painted black background and new interior Load Warning!

[kiLLz kC]

well...i traded my old fish in so i could have a few days to totally redo my tank. when i first set it up, the kids had alot of input. not so much this time. basically the only help i had from the boys was when we went to the lake to find some wood. the first pic is the old setup with the oscars and catfish. i have since broken everything down, painted the backdrop, and added a new interior. i'm going to let this setup flow for a week at least before i introduce any fish to it. from what i had, in comparison to what i have now, i'm very impressed what a little free wood and paint will do.

if any of you would like to put together a "top 4" for what fish to stock, this will be a growout for the next 6 months.

thanks guys. lemme know whatcha think

 

[Aquaman_95]

The tank looks nice.

 

[SiApA2]

looks the goods mate. top job

 

[Mystix212]

Looks AWESOME. What are the dimensions? And whats the next tank gonna be?

 

[HiGhTiMeZ]

Oi!!! that looks WAAAAAAAY better!!!
love the natural river look, although u should have used natural river rocks instead of the black/white pebbles... that wud look so natural.

 

[ThePBM]

aren't you gonna lose your bacteria colony if you let it sit for a week without fish?

 

[cichlid savage]

looks much better.

 

[rob0521]

It looks A LOT better, but I really don't like the gravel, sand would have looked much better IMO. But overall it is a nice tank.

 

[filiportela]

top 7:

- arowana
- stingray
- datnoids
- puffer
- cichla
- tigrinus
- polypterus

 

[kiLLz kC]

hey thanks for the input fellaz.
i really wanted sand too. i'm not so fond of the black and white substrate either. due to it being rent week, it's not so feasable. i've got a week or so to finalize the full setup.

ok...now i have a few questions.....if i didn't change any of my media (inside canister filter, unwashed substrate) will i lose good bacteria colonies without fish waste and food being part of the cycle?

question 2. i was reading about the process of putting wood in the tank. i've had large pieces of wood in with large strong piranha before but it was store bought and cured(along with strong fish that wouldn't show much sign of fatigue or illness). i found the pieces in my tank at a local lake. when i found these pieces, i took all of them to a carwash and powerwashed them with strictly high pressure water. no soap, no foamy tire cleaner, just high pressure rinse. brought them home, soaked in bleach and then soaked in clean water bath for the rest of the night. i tried to remove any remnance of the bleach out of the wood as much as possible. by the way it sounds, did i take the right "order of operations" with this stuff?