Gastroplod

Yes, always lids. My tap water is: PH - 7.8, N03 - 1.0, KH - 5.9, GH - 6.8 Ooh, yeah wow those look amazing. That is tempting. Also an interesting suggestion!

The tank in question is 30x30x122cm, which according to volume calculators is about 100l/26g. I really like the look of long shallow tanks, but I'm a little paralysed by the many possibilities now. I'm not interested in high tech plant aquascaping or marine (if this is even suited for the latter), mainly because of the cost and associated stress/complications of that end of things. I already have an Eheim classic 250 currently unused that would be the right size but if I'm being honest, i find canister filters a bit annoying - and Eheim especially are very clumsy to clean. I like and use sponge filters/internal power filters, so anything short any setup requiring a sump or something like that, i'd be game for in order to suit a particular set up. I've always admired the "big rocks and brightly coloured cichlids" tanks, but I also love the idea of making a flowing river/stream aesthetic since the tank dimensions are so well suited. Top fish I've been considering so far (not all mixed together obviously): Kribs for breeding (did this before, loved it), tightly schooling danios, smaller rift lake cichlids (which ones?), a big shoal of corydoras (or whatever we're calling them now)... What else could I do that I might not have considered? Please enlighten me 🙂

It seems like the trade-off for small tanks vs larger tanks for a new fishkeeper is a lower financial barrier to entry into the hobby, at the cost of it being more unforgiving to (for want of a better word) sloppy technique. I guess like how it might be cheaper to buy fat wax crayons than Copic art pens, but you wont be able to colour between the lines on a fine drawing as easily.

I recently had the same issue with aragonite sand (which I understand to be essentially the same thing, just ground up finer) - and my LFS wouldn't believe me about it causing an ammonia spike until I left a bunch of it sitting in fresh dechloriated tap water for a week, then got them to spin test the water from that container against my regular tap water. They still have no idea what caused it beyond "some form of contaminate mixed into the sand", but at least we proved it was actually the cause. I know this doesn't help your problem but just to back you up and say I believe you when you say you think it's the coral causing the issue, as unlikely as that might seem on paper 🙂

Nah we decided not to move for the time being, so I just put this tank into action rather than go another day starting it empty wishing I could be fiddled with it hah.

Hi again, I'm just posting this here because the thread I started about 3 weeks ago referring to a mishap I had with a shell dweller set-up appears to have been deleted 😞 I was hoping to give the people who offered good advice an update. I've finished cycling a new 60 litre tank for the remaining Ocellatus, and now I'm waiting to hear back from my LFS about a restock so I can give this little dude some friends asap. So yeah, glad that all worked out in the end. Additionally, I upgraded my planted community tank to a 90 litre cube - which contains some fantastically red, extremely energetic Albino Cherry Barbs. I thoughT they looked a bit meh in the store, but they pop so hard against all the greenery. I cant get a decent pic of them close-up cuz they never stay still long enough.

Hello all, quick query. I'm not intentionally running a Walstead-style tank here, but my existing 40l aquarium always tests perfectly parameter-wise, PH stable at 7.5, KH at 6, GH at 10, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, all zero. I feed the fish once a day (mostly Hikari small granule food, and frozen brine shrimp once a week), I feed the plants once a day alternately with Leaf Zone and Florish and pull out the excess growth so they dont starve each other. If the KH drops, I buffer with a little Bicarb. I'm super happy that it's all chugging along so well, obviously - but since the water is fine, I don't really do water changes. I was topping off with RODI when it was hot, but now that it's Australian winter time, I don't even need to do that. But should I still do a small one now and again, just for the sake of it? I don't see any reason to myself but I'm a bit like "oh.. I guess i'll just feed and not do anything" haha.

Agreed, I don't want to have a tank leak/explode on me. Well this is a pretty ringing consensus of "no, don't do that" - so i won't be doing it either 🙂

Thanks for the replies. It does beg the question how often these things would actually break, because I'm always amazed that you can put a big tank on a frame that doesn't have a solid base. So there must be a lot of physics happening in the glass. Maybe having a stout bit of wood under the entire tank that itself hangs over is enough to spread the weight and pressure. It's really hard to know sometimes what's actually worth worrying about, and what's just being overly fussy with fishkeeping. I appreciate the input 🙂

Hi all, I've seen a few pics of people doing stuff like this - and I'm interested to know what the general consensus is in terms of long-term safety. I have a 16g tank that I would ideally like position like that on my rack, and it would only overhang buy maybe 2-3 inches. these ones in the above image look like they are on some pretty hefty stiff insulation foam, which I have - but is this considered okay to do? Thanks 🙂

It’s all just natural tannins from the wood actually. The plants are doing such a good job keeping the nitrates down that I don’t have to do a lot of water changes so I guess that helps the colour stay nice and dark. I also love the black water aesthetic 👍🏻

Thank you both 🙂

Hello all, I’m joining this forum because I think my partner and mates are sick of me trying to talk their ears off about aquariums. I have been away from the hobby for a while but in the last six months or so I’ve been re-acquainting myself with everything - learning what former facts are now considered wrong, seeing the development of different tech etc. It’s been really fun to get excited about something I’ve always enjoyed since I was a kid. Right now I’m about to move house (rental to owning), so I’m mostly just scheming on my set-up, while maintaining the following: A) 250l cold water tank with two 5cm goldfish, hornwort, Aqua One Nautilus 2700 and sponge filter back-ups (and for future tank set ups) B) 40l blackwater style tropical setup with 4 cherry barbs, 6 juvenile guppies, 6 WCMM, an Oto, and a mystery snail called Gary. That one has an Eheim 160, Java ferns, heaps of wood, vallis, crypts, frogbit, mosquito fern, duckweed - it’s technically overstocked but that was due to a tank emergency, and the water tests consistently perfect - in fact, I have to fert a lot to stop the plants starving themselves. my plan post-move is to move the tropicals to a 90l bookshelf low profile tank, then set up two 90l cubes with shell-dwellers and kribs respectively and try breeding some. With the goldfish on the bottom of a large shelving unit housing the whole lot Anyway, I look forward to asking questions and learning from everyone. Thanks!