Yeah they are cool, just really a species only tank setup, unless housing with much larger fish.
Your current Fish tank Setups!
- Thread starter Malt_Vinegar
- Start date
Yeah they are cool, just really a species only tank setup, unless housing with much larger fish.
A Juwel RIO 450 aquarium, spent the weekend scaping it after buying gravel, soil, sand, rocks and plants for it:
My first attempt at doing something a little more fancy on the decor in the tank, tried to aim for something somewhat natural looking.
Now just cycling the tank ready for fish, will take sometime but will give it a boost by adding in some BIO media from an established tank.
P.S. Apologies for all the bubbles on the glass, not long been filled.
Bacteria in a Bottle is your friend, no need for a long cycle these days, can put fish in same day
A Juwel RIO 450 aquarium, spent the weekend scaping it after buying gravel, soil, sand, rocks and plants for it:
My first attempt at doing something a little more fancy on the decor in the tank, tried to aim for something somewhat natural looking.
Now just cycling the tank ready for fish, will take sometime but will give it a boost by adding in some BIO media from an established tank.
Looks good
I'd expect some of the plants to die back initially, that's normal and don't panic. The amazon swords in the back have their above water leaves so expect them to all re-grow over time. Just keep removing any dodgy looking leaves, dosing plant ferts. Give it a few weeks and it will all start growing in.
Bags of ready mixed concrete for slab underneath floor to sit blocks on under joists have turned up, been out of stock for like a year.
Going back to energy prices mine is going to more expensive than my mortgage what the hell is that all about
Going back to energy prices mine is going to more expensive than my mortgage what the hell is that all about
Associate
Really want to get a large tank myself but the logistics of it are really off putting. Maybe in a year or 2 when an extensions finished. One of the biggest headaches for me is water. changing a large volume RO mixed water is going to be a pain.
I have w couple nano tanks indoors at the moment but maintaining temps is also fun. I found it easier to have tanks outdoors where it's cooler and heat them at night when the temps drop. Got round to taking some pictures recently. The GBR are really camera shy so not many pics of them. Only had this setup a few months but so far so good.
https://imgur.com/a/HQsSW7J
I have w couple nano tanks indoors at the moment but maintaining temps is also fun. I found it easier to have tanks outdoors where it's cooler and heat them at night when the temps drop. Got round to taking some pictures recently. The GBR are really camera shy so not many pics of them. Only had this setup a few months but so far so good.
https://imgur.com/a/HQsSW7J
Soldato
Anyone with a tropical tank have a Zebra Plecostomus? My niece saw one in a shop and was heartbroken because it was £175!
Doing some research today and saw that they are an endangered species in the wild but can be tank bred.
Anyone breed them or know where I could get one at a more reasonable price?
Doing some research today and saw that they are an endangered species in the wild but can be tank bred.
Anyone breed them or know where I could get one at a more reasonable price?
As far as I am aware they have always cost £lol because they are hard to come by and few people actually keep them.
They aren’t bread at a commercial scale as a normal bristle nose pleco and from what I understand they are much harder/slower to bread.
There may be someone local to you supplying the store, I’ve been in loads of stores over the years and very few stock anything tropical at that price point. It’s really niche and they don’t shift many due to the price. Particularly when most fish are under £10 each.
They aren’t bread at a commercial scale as a normal bristle nose pleco and from what I understand they are much harder/slower to bread.
There may be someone local to you supplying the store, I’ve been in loads of stores over the years and very few stock anything tropical at that price point. It’s really niche and they don’t shift many due to the price. Particularly when most fish are under £10 each.
Soldato
Yeah I thought at that price they don’t sell many, I wouldn’t pay that for a marine fish.
With the rarer clownfish, so many people breed them the prices soon go down.
But like you say they are a niche fish and probably hard to breed.
Thanks for explaining the reasons, I’ll keep looking online and maybe get lucky and find someone who wants to swap one for a bit of toadstool coral.
With the rarer clownfish, so many people breed them the prices soon go down.
But like you say they are a niche fish and probably hard to breed.
Thanks for explaining the reasons, I’ll keep looking online and maybe get lucky and find someone who wants to swap one for a bit of toadstool coral.
Associate
their diet also means they aren't much use as a clean up crew and they usually end up on species only tanks. A L333 King Tiger Pleco might be a nice alternative. They grow a bit larger but have a similar colouration and requirements. I've seen them for £10-20 over here so should be more common/affordable.
Man of Honour
anyone had much luck with the online plant sellers? thinking of buying a bunch to re-stock the tank after rebuilding, have used java plants before but didn't have much luck with them (although that was a long time ago)
Soldato
Thank you, I’ve let them know about the L333.
I have a 240L tropical tank with the following:Anyone with a big tank Care to share their electricity bill these days
- Fluval E300 (300 watt) heater.
If this is on for 10 hours each day then it costs about £400 a year to run it @ 30p kWh, which is my new Electricity day rate.
- Fluval 307 filter : 15w x 24/7, equals about £40 a year to keep going.
- Air pumps are about £8 a year to run each.
- Bluetooth LED lighting with 14.5 LED - 7 hours each day : £12
So my yearly running cost is about £470 for this tank.
I've just bought another 120L tank to house my two blue Crayfish which are growing very fast - had them about 7 weeks and the larger one has grown from 4cm to about 12cm.
Last edited:
A Juwel RIO 450 aquarium, spent the weekend scaping it after buying gravel, soil, sand, rocks and plants for it:
My first attempt at doing something a little more fancy on the decor in the tank, tried to aim for something somewhat natural looking.
Now just cycling the tank ready for fish, will take sometime but will give it a boost by adding in some BIO media from an established tank.
P.S. Apologies for all the bubbles on the glass, not long been filled.
Nice - what is your plan for fish?
I used to have lytailed Cichlids, they even spawned. If you can get a rocks with flat tops (say 4" by 4" by 1-1.5" high), with cubby holes (about an 1.5" wide and 1" high, 1.5" deep they love guarding them). Mine even excavated a little under the rock where the hole was.
Saltwater7 foot long, 2.5 feet high, 2 foot front to back and a 5 foot sump
brave man with the way the energy prices are going
Heating 3.2m^3 is the fun bit. You could offset with solar panels. The pond I have is 14m^3 (14,000l) and that runs the entire circulation using airlifts , 80lpm at 58W so you could easily run the system circulation with air and quarter the running costs.
Will be 2x650W titanium heaters, 4 x radion gen 5 will be the leccy guzzlers
but i'm committed to the build and just have to suck the costs up.Will be 2x650W titanium heaters, 4 x radion gen 5 will be the leccy guzzlers
So why the hell didn't they put water cooling on the LED engines (the radio gen 5)? At the member the rear heatsink is air cooled and not water cooled which would have allowed the heat to be used to heat the aquarium. A smart thermal exchanger could then switch the heating vs radiator.. If you're forking out almost 6-700 quid each then I'd expect them to be a little more able to recycle the heat!
That would make a value add to the investment - and lower the overall running costs.
A marine salt water heat exchanger, connected with a distilled water and a water cooling block - even OcUK could start selling them
A small radiator and temp controlled fan for additional cooling.EDIT: that 80lpm in the previous post is *air* flow rate.. I get a nice 20,000+lph water flow rate at full pelt
One thing I'm considering is a solar water panel to heat the water and extend the season, the pump for the water solar heater would be powered - you guessed it - by a solar panel next to it
So why the hell didn't they put water cooling on the LED engines (the radio gen 5)? At the member the rear heatsink is air cooled and not water cooled which would have allowed the heat to be used to heat the aquarium. A smart thermal exchanger could then switch the heating vs radiator.. If you're forking out almost 6-700 quid each then I'd expect them to be a little more able to recycle the heat!
That would make a value add to the investment - and lower the overall running costs.
A marine salt water heat exchanger, connected with a distilled water and a water cooling block - even OcUK could start selling them
EDIT: that 80lpm in the previous post is *air* flow rate.. I get a nice 20,000+lph water flow rate at full pelt
One thing I'm considering is a solar water panel to heat the water and extend the season, the pump for the water solar heater would be powered - you guessed it - by a solar panel next to it
Nice idea that i must say