4-D Breeder Build and setup

[PDRed302]

Some of you who have read my threads recently may know that I had my "main fish" Swamp Thing pass away recently. Before she died I moved her to my 40 breeder to separate her from the rest of my stock. In the process of doing this I had to kick my Acara pair out of the 40 and into a 20 tall: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...k-setup-they-re-all-over-the-place-so-why-not

So, since I kicked the Acara's out and the 40 was in need of a drain and clean I figured I'd step it up a notch when putting it back together.

What's happened so far:

Mon: Drain tank and clean everything with steaming hot water and set it all out to dry. (boring)

Tue: Lazy, not much is done, just a few sketches (that's where it always starts!)

Wed: My buddy Red comes over and and we start hacking away! I decided to use the piece I had left over from my 345 waterfall tank build in my sig. It was uneven but with a little time and a lot of patience we were able to get it roughly into shape and cut to size.

Before:

(forgot to take a pic before I cut it)

After:

Belt Sander time:

Thur: Lazy Day

Fri: After I got home I went out to the garage to sand down the final edges of the 3-d rock with a palm sander; before I was ready to silicone it into place.

This took a minute; I used my wall and work bench as a guide for my 90 and eyeballed any high spots:

Whats this!?!:

3/4 of a tube of GE Silicone 1 later:

 

[PDRed302]

Tonight:

Sneak peek of the final "idea" of the tank:

(this is where the 4-D comes in, I just figured I'd have fun with it)

Back on topic:

I got to the point above and did my first rinse and drain and to my disappointment I noticed water getting behind the 3-D rock in two different places. I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do; I could tear it down, dry it out, remove the silicone and start all over again or I could try something else!

I decided to add six holes (two total in every one of the three high spots on the rock) to allow for the movement of air and water; much like any petsmart/co bubble deco.:

The input for the airline that feeds the rock goes in on its left side, it's not the most beautiful thing in the world but so far it seems to be doing it's job and it will be hidden after final deco:

The Rock is a little louder than I had hoped for: Instead of a constant bubbling sound, it releases more of a burp of bubbles or a burrble every 2 seconds or so (all of the air comes out of the highest spot, go figure I drill six holes and use one). It's not to bad I guess, I mean there is a waterfall in the same room as this tank, just another sound to get used to I guess.

Decided to go the PFS route this time (as you can see above) and it's a lot easier to work with than I thought, although quite a bit dirtier than I figured it would be.

I forgot to pick up more polishing cloth to run tonight to suck up any debris but I did have some sponges, so I stuffed the filter and got her running! Tomorrow I will be doing a 50% water change and will plan to add all of my media from the 20 tall as well as the deco and fish (Acara pair and Albino BN Pleco) back over to the 40. Normally I don't step up when moving fish and media from one tank to another, so I went out and picked up a bottle of Stability, so I could go ahead and plan treat the water (hopefully no mini cycle) I set quarantines/hospitals/temporary tanks up in an hour some times, I figure since I'm giving this one and day to clear and few hours to run with seeded bio and Stability, it should be no problem!

Daytime:

Night time:

I will post pics of the final layout tomorrow, I plan on doing the same leaf litter setup that they have in the 20 and for the time being, the same piece of drift wood; along with a few rocks and about double or triple the sand I have now.

Thanks for looking!

 

[killzmke]

NICE! I love how you made it continue outside the tank! Did you have to paint the outside rocks a little darker to match the submerged parts color? Really nice build. Congrats

 

[PDRed302]

NICE! I love how you made it continue outside the tank! Did you have to paint the outside rocks a little darker to match the submerged parts color? Really nice build. Congrats

Thank you for the compliment

As far as painting to match, nah, the rock was already painted and I figured I'd leave it as is. The one thing that does throw it off a bit is the height the tank is sitting at. When the tank is empty; the rock looks good and continuous at any angle. But when you fill the tank up with water, you have to make sure to look at it straight on; otherwise the rock does not look like one solid piece (optical illusion).

 

[PDRed302]

Well, I got everyone moved and into the tank; I drip acclimated them for just under an hour. They seem to be just fine but I am just using the night light tonight and I wont feed them until tomorrow.

A few shots of the hazy tank until then.

Rock and driftwood layout before the leaf litter:


After the leaves:


Added some polishing pads to the top of both sides of my hob. Hopefully it will clear the tank up tonight.

Pics with them settled in and hopefully clear water tomorrow.

 

[PDRed302]

Well no luck with getting a shot of a clear tank this morning.

I didn't have time to do any water tests before I took off for work but from the look of the water and how hazy it is, I assume that I am going through a mini cycle.

-

I figured there was a good chance of this happening; since I doubled the water volume my media was treating as well as replaced the substrate. What I should have done was go ahead and cycle this tank the right way but like always I was impatient...

I would like to get this cleared up by the weekend. The current plan is to add a small baggie or 2 of estsblished substrate to the tank that I can pull out at the end of the week; along with daily 25% water changes and dosing stability.

Anyone have any other tricks that would help speed this along?

Btw... the Acara and Pleco seem fine, no gasping or anything else of that nature.

Thanks again for looking!