Hi all,
Well I miss having a tank in the office, and am thrilled with the plant species selection available, so I think I will work with Henry and pull the trigger on the following:
1. Tank - 36x18x20 rimless non-drilled 50 odd gal (57 iirc?) from Deep Blue.
2. Filter - canister, most likely a Magnum 350 as I have had these in the past and liked them. This model has been quiet and reliable for me over the years. Decent flow and I like the micron cartridge for water polishing every now and then. Or perhaps an eheim pro model....Will check out what is available. 300+ gph should be fine.
Since the tank will be against a wall with a background (?) I may also use a small HOB filter for water surface movement and a bit of extra filtration. These have worked really well on 40br I have had in the past. Combined will be quiet and sufficient for my needs.
3. C02 - A rio 180 DIY NW for c02 or similar. I may use my eheim 1103 external NW but we'll see.
4. Lighting - unsure atm. I will review the fixtures Henry has, including LED. I may just bite the bullet and ATI it but I want to go a bit less pricey on this one
I would want max to get about 40-70 at the substrate, but most likely will use less. Some depends on the stand. I may get a simple fixture that has mounting legs....these work well for what I have in mind. Ez to push back for access.
5. Cabinet - really not totally enamored of the deep blue cabinets. Not bad, but would prefer something else. But, I want to get things going quickly, so I may buy one for now while I eventually replace it. A tank this size is easier to swap stands out than my 220
6. ADA amazonia new type as I have a case in the closet.
Scape:
I want a simple nice manzy piece in the back corner, built up on a decent slope so the branches are emersed. I will use smaller manzy branches to build the slope and hold it in place. I would like to have a manzy 'hill' and 'cliff wall' so to speak, and the carpet would start at the bottom of the 'wall' and spread like a plain outwards.
The manzy 'wall' would be visible and thus the branch on the top of the 'hill' would be elevated over the 'plain'. I will also make some small slopes in the plain, just as I like that look better than the level football field look
I have some stuff I think will work, or will simply have Tom send something over...I would have ferns and mosses, crypts around this. I would then have a nice carpet of perhaps stauro or the dwarf clover. But, I also like the hairgrass and lilleopsis scapes I have seen as well...
I would like to have some stem groupings as well. I would like to have some color with reds, greens, and perhaps some goldern nessea or something just to be different.
Since the tank is smaller, I can still manage to keep it maintained even if growth is quick...
Fish - I may get some festivums again as I really liked them. For dithers...Many options here but would prefer one species of schooler. I like the various bleeding heart tetras. Attractive, quick, eat anything, and I haven't had any in quite awhile..They will hold their own against the cichlids and never be eaten by them either...
Later.
Well I miss having a tank in the office, and am thrilled with the plant species selection available, so I think I will work with Henry and pull the trigger on the following:
1. Tank - 36x18x20 rimless non-drilled 50 odd gal (57 iirc?) from Deep Blue.
2. Filter - canister, most likely a Magnum 350 as I have had these in the past and liked them. This model has been quiet and reliable for me over the years. Decent flow and I like the micron cartridge for water polishing every now and then. Or perhaps an eheim pro model....Will check out what is available. 300+ gph should be fine.
Since the tank will be against a wall with a background (?) I may also use a small HOB filter for water surface movement and a bit of extra filtration. These have worked really well on 40br I have had in the past. Combined will be quiet and sufficient for my needs.
3. C02 - A rio 180 DIY NW for c02 or similar. I may use my eheim 1103 external NW but we'll see.
4. Lighting - unsure atm. I will review the fixtures Henry has, including LED. I may just bite the bullet and ATI it but I want to go a bit less pricey on this one
I would want max to get about 40-70 at the substrate, but most likely will use less. Some depends on the stand. I may get a simple fixture that has mounting legs....these work well for what I have in mind. Ez to push back for access.5. Cabinet - really not totally enamored of the deep blue cabinets. Not bad, but would prefer something else. But, I want to get things going quickly, so I may buy one for now while I eventually replace it. A tank this size is easier to swap stands out than my 220
6. ADA amazonia new type as I have a case in the closet.
Scape:
I want a simple nice manzy piece in the back corner, built up on a decent slope so the branches are emersed. I will use smaller manzy branches to build the slope and hold it in place. I would like to have a manzy 'hill' and 'cliff wall' so to speak, and the carpet would start at the bottom of the 'wall' and spread like a plain outwards.
The manzy 'wall' would be visible and thus the branch on the top of the 'hill' would be elevated over the 'plain'. I will also make some small slopes in the plain, just as I like that look better than the level football field look
I have some stuff I think will work, or will simply have Tom send something over...I would have ferns and mosses, crypts around this. I would then have a nice carpet of perhaps stauro or the dwarf clover. But, I also like the hairgrass and lilleopsis scapes I have seen as well...
I would like to have some stem groupings as well. I would like to have some color with reds, greens, and perhaps some goldern nessea or something just to be different.
Since the tank is smaller, I can still manage to keep it maintained even if growth is quick...
Fish - I may get some festivums again as I really liked them. For dithers...Many options here but would prefer one species of schooler. I like the various bleeding heart tetras. Attractive, quick, eat anything, and I haven't had any in quite awhile..They will hold their own against the cichlids and never be eaten by them either...
Later.
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