? I have a similar system and it would be cool to catch some fish out of the pond to put into it.

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