Rob and Mariann's 30g Community Tank

[robflanker]

So I figured I’d start a journal for the project of setting up a tank for the gf. Some of you might have seen in some of my posts she is obsessed with Angels – so they’ll be the focus of the tank. This is the first tank I’ll be setting up post-research and after having found this site. So I am kinda excited to be using my new found knowledge.

Tank & Stand
30g tank and I think my brother is going to be building a stand. It’s definitely a work in progress.

Stocking Plan
1 angel (probably a Silver or a half-black), 8 panda corys, 12 harlequin rasboras

Filtration
Two AC50s – should be more than enough. Planning on a foam/carbon/biomax in one, and then deciding between a foam/biomax/foam or biomax/foam/biomax in the second one. Opinions welcome

Hood
Hood has your regular cutouts but we have two filters. Both will fit in the filter cut out if they go next to each other but we were thinking that it’d be better to have them at opposite ends of the tank with the heater in between to get a good current and filtration in. We could cut the hood if we had too, but I’d rather not. Thoughts on two filters next to each other vs opposite ends of the tank?

Temperature Regulation
Visi-therm Stealth Heater 100W & Coralife Digital Thermometer

Air Pump
Whisper 40

Lighting
This is my area of biggest concern. We had a tank without a hood, so we bought a cheaper hood from Dr. Foster and it came with a 20W 24inch 9200k (exact number I forget) bulb. So the tank is 36 inches long, and so I’m concerned there is going to be areas of darkness as well as I’ll only have 0.6W per gallon. Any thoughts on this? We aren’t planning intense lighting but want some plants.

Substrate
Trying to get my hands on some 3M Colorquartz either S or T grade. The gf and I will check it them out and she’ll decide. If not, it’ll be play/pool filter sand of some variety. Ultimately, it’ll be black. Also contemplating some Sena plant food stuff that gets placed beneath substrate for the plants to feed but I need to do my research on it.

Decor
With black substrate, she wants a black background which will be a black paper or card from a local arts supply store. In addition, we will be going to a local rock and gravel place and looking for broken up slate to create a slate pile or similar feature. Next, there will be some random driftwood which we’ll be getting from the woods near her parents house – it’ll be soaked, scrubbed before entering the tank. It will also be planted, so I am hopefully getting Java Moss, Watersprite, and Dwarf Lettuce from some AC members – so she’ll probably get some as well. We are also looking at Java Fern as well.

Timeline
Hopefully we’ll be putting the tank together and she’ll be getting some seeded media from my 10g in like 2 weeks (6/20). At that point, she’ll have 6 rasboras and my used material and her two filters. Then 2 weeks later (7/4), hopefully her filters will be seeded and we’ll add another 6 rasboras. Then 2 weeks after that (7/18), the corys will get added. And then 2 weeks after that (8/1), the centerpiece Angel will go in.

Any thoughts or recommendations are certainly welcomed. There are so many great journals on here and I’ve learnt a lot but I might have overlooked something. Thanks in advance!

Photos to follow soon-ish

[Northernguy]

So far I love the idea for your tank!:22:
I am looking forward to seeing this get started! lol
I like your ideas for filtartion.You could try one filter with two sponges and biomax and the other 1 sponge and biomax. Thats what I have on one of my tanks and it seems to work great!thumbs2:
Is she going to learn how to do her own w/cs? hehe:19:

[springe]

Help me please and help me get photos on a post.



PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[robflanker]

NG - yea she is learning how to do WC and tests and stuff. We bought the pieces to do a DIY 50ft Python - so much cheaper. It'll cost us like $20-30 instead of the $85 I saw at our LFS.

I appreciate the advice on the filters too - any thoughts on positioning of them relative to each other?

Springe - can't help you with the pictures, ive had troubles myself.

[Red]

very nice rob, good luck with it, and keep us updated..

[Northernguy]

Just make sure they are evenly spaced in the tank so they can both filter their half of the tank.

[robflanker]

Thanks RS - there will be definitely pictures once I have something to take pictures of! Right now its just boxes of stuff, lol. We are debating the stand stuff now so as soon as we figure that out - ill upload the relevant pictures.

NG - hmm ok thanks. Thats what we were afraid of. We are going to have to cut a bigger hole in the hood. Any recommendations on how to do this? I know you're a canopy man but I figure i'd ask.
Oh also NG - while I remember, I saw somewhere that you have a night-light set up with a simple single regular light bulb in your canopy. I've been thinking about doing this for the gf but in a lamp on the side of the tank. What kinda bulb do you use and where did you get it? Thanks!

[robflanker]

So i've been contemplating two substrate options;
1) Tahitian Moon Sand $13 for 20lbs which I think i'll need around 40lbs
2) 3M colourquartz which I am having a nightmare trying to get a hold of

Either #1 or #2 - i'd like to add something for my plants. I was thinking about mixing in a bag of eco-complete or similar in with whichever option just to give the roots some feeding. I know the sand/quartz will result in the larger particles working their way to the top - but thats not such a bad thing right?

Thoughts on mixing plant substrate with sand/gravel?

[rich311k]

Sounds like a good plan you have. I would seperate the filters. If you mix in planted substrate use at least 50% or it is pretty much a waste of money.

[Kaz]

Help me please and help me get photos on a post.

Just slap your self ten times.

Then google "image shack".

Upload your photo to image shack.

Click direct link.

Copy the url.

Paste the url between and So it looks likeI Finally figured out how to post photos despite my immense unability to understand instructions!

w ww.imageshack.com/somethingspringewantstoshowus/

[robflanker]

hmm thanks for the thoughts rich. I was planning on using water supplements for the plants as well but ive been reading about how many are root feeders and so wanted something in the substrate. Problem is Mariann wants sandy substrate look, and the eco-complete is too "chunky" for her. Still think its a waste considering dual use with water fert?

Anyone have any recommendation on cutting additional lumps out of a plastic hood?

[rich311k]

Yes if you cant use 50% or so, just go with root tabs.

[robflanker]

Hmm alright thanks rich. I'll have to let her pick the poison - she wants sand and doesnt wanna deal with root tabs. She can't have her cake and eat it! :hmm3grin2orange:

[rich311k]

This ([Only Registered Users Can See Links.]) is another option. You still need the plant tabs until the tank gets established.

[robflanker]

Cool - thanks for finding that for me Rich! Sounds like that might be the best of both worlds - a finer plant substrate that should be able to mix well with the sandy substrate

[PostalPenguin]

Take a look at Flourite black sand, should be what you both are looking for. :-)

[robflanker]

PP - thats exactly what Rich's link was too.

But two votes for that sounds good to me! Thanks

[Taurus]

Hey Rob. What's the Whisper air pump for? Do you really need it whith the 2 AC50s? LOL..told ya you'd be ahead of me. The trip to Cali. really tapped me out.

[robflanker]

Hey Rob. What's the Whisper air pump for? Do you really need it whith the 2 AC50s? LOL..told ya you'd be ahead of me. The trip to Cali. really tapped me out.
Mariann likes the look of the airpump, so that was one reason, and also in case we get an ich outbreak or something we wanted to get it in the tank.

You need to get cracking man!

[Taurus]

You need to get cracking man!

Yeah, yeah. Soon as I recover from the jet lag. I never had jet lag affect me like this before. Whe[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[robflanker]

An update of sorts;

Decorations
So we went to a local gravel place today and got probably 80lbs worth of slabs of slate for the tank, which cost $10. We are going to smash them up a little and then glue them back together. The inspiration was a Discovery channel documentary on a creatures around deep sea vents, whose fossils were found on Spanish cliffs. I cannot find a picture, but i'll show you what I mean when its done. It'll be a jagged slanted slate thing.

Lighting
So I was concerned that the watt per gallon wouldn't be enough. Its a 30g tank with a 20 watt light. So we went out and bought some of those spot light LEDs that are used for undercabinet lighting. So the lightbox is 36inches long and the bulb+housing is in the middle 24 inches, leaving 6inches either side. We'll mount this lights on the top of the light box. They claim they are 20W each, so we should be close to 60W. The spotlights cost $20 for 3.

I shall upload some pictures when we have more to show! But thats the idea at the moment

[robflanker]

Ok I will be posting an update every 2-3 days with pictures starting Thursday!

We have a ton on the tank, and taken a ton of pictures. I just need to sort and order the pictures, and then we'll be posting.

Thursday we'll construct the tank and post our first update.

7/9 (next Thurs) we'll get our first fish!

[robflanker]

So this was meant to be written in a bit more real time, but i got caught up in various things - so while the text is present and future tense, this is all wrapped up and i'll post a bit more current status last. But i wanted to post the process;
Substrate
So we decided to go with Tahitian Black Moon Sand 80lbs. We couldn’t find 3M colorquartz at a price we liked nor in a time-frame that matched what we wanted. Spent $52 with $10 shipping from DrF&S – so we are okay with that.

Stand
So we are using one of the base metal stands like so;
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
But I am paranoid so we decided to add a pair of shelves to add some functionality. So we bought ¾ inch MDF 4ft by 8ft for $27 at Lowes, and got them to cut it into the pieces. We are going to have a ton of leftover wood, which is fine, it’ll come in handy at some point and we can always add more shelves if we so wish.
Mariann painted it black and did X coats of paint on it. The top shelf was designed to add a 4inch lip at the back of the tank, so we could place the powerstrip, air pump on it, and basically keep all the wires and stuff behind the tank. And here is the after;
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
And 2 pictures to show the lip design;
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[Taurus]

Looks great Rob, and functional. Do you think it will be a bit top heavy without some weight on the bottom rack?

[robflanker]

Decorations
So Mariann had the awesome idea about decorations for the tank. We saw some awesome rock formations on a Discovery channel documentary about fossils on the coast of Spain. I can’t find an inspiration picture but you’ll get the idea in a minute. We went to a local rock, gravel place and spent $10 for about 50lbs of slate. Here is picture of the various pieces;
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
So the basic idea was to splinter the slate, and then glue it back together in kind of slanted fashion. This would give the look of a relative jagged formation but with a natural look. We used gorilla glue to put them together – here is a picture of one of the many steps;
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
And the finished product;
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[robflanker]

Looks great Rob, and functional. Do you think it will be a bit top heavy without some weight on the bottom rack?

I wondered about that but the stand is designed to not have a shelf on it so i dont think it will be a huge issue.
Right now we have all the fish supplies on the lower shelf, and then eventually - they'll get moved and a flower pot will go on it. It'll also be the place for a QT tank

[fishbum]

I have a 30g on metal stand,with no shelf,and the weight of the tank,water,and substrare make it very stable.It is not at all top heavy.

[robflanker]

Driftwood
Mariann found some interesting pieces in the woods around her fathers house. After selecting the better pieces, we scrubbed them down with a wire brush, trimmed them a bit to fit in my tote full of water. We did 4 or 5 different soaks and drains, the first two were with hot salty water, then we scrubbed some more, then we soaked them in normal water for a couple of cycles. In total, the wood has been sitting in the water about 2 weeks and was held under water with some weights.
Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures during this process.

Cork sound box
We wanted to make a cork sound box to put the air pump in to reduce any annoying vibrations. We got cork at a craft store, and then gorilla glued it together. And hey presto done! We’ll see how it works once we put the tank together! *edit - works well!*
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[robflanker]

Lighting
So this was the area of biggest concern. We had a 17W 24inch bulb which for a 30g tank would barely give us any wattage – 0.56wpg. So we bought a pack of LED undercabinet lights to mount into the light box. Each pack had 3 individual bulbs and cost $20 at Lowes. Each set up is 20W. The lightbox is 36inches and the bulb component is 24inches giving us 6 inches at either end. In here, Mariann placed some cork to act as a base in which to mount the LED lights on to it.
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
We gorilla glued the LED bulb mounts onto the cork with a slight angle to try and maximize light into the tank. Here is how it came out;
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
In addition, we added the tinfoil beneath the bulb that came with the hood, as recommended by MCHRKiller as shown below but with just the main bulb on;
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[robflanker]

Lighting Update
So we glued the LEDs to the cork plates shown - unfortunately they are very yellowy and we couldn't replace them with LEDs in the appropriate light spectrum in the right size.
So we kept them in there and bought two desk lamps and two CFL daylight bulbs to add light to the tank of the right style. I don't have a picture of the current set up so i'll have to owe you that one.

Driftwood Picture
I found on in the post-water photos, so a teaser while I write that part up;
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[King Tut]

Not sure if you ever got you answer to how to cut out the hood. I used a dremel to cut my hoods that have 2 filters on them. I found this to go pretty good with it on low speed. I don't know if this is an option for you.

[Kaz]

I can't wait.

Decorations look awesome if you can make them look natursl and cool.

The slate looks especially nice.

[robflanker]

Lighting Update Part 3
HA! Found a picture of the lighting issue – so in the first picture you’ll see the lighting from the lights that are built into the light box.
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
And now you see when we turn on the LEDs
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
As you can see they are two very different colours. The main bulb at that point was a 9000k bulb hence its bluey nature, and I’d guestimate that the LEDs are more in the 2000k range.
The water is really cloudy as this was the first time the water was hitting the tank, but it actually helps illustrate this point rather well.

Couple more tank filling shots
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

Ok that its for tonight seen as I forgot to bring my list of what the plants are exactly, I’ll add those tomorrow and then post the pictures of the tank with the plants in it. Then eventually we’ll get pictures with actual fish in them, lol

[robflanker]

Not sure if you ever got you answer to how to cut out the hood. I used a dremel to cut my hoods that have 2 filters on them. I found this to go pretty good with it on low speed. I don't know if this is an option for you.
I did but thanks for the offer. I just put a buzzsaw on really slow and it kinda worked. lol. not the prettiest but its functional.
I can't wait.

Decorations look awesome if you can make them look natursl and cool.

The slate looks especially nice.
Thanks Kaz - the slate was Mariann's favourite part. It looks really cool in the tank.
There will be full tank shots tomorrow but they are a bit murky. Over the next few days, there will be some cool pictures.

[Taurus]

Rob, it's great to see all the wood\structure in the tank. Your fish will love all the structure. Very nice work so far. thumbs2:

[robflanker]

Rob, it's great to see all the wood\structure in the tank. Your fish will love all the structure. Very nice work so far. thumbs2:

Thanks bud! Check back tonight for more updates!

[robflanker]

Plants
So we decided to do a lower number of plants as Mariann wanted a more minimal look in the tank. Also cost was an issue, so we wanted to a get a smaller number of plants and just let them grow in. The LFS had a buy 2, get 1 free sale so we got the following 6 plants for $20;
Anubias Nana
Micro Sword
Dwarf Hairgrass
Dwarf Sagittaria
Anubias Congenesis
Green Wendtii

Mariann planted them in the tank in a fashion she liked. Here are the very early pictures following addition of the water and plants, but before the dust from the TMS had really settled.
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[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

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[Jaster]

Looks great Rob! thumbs2:

[robflanker]

And a few more for good measure;

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

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[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[robflanker]

This takes us up to relatively recent – we are in the process of adding fish to the tank. We currently have 13 rasboras in the tank and the plants have grown in nicely.
Current stocking plan (dates are approx but within a day or two);
12 harlequin rasboras (we have 13 because I forgot how many I was meant to be getting lol)
8 panda corys (4 on 8/6, and another 4 on 8/13)
Powder Blue Dwarf Gourami (8/20)
Angel (8/27)

We should also finish seeding Mariann’s two AC50s next week. It’s been a month with my whisper 10, and gradually building up the stock so I feel comfortable with a month of seeding. Obviously we’ll keep an eye for minicycles.

The Green Wendtii (back centre left) lost almost all its leaves instantly – but there is a ton of fresh growth so while the plant isn’t very impressive right now its still alive! The dwarf sagittaria was fine for a long time and is recently losing some leaves but again there is new shoots so im less worried.

I’ve taken pictures today of the tank and I shall post them tomorrow when I can upload them (don’t have my cable with me).

[robflanker]

Looks great Rob! thumbs2:

Thanks! We are one month away from the angel - can you imagine how excited Mariann will be when we get her (its already been decided that it will be a 'she' lol)

[rich311k]

Looks great! Nice job.

[robflanker]

Looks great! Nice job.

Thanks Rich! ITs nice to have planned out a tank and see it come together pretty well

[Kaz]

Thanks! We are one month away from the angel - can you imagine how excited Mariann will be when we get her (its already been decided that it will be a 'she' lol)

So I can just see you guys buying the fish and then deciding what gender it is.

"I think it should be a female"

"You know there is a good chance it isn't and we can never know for s-"

"That's funny, because I'm pretty sure it is female."

Funny stuff.

[robflanker]

Lol thats pretty much exactly how it will go Kaz. We've (she) already has the names picked out too

[robflanker]

So we have now lost 3 fish in our tank - all rasboras. One jumped out very early on, then we lost one to unknown causes (there is a thread around here somewhere), and then we just lost another to jumping again.

So we have towels over the holes in the tank but apparently this guy was determined to get free and managed to get out still.

In addition, we've just noticed ich in the tank. Looks like we caught it very early as there are only a few little white specs on one or two of the fish.

So we are off to Walmart to buy Rid-Ich. It's frustrating as we were going to get our corys this week and now that plan has to be shelved. ugh

[robflanker]

Rid-Ich bought and put in tank (and fingers now stained green too)

Temp up, AC off as its too close to the tank and will just counteract the heater.

Carbon out.

QT tank set up tomorrow (lol too late now but we'll keep going on our plan to get corys this week, they'll just go in the QT tank)

[robflanker]

So the corys are in the main tank with the 12 harlequin rasboras. The juve angel is in QT and the dwarf gourami should arrive wed

Enjoy the pictures;

The rasboras
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

Corys
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Juve Angel;
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[rich311k]

Nice cories!

[robflanker]

Thanks Rich! I'll try and get picture of the different sizes of the corys. I have 4 big ones, and then 4 really small guys - its amusing to see them next to each other

[candice&jeff]

The tank looks great!! Love your little cories, so cute!! Good luck with everything!!:ssmile:

[robflanker]

thanks c&j! We lost one cory last night to unknown causes - believed to be related to acclimitization and stress, but so far the rest are doing ok.

We'll be adding the dwarf gourami later this week provided no more problems.

The angel will be added sometime the following week from the QT tank

[mattsbottleofjager]

Tank is looking good, I really like what you did with the slate. Sorry to hear about losing the cory.

[robflanker]

Yeah the slate is a cool design. Very very very cheap to do, and kinda fun.

Try it out yourself and thanks for the praise

[Lab_Rat]

Nice looking fish Rob! Not so sure about the blue/white gravel though...

[robflanker]

Nice looking fish Rob! Not so sure about the blue/white gravel though...

Oh shush its a QT tank, the gravel was free and I needed to set it up in a hurry

[KingFisher]

Nice pictures Rob. I like the corys best. thumbs2:

[robflanker]

Thanks KF!

[Goodbye]

nice pics, rob! thumbs2:

[robflanker]

Thanks aga!