So I carried out a 45ltr water change. Got the opportunity to use my syphon with the hand starting valve, which worked quite well. Wasn’t the fastest flow (took about 30 seconds per ltr I reckon) but it was quite fun when my daughter thought that we were milking cows :-). I think the brown tinge must have come from my mopani wood, I had left it soaking for two weeks and the last water change was clear, but perhaps it is due to the fact that the water I was soaking in it started out warm and then cooled in the bucket whereas in the tank it’s getting kept at 25degrees constantly, which may be leaching more of the tannins out of it. Will keep an eye on it over the next couple of days, but the process of using the syphon wasn’t bad and I want to do a few water changes over the next couple of weeks as the fishless cycle continues.
Tank Day 5
Been keeping the cycling dosing going but noticed that one of the poorly plants was pretty much dead so took it out and moved some other stuff around to fill the gaps. It’s kicked up the cloud again though – will leave the plants alone now I think 🙂
Tank Day 1
OK, so the cloudy water is starting to clear and none of the plants have fallen out yet so quite happy. I’ve taken a video to see how it comes out and how easy it is to add to wordpress so here goes. OK, so wordpress want 60 dollars for the privilege – I think not. Let’s see if we can embed a youtube video.
ok, so they didn’t like that. Must be a way to do that they don’t correct……
Tank is now planted
Let’s see how long it takes for them to die 😉 Should be ok given that I put in two tubs of the substrate and the gravel on top, should last I hope…..
My Dad came round and we spent about 3 hours cabling it all up and making sure that it looked good. Turns out that my Grandad was into fish keeping but back in the day he didn’t have it anywhere as easy as this tank is to maintain. Internal filters, that needed to be totally removed not like the Fluval 305 that I have – don’t know how he could have been bothered to be honest!!!
Tank is up
Put the tank on the base the other night and put the background on it.
Thanks to Dean my Neighbour, who lifted it up with me 🙂
Base is built
Only took me 90 minutes and did it by myself. Pleased that after it sitting for over 5 months and the kids constantly trying to stick plugs/pencils/juice in the box it was unmarked and went together really well.
I then switched the room lights off and put the moon light on in the front of the cabinet.
You can see how the light it casts falls on the rear wall, I think that when the tank is in and fully planted it’s going to look pretty cool – I can’t wait until the extension floor is finished and I can get the tank in place and start cycling it shortly…..
Background purchased
Decided on the following background
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200561076234&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT
Getting 4 foot of it (120cm) as the tank is W121cm x D46cm x H64cm
Substrate
Going to lay down two tubs of this
http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/fish/aquatic_plants_care/ground_materials/103094
It seems to be a decent substrate having looked around. On top of this I have 2 bags of gravel from pets at home
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/stone-mix-aquarium-gravel-by-pets-at-home-25803
It’s got a decent mix of gravel sizes so should be good for the plants that I am planning on putting in. In total I will have 12Kg of the substrate and 40Kg of gravel, which I reckon should cover the bottom of the tank nicely. If it doesn’t I have just checked on the pets at home site and they have 5 bags of it in stock in Kirkcaldy – nice feature and you can get them to reserve it for you before you go – very handy. Think plants might be my next post…….
Air Pump
Looked around at various air pumps, but I have gone for the Tetratec APS 300 which is able to pump 300 l/Hr. The Vincenza should hold 240l when full, so this should be good with a little bit of headroom – better too much oxygen than too little I think.
http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/fish/technic_and_accessories/oxygen/102731
It’s arrived and I have the adapter that they advise on the site to make it work in the UK, but tempted to cut the plug off and fit a standard plug myself – I am ok with a scredriver and wire stripper 🙂
First Post
Ok, so here goes on the first post. I plan on setting up a tropical tank (Fluval Vincenza 260 Limited Edition) and plan on recording it here for posterity and for me to look back over afterwards, man I sound really sad :-).
Here’s what it looks like in the brochures.
Tank is purchased and is sitting in the bedroom at the moment (with lots of disproving looks from Lee-Ann) but shouldn’t be too long before the extension is done and I can get the tank set up in it’s final location.
iainonthemove 