A blank canvus.....

Just thought I would start a thread for my 29 in wall. Those long time members will remeber this tank as a planted tank, a saltwater, and a meekii (firemouth) tank. Well I'm setting it up as my tanganyikan tank now. So far the fish I am thinking about trying out in her are; my calvus, my multies, 1 pulcher, 1 jullie ornatus. And that is it. Here's a picture. I have plans to get some substrate this weekend, and would like to visit a local landscaping company to look for stones as well. Not much to the picture but we will watch it evolve.

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Dont mind the construction of the house please.... its a complicated, ongoing project.

Looking forward to seeing how you set this up!

Me too, I have a pretty good idea. But we will see.

I am waiting to see what you do... still looking for ideas for my 29g.

I have a feeling I will have some sort of small community set up. I have a bristle nosed pleco I can put in it so far. I am researching dwarf pike right now...

Have not given up on an African tank, just not sure yet.

Its good that you have the ability to not be compulsive. Me and madness just by everything we see and worry about setting up more tanks later.

I am a little compulsive, I do have three bristle nosed plecos in my 120g

When you do see them its a real treat!

Funny,

That tank in the wall like that, really looks sharp. Cant wait to see it completed.

Thanks madness. I put it in like 2 years ago. I can't wait either.

It looks really nice. Do you have easy access in the back to do the maintenance? Any pics?

Its funny that the house fish_n_vw is in is the exact layout of the house I grew up in. He has of course remodeled a few things differently than my parents house but I never had thought about putting a tank in where he did when I was growing up. Pretty cool little spot for a tank!

There is a spot I have access, but it looks like crap. I will post some pics before the tank is setup.

The tank in the wall is really striking. I'm very interested to see how it evolves.

+1 to Betty's questions. When I got my first tank this winter, I told my mom about it. She was less excited then me. After a bit more talking it came out when I was young we had a fish tank in the wall of the basement and that it was much less than convenient or fun for her to maintain correctly. We moved out of that house when I was 5 so I don't remember it at all.

I have found it to be no more dificult to maintain. But no matter howw hard I try there's about 1/5 of the tank I can't reach when I need to srape algea. So I have to use a magfloat. Other then that its all the same.

Hey Im getting bored with the whole blank canvas, when are we going to see some fish in it?

Umlike spyral, I take my time, we will some substrate, and if I can source enough rocks at the right pirce, then those as well this weekend. I promis to update as I go, but it will not happen over night. I still need to get a filter as well, I'm trying to decide between a small canister, or a aquaclear. But this weekend I will be putting substrate and possibly rocks in. Since I'm going to try and do this tank right I'm going to be a little picky with the rocks I use. And I don't do anything except hang with the family and work on the week days aside from my water changes. I'm happy to see someone anxiously waiting (like I am), but we both know that the best tanks are thought out. So this is how I'm gonna do it. I move slow, I am not one to just jump when I'm planning, I'm sorry.

Just messing with you!

Im still working on my 29g. I have the stand built, have filter, heater, thermometer, and I just put a back ground it. It is pretty much ready to go, need sand or gravel and then just fill it up. Still unsure about fish , I do have a couple bristle nosed plecos and a ton of ideas...

OK now, this post is 3 days old. And that tank is still empty. Is your Elongatus Heaterii to aggressive in there, that you cant add anything with it?

Lets go, if you have time to explain to us what you want. Then you have time to accomplish what you need to do.

Well, I have more time then cash, so its gonna be a slow going process. Sooooooo sorryyyy!!!! Lol. What do you guys think aquaclear/ or small canister?

I love the Rena canister filters. I would throw an Xp2 on that baby and call it good. Then again an Aquaclear 110 or 70 will do the job also. Love these as well.

Pet Mountain I find has the best prices.

Aquarclear 110 is $62 and is good on 70-110 gallons: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Xp2 is $110 and is good on 75 gallons: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Alright, yeah I'm a big fan of the renas as well I love mine. But as you said I love aquaclear as well. And since price is an issue I will probably go with the aquaclear. Unless I find a used rena or something.

Check Petsmart in your area. They are discontinuing the Rena filters. I picked up 2 x Xp3 for $100 ea and an Xp2 for $68 about 3 weeks ago. Lakewood and SouthHill are all gone.

How about a Marineland Emperor 400? I have a new one in the box... Plenty of filter for a 29g... cheap...

Never used marineland before... will look into it. And will also look into cheap renas.

The 400 is a HOB biowheel filter rated for up to 80g. I bought this on-line and was going to use it on my 29g. I then purchased the new Marineland LED top for the 29g and found out the filter did not fit with the lid. I ended up having to get a Penguin 350 to fit the 29g. I got the filter for around $45, so I am wanting $20 for it. Like I said its new, I peeled off the upc and got a $10 rebate but otherwise unused.

Fish_n_vw, I gave an AC 110 away not too long ago, but I might have another one laying around here somewhere... I'll see if I can find it. If money's an issue and you're not in a rush and don't mind an ugly used one, you can have it.

I'm going to buy Ds emperor from him tomorow. But if you do have ac 110 you want to sell, I will buy it from you as well, I have a tank that could use a little more filtration. Let me know how much you want for it, and when your able to meet up and I will glady purchase and meet. Thank you for the offer. I'm mostly just trying to jump on getting this tank set up before D and madness come over and beat me up for taking to long. I am not fully broke, just don't have 70$ right now to buy new. Again thanks for the offer and let me know please.

Hey for $20, new in box you cant go wrong!

The only thing I would do is mod the filter media. Dont waste the money on the cartridges! I am working on this with my Penguin 350. I bought these to use: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I bought 1 kit and a couple extra of the plastic clam shells for $1.19 a piece and am going to use the blue bonded filter material and sponge in mine. And according to Marineland you are NEVER supposed to replace the bio-wheel...

Yeah, that looks nice and easy.

For some reason I thought this was an emperor, still marineland has good stuff too. I have never used it before but I read good things. I wonder witch of the clamshells they sell fits the marineland.

Emperor is a model line made by Marineland. This is considered their "Pro" series. The Penguin stuff is a little lower end. The clam shell and filter system I linked are aftermarket. Marineland would love for you to spend the money on their filter media

The filter your getting does have two new filter cartridges with it, so its ready to use.

Cool.

Alright so this bad boy is all put together and I took pictures, and uploaded them to photo bucket... yeah!!!!!!

D dropped by to bring me the filter that he had for sale, and I went to the landscaping yard and got rocks, then picked up some sand..... yeah!!!!!!!

Then I set it all up... yeah!!!!!!

I'm happy!!!!!!!

Im glad the filter worked out for you! Cant make fun of the blank canvas no more....

Looking forward to some pics.

Your fish were looking real good when I stopped by, keep up the good work!

Thanks and I have the pics just haven't posted them yet.... anticipation!!!

Alright first pic is for Betty

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Its not pretty back there, but it does give me enough room to get to the tank for general upkeep.

K remeber this.

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Now it looks like this.

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As you can see there's still air bubbles and its pretty cloudy. But I am happy with the scape. Now to cycle. I
am going to speed up the process by seeding the filter. I am not to sure I'm happy with the lighting its a little dark, but it looks cool at night, its like subtle light.

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Obviously I don't have my shells in yet, they will go in when I move the multies over. Anyway hope you enjoyed. And I will update as I add fish and as things play out.

Looks good!

The filter seems to be a perfect fit.

Now you got me wanting to get my empty 29g set up... your such a bad influence!

Thank you, and I'm not a bad influence..... fish isent a bad habbit. At least I'm not pushing crack on you or something. I am happy with the layout of it all. But its pretty dark, might be looking into some new lighting soon. I don't know we will have to see, I kinda like it darker, but I think it would be more "showy" if I had brighter lights on it. And since its in the wall kinda showcased I might want to make it a little more showy.

Oh and the filter is spot on for what I wanted. Thank you. And all the fish in my 180 ate that food as well, and they seemed to like it.

The Xtreme?

I wish I would have got the bigger 3mm stuff but thats what the company recommended to me and I listened.

But on a happy note Omega One was on sale at Petco so I stocked up and have food for a while now.

Glad the small pellets worked out for your fish!

DMD123 wrote:The Xtreme?

I wish I would have got the bigger 3mm stuff but thats what the company recommended to me and I listened.

But on a happy note Omega One was on sale at Petco so I stocked up and have food for a while now.

Glad the small pellets worked out for your fish!

What kinda sale? Enough savings for me to use gas and drive a few miles?

Oh, and VW, tank looks great but where is the bad boy thats suppose to be in time out?

That 29 is looking great. I like the lighting and the aquascaping. I think the fish will love it in there.

And thanks for that picture of the back. It looks like you've got plenty of access there. It's really nice looking from the front when it's framed in like that and you don't see the equipment perched on top and hanging off the back.

Thanks Betty, I'm happy with it too. You know still the most expensive thing for this in wall setup the way it is is the molding. I got the tank for free, the filter for 20$ the rocks were 6.50. And the substrated was 24. The moulding was 56$ when I set it up. It was 25$ a stick and I needed one stick and 13". So had to buy two. Its very detailed moulding. Anyway, thanks for the kind words, I am lovin it.

I just relized, I'm turning over the water 13 1/2 times an hour with this filter on this tank.... that's nuts!!!

K, so I think this is the stock list I'm gonna go with for now. 1 calvus, 1 pulcher, 1 julie ornatus. And some shellies. Don't know what kind yet, I'm gonna look for something as outgoing as I can, will reserch tonight.

Have you decided which type of shell dweller yet?

Yeah, I already orderd them as well N. Brevis "ikola" sunspot. And my final stock list is: 1x A calvus, 1x N. Pulcher, 1x J. Ornatus, 1x N. Buescheri "mbita", 1x pair N. Brevis "ikola". The pulcher and calvus are already in the tank, and the others are coming in on the group order from davesfish.

looking forward to the pics.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting the fish, but not till next Tuesday. I will have some new shels in the next few days, I orderd some cool ones off the web. I will post the pics when they go in.

Cool. I have N. brevis as well.