Setting up a fish tank (11)

Bring in the Assassins!

Packed in water and filter material.

My Assassin Snails arrived by post this morning. I’ve brought them in to hopefully clear up the snail infestation naturally. Apparently they assassinate other snails for food. Funny thing was, that there were five snails and one empty shell in the box. Was this their packed lunch? Anyway, I popped them into the darkened tank and left it a couple of hours before putting on the lights. They had all gone their separate ways and were spread out over the gravel and glass.

They are quite decorative compared to other snails and at least I have something to look at moving around in the tank. I can’t put any fish in yet until I finish “cycling” the water, which will take another couple of weeks. Hopefully, in the meantime, the Assassins will decrease the number of small snails that are appearing all over the place.

I also got some more small pices of bogwood today, and am soaking them in hot water. I’m not taking a chance with the varnish again so I’ll get as much stain out of them as I can by constantly replacing the hot water over the next couple of days before having a rearrangement of the plants.

Hopefully these striped carnivores will rid me of my infestation, or at least keep it under control.

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Seems you need a science degree…

The API Master Test Kit will ensure your water quality is improved.

Haven’t posted lately, because nothing much has happened. I bought an API Master Test Kit to ensure the water is safe for the introduction of fish, and started a “fishless cycle” to get the friendly bacteria working in the filter.

This process involves dropping 1 ml. of household ammonia into the tank for every 50 litres of water, so in my case it’s just over 3 ml.
Every day you use the kit to test the ammonia reading, and add more as required.

Eventually, when the bacteria are at full force, the ammonia is converted to nitrites, and then to nitrates. The instructions will explain it better than I can, but eventually when all the readings are correct, the cycle has started and the fish can be introduced. They have more chance of survival if this is all done properly, otherwise there is a major risk of them not lasting long, due to what’s called “new tank syndrome”.

So apart from carrying out the daily tests there is not a lot else to do.
The plants have grown at an amazing rate with the aid of a weekly dose of liquid fertilizer. Unfortunately so have the snails! The chemical killer had little effect, despite the claims made on the box. I am now waiting delivery of five Assassin Snails. These are large striped snails that eat the others. I have heard good things about them. One good thing is that they themselves are very slow breeders, so when they have cleaned up the pests I can pass them on to someone else with the same problem.

One more thing. If you are thinking of buying the API Master Test Kit get it on eBay, it’s half the price of the high street shops.

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They are tiny at the moment but grow very quickly. I don't want them laying more eggs.

Snails pace…

Things are really slowing up due to the snail infestation. I was hoping to have a few fish in the tank by now but I don’t want to stress them while there are chemicals in the water.

I made the mistake of leaving the carbon filter pad in the Eheim when I put the first dose in. As the carbon is meant to remove chemicals when setting up a new tank or after treating a disease it must have neutralised the effect of the snail killer, as they just kept appearing.
I took the carbon out of the filter yesterday and gave another dose to the water. I’ve seen a few shells floating about on the surface, so it must be taking effect, but there are still many small live ones lurking about. Only time will tell.

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Another setback…

One thing I forgot to mention in previous entries was that you should carefully check all plants for snails and little blobs of jelly that contain their eggs, and remove them under running water.
One thing that I failed to do myself, was to carefully check all plants for snails and little blobs of jelly that contain their eggs, and remove them under running water.

Yes! I’ve already got snails in the tank and it’s not a good sign. The little pests breed like wildfire and infest a tank extremely quickly. I’ve removed them as soon as they appeared, but don’t know how many more there are yet. As there are no fish in the tank yet I may be able to resort to some kind of chemical cure if necessary.

I used some snail killer today, and hopefully will not have to use it again. We’ll see.

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Looks a bit bare without the wood but I'll add some more decor soon.

My first disaster…

At least there are no fish in the tank yet so at least nothing was killed. It turns out that my yacht varnish idea wasn’t a very good one. I had to take all of the varnished bogwood out of the tank yesterday afternoon. Now I’m wishing I’d taken Terry the fish man’s advice and put a layer of plant fertilizer underneath the gravel, because the plants are now going to play a more important part than I had planned for.

You can see the filter intake on the left.

I noticed yesterday that the water was getting more milky as time went on and that there were small white spheres forming all over the wood. I poked one with a planting stick and fount it to be flexible. When I pulled to first piece of wood out I discovered it to be bubbles filled with still liquid varnish! Out it all came, leaving the plants behind. I’m disappointed with this but there’s nothing else I could do.

This morning the water was clear again so it must have been the cause of the problem. My next plan is to get a few bits of slate as decor, and concentrate more on plant care. I gave them a dose of liquid fertilizer today to start with. Once the fish are in the tank their waste will hopefully help the plants stay healthy.

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The plants are not as I intended. I'll gradually move them around.

Filling, planting and switching on…

It was Tuesday. The resin holding the tank together was now thoroughly set, according to the manufacturer, and the new stock of plants was due in on Wednesday. I half filled the tank to save time the next day when I would complete the job.
When adding the water with a hose, or as I did, with a watering can, avoid disturbing the gravel by placing a saucer at the bottom of the tank where the water will hit. I used the tall piece of bogwood instead of a saucer, and ran the water down this.

Wednesday lunchtime I trotted off to Wholesale Tropicals in Bethnal Green Road to choose my plants. I’m going to try real ones for a while but as I never put a reccomended layer of fertilizer underneath my gravel they may not flourish. If this is the case I’ll revert to realistic looking plastic ones.
I chose a variety of species in tall, medium and short sizes and headed back home. I spent the afternoon pushing plants into the gravel but found it’s not as easy as it seems. Even in daylight a half filled aquarium is pretty dark. Add the fact that the refraction of the water makes the tank look much narrower than it actually is and it’s difficult to position them properly. I wish I had worked with the aquarium lights on now, but they were a bit of an obstacle.

The filter intake is on the left. It pumps out at the other end of the tank after passing through various materials.

I filled the tank fully using slightly warm water to get it near the working temperature (I bought a glass thermometer with the plants) and turned on the filter, which I had previously prepared according to the instructions. When I switched the lights on the plants looked nothing like I had planned (I may gradually rearrange them over time), and the water was really cloudy due to the disturbance of the gravel. There were also tiny bubbles everywhere; millions of them. On the glass, the plants, the filter pipes and every other bit of decor and equipment. Thankfully, when I got up this morning most have disappeared and the water is only slightly milky now, so by the end of the day all will be OK.

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Gravel, lights and decor…

Wash gravel thoroughly using a kitchen sieve.

Before you start, don’t forget to clean the inside of the aquarium with a damp sponge and wipe any splashes from the wet gravel as you go along.
25 Kilos of gravel sounds like a lot, but it was only just enough for my size tank. In fact, I’m not too sure that it is enough! I’ve had a boring afternoon washing it all thoroughly in a kitchen sieve and tipping it into a bucket before transferring it to the aquarium. It worked out to about two full buckets.

When I got it to the empty tank from the kitchen I wondered what the best way to transfer it from bucket to tank in the least messiest way I could think of. I had no garden trowel so had to improvise.

A makeshift scoop made from a small plastic milk bottle.

I suddenly had a Blue Peter moment and cut a plastic milk bottle into a small scoop, which turned out to be ideal for the job. Mind you, a bigger bottle would have made it even more ideal.

The best thing to do is slope the gravel downwards from the back of the aquarium to the front. The reason for this is that hopefully any uneaten food and fish waste (shit and mulm) will settle near the front of the tank, making it easier to remove. Whether this actually works is another matter, but that’s the theory. I used a foot long offcut of wood to help smooth it at an angle.
There are many different types of substrate in a range of colours and pebble size. I went for a smallish grade of natural river gravel.

Slant the gravel downwards toward the front glass.

Once the gravel was all in the tank, while the hood was still off, I decided to put the pieces of bogwood I had varnished onto the gravel. This took an absolute age to do. Every time I laid it out I decided it didn’t look right and started moving it around again. I’m still not 100% happy with it but I’ll wait and see what the effect is when the water goes in and there are plants in the aquarium. Although the yacht varnish has given the wood a high gloss appearance while out of the water, once it is submerged this disappears and it looks like normal natural wood. Once the decor was in place I put back the sliding glass doors in the roof of the tank and laid the lighting on top, mounted on plastic brackets that simply rest on the glass. They can be screwed to the hood of the aquarium, but I could see that this may cause a bit of a problem when removing the hood for cleaning and maintenance.

The two tubes in their reflectors simply rest on the glass on plastic feet.

The reflectors have small levers on each end that can vary the angle of the light. This can be sorted out when the aquarium is full. On Terry’s advice (the man in the fish shop) I have one freshwater lamp and one tropical lamp. The combination of these two types will give the plants the light they need and enhance the colours of the fish

Tomorrow (Sunday) is the day the tank can be filled with water according to the maker’s label. The resin holding the tank together should be fully set. The awful smell it emits has gradually faded away and is completely gone now. Unfortunately I won’t be able to fill it yet. More frustrating waiting! The reason? Plants. It will be almost impossible to plant the greenery into a completely full tank because of the depth. The aquarium should be filled about halfway and the plants put in then. As Wholesale Tropicals gets extremely busy at the weekend (especially as this is the Easter holiday) there won’t be much of a selection left. The plant delivery comes next Wednesday, which is also a quiet day, so I’ll have more time to sort out suitable varieties and get some advice from the two Terrys (Snr. and Jnr.) who have been in the fish game all their lives.
So until then I just have to sit and look at shiny bogwood on a gravel bed for the next four days!

The almost finished aquarium waiting for water, plants and finally, fish.

Setting up a fish tank (4)

The addition of a background picture also helps hide the mass of wires and pipes.

Background and lighting. 

 I’m really glad there was a delay before I could fill the tank, because I’ve certainly found other things ro keep me busy. It’s quite a long job to get things (hopefully) right. Today I paid another visit to Wholesale Tropicals and picked up a background picture and the lighting units.

As my finished aquarium will contain quite a bit of bogwood I chose a design that featured bogwood in it. I bought enough to cover the back, and one end of the tank, the end that’s against the wall and cannot be viewed through. Apart from making the finished aquarium more attractive, the background serves another important purpose; it hides the mass of electric cables and plastic tubes that run from the top of the tank to the cabinet beneath. 

To fix the plastic image to the aquarium a special adhesive called “Fixol” was used. The instructions tell you to lay the aquarium flat, pour a cap full onto the centre of the glass, lay the background onto it and then use the supplied scraper to spread the adhesive by working from the centre out to remove air bubbles.
Having seen Terry and his son heave the tank onto the cabinet when they delivered it, there was no way I was going to attempt taking it off again alone! I took a gamble and worked upright, just applying the glue as I went along and using the tool to spread in the direction I was working. It took longer, but had the same result (I hope). 

A lighting unit like this one by "Arcadia" is needed for each tube.

Next, I connected the pipes to the external filter and started to assemble the lighting units. This was a matter of fitting two brackets to each reflector 

These are the sealed connectors.

to hold the tubes (I’m using two), then connecting the tubes to the lighting units with the waterproof connectors. Be sure to leave a wide enough gap between the tank and the wall for you to pass the various wires and plugs from base to top and visa versa. I had to ease the cabinet forward about one and a half inches to allow for this.
 

This is one of the tubes attached to the reflector.

Cables, cables, cables and pipes! 

These are just the basic requirements that need electricity and plastic piping.

I didn’t realise how much cable and piping was going to be necessary. It’s like spaghetti. At the moment I have just crammed it into the bottom cabinet but before I fill the tank I’ll have to tidy it up a bit, for safety rather than tidiness; electricity and water don’t mix very well. I’ve use an extension multi point from one of the wall outlets but have plugged the filter into the other one so that it has its own independent source of power. That way it can keep going even though other items have been switched off for some reason. 

Well that’s as far as I got today, apart from giving the glass a thorough cleaning inside and out, and giving the two latest pieces of bogwood a second coat of yacht varnish. I still have to wait another four days before the tank is ready to be filled but I’m sure I’ll find some odd bits and pieces to do in the meantime.

Setting up a fish tank (3)

More things to be done before the aquarium is filled:

One important thing that is vital, is to ensure your aquarium rests on polystyrene tiles. My tank is 36 inches long and 15 inches wide so it needed four ceiling tiles, three full ones and the fourth cut into 3 inch strips.
If the all glass tank doesn’t have this beneath it there is a serious risk of it cracking when filled. The weight of the water will put pressure on the slightest unevenness of the glass or the surface it rests on, and the tiles prevent this from happening. A tank like mine (36 x 15 x 20 inches) holds over 50 gallons of water, and that’s a lot of weight!

Polystyrene tiles underneath the base of the tank.

Other things to think about are filtration, heating, and lighting. Also, the electricity power points to run these.

This Eheim external filter can pump up to 750 litres per hour around the tank for filtration.

I’ve gone for external filtration, and bought the biggest and best I could afford for this size aquarium. The reasons for this decision are that it is hidden away and not actually on show in the tank and is also easier to clean and perform maintenance on it without disturbing the fish. External filtration is also said by many to be the best. There are many different types of filter media that can be used in my Eheim filter but I’ll decide on that when it gets nearer the time to fill the tank.
I haven’t actually spoke to Terry at Wholesale Tropicals about the lighting system yet. There’s plenty of time for this and I’m determined not to rush into anything while I have to wait anyway for the tank resin to thoroughly set.

The left side of the cabinet houses the filter and also allows access to the electricity supply.

As far as electricity supply goes I was lucky because there was a double socket where I wanted to site the aquarium and I can easily use an extension lead for more sockets. All this will be hidden away with the filter in the one side of the cabinet that is open at the back. The other side is boxed in and has a shelf for fish food, books and other equipment to be kept tidily and out of sight.

The last thing I’ll talk about in this entry is the heater. Once again, don’t skimp on this part of the hardware. Get the best you can afford. The one I went for was the 200 Watt Visi-Therm. It has a removable protective cage around its glass exterior, an easy to read temperature gauge and an adjustment dial that goes up in half degree clicks. I’ll be letting you know how I set up the items mentioned today when the time comes, but for now, it’s back to varnishing another two pieces of bogwood. I had to get these because the other three pieces looked too small on their own and didn’t have enough height when I tried them in the bare tank. So in a way, the delay in filling the tank is doing me a favour by not letting me do things too quickly. I’m taking my time thinking about the final appearance!

This is the Visi-Therm heater I chose. You can see it here housed in it's protective cage.

Setting up a fish tank (2)

First the good news, then the bad.

The good news: Got a phone call from Terry at  Wholesale Tropicals on Friday afternoon telling me that my aquarium has been delivered to the shop. Could they drop it off to me that night. I tried to sound calm while attempting cartwheels along Moorgate and said I suppose so, as it was in their way.

The bad news: Friday night at 6.45 it arrived (so what’s so bad about that? I hear you cry). After the tank was lifted onto its base we saw the manufacturers sticker: “Do not fill till 04/04/2010″! Aaargh! Nine days of staring at an empty aquarium watching the glue set!

To be continued…

Finally delivered but still a long wait to get going!