Resurrection of an old tank

[bernie]

I had initially wanted to discard two fish tanks that had been sitting at my balcony so as to reclaim the precious space.

But it's a waste to throw them away so I thought why not put my hands together and try to make a biotope for a community of apisto?

Tank specs: 151cm x 67cm x 67cm (approx. 5x2x2 ft)
12mm thickness with Crystal glass front panel
Water volume approx 670L or 177 US Gal

Hardscape: 4x Bogwoods, 2x Driftwoods

Substrate: Fine sand, Lava rocks

Plants:
Anubias barteri var nana Yellow Heart, Mini, Anubias barteri var barteri Broad Leaf, Java fern

Filtration:
2x Ehiem 2028
One with Biohome,, CR, Lava rocks, filter wool
One with Activated Carbon, Peat, CR, Biohome, filter wool

Lighting:
Day - natural sunlight
Night - energy saving 7w bulb just for viewing the fishes

Things to add:
a) Get smaller bogwoods to pile on the sandbed to create a wild wild look
b) Maybe Ketapang leaves but worry about sediment particles when the leaves rot
c) Fishes!!

I will drive the PH down to 5 slowly as current occupants are 2x Brittlenose and a multi spotted pleco.

The bogwood are not able to sink yet, so I am using bags of pebbles and stone to weigh them down.
The water column should be more tint in days to come as the system was only setup 2 days ago.

Any advises, comments are greatly appreciated.

The pictures...
Noon:


Twilight :


Night:


Left:


Right:

[marle]

HUGE PROJECT!

Envy envy. Last time, theres this forumer, captain telecredible? He also had the same concept of adding several pairs of apistos together. You might want to infer from his thread?

Bro, some Adoketas will be nice. maybe a spawning platoon? For me, i might add some Heckel Discus together with the apistos. Whats your goal really?

Viewing pleasure or for breeding purposes?

[bernie]

I read that in an area of a meter square can live a thousand apisto.
So I just want to try that and it's for viewing pleasure over a cup of coffee.

I will try not to buy any apisto but only occupy it with the spawns, of course I don't have a thousand fishes but slowly, and gradually plus I need to observe the habitat. Fishes donation are welcome!!

I will add dither fish, as for discus, I have no experience. I want something easy to care for, let the fish take care of themselves as my smaller tanks need more attention and maintenance.

[doppelbanddwarf]

If I'm not wrong, the square meter consists of a very very thick layer of leaf litter. The apistos are able to avoid each other easily in the huge maze. To replicate that in an aquarium would be almost impossible.
However a community of apistos would look great too!

[sen_jie]

Nice job!

i can donate a male vejieta and a female ram if you are keen

male vejieta (used to be from you )

[bernie]

If I'm not wrong, the square meter consists of a very very thick layer of leaf litter. The apistos are able to avoid each other easily in the huge maze. To replicate that in an aquarium would be almost impossible.
However a community of apistos would look great too!

What I have in mind are heaps of bogwoods and leaves to create the HDB housing environment.

[doppelbanddwarf]

Oh sorry I missed out that part. About the ketapang deteriorating into sediments part, I find that this gives the tank a really natural look. I used to run a 1ft leaf litter tank with a pair of wild panduros and I find that with weekly water changes the apistos did fine even though there was a thick layer of decaying ketapang leaves. They even managed to breed.

[bernie]

Thanks for the tip & assurance. I will be going to collect my KTP leaves from Sembawang Park (LFS selling too expensive for something that is available in adundance in Singapore).

[Aquanoob]

Bernard, nice idea of a biotope for apisto and a good scape too. You have so many apisto that you are keeping, spawning and breeding, it should be more than enough to fill the tank, you still need donation?

[bernie]

Breeding and raising cycle takes rather long time, Nicholas. Furthermore, variety is not bad an idea. When you free, pop by my place

[Aquanoob]

Alright man, let's organise a visit to Bernard's house to see the apisto. Wong will be interested since he live nearby

[doppelbanddwarf]

Also, since your main aim is not to breed, a small school of corydoras would help to prevent anaerobic buildup in the sand substrate.

[wongce]

Someone is trying to poison me to start apisto tank...

Bernard,nice tank...let us know when can we pay your tanks a visit...hehe..

[bernie]

Ok , I have corydoras sterbai. Currently have some spawn.

[stormhawk]

Or just replace the Corydoras with MTS if this tank is not for breeding. Using activated carbon with peat seems to be a waste.

[bernie]

I understand that Activated Carbon (AC) and peat should be mutually exclusive because the AC can neutralise the humic acid & tannins released by the peat and I was in a dilmena too.
The reason I am using AC now is because 1/3 of the water was old and many fishes had died in that water before so I wanted the AC to help remove any toxic in it.
I used peat to condition the water for the humic acid and color. It seems that the AC is not able to remove all the tannis yet, which is a good thing.
Until chongyu mentioned that KTP leaves will not do harm in the tank with its decay, I was reluctant to use them. So I will introduce more tannis with KTP to out pace the AC.
If the tank is going to have a high bioload, I think I will have to use AC. Perhaps I can only use AC once a week for a day to remove toxic and yet minimize humic acid & tannis lost.

[sen_jie]

Try this bro, use seachem purigen instead of AC, use it for 1 week and you should see the difference in water. it is very good in removal of toxic waste in the tank without affecting the tank PH. (have tested in my tank, using purigen and my tank PH lingers at around 4.X range

[bernie]

Yes purigen ! It's rechargable too. Will give it a try.

[Apistoinka]

Nice tank there bro Bernie... Looking at the surface of the tank I did see some pic have the sun beam effect... Very well idea and wonderful plan of you... Well bro certain things are very particular... When you wanted it to breed it won't but when you dont like it to breed it will happen... Any list what Apisto going to be in there... Small school of rummy nose is nice...


Come come come... Bernie open house of Apisto... Ticket now are on sale at $5 each... Please pm for yOur ticket...

[bernie]

bro pls don't talk about money amongst brotherhood. admission is free.