Sairving's Shiny New Tank

[sairving]

New Journal time!

As some may have read, I needed a new tank stand. My really cheap one needed to be replaced. Then I was distracted by shiny rimless tanks.

What does one do? Buy a shiny UNS 60s and a new stand. 

Today, I spent the day putting my slightly more expensive but still sort of cheap stand together.

Bought a Topfin stand. The stand itself is manufactured by Sauder. How hard could it be? Not too bad until two of the screw holes for the feet were stripped. One trip to Menards later, I had screws that would work.

The cabinet doors vexed me all afternoon but they are mostly straight now. 

 

Top picture is the finished product. There is an adjustable foot underneath the stand in the middle which is a nice feature.  The feet themselves are heavy duty plastic wrapped in decorative pieces. 

The screws in the picture are what I replaced two of the factory provided screws with.  

I'm waiting for the new tank lid to arrive. Should be here in a few days. 

 

[sairving]

 

Sophie helped, Winston took a nap 

[macdaddy36]

That tank is gorgeous! Any idea what you're gonna put in there?

[sairving]

On 11/26/2023 at 5:05 PM, macdaddy36 said:

That tank is gorgeous! Any idea what you're gonna put in there?

Currently, I have 6 Rice fish, 3 white clouds, 2 pygmy Cory's (started with 4), and an assassin snail I can never find. He makes an appearance then disappears. 

The tank will be planted but I'm still trying to figure out how I want to scape it. 

My hope is that my fluval nano or finnex planted plus clip will have enough spread. If not, I'll need a new light. 

Filtration will be handled by a Sicce Whale 120. I stopped by my lfs, we talked about the tank and how to filter it last week. The other options were an internal Aquatop with a UV sterilizer, or several tiny HOB filters. 

[Galabar]

I think, with a wide, shallow tank you like, the canister filter is a great option.

Internal filters would have to be turned on their sides.  HOB was be really obvious.  Neither is very aesthetically pleasing.

[sairving]

On 11/26/2023 at 9:11 PM, Galabar said:

I think, with a wide, shallow tank you like, the canister filter is a great option.

Internal filters would have to be turned on their sides.  HOB was be really obvious.  Neither is very aesthetically pleasing.

The HOB was very small too. I've used the Aquatop Forza 5-15 filters before. They are perfect for 3-5 gallon tanks.

Only piece of equipment in the tank will be a heater, which I use to keep the tank temperature stable.

 

 

[DaveO]

On 11/26/2023 at 4:40 PM, sairving said:

Sophie helped, Winston took a nap 

Your Sophie looks just like our Katie who, sadly, has past.

[sairving]

This evening, I've been working on mocking up the filter. 

Sicce provides some tubing for the filter but not enough. I stopped by my lfs and picking up some different tubing. It's super stiff and a smidge too big. I'm not taking it back because it will work in an emergency. 

The filter is sitting on one of the shelves because it's easier to route the tubing through the top opening. More flexible tubing is on my list of supplies to buy. 

Anyway, I took two pictures of possible setups. Right now I'm leaning towards leaving the inlet and outlet on the back of the tank. 

Edited December 2, 2023 by sairving

[sairving]

Let the chaos begin. I decided to use what hardscape I have first but it's not going to be enough. Guess I'll go shopping tomorrow for some hardscape and plants.

Tank is draining, plants are soaking in water with peroxide in attempt to deal with algae.

[sairving]

Welp....I picked up the old stand and it promptly fell apart. Good thing it's being replaced. 

[Guppysnail]

On 12/2/2023 at 6:36 PM, sairving said:

Welp....I picked up the old stand and it promptly fell apart. Good thing it's being replaced. 

That is unnerving! 

[sairving]

On 12/2/2023 at 9:31 PM, Guppysnail said:

That is unnerving! 

Yeah, it is. 

[sairving]

Frustrating night. I cannot get the canister filter to work. No matter what I do, it will not start a syphon. The filter is either noisy or it's quite. But when it's quite, the thing starts to leak. 

The tubing has no kinks, it's connected and sealed properly. Spent the evening yelling colorful language at it. 

So I have a teeny tiny HOB in the tank just to provide flow. Fish should be fine. 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by sairving

[sairving]

Sooooo after making multiple messes with the canister filter and trying a Aquatop internal nano UV filter, I put my Seachem Tidal on the tank. 

The UV filter has too much flow but I plan on keeping it to deal with algae issues. The fish should be fine to run the filter for a few our with the UV light on if necessary. 

[sairving]

Right after setup.... The fish have been doing well. I've been dosing prime and stability all week. On Sunday, I dosed the tank with fertilzer and excel. 

[sairving]

It has been forever since I updated my tank journal. These last few months, I've mainly been doing water changes and dealing with algae. 

Life has been busy and I am going through burnout due to my stressful job. My career coach told me to focus a bit of time everyday for myself (while working on making a carwer change). So I've been spending time working on my tank.

A few weeks back l, my betta tore his fins on some of the hardscape. After some antibiotics and water changes, his fins are finally growing back. 

Yesterday, I cleaned the filter, glass, and  removed algae. I haven't really done anything with the plants just to see how they would grow. 

Things I need to address: 

Lighting- while I love my fluval nano, I'm not sure if it's the correct light for this tank. Algae keeps growing directly underneath, no matter how low I set it. 

Plants- I need some anubias in my life lol. 

Substrate- The mixing sand and fluval stratum are bugging me. 

 

 

[sairving]

Over the last week, I have been really thinking about this tank. 

Mixing substrate: This really should have occurred to me. My sand has shifted and is mixing with the aquasoil. I plan on trying aqausoil in mesh bags where I want the plants. Maybe mesh overtop weighed down with fine gravel would work too. 

Plants- anubias (smaller varieties), crypts , juncus repens, maybe a dwarf lily

New driftwood- my betta keeps injuring himself on the current piece

 

 

[sairving]

Came home from work to a box from FedEx! Yay! My new light! 

I decided to play around with the lighting and ordered a Chihiros B 60 with the Bluetooth controller. 

Build quality of the light itself is really good. I'll post a separate review after i play around a bit. 

The chihiros app let's you change the brightness and set the time. 

 

Right away, the colors pop really well. I set the brightness to 30% and timer for 6 hours. The picture bellow is with the brightness all the way up. Please Ignore the algae. 

Edited August 13 by sairving

[sairving]

I did a thing over lunch at work......ordered a large amount of aquarium plants.  

 

[Guppysnail]

@sairving your tank looks wonderful.  It’s always a pleasure catching up on your journal. 
Good luck with the career changes. 

[sairving]

On 8/15/2024 at 12:00 PM, Guppysnail said:

@sairving your tank looks wonderful.  It’s always a pleasure catching up on your journal. 
Good luck with the career changes. 

Thanks. I'm just too exhausted at this point for me to continue in the airline industry. The sad thing is I like what I do. Upper management wanted to move me into a leadership development program that would eventually lead to the possibilityof being of being in senior management. I would have to move out of state working at larger stations. Due to life, that's just not possible at the moment. 

 

Edited August 15 by sairving

[sairving]

The Oase Filtosmart 60 arrived. Unfortunately, there was not enough tube in the box for my application. It's also very stiff. 

I will need to find some 9/12 mm tube that is more flexible. 

Edited August 17 by sairving

[sairving]

The Oase filter is on the tank. I did make some modifications. 

The sponge is now on the inflow side. I shortened  the sponge tube thing like @Dacotua did and filled other side with biomedia. 

I also replaced Oase tubing with Ehiem 9/12mm hose. I really dislike the included inflow/outflow outlets and inlets.

A 10 mm spin pipe has been ordered to baffle the flow for my betta. I'll most likely order a glass infow too. For now, the outlet has some sponge over it. 

This is the first time I've actually seen the water flow in a complete circuit. 

I'm thinking of putting the filter in the cabinet as well. 

[sairving]

New plants arrived today! They are tiny! I removed them all from the plastic they shipped in and set them in the tank. Tomorrow after work, I'll rescape the tank. 

I need more plants. Anubias is the only plant I will not purchase from my LFS. Brought a plant home with rhizome rot and lost an entire tank of Nana petite. 

 

[sairving]

Tank chaos! I do have a spin pipe for the filter. It will also be going on the floor.

Edited August 19 by sairving