# My new tropical fish tank



## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

I had a freshwater tropical fish tank a few years ago and I enjoyed it so much that I decided to go for it again with a larger tank this time round. I had it made to my specs and I picked it up last weekend. The tank itself is 48" long x 24" high and 18" deep (about 340 litres) with the total height working out to 57". The plants, rock and bog wood you can see are just placed in there at the moment until I put in the 3D background (which arrived yesterday) which I also had custom made to fit the tank.


























This is an image of part the background which will also go along the end nearest to the wall so no walling will be visible once it's installed









The tank should take about three weeks or so to cycle before I will put any fish in it but I don't mind waiting as the end result will be worth it.

I'm really pleased with the way it tones in with the existing furnishings and should look amazing in about two or three months time when there are fish in it and the tank has settled down a bit.

I was very tempted to go for a marine tank but I don't think that I would be dedicated enough to keep on top of all procedures (let alone the expense) so freshwater it is.

Anyone else keep tropical fish?

Graham


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## Danny1 (Sep 2, 2010)

Looks good mate, i havnt got fish but i do keep exotic reptiles


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## skitty (Apr 1, 2011)

I had a 9 foot by 3 ft by 3ft marine tank until last year, looked great but was like a full time job maintaining it and tripled my leccy bill.

Looks good mate, move into marines next??


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## oldhipp (Feb 7, 2009)

Looks really nice,I used to keep Marines which looked stunning when every thing was going ok,but is was always an on going battle fighting algae.
I eventually(reluctantly) gave it up due to the running cost,mainly as you say electricity.


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## skitty (Apr 1, 2011)

oldhipp said:


> Looks really nice,I used to keep Marines which looked stunning when every thing was going ok,but is was always an on going battle fighting algae.
> I eventually(reluctantly) gave it up due to the running cost,mainly as you say electricity.


I got mine exactly how I wanted it and then got whitespot and wiped out 600 quid worth of fish in a week, used to cost me 80 quid a month in salt.


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## Dash (Oct 5, 2008)

Not sure about the sofas!

I had tropical fish when I was a kid as my family. But we lost interest after a few years.

Loaches are great for helping out on the cleaning. I had some that were similar to these:

































Fish aren't very interactive. They say they're calming but I reckon that's probably more the noise of the filters


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

You've all said the reasons why I'm not going marine - costs and time, I want to enjoy this and not for it to become a chore which I'm sure it would become in the end, if I want to see a marine tank I can go down to my local garden centre and see them there - and then walk away without any of the costs or time to look after it. 



Dash said:


> Not sure about the sofas!
> 
> Fish aren't very interactive. They say they're calming but I reckon that's probably more the noise of the filters


My house is a timber framed thatched cottage which is over 360 years old, the sofas look fine in it, but apart from you not liking the sofas and that fish aren't interactive, you're OK with it then. :lol: :lol:

Graham


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## everton5 (Dec 15, 2010)

so what fish are you going for? bog wood would indicate cardinals and discus?


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## T3RBO (Dec 9, 2003)

Very nice


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

everton5 said:


> so what fish are you going for? bog wood would indicate cardinals and discus?


I haven't totaly decided yet but it will be a community tank with Pearl Gourami's and a selection of different Rainbows plus something like Neon Tetras to act as shoaling - something like that but I will make my mind up nearer the time.

Graham


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## Gazzer (Jun 12, 2010)

put some tetras in now grham as they are cheap and will kick start the conditioning process. looks good m8 & i love the sofas


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## Chubster (Feb 14, 2011)

Get a couple of Plecs for algae duties,Bronze cats nice too (love the armour plated look)
4+ clown loaches is all the entertainment you will need once they settle in ( mine used to form up in a wheel shape and do loop de loops lol).Siamese Fighters are a bit temperamental so careful on that score,tiger barbs are a no no cos of their fin nipping.
Shoals of 10-15+ neon/cardinal tetras look amazing as does the odd red tailed shark (once settled with full colour).
****** Loach are mental as are Kissing Gourami (huge territorial battles if ur not careful).
Zebras are nice for surface shoals,also white cloud mountain minnows.Honey gouramis as a pair are sweet too.
Sailfin Mollies and Swords make nice standouts too.
Seeing that tank makes me want to get one going again now I could afford the one of my dreams years ago lol.
Also dont forget the treasure chest that burps bubbles and the purple neon skindiver


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## jamman (May 6, 2002)

I like it (and your sofa)

I love fish and anything that smells of fish :wink:


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

Yep, plecs will be in there but again, I'm undecided at the moment which ones - there are so many to choose from. I'm on the very first stages of setting up ( less than a week) and as I'm doing a fishless cycle then I've got a bit of time to think things through as regards what fish I want. I've used donna bacteria from my mates tank to help speed up the cycle so just hoping that it works.

You saying about seeing my tank has got you thinking again is exactly why I got this tank - I saw my mates tank and that did it, I was hooked again. 

Graham


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

jamman said:


> I like it (and your sofa)
> 
> I love fish and anything that smells of fish :wink:


Yeah, but you would eat them. :lol: :lol:

Graham


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## Gazzer (Jun 12, 2010)

Love_iTT said:


> jamman said:
> 
> 
> > I like it (and your sofa)
> ...


his week end female habits best left off a family forum :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## mikecrossuk (Sep 27, 2008)

The tank looks really nice, and a great size and feature of your living room.

I've got a 75L tropical tank (only got an average size living room) i've been looking at the Bio-Orb tanks very modern and funky.

Not the best person to give advice on fish but i'd be interested to see what you get. Most of the fish which have been mentioned i've previously had or currently have.

Defo reccomend the plek great at helping keep the tank clean.


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## mighTy Tee (Jul 10, 2002)

Time to start modding Graham. Turbo Charge the PH and using silicon hoses for better water flow.... :lol:

Seriously though look into using programmable LED lighting instead of the standard fluorescent lamps which can add some nice colour effects effects. 8)


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

mikecrossuk said:


> The tank looks really nice, and a great size and feature of your living room.
> 
> I've got a 75L tropical tank (only got an average size living room) i've been looking at the Bio-Orb tanks very modern and funky.
> 
> ...


I will definately be getting a couple of pleks but haven't decided which ones yet but I will be getting these:

Pearl Gourami (about 8-10) and they grow to about 5" in length









Rainbows (about 12-14) and these grow to about 4" in length, they get more colourful as they get older.











mighTy Tee said:


> Time to start modding Graham. Turbo Charge the PH and using silicon hoses for better water flow.... :lol:
> 
> Seriously though look into using programmable LED lighting instead of the standard fluorescent lamps which can add some nice colour effects effects. 8)


 :lol: :lol: I think the tubing is actually some kind of silicon by the looks of it Richard, this time though I splashed out on a decent external filter/pump, a Fluval G6- awesome piece of kit.










I'm seriously thinking of the LED's as I've got 4 tubes at the moment which are going to consume a fair bit of electricity over time plus as you say, they can look give the aquarium a stunning look too, but this is all part of the fun of it.

Graham


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## everton5 (Dec 15, 2010)

The issue u may hav with rainbows is they like a neutral tank not acidic like the neons


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## senwar (Apr 21, 2003)

Nice tank setup that.

Got a 4 foot tank ourselves that we've had for about 8 years. Prior to that just had a small 2ft tank for about 5 years.

Sadly for the life of us we just can't seem to get it right these days and any new fish we buy seem to last a week maximum. We've given up and haven't bought any for a year or so - we've got two orange gourami's that we've had for about 4 years and don't want to do anything further to distress them. Lovely fish, but look very lonely in such a big tank!

Had some lovely siamese fighter fish over the years, and really love plecos - but as I say, for some reason we're struggling these days. Might be worth a complete rehaul of our equipment.


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

everton5 said:


> The issue u may hav with rainbows is they like a neutral tank not acidic like the neons


And this is the problem.

No matter who I speak to on the fish forums, I get conflicting answers, some folk say "Oooh, you can't mix these fish with those" and then someone else will reply and say that they've had those mixes for years and no problems - it's a nightmare trying to get a definitive answer. There are obviously some definate No no's but I'm just going to give it my best shot and see what happens. One thing that does seem to come up time and time again is that the varying species have to be introduced gradually rather than putting them all in at once so that the natural higherarchy(sp!) is achieved.



senwar said:


> Nice tank setup that.
> 
> Got a 4 foot tank ourselves that we've had for about 8 years. Prior to that just had a small 2ft tank for about 5 years.
> 
> ...


It seems a shame that you have a nice sizeable aquarium and not using it to it's full potential. I think you are right, perhaps a complete overhaul might be worthwhile, if you've still got the small tank you could pop your remaining Gourami's in that (along with the water and filter) while you do the overhaul. It was great going round the shops and choosing all the bits, it's certainly changed a lot since I had my previous aquarium especially the filtration side of things - maybe a trip to you local fish shop at the weekend? :roll: :wink:

Graham


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## senwar (Apr 21, 2003)

Love_iTT said:


> It seems a shame that you have a nice sizeable aquarium and not using it to it's full potential. I think you are right, perhaps a complete overhaul might be worthwhile, if you've still got the small tank you could pop your remaining Gourami's in that (along with the water and filter) while you do the overhaul. It was great going round the shops and choosing all the bits, it's certainly changed a lot since I had my previous aquarium especially the filtration side of things - maybe a trip to you local fish shop at the weekend? :roll: :wink:
> 
> Graham


Its looking at that filter you posted that has made me think about an overhaul. Equipment and technology has moved on, so it may be worthwhile. We didn't keep the 2ft tank but actually bought another 2ft tank a few years ago as a holding tank for when we had to move the big one for a new carpet (which was surprisingly a lot easier than I expected!). So may actually do that to be honest.

Also, we used to have a great shop literally a minute away but sadly they went out of business a year ago, so we've drifted off a bit.

Good luck with your setup - its sort of re-ignited my interest this thread!


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

senwar said:


> Good luck with your setup - its sort of re-ignited my interest this thread!


Excellent! Go on, you know you want to :wink:

I visited loads of shops before settling on this aquarium just to get a feel for what's going on but primarily to suss out the knowledge of the people in the shops too and the ones I kept going back to and stood out from the rest were the large chain of Maidenhead Equatics. They had a good selection of stock and the fish stocks were always top quality and never saw a dead fish floating in any of their tanks which is more than can be said for some of the places I visited.

There will always be exceptions of course but generally they came out tops for me and where I ended up getting all my stuff from in the end.

Graham


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

OMG!!   I've just seen this!! Check out the YouTube video and the storm sequence - they are definately going on my shopping list. :lol: :lol:

Graham


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## everton5 (Dec 15, 2010)

Best advice I can give is the more hardier the fish are the 1's the more ph distance u can put between them like neons


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## les (Jul 24, 2006)

Up till early this year this was my heavily modified Betta Lifespace 1000 marine reef aquarium. I have appeared on a TV programme written articles pioneered advances in marine reef keeping, done many talks to clubs and in zoos and won awards in my time.


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

Very nice Les, you say up to early this year - does that mean you no longer have it?

Although I love the look of Marine tanks, I just don't think I could throw the time, money and commitment into owning one and what I don't want to do this time round is to loose interest in it because it has become a chore and I think if I'm honest with myself, a Marine tank would be just that after a while, I do envy people who manage it though. There are quite a few posts on this thread where people have had Marine tanks - 'had' being the operative word. All credit to you mate. :wink:

Graham


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## les (Jul 24, 2006)

Yes Graham I sold it off bit by bit as it was costing me a fortune in electricity esp as I am now semi retired. All the pumps and halides meant running it was very expensive. I am not the type to do things by half and it was a wrench to see it all go. I still have a nice little nano though and one day who knows I may return to a larger tank.
v


Love_iTT said:


> Very nice Les, you say up to early this year - does that mean you no longer have it?
> 
> Although I love the look of Marine tanks, I just don't think I could throw the time, money and commitment into owning one and what I don't want to do this time round is to loose interest in it because it has become a chore and I think if I'm honest with myself, a Marine tank would be just that after a while, I do envy people who manage it though. There are quite a few posts on this thread where people have had Marine tanks - 'had' being the operative word. All credit to you mate. :wink:
> 
> Graham


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

les said:


> Yes Graham I sold it off bit by bit as it was costing me a fortune in electricity esp as I am now semi retired. All the pumps and halides meant running it was very expensive. I am not the type to do things by half and it was a wrench to see it all go. I still have a nice little nano though and one day who knows I may return to a larger tank.


Oh thats a shame Les as it really did look a lovely set up but I can understand your decision only too well.

I've just finished off mine today by putting in the 3D background, not for the feint hearted by any means but I got there in the end, I just got to be patient and let the tank go through it's cycling which I hope will be about 3-4 weeks and then I'll gradually introduce the fish.


































Graham


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## Chubster (Feb 14, 2011)

Not sure if your using real plants or not ( they look real lol) and it was many moons ago when I had my tank but...
a lot of my mates had tanks too but none of em could keep their plants alive.
Mine grew like I had poured a pint of triffid blood in the tank lol,only diff I recall was that I had some pink Grolux fluro tubes as my lighting and I think my mates had standard blue tubes.
Not sure how stuff grows with the LED's but something to think on


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

Chubster said:


> Not sure if your using real plants or not ( they look real lol) and it was many moons ago when I had my tank but...
> a lot of my mates had tanks too but none of em could keep their plants alive.
> Mine grew like I had poured a pint of triffid blood in the tank lol,only diff I recall was that I had some pink Grolux fluro tubes as my lighting and I think my mates had standard blue tubes.
> Not sure how stuff grows with the LED's but something to think on


Yeah, all the plants are real but I do expect them to die off a bit initially but then pick up again, I've got about 3-5mm of nutrient rich substrate underneath the top layer of gravel so hopefully the the roots well start getting established even if it's to the expense of some of the top foliage. Liquid fertiliser will be added once a week as well.

Neon lights are looking very tempting now that I've seen what's available but at the moment I'm running 2 x 39W Life Glow, 1 x 39W Tropic and 1 x 39W Power-Glo so nice and bright

Graham


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## Chubster (Feb 14, 2011)

I just had undergravel filtration and plonked the plants in,one particular weedlike plant would grow to 2ft+ and I gave cuttings from this to my mates and it too grew like crazy in their tanks.
Perhaps I had green fingers or something back then lol.


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

Well you were obviously doing something right!! :wink:

Graham


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## Gazzer (Jun 12, 2010)

under grav filter was very plant friendly compared to the top uplift filters


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

Three months down the road and the tank is now looking like this:










*The fish stock is now:*
6 x Platy
2 x Pearl Gourami
6 x Golden Gourami
4 x Opaline Gourami
6 x Boesemani Rainbow
3 x Flying Foxes
2 x Bristlenose Plecs

Oh yeah, and I won Aquarium of the month (August) on one of the fish forums I belong to. :wink:

Graham


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## les (Jul 24, 2006)

Nice work Graham.  
I have just bought a River & Reef 94L marine tank again and in the process of setting it up. here it is so far.








Long way to go yet and only set it up last week.


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## Love_iTT (Aug 18, 2002)

les said:


> Nice work Graham.
> I have just bought a River & Reef 94L marine tank again and in the process of setting it up. here it is so far.
> 
> 
> ...


He he!! I wondered how long it would be before you set up again Les, couldn't resist eh? :roll: :wink: Well done mate, should look a stunner.

Graham


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## Nem (Feb 14, 2005)

I'm liking the blue ones


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## Nathanho123 (Jul 25, 2012)

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=298269


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## les (Jul 24, 2006)

My tank now nice and mature and bursting with corals of all sorts both hard and soft, LPS, SPS etc etc etc.


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