Hi- well, today I broke down some of my reserve money and bought a new 20 gallon long tank. I love the shape and size- it seems much larger than it says it is! The length is wonderful- plenty of swimming room for the barbs. I bought it for one reason- I have a 5" tilapia fish that I have taken a starnge liking to. This is his home to share with some friendly barbs, a red tail shark, a pleco (unidentified), and a few small others..
Ok, now the nitty gritty.
Stand:
DIY type with 2 2x4s cut into 6 slabs. 3 form a middle shelf where I put some misc. stuff, like test kits, food, salt, etc. Concrete bricks form the supports. Simple DIY stand that's been used since the stone age. Leveling was a little tricky, but I remedied the problem by a shimmy of cardboard.
Substrate: Sand. This is wholly new to me, as I have always kept tanks with gravel, but this time I thought I would try something new. So, I went to Home Depot hoping to find a few bags of it. I was going to go with play sand, but while figuring out the weight of the concrete blocks, I saw some bags of really dark, earthy-colored sand, labeled "play sand". I loved the color and thought it was quite nice. Problem is the stuff moves real easy. I mean really easy, so I'm not sure if this is the way sand beds in an aquarium are typically supposed to be or perhaps the sand itself is too fine for an aquarium substrate.
In addition, I bought a small bag of laterite and spread its pebbles throughout the gravel bed. The laterite needed several washings, like 3 before the water came out bearing alot less reddish color than in previous rinses.
One footnote to be typed is that the sand bed has two layers it seems. Despite adding all the sand at once, it seems to have compacted into two levels. Perhaps the top layer is the one that is the "light" stuff and the other is the heavier particles.
Filter: A used Aquaclear 70. I have this one for years and it it runs smooth and nearly quiet. Love it, especially the way I can customize it. I put it on this tank at full power, 300 gph per the Hagen, and the water was swirling! LOL, it looked like there was a whirlpool in the tank! The clown and filament barbs loved it- but the sand in the water column whirled around as well, causing the cloudiness to thicken.
Water: I emptied a smnall ten gallon tank's water into this one, while putting the sponge filter and the aforementioned aquaclear 70 to help seed the new system. The rst of the water was tap water with some dechlor.
Pics: I took these at night, so they probably won't be as good as some on this forum, but here they are.
Well, this si the first day and thinsg are still literally settling down in the tank. There is still alot of sand floating in the water column, so it may take some time for the tank to totally clear. I added 2 capfuls of Tetra Water Clarifier before I went to bed, and it seems to have a mde a small dent- I can see 4" into the aqaurium! I will post more pics and updates shortly.
Ok, now the nitty gritty.
Stand:
DIY type with 2 2x4s cut into 6 slabs. 3 form a middle shelf where I put some misc. stuff, like test kits, food, salt, etc. Concrete bricks form the supports. Simple DIY stand that's been used since the stone age. Leveling was a little tricky, but I remedied the problem by a shimmy of cardboard.
Substrate: Sand. This is wholly new to me, as I have always kept tanks with gravel, but this time I thought I would try something new. So, I went to Home Depot hoping to find a few bags of it. I was going to go with play sand, but while figuring out the weight of the concrete blocks, I saw some bags of really dark, earthy-colored sand, labeled "play sand". I loved the color and thought it was quite nice. Problem is the stuff moves real easy. I mean really easy, so I'm not sure if this is the way sand beds in an aquarium are typically supposed to be or perhaps the sand itself is too fine for an aquarium substrate.
In addition, I bought a small bag of laterite and spread its pebbles throughout the gravel bed. The laterite needed several washings, like 3 before the water came out bearing alot less reddish color than in previous rinses.
One footnote to be typed is that the sand bed has two layers it seems. Despite adding all the sand at once, it seems to have compacted into two levels. Perhaps the top layer is the one that is the "light" stuff and the other is the heavier particles.
Filter: A used Aquaclear 70. I have this one for years and it it runs smooth and nearly quiet. Love it, especially the way I can customize it. I put it on this tank at full power, 300 gph per the Hagen, and the water was swirling! LOL, it looked like there was a whirlpool in the tank! The clown and filament barbs loved it- but the sand in the water column whirled around as well, causing the cloudiness to thicken.
Water: I emptied a smnall ten gallon tank's water into this one, while putting the sponge filter and the aforementioned aquaclear 70 to help seed the new system. The rst of the water was tap water with some dechlor.
Pics: I took these at night, so they probably won't be as good as some on this forum, but here they are.
Well, this si the first day and thinsg are still literally settling down in the tank. There is still alot of sand floating in the water column, so it may take some time for the tank to totally clear. I added 2 capfuls of Tetra Water Clarifier before I went to bed, and it seems to have a mde a small dent- I can see 4" into the aqaurium! I will post more pics and updates shortly.
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