My new tropical aquarium setup.

[LancsRick]

... check out ukaps.org.uk to see what I mean. I'm not logging on the site again, I'll just end up wanting to get another tank(s)......

Site not found... ? Do you have any other address? This thread is rekindling my interest in a tropical tank - I've ad a koi pond for a number of yars (well a garden pond really but it does have a couple of koi in it)

My error, it's just .org not .org.uk

 

[sunnybob]

That base should be fine. But you need to be careful if its glass flat to the base. make sure you brush the surface well before final siting of the tank. All that weight over a small piece of grit exerts enormous pressure upwards.
6 mm glass should be ok. Like all advice, everyone has their own theory, and if it works, it works, but if it were my tank I would lay a new bottom over the cracked one. You ever seen a windscreen crack slowly work its way across a screen?

Theres a whole science behind aquarium filters, enough to fill several large books, but (very basicly) the carbon absorbs ammonia. but not forever, either change it or wash it and bake it in the oven to recharge it.
Sponges remove the large solid wastes and also act as breeding ground for good bacteria.
Ceramics are also good breeding grounds. You NEED the bacteria. Wash the filters when you notice the return flow is dropping but DONT wash everything at the same time or youll have problems.
Times between filter cleaning vary entirely on how many fish and how often you feed.

 

[ColeyS1]

I'll read the new threads later but at the moment it's the glass I'm rushing to get before the bank holiday weekend

This is my template so will probably be 4mm bigger. I Daren't go any tighter. That should be ok shouldn't it ?

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[sunnybob]

No need to make it so big its hard to fit in there. get it so the cracks are well covered over.I would go to about a half inch short all the way round. glue that in, and then seal any glass edges so the fish cant scrape themselves when digging.

Give the sealer time to set. or youll be sorry.

 

[ColeyS1]

A long time ago I used to keep planted tropical tanks for years, and I'd recommend them to anyone interested in keeping fish for two reasons;

1) They look gorgeous
2) Once you've set them up, they dramatically reduce the level of maintenance you need in a tank because there's much more of an ecological balance.

I'll try and find some of my old pictures at some point, but check out ukaps.org.uk to see what I mean. I'm not logging on the site again, I'll just end up wanting to get another tank(s)......

I'll take live plants into consideration. To be honest I was really but off by the live plants that came with the tank. They were completely hacked to pieces and looked dreadful. I did chuck 3 moss balls in the tank thinking it'd be a good compromise. I'll have a look at that website, nice one.

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[LancsRick]

I'll happily chat to you at length about how to get started if you don't want to trawl the site.

 

[ColeyS1]

The plastic mesh is often buried just below the surface to prevent the fish digging. I've used the rolls of polystyrene insulation two or three layers deep, and I've cut up neoprene camping mats. Even 25mm stuff from Wickes or somewhere - https://www.wickes.co.uk/Kay-Metzeler-G ... m/p/210801

All the noodles do is provide a far greater surface area for the water to flow over, allowing the bacteria and minute life forms longer access. I've got plastic balls as well as the ceramics in mine, which are like little 25mm diameter mesh globes - these do the same thing. For the most part you just rinse whatever the filter medium is through with tank water and put it back, you wouldn't normally replace anything on most filters unless you had a problem, and problems usually come with new setups - which is why for a while it'll pay to change the carbon. My cannister filter hasn't had anything in it changed for about eight years and when I clean it you couldn't see through a small glass of the water. I use it for my houseplants.
When my alterations are done ...

Ok Phil, this make keeping fish an even better hobby. I was thinking I'd have to be buying filters everymonth and constantly changing/cycling the noodles. I guess a camping mat as per your suggestion can't do any harm.
I had the dehumidifier running where the tank leaked and thought I'd have a little look at the damage it'd done to the cabinet (hopefully will make a better one)

Peeling back the film type laminate revealed a lot of black mould type balls.

Is that the kind of damage I could expect to see from water change dribbles or could it be showing a small previous leak. ...?

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[ColeyS1]

You ask about catastrophic tank failure .....
For over 15 years I had tropical and a marine aquariums untill I had a catastrophic tank failure.
I was woken up one night to a buzzing sound, being half asleep it took a while for me to realise it was the sound of a pump running dry, so down stairs I go, hit the carpet and walk towards the light switch and squish squish under foot, my largest tank had cracked diagonally and dumped the water on to the floor.
The tank was a bespoke made one by my local aquarium supplier it was 1.8m x 600mm x 450mm. It had been in place for over 7 years with no issues.
I emptied one of the kids plastic toy boxes and did very similar to your emergency set up, I lost a few fish but my golden nugget plek survived which was my favourite and he was about 5 years old.
The real issue was the clean up, I hired a carpet cleaner the next day and thoroughly cleaned the carpets, which seemed ok, but within a couple of days the smell was unbelievable, I had to get rid of carpet and underlay very sharpish, my Mrs was doing her nut, I even had to sanitize the floor screed as that stunk as well, the whole house then stunk of jeyes fluid, funny how you can rarely please the wife, I know which smell I preferred and it wasn’t the fishy water one.
I then got a lot smaller tropical tank, but in the back of my mind I had the fear of another disaster, a couple of years later I sold off every thing. That was 7 years ago
I am regularly tempted to get another marine tank, one of my good friends has one and every time we’re there I spend most of it just looking at the fish.

That's just horrendous !!!! I'm still struggling to come to terms with having a live grenade in my living room that go boom at anytime. This tank is around 600mm wide x 600mm high by 400mm deep. Would a more cubed shape one be less like to pop ? I had this cabinet in mind but am now seriously thinking I should try and build one to allow for tank failure. I really like the size of this one but seeing the water pee out has left me seriously on edge. You'd almost need to make a wet room to really prepare for failure.

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[Phil Pascoe]

I would think there'd been a leak there for a long time.

 

[LancsRick]

Either long term leak or they've never wiped up when they've done maintenance and made a mess. Just lightly scrape the surface and make sure it's only superficial, you don't want the stand being compromised.

 

[ColeyS1]

No need to make it so big its hard to fit in there. get it so the cracks are well covered over.I would go to about a half inch short all the way round. glue that in, and then seal any glass edges so the fish cant scrape themselves when digging.

Give the sealer time to set. or youll be sorry.

I noticed your comment Bob just as I was walking out the glass shop lol.He made the glass to the template size so it was reasonably loose. Only £8.80 which I thought was quite reasonable.
Here's the silicone before having the 6mm patch put on top.

I'm really wondering if I should have done a few more full rings around the bottom- too late now though.
This is it after being gently pushed in place, pile of books put on afterwards as per your suggestion [WINKING FACE]

I sealed around the patch with silicone and quite a bit of it found its way under the patch edge. I then filled the rest of the gap up and tried to get it over the top of the existing silicone and onto the clean glass. I'm really not sure if I did it well enough. I just wish I used more silicone around the joint area. Oh well


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[LancsRick]

Bloody hell, with the strength of aquarium silicone that's definitely there to stay now! Haha.

 

[SteveF]

damn post dissapeared
anyway
nice to see a post about fish tanks in a woodwork forum
I have been keeping fish for over 20 years
down to a 2 foot cube now
even used to have an 8 x 4 x 4 tank in garden for a few years

Steve

 

[ColeyS1]

Either long term leak or they've never wiped up when they've done maintenance and made a mess. Just lightly scrape the surface and make sure it's only superficial, you don't want the stand being compromised.

It'd be nice to think it could have been compromised before i took it on. I was thinking as a temporary measure, I could jack plane it flat and then have a worktop sink cutout screwed on top.

This is the weird thing... I put the filter section and the light unit on an arm chair while I set the tank up. After I removed everything I noticed a tiny shard of shiny glass on the chair. I didnt think anything of it until now. I've never broke glass in that room and can only think it must have fallen from either the filter unit or lamp unit.

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[ColeyS1]

Bloody hell, with the strength of aquarium silicone that's definitely there to stay now! Haha.

I really hope so. I went to get some nicer coloured gravel earlier and had a close look at another tank. I was really surprised with the silicone. It was 8mm glass with the tiniest of silicone gaps between the butt joints (like barely 0.5mm) All the tank had inside was about a 4mm flat champfer of silicone. That must be putting a lot of faith in the silicone holding !?!

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[LancsRick]

Yea aquarium stuff is a different beast to the bathroom silicone you get.

 

[ColeyS1]

damn post dissapeared
anyway
nice to see a post about fish tanks in a woodwork forum
I have been keeping fish for over 20 years
down to a 2 foot cube now
even used to have an 8 x 4 x 4 tank in garden for a few years

Steve

Got any pictures you could share ? In the short time I've had them I do find myself watching them alot. I moved the small coldwater tank so I could see it easier when I go home for lunch and dinner. They just seem so chilled and relaxed with very little input from me.
I'm very surprised by the amount of people on here who keep them !!

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[ColeyS1]

Yea aquarium stuff is a different beast to the bathroom silicone you get.

Does that mean it could be a better choice for bathroom applications?

A few years ago I followed some "guaranteed to stay white for 10 years" silicone to the letter. Partially filled the bath, masked off the bath and tiles then used a special rubber tool to smooth the silicone. After a couple years it still discoloured- ha.

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[LancsRick]

No it's just much more of an adhesive than bathroom silicone, plus it doesn't leach all sorts of toxic chemicals into the tank water.

 

[LancsRick]

One of my old tanks.