My 2.5' Tank

[GoGuppy]

Hi all

This is my first post so I'll intoduce myself briefly.

Became first interested in tropical fish as a boy many many years ago, as mum had a few tropical tanks in her restaurant on display, this was when the theory was that you don't change the water too often, as the water had to 'mature' (I think that was the expression used). Anyway, after a few years I became more interested in motor bikes, travelling, taekwondo, etc, etc. Got my first and current tank in '98 and have gone through a few make-overs since then. I started off with guppies (hence the go-guppy), then focussed on SE Asian fish, later shifted towards Sth American cichlids, then became intersted in planted tanks and now becoming more intersted in rainbows.

Shown below are a few shots of the tank.

Fish stocked presently include neon tetras, juliei dorys, a royal whiptail, boesma rainbows, neon rainbows, pearl gouramis and a dwarf cichlid. Yep, I am slightly overstocked but couldn't resist the rainbows.

Plants include various crypts, corkscrew val, blood stargrass, anubias, pogo stellata, blyxa, java fern and java moss. I run a CO2 tank with solenoid valve synched up to the lighting timer. Currently about 1 bubble of CO2 per second Filtering is looked after by a Fluval 203, which I used to clean weekly when I started, but now clean it about once a year or less...

Look forward to participating in the forum.

Cheers

Peter

[wombat1100]

G'day and Welcome Peter,
thats a great looking tank you have there, I love a planted out tank like that. I am currently building up my plant stock so it will get there eventually!
Dazz

[GoGuppy]

G'day and Welcome Peter,
thats a great looking tank you have there, I love a planted out tank like that. I am currently building up my plant stock so it will get there eventually!
Dazz[/b]


Thanks Dazz

I've only started the CO2 bottle about six months ago and that has made life easier. Before spending up bigtime for this system I used the DIY CO2 system based on an empty coke plastic bottle and a sugar-yeast mixture which worked well but after a couple of years became a bit tiresome.

I also bought the new system to help overcome an algae problem I was having (that was my excuse anyway), but in reality, the Algaefix I used did the job of getting rid of the algae, eventually.

My tip, for what it's worth, is to start off with the commonly available types of plants (ie the cheaper ones) as these are less demanding and usually grow and multiply quickly. If they don't, then try to find out what's wrong, because if they don't grow, the less common plants (ie the more expensive ones) certainly won't.

Good luck with your tank.

Cheers

Peter

[wombat1100]

Thanks Dazz

I've only started the CO2 bottle about six months ago and that has made life easier. Before spending up big time for this system I used the DIY CO2 system based on an empty coke plastic bottle and a sugar-yeast mixture which worked well but after a couple of years became a bit tiresome.

I also bought the new system to help overcome an algae problem I was having (that was my excuse anyway), but in reality, the Algaefix I used did the job of getting rid of the algae, eventually.

My tip, for what it's worth, is to start off with the commonly available types of plants (ie the cheaper ones) as these are less demanding and usually grow and multiply quickly. If they don't, then try to find out what's wrong, because if they don't grow, the less common plants (ie the more expensive ones) certainly won't.

Good luck with your tank.

Cheers

Peter[/b]


Peter,
could you please give a description of the "old" co2 system you used to use, maybe in the Technical & DIY Discussion (http://www.thefishtank.com.au/forum/index.php?showforum=40) section, I would be very interested to hear what is involved, might help out us less monetarily gifted aquariests.
Dazz