225 Build - Funky Style

[kien]

wow.. you have a lot of tanks :-)

What's a cichlid and are they reef safe ?? And that 225g is going to be a massive freshwater top off reservoir!!

[Funky_Fish14]

Cuz: Yeah I guess I probably will toss some vapour barrier up around the tanks.

Kien: Workin on number 9 with this 225 haha :P And another plywood tank (100g) is also slowly in the works at the moment. And wow, your funny! Haha :P Actually im upgrading my R/O Resevoir system to 100g from 60g because of this new tank. It feeds my FW fishroom on one end of the basement and SW tanks in bedroom on other end of the basement.

G'night.

Chris

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

I'd be all Amazon rays. Or one heck of a planted setup. Could you imagine a school of say 30-40 cardinals in that tank? Come on, that'd be pretty slick too.

More like 200 Cardinals. That'd be sweet. Cichlids are pretty awesome too though, I have considered setting up an African tank again...but only for a few moments of lapse.

[Funky_Fish14]

Then throw in a few indian flasher barbs and a school of lemons as well, then a few cool plecos, plants all across the bottom and a giant piece of driftwood, and it would look stellar! Haha.

Actually I will be getting a very large piece of driftwood for this thing hopefully!

Today's progress: First layer of mud and some dry plumbing. Also got partial wall framed where it will connect to the doorway. Other side will get done later.... I need this tank running first.
















To do tomorrow:

- Try to find some Tahitian moon sand in town. Its black, and thats what I want. According to the 'technical specs', the copper slag sand I picked up should be usable (it does not contain copper), but many people (though without proof) are saying it shouldnt be used. I think its too fine for my tank and the next size up is too coarse. I also think these grains might be too sharp.
- Pick up a bit a few more plumbing pieces I am still missing
- Actually get the water supply line started this time
- Second layer of plaster
- More dry plumbing

Hoping to have a pretty productive day but I have to squeeze my christmas shopping in tomorrow, haha. Oops.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Chris

[Delphinus]

How fine or rough-edged is the Tahitian Moon? I have .. um .. I think it's called "Fluorite" in my FW, mixed with a couple bags of "Eco-Complete." I wanted a black substrate that was also good for plants, but it turns out to be way too harsh for my corycats. I want to find something finer but I'm having a heck of a time finding something suitable. Or is the trick maybe not going finer, but going smoother?

[Funky_Fish14]

Tony I've heard of that Eco-complete as a suggestion for the black as well. And from what I understand the Fluorite is a plant growth substrate. I think Fluorite is really 'mushy' and dirt-like? Too much for me anyways, but you'd know more you own it! Haha. I heard both Eco and Tahitian are about the same? I dont know if there is a difference in the grain-shape. Apparently fluorite is the most 'friendly' option but TMS is truely 'black' once in an aquarium. Eco sounds like it is in between?

I think smoother as opposed to finer is the key, because fish are going to come into contact with the grains no matter the size.

[Myka]

Flourite isn't mushy, it's like little flakes kind of. It's hard. It comes in red or "dark", and is fairly heavy. Eco-Complete is mostly black, and the size varies a lot in a bag. It's fairly light-weight. You may get algae from using either substrate as both are used in planted tanks and are somewhat minor fertilizers, although out of the two I would think you would have better luck with the Flourite.

[Delphinus]

At the risk of further derailing onto this tangent, Fluorite does come in black now. I had to switch to it because I gave up on Eco-Complete after nobody in Calgary could get me any, and the distributors (HI NATE) said they could get me some if I could commit to a whole pallet, which, for a 65g, might have been slightly overkill. I had gotten 2 bags but it was nowhere near enough to get the depth I needed in the tank.

Don't really have an algae issue luckily (although it's a heavily planted tank so that could be the reason), but it's literally wearing the mouths clean off from my corycats. They have no mouths left, just big gaping ulcers. Maybe I need to think about rehoming the little guys, but if this Tahitian Moon stuff would be better I'd be all for that instead.

[Funky_Fish14]

Tony if I get ahold of Tahitian or any other sort of black sand, I'll let you know how it works out. Im trying to get ahold of another type of 'marine' black sand, its some sort of coloured sand because it comes in black/blue/green/pink/white... says its marine and freshwater safe.

Myka: Like i said Tony owns the fluorite not me. The last few bags I touched I thought it seemed mushy but I probably wasnt looking closely enough, I just poked them. :P

Wow awesome - I walked out of my bedroom today and straight to my fishroom (typical morning ritual) and found my Dad decided to gyprock that newly framed section of wall, plaster it and do another coat of mud on the whole room. Thanks Dad, you are awesome!

Picked up more plumbing today, some eggcrate to add to 'guard' the overflow slot, a bin that I will effectively use as a drainage resevoir/sink for under the tank, and also some (a pail of) H2Ocean salt for my SW system! Woot!

I'll try to get pics up at some point tonight. For now, off to play with some plumbing

Cheers,

Chris

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by Funky_Fish14

For now, off to play with some plumbing

Keep in mind most of that plumbing was mine as you enjoy 'playtime'.