boxheads biotope journal

[boxhead1990]

hi im michael or boxhead(boxy) to some and heres my tank journal,

okay so i think my tank will fit into this section as im aiming for a biotope style tank and will probably add potted plants later on but for now just a natursl style tank

specs:

aquariums r us 4x2x2 foot tank (drilled with plumming)
2.5footx12x10? sump with glass baffles(was from my old reeftank)
2000litre per hour return pump
white sand substrate(im a vac nutter at times)
4 bulb 39watt t5ho light with 2 10k bulbs(might put some actnic bulbs back in to make colours pop later on)

300watt aqua one heater(it was cheap and hasnt broke yet)
the tank holds about 410 litres /110 gallons at the bulkheads when running tanks cloudy right now because i just put sand and water in(theres no fish yet)

im just waiting on 3kg of ceramic noodles from ebay and my temp ph monitor from on there also ( one of the little temp displays that shows ph aswell)

stocklist:

so i would like to have about 8 to 10 discus in total of varying types that i will probably buy from a local breeder
i will be cycling the tank with some bristle nose plecos and i may add some others down the track

the plan is to do a 20% change every 2nd or 3rd day and dose with seachem prime with the water changes

my uncle keeps discus and said he will help me where needed ect this isnt my first tank iv been keeping fish for last 10 years ( most of my fish were natives at one stage i had a nice little african tank that was going really well closed it down to start a reef tank and then lost my job and couldnt afford that so went back to natives for 12 months and went away for a weekend and the pumps stopped and between the fish and plants they ran out of oxygen)

which has brought me here as iv always wanted to try discus so thats what im gunna do now and do it well
display (hasnt cleared up yet but should be nice n clear tomorow or the day after
http://img.tapatalk.com/31b2d87e-df22-bc11.jpg

sump looks too empty atm 3kg of ceramic noodles should fix that
http://img.tapatalk.com/31b2d87e-dfa5-5cb6.jpg


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[boxhead1990]

changed overflow to a durso style set up with 90's on the back wall and t splitters on the outside and with the tops open is considerable quieter also replaced the bulkhead on return side and now have spraybar fitted and a much more even flow from the sump all i need now which will have to wait is a dew 200 micron or finer filter socks (not looking forward to the first week or 2 of use gunna have to clean it several times a day)

added 7 bristle nose that my uncle bred and bought a couple of sucker catfish which is as far as stock will go will be it till i get my discus which im aing to get a lot of about 8 to 10 depending on bills and stuff


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[pseudocaesar]

I used to think that Planted tanks were the way to go, but now im loving sand and driftwood tanks. Its the look I will be going for in my new tank, cant wait to see how yours turns out

[boxhead1990]

this is a photo of what the tank looked like before i lost all the stock and decided to give discus a go and i was cleaning the tank when it really didnt need it so i think i have the right maintanance attitude to keep discus nice an happy
http://img.tapatalk.com/0129e52c-8c80-e79f.jpg
oh im getting excited too here is a picture so far tomorow im gunna do another vac and use my net to scoop some of the debris from the sand im not gunna add fish till i can reliably test my ph as i killed my ph pen tester when my barramundi archers mono and bass all died when one of my pumps fell over and took the oxygen with it this tank was planted and i gave it bloody good clean out after the casaulties and tonight i put my actnic bulbs back in the light to see how i liked the colour and jeez i forgot how much i liked rhe look of actnic with 10k haha heres a current picture http://img.tapatalk.com/0129e52c-8b63-ea16.jpg

and i cant beleive how much quieter the overflow set up is with a durso style set up im gunna put a pipe on one that runs down almost to the bottom of the tank so it pulls water from down there too

and to think when i have a bit more room il be upgrading to a 8 foot by 2 foot by 2 foot with sump but il probably plumb the sump into the garage which is next to the room im taking over at a later date and this will probable be a reef tank again at some stage


damb im good at being carried away and writing a very long post with not alot of point -.-"






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[pseudocaesar]

Looks great! Makes me excited to get my sand/dw tank set up

[boxhead1990]

what is dw???

and the second picture the sand is white sand from tingalpa landscaping supplies and one bag was $8 and that was enough to do that tank oh and the sand pops too vecause theres 2 actnic bulbs and 2 10k bulbs basically a reef set up but i have the blues at the front so if i switched them to the rear it wouldnt look so blue to be honest

bloody wraped with how this is all set up apart from my sump its not quiet big enough but il build a new one soon out of a 3 foot tank if i can find one for cheap


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[boxhead1990]

will be adding 5 brilliant turks and 5 pidgeon bloods tomorow looking forward to it aswell


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[DiscusBR]

Looking good.


what is dw???

Driftwood


will be adding 5 brilliant turks and 5 pidgeon bloods tomorow looking forward to it aswell

Did you cycle your tank? You have to before adding discus. Water parameters?

[boxhead1990]

everythings reading zero and i dont have a kh test kit my water is the same as rod from fishmanias tap water iv had 7 bristlenose in since day one day 2 and 3 i had spikes then all settled pretty quick tomorow il be changing about 250 litres depending on what time my dad gets home

http://img.tapatalk.com/31b01a57-a110-7eb5.jpg

next week i should be adding another 2 from rod and after that every 2nd week will be adding 2 a fortnight till i have about 14 fish total


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[boxhead1990]

next week il have my proper sump on the tank and with that il be able to run a second heater which i am going to run off a thermostat for a reptile enclosure(i keep snakes aswell and my bredli fidget loves my fishtank for some reason)

his enclosure has been run from one of these for some time now so i am gunna buy a second one(for the discus tank) to run my improved heating set up as i am not trusting of aqua one products but i had actually bought it as a temp fix for my last heater dieing and not heating my old reef tank

thermostat(atc-300):
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Thermostat-ATC-300-Digital-timer-/260941187467?pt=AU_Pet_Supplies&hash=item3cc14e898b#ht_1722wt_952

titanium heater(weipro 500w):
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Weipro-titanium-Heater-500w-watt-CE-certificate-IPX8-/160728296536?pt=AU_Pet_Supplies&hash=item256c272c58#ht_2490wt_1139

wouldnt mind other peoples thoughts and i will probably run 2 heaters incase one decides it wants to fail(i might do that with my return pump actually as i have a few laying around from my old reef tanks)

[boxhead1990]

so heres some pictures so i have a referance and theyv settled in nicely

http://img.tapatalk.com/31b52ea1-f530-f704.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/31b52ea1-f548-1400.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/31b52ea1-f55b-1630.jpg

this ones so have a referance picture as they grow
http://img.tapatalk.com/31b52ea1-f56f-5d59.jpg


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[walt3]

nice!

[boxhead1990]

cheers mate ones got a little pepering on its underside tho -.-"

but still really nice fish cant wait till next week to ger more!!!


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[boxhead1990]

got my temp and ph monitor in the mail today has a 4 digit read out for ph so i stuck it on the front

http://img.tapatalk.com/31b6b1d4-7f04-8c31.jpg


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[boxhead1990]

http://img.tapatalk.com/31b20006-42fa-5e50.jpg


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[boxhead1990]

http://img.tapatalk.com/31b20006-4364-7018.jpg


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[boxhead1990]

http://img.tapatalk.com/31b20006-43a5-bc30.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/31b20006-43cd-f8f9.jpg


cheeky buggers must have wanted a picture taken as i was trying get a picture of something else

http://img.tapatalk.com/31b20006-4470-6254.jpg


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[boxhead1990]

2 new aditions today

reflection D

http://img.tapatalk.com/31b9ef54-5c50-9682.jpg

turk
http://img.tapatalk.com/31b9ef54-5c7c-2ad1.jpg

gunna wait till rod gets his next shipment after my next 2 fish which will be yellow sunrises and maybe another 2 checkerboards


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[pseudocaesar]

Beautiful fish! Turqs are one of my favourite Discus, and it looks like you have a beauty.

[Len]

I have that same ph/temp meter. I like it, but just a word of caution, once the batteries start to get low, which will be fairly quick, the ph reading wont even be close to accurate. The temp seems to stay pretty accurate though. I've been trying to find an AC adapter for mine, but have yet to find one that works.



got my temp and ph monitor in the mail today has a 4 digit read out for ph so i stuck it on the front

http://img.tapatalk.com/31b6b1d4-7f04-8c31.jpg


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[boxhead1990]

il keep that in mind but my water seems to stay around the same ph all the time tho i just got it so i dont have to test for it

mine doesnt have a plug for an adapter tho there was one similar on ebay that had an adapter but was set up for USA's lower voltage unfortunately

that being said you could probably solder in a plug so that theres no batries and an adapter for the right voltage its just finding one will be the main issue




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[Len]

mine has the plug for the adapter, I just haven't found one that actually works. Soldering directly to the battery terminals might be an idea though.

nice tank btw, I like the clean simplistic look.

[boxhead1990]

cheers yeah i was thinking about soldering simething on that would work but il wait till the battries die first

my batteries in my thermometer have lasted over 12 months now so these one should atleast last a few months lol


and thanks i had a reef tank previously so i have come to like the minimal stuff in the tank as far as equipment goes water stays freaky clear all the time too its a pitty the front panel on that tank has scratches might find a polishing kit from somewhere when i upgrade that tank id still love to turn that tank into a nice reef set up at some stage (origanally why i bought it) but thats later on


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[boxhead1990]

http://img.tapatalk.com/31b93caf-c0ce-5248.jpg

as you can see the checkerboards are being snobs........ tut tut


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[boxhead1990]

as of today there is plants

im thinking of slowly adding plant every week after my next 2 discus and getting some sort of carpet happening

in the future i will be building a led unit using cheaper 10w diodes and running c02 eventually

but for now im keeping it low tech just need a good source of carbon for the plants till i decide to put together the led unit



http://img.tapatalk.com/0129712f-86d2-5fea.jpg


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[boxhead1990]

well wednesday next week i shall be buying 2 yellow sunrise pidgeons as a b day pressie to myself

jeez time is starting to fly........


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[boxhead1990]

http://img.tapatalk.com/31b7e3e1-dfe4-5292.jpg

so now im up to 7

2 yellow sunrises and a penang eruption?? i cant rememer the other ones strain(woops)

all eating like pigs but one of my checker boards are being pretty agressive towards my reflection d

if it keeps it up it will go into a qt tank till it decides to calm down..........


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[boxhead1990]

well i havent updated in a while

the discus are doing extremely well 4 fish have decided to what looks like pair up and proceed to lay eggs one pair is my 2 checker boards and the other is my reflection d and i think the other is a eruption of some kind(cant remember the name of the strain entirely checkerboards have there own tank now tho


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