New Christmas toys anyone?

JDM

There was sand and water everywhere

I learned patience some time ago. Do it right the first time. Now just waiting for the water to settle enough to see where the plants are going.

Mom was at work all day, good thing. She is the impatient one. She would have had me drain the tank and refill it with clear water, ache might yet when she gets home.

Oh, we put the sand in wet with that level of water too. It let us have the sand "flow" where it will rather than trying to "put" it in place.

Jeff.

Attached Images

image.jpg (41.2 KB, 33 views)

Nilet699

Yeah my substrate is not straight etc either, and I like it like that, it's a hilly mess but looks better for it than pristine straight I think.

It's about to change agen as well as it needs a good hoovering!

willow

posting to see how you're getting on.

Nilet699

^ +1

And to remind you not to forsake us during this time, I'm probably as excited as you as iv followed every one of your Numerous threads over the last few weeks until now when you've finally got the tank! TBH if you were closer id of popped over to help!

AK Fresh Water

I can't wait to see the growth of this tank.

Canadian Fish

Congrats on the new tank!! Was it on sale for boxing week?

I haven't made it to LFS yet this week, maybe tomorrow if I go out for groceries. I assume you got the ton of snow we got last night/today?

Charlie insisted on making a snowman, even though the snow wasn't sticky. I just made a big pile with the shovel like Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

I'd rather be skiing.

Has the sand settled? Any new pics? I have never used sand.

+1 on the vals, they're my favorite. Jakie put me on to them.

JDM

Sorry guys, had a nap.... 4 hours. Fighting a bug.

Preliminary plant placements, the murk is slowly settling. Wife was disappointed in the lack of crystal clear pristine water.

I was thinking that there was more bottom real estate... 30"x12" is not that much once the wood gets in there. My centre sand shallow became a side sand shallow.

I like the "stuck rock" that my daughter came up with from her rock collection. You can't really see it but it is open crystalline and sparkles in the light. I had to drill and cut away some wood to get it jammed in there so it doesn't look like its just sitting on the wood. I also had to cut away some of the underside of the wood to make it sit lower and on the angle that we wanted... which allowed for shallower sand, the deepest is 3" at the rear left. There is only a couple of handfuls left of the 20lb bag of playsand. I worked out the volume of sand needed to be sure that I didn't have to buy more... I don't have the numbers handy but its somewhere North of 1000 cubic inches. I have a couple of handfuls left.

The other wood, the Malaysian drift, got a cursory 3 hour boiling treatment, a few holes drilled from behind to provide some hidey holes and is just stuck in the sand in the corner. We're trying to decide what else to put in. I think we will need some more decoration specifically for the fish to use. More wood, some rocks, we do have some great rocks to use, mostly quartz and the like in various colours but they don't really afford more fish spaces, wood will probably win.

Java Moss is cool, I hope it propagates well as I have it attached to the driftwoods here and there, probably can't see it in the picture. It sinks so its pretty easy to place, particularly without the filter on yet.

Jeff.

Attached Images

image.jpg (44.3 KB, 27 views)

JDM

I attached another pic of the unnamed "oregano" stem. The iPad will not let me upload more than one shot. I think that I should cut it off just below the rooted node (tweezers pointing) before sticking it it he sand for best "stay putted-ness". Although those plants are in deep Anouilh sand that I think the roots are in it anyway.

Interesting point about the LED lighting. I was looking forward to seeing the "shimmering" water effect that they go on about only to realize it is NOT a function of the lighting system. I did wonder how they were managing to make it appear that the light was moving given that they have fixed LEDs in the fixture. Moving parts wouldn't make any sense and LEDs cannot do that.

I was disappointed to find that it is the moving surface of the water refracting the more focused LED light through the water. The more movement, the more shimmer. Marketing at its best as I expect that EVERY LED system does exactly the same thing... Perhaps with the exception of some strips that have an overall lens that mutes the focus effect.

Sleepy time for me now. Got to fight off this silly head cold before it settles in... the snow and wind do not help. Throwing another log on the fire and probably ca,ping out on the couch to not keep anyone else up.

Jeff.

Attached Images

image.jpg (47.4 KB, 25 views)

JDM

I think that we need more plants so I will look at those again.

Yah, we got the snow. I have a contract with a fellow just down the road to plow out our office lots, so he does mine "on the way back". Impeccable timing today as I pulled in the driveway as he was pulling out.

I showed up to Al's West end at 0830h. Their phone lines were down, which means cash only. They said they could do gift cards (that's what we had to start) but, arriving at the cash with a boat load of goodies they couldn't. The boatload was setting up for the 25gal that we had so this turned out to be fortuitous as we bought a few plants and ended up heading to Innes road. While there, with a flurry of texting, measuring by my wife at home and dreaming by my daughter and me, we upgraded to the 37gal...(not the 65 that we were seriously considering) Bought the last double bright fixture in the 24"-36" size and picked up about $500 worth of stuff(taxes in).

I could have bought through Pets and Ponds online but it would have been mostly a wash. I might get a few things (filter) from them yet. Save the drive.

Jeff.

Aurie

I don't have any pictures yet, but my hubby got me a 46 bowfront (it's about 8 years old) with versa top, dual t5 HO (coralife), eheim canister (2215 classic), 2 heaters, stand, and some other odds and ends. He got it from a coworker for free so I considered it my early xmas present :) We are in the process of scrubbing it down. Got the tank cleaned to see many scratches but we are gonna buff them out. The versa top has old salt creep in the glass so we're gonna have to buff that out too. Just bought the media for the filter and a couple small replacement parts. The canister is going in my new 29 to get seeded.


Oh, and new car speakers LOL
Aurie