Ferryman's 3ft construction

Maybe get a UPS and put a really efficient pump on it? That's what I'd like to do in the long run.
But in reality the fish should easily survive a few hours without electricity. As long as the temperature doesn't drop too low. I used to cover my tank with a duvet in winter.

 

I actually posted a thread about just this problem....

Check here: http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?t=512&highlight=electricity+cuts

 

Thanks Vee, luckily it was a short one 45min at most...

Right, so the tank is fine, i took out the inserts on the filters and floated them in the tank to keep them wet, dunno if it helped the bacteria or not, then i itched for a rescape, luckily the sahara desert that is my tank bottom didnt have many plants to move around...

The rescape was partly necessary and partly ineffective,,, see, i couldn't see these two alien fish in my tank that kept hiding behind the mopani wood...

Yes, i did, i bought two bronze corys

(had to buy paint at zambesi builderswarehouse, and decided to snuffel around at pet city montana... @R16.20 each.

Dunno what i got, be they two males/females/mixed i dunno

 

Ferryman , so the cory family begins

 

Egad! Pics are in order...

Okay, so here are some random pics of the tank

Some before and some after i added some plants today.
These were just some random ones from phone that actually came out in focus

Yep, so it does, i decided they look so lonely in the tank, they randomly meet up every 10min or so, too much space, so i got two more bronze ones (a nice big, plump one and another i think are females) and i also got two albino bronze as well, (weird, they seem more playful active and social that the other)

 

Cory reconnaissance

see, i spy with my digital eye, CORIES!

 

Very nice to see what can be achieved without breaking the bank. Good going there!

 

Thanks, some people may think i'm stingy, but the truth is, i really need to buy cheap wherever i can, i'm skint.

Savings account had a leak in it a time back (bought/built up a PC and some storage, that munched a HUGE hole in it, not recovering yet, weekend work pays too little, and i don't have time to work more, full time student at the moment...)

, so now whatever i get from weekend work, goes to the bank, then out to the beetle petrol tank, and whats left i usually spend on hunting tree stock for bonsai, and now on fish (dunno what i'm gonna do come spring, when the bonsai start growing again... MTS squared)

Then again, getting to here hasnt been that cheap! still alot of money

Lemme see, expenses so far,

brace glass - 50
HOB - 329
extra filter inserts - 89
sera nitrivec - 70
Heater - 219 - might be going back, it doesn't go cooler than 26.5 deg...
General-aid Muti - 39
thermometer (digital) - 90
net - 10
pool silica sand - 60
Marltons flakes - 50 - i think
TetraPrima (sinking food) - 100 (thought this would be my expensive treat food, found it sunk, damn)
neons x10 - 50
danios x6 - 48
cories x2 - 32.4 (they were expensive, but good stock)
cories x4 - 31.8 (from a dodgy shop, but i think i saved them, alot of death there from horrible, non-cycled water)
glowlights x10 - 39.5 (from same horrible shop)
misc sponges and filter stuff - 80
mopani - 79
javamoss covered wood - 20
handfull of javamoss - 20
salt 5kg - 35
powerhead 600l/h - 56
plants - 82

i think thats it...
R1679.70
...
okay, my parents chimed in for the heater, the filter inserts and nitrivec, as well as the sand
and my little bro added a 20 for the javamoss wood

so my bank was hit up for
R1221.70

still need to buy lights

gonna go for two pinks ones - lohuis aquarium 30W - R34 x2 = 68
and two cool whites, osram 30W - R24 x2 = 48
then electronic ballasts 30W - R40 x4 = 160
thats another R 276 - eeek

and still need to find those side mounted end fittings...

 

The tank looks realy good, the bank that is a trade off for how many happy hours you going to be relaxing infront of your tank.

 

Thats oh so true!
Looking great there Ferryman!

 

Those are great prices for lighting, where exactly are you going to be sourcing from?

 

the ballasts, from Keens electric (think they're mainly wholesale stockists) in Frederika Street, Aquarium Lights from the Bright Side t/a Light Spot, in Atterbury, and orsams i will be picing up at Builders warehouse, unless light sopt can supply them too at the same or cheaper price.

I put my ols 60cm sylvannia grolux on the tank galss with the other makeshift lights yesterday, lo and behold, there's some pink in my albino danios, the fins reflect a pink sheen, quite cool, the albino cories look good with the sheen as well, looking forward to getting my light setup done...

Painting in the top part of the house is 99% finished, then project TV room begins, off comes the wooden box, and so will begin the canopy build...

I am thinking of adding an energy saver cfl or two in there as well, just to add to the light intensity, 4 tubes and ballasts are enough fluorescents for my budget

i heard i can get the endcaps from paragon on c/o frederika and 12th... will phone and find out

 

Sweet, I'll go check out all those places in the near future. Luckily Light Spot is just up the road from work, so I can do that in my lunch hour...

 

glad that was helpful,

Called paragon, he said they dont have those end fittings you can "side mount"
why is it that everyone only has those stupid small plastic circle ones, what happened to the good old sturdy ones with the small screw holes moulded to the side where you can screw it into a wall or wood etc

 

Ferry, just read through your thread again and I must say, your tank developed so quickly. Its really beautiful now. Your Giant Vallis also makes me somewhat jealous...:bigsmile:

 

H2O in Benoni/Boksburg area.

 

Thanks for the tip, dunno when i'll get a chance to go by there, but atleast i have a name now, know what they charge per fitting by chance?

Thanks man, it developed quickly, yes, which may be something to frown upon when you read all the threads and the patience clause, i probably should have dragged this out another month in development, but hey, i like it, i go for it

Btw, thats probably not giant vallis bud, i know, cause gaint vallis woulda cost me R5, :rofl: these are the short type, @R4... heheh. it doesn't grow that high, about 30cm...

I am now the proud owner of a Jager 150W
The Hydor Theo would never heat lower than 27 degrees, even at the lowest setting, took it back to the store to test, Murphy's law, it somehow magically works there... but they never checked to see if it'll be able to settle on a colder temp... just checked to see that it switches off at 26 degrees... anyway, they gave me a discount on a jager, and refunded the theo... so about 30-40 rand later, i now have a jager, yay, was worried at some point the theo will no longer shut off, and cook my fish, or warm my Massive coffeepot would be more like it, just remove dead fish and add coffee...

Thankfully that won't happen now
Still need to get a small 100W for my 60 Liter Qt tank though... later... much later..
Oh, and while i was waiting the inevitable browsing commenced... which led to obtaining 6 Leopard danios, as was my original intention before i got the long fin albino zebs...
They look wonderful, and are getting along well with their Cuzzys

 

Sorry AquaH2O.

 

New shots, better clarity cam

 

my dad wants to buy a few swords for my tank, he says he likes them,
can anyone say if its advisable to keep swords in there too, or not?

I took the smaller tank out of the cabinet today, took out the orangeish pebbles, and washed the last bit of 40kg sand i got, filled to tank bottom with the silica now, nothing else in it at present, i'm thinking of setting the tank up properly, and planting whatever i cut from the main tank into the small one, then i can use it for bettas, or breeding or something, i dunno, it felt pointless having a tank runn all the time with nothing but pebbles in it, its just a waste of electricity, i should either put it away, or USE it

Any suggestions for if i would use it, with more plants than occupants maybe, or should i actually have a qt tank or what?

(i was thinkinh today if i have some sparechange at some point, i could buy one of those small 20 liter tanks @r50 and when the need arises, use that as a quarintine, for the needed period transfer the aquaclear mini to it and use some siphoned water from the main tank to fill it, dunno about a plan for heating yet, but it sounded like a better plan for a quarintine than keeping a 60 Liter running just for the sake of it)