second pass on 180 litre setup

added a few more plants from knutsford pet shop. got rid of that bit of bog wood i didn't like and replaced it with another one trying to make it look like roots are extending into the gravel. disguised the joins with java moss. did the chemical tests on the water and we're under way. very low amonia, high nitrite and fairly low nitrate which means one of the bacteria colonies (amonia --> nitrite) is establishing itself and the other one (nitrite --> nitrate) is starting to get going. when the levels drop and all i get is nitrates, then i will add the test subjects.... =D

first pass on 180 litre setup

here is a picture of the first pass on setting up the 180 litre tank. using 5 pieces of bog wood and some rocks (of some decription) i have tried to break up the line at the back of the tank where the gravel meets the backdrop. 3 types of plant have been placed in the tank. i can't remember then names of them all but one is a kind of lilly pad (on the left, dark red), another is similar to what we have in the 70 litre tank and has the green leaves, placed in the foreground. and finally, i have tied java moss to four loactions on the bog wood. from what i gather this is quite a prolific grower so eventually it should cover a large area of the gravel, rocks and wood.... which should be nice and pretty... =). you may or may not be able to tell but i have started to slope the gravel from the front to the back to enhance the feeling of depth (z axis again ;-p ) and need to add a bit more when i am happy with the scenery.

finally, i'm not entirely happy with the big trunk like piece of wood on the right, it just doesn't fit well enough and i want to try and conceal the filter box more than it currently is. so, next water change, i plan on stealing a few more bits out of the 70 litre tank for which i have a new design in mind. =)

cats & fish

just another quick update...

firstly, i couldn't resist putting manley, one of our 10 week old kittens in front of the little tank while sonia was getting their tea ready. see the result by clicking on the above image =]

and secondly, at last!!, the 180 litre tank has started its cycling process. i've not put any images of it up yet because a)i don't have any and b)at the moment it is just full of all the bog wood i will be using to set up the landscape. the wood will turn the water brown as the tannins in it are released into the water. should take about 2 weeks for this to stop happening and i may as well get past this stage at the same time as doing the 'cycle' - building up the bacteria colonies.

all good!! =]

who's a big boy then...

a few pics of mister pleco who can't wait to go into his new big house, so he tells me... and a pic of the little tank where you can see three of the young guppies.

the ark has moved!

taking slightly longer than originally anticipated, as these things have a tendancy to do, we finally managed to get the two tanks moved into the new house with zero casualties. after transplanting most of the water from the 70 litre tank into a cool box to put back into the tank at the new location, i thought i would take some of the fish out and move them in the cool box as well. 1,2,3... and 4 guppies all go in without a hitch. after a bit of chasing i managed to net the biggest clown loach and put him in the cool box as well.

he didn't like it.... in approx. 2 seconds he went from a rich orange and black colour (happy) to light grey and orange (not happy). so i thought better of it and put him back in the tank for the move. the move itself was fine, utlilizing a colleague's renault van. senior clown looks quite happy again. :-)

and a little update on the 20 litre tank - all happy in their new location. one of the guppy fry is definately a male as he is starting to develop a nice colour and pattern on his tail fins. and finally, i did get home from work on monday to find the larger of the two shrimp happily eating one of the eyes of his younger bretheren. when i spotted him, he did a legger (literally, he's got loads of legs.. ) and promptly shed his skin next to the thermometer while i fished out his defeated foe. which must have happened faily quickly because i totally missed the event between him running off and me taking out the dead shrimp. ah well, next time maybe.

move update + pic for the masses..

last night i managed to move the 20 litre tank in the back of a taxi! i was somewhat perturbed by the whole experience, probably more so than the fish themsleves haha!! to cut a hair raising journey short, we all made safe and sound. :-) the tank is now residing in the kitchen where it will be until the 180 litre tank is up and running, for which i am still in the market for a decent piece of furniture to put it on. (cough muuummmmm....)

and finally, to appease my oldest brother and also for anyone else interested, the picture here is of the largest of my two ghost shrimp. i know it is not the best picture in the word but my camera phone refuses to focus properly on something that is nearly transparent. go figure... ;p

thursday = 70 litre move in one of those renault transit style things. this time via a colleague of my girlfriends so fingers crossed for then...

swim, be free.... - sort of.

just a quick update to keep things rolling. i have just, this weekend, moved into my new house with my girlfriend. this is all well and good and we have now decided where ALL THREE fishtanks will be going. i'm currently shopping for a decent sideboard to put the 180 litre fishtank on. the other two are still at my old residence where i pop in each day just to feed and check on the fish.

a couple of weeks ago i decided to get a decent filter for my 20 litre tank as the one which came with it just wasn't up to the job at the end of the day. i can't believe what a stupid mistake i made.... i replaced the old one with the new one, thinking that there would be enough bacterial activity in the gravel to take care of the waste products. after a couple of days it became apparent that something was drastically wrong. 3 of the neon tetras died in the next two days... i did a water quality check and yup, you guessed it, it was baaaaddd. to cut a long story short i managed to rectify the problem before loosing any more fish and last week the water tests started returning back to normal. phew!

soooo, after checking on the guppy fry last night i decided that they were big enough to look after themselves in the 20 litre tank and subsequently transferred the little fellas accross. i think they really like it, they seem to follow each other around in a mini posse and love swimming against the current from the (new) filter.

i plan on moving this tank and possibly the 70 litre tank to our new house this weekend so fingers crossed it, the move should go smoothly. :-)

and that, is about the size of that..