# Adam's (Tony's old) 5ft Monster tank



## Wallace (22 Sep 2014)

So this is Tony Swinney's old 'Triassic Hollow' tank. He was giving it away and I just couldn't say no. 

The plan is to use this as a room divider between what is our lounge and the kids playroom. The tank is 152.5cm x 60cm x 60cm (60'x24'x24') somewhere in the region of 549l. 

The tank is sitting in my lounge at the moment..............






and here is the gap it will be going in..........





It'll sit half way into each room.

The current plan is to have it as a planted fancy goldfish tank which is something I've always wanted to do, low light and low maintenance. 

I've got to set about opening up the doorway as that is only 150cm wide, and construct a stand strong enough to take the weight of it. 

After a very brief chat with Tony this morning I think the best way to go with the stand is going to be some sort of breeze block construction and MDF faced. 

I'll also be building a lighting rig for it, which at the moment I'm thinking about using down lighters like Alastair did for his 'chocolate puddle' tank.

I think that's about it for now, I'll might make a start on the door lining this afternoon and  I'll hopefully be getting blocks later in the week so I can make a start on the stand getting the tank in place. 

Cheers 

Adam 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## tim (22 Sep 2014)

It'll be nice to see some fancy goldfish with a big enough home, looking forward to following this Adam.


----------



## Wallace (22 Sep 2014)

Thanks Tim, it's certainly my most ambitious project to date but something I've been wanting to do for years but never had the tank to do it properly, until now. 

It's gonna be a little while until this is up and running, but I'll try and remember to take pics of everything along the way. 

I've opened up part of the lining this afternoon, just got to tidy it up tomorrow. 





As you can see I've only taken out the section where the actual tank will sit. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Alastair (22 Sep 2014)

I've got plenty of tiltable gu10 fittings and lights your welcome to for postage


----------



## Wallace (22 Sep 2014)

Alastair that would be fantastic, if you can work out postage costs etc and let me know we'll sort something out. 

Very generous of you, thanks. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Lindy (23 Sep 2014)

Wallace said:


> and here is the gap it will be going in..........


Why did I not think about bricking in my child?


----------



## Edvet (23 Sep 2014)

Just a personal opinion:


Wallace said:


> planted fancy goldfish tank


 Please don't say you will get those malformed ones, these have nothing to do with a normal functioning fish. I know keeping fish in a tank has nothing to do with "nature" but what people do to these goldfish is beyond everything. (and not educational for the children in my eyes). If you want low light and low maintanance consider Big Tom's and Alistair's tanks.
Natural environment, few fish, maybe even some live critters, that can be very nice.


----------



## Wallace (23 Sep 2014)

ldcgroomer said:


> Why did I not think about bricking in my child?




Thankfully for the kids there is another door into their playroom, although it would be quite nice to brick them in some days. 




Edvet said:


> Just a personal opinion:
> 
> Please don't say you will get those malformed ones, these have nothing to do with a normal functioning fish. I know keeping fish in a tank has nothing to do with "nature" but what people do to these goldfish is beyond everything. (and not educational for the children in my eyes). If you want low light and low maintanance consider Big Tom's and Alistair's tanks.
> Natural environment, few fish, maybe even some live critters, that can be very nice.



What do you mean by 'malformed' ones?

As for something along the same vein as Tom and Alastair's tanks, I love these tanks and think they are amazing but it's not something that I want to do. 

I've seen some amazing Goldfish tanks in the past, and since keeping them when I was younger I've always wanted to do something proper with plants and plenty of swimming space for them. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Edvet (23 Sep 2014)

Wallace said:


> What do you mean by 'malformed' ones?





http://www.pinterest.com/ocblog/fancy-goldfish/
All these have nothing to do with how a fish looks and functions.
I know it might be a tricky subject, but i need to speak out against these.


----------



## Wallace (23 Sep 2014)

I certainly won't be keeping anything as 'extreme' as most of those. I would consider those to be show fish, that have been bred specifically for competitions. 

I guess using the term fancy goldfish covers a very broad spectrum, I'm just talking about fantail goldfish. No bubble eyes (which I've kept in the past) or lion heads etc 

You probably won't like that, but that's fine as you are entitled to your opinion. As I've said I've been wanting to do this this ever since I was about 10 or so, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to give the fish a better life than being crammed into tanks that are far too small for even a handful of Shrimp. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Lindy (23 Sep 2014)

I too have a soft spot for the fantail, despite it's altered shape, from fish keeping days as a child. I think any goldfish fancy or otherwise would be a very lucky fish to end up in a huge planted tank like this. If i had a tank that big I'd be tempted by fantails too and the majority die in filthy, tiny tanks. This will be fantail heaven!


----------



## Wallace (23 Sep 2014)

ldcgroomer said:


> This will be fantail heaven!



Fingers crossed. 

Not much in the way of progress today, I've just cleaned the tank and that is it. It looks very clean now and I can't wait to start filling it and stocking it. 

Should be going to get some blocks tomorrow hopefully so with a bit of luck the tank will be in place by close of play tomorrow. 



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Alastair (24 Sep 2014)

Wallace said:


> Alastair that would be fantastic, if you can work out postage costs etc and let me know we'll sort something out.
> 
> Very generous of you, thanks.
> 
> ...


Not a problem. Just let ms know how many you need and I'll pack them into a box and get them couriered. Should only be about 13 pound via UPS.


----------



## Wallace (24 Sep 2014)

Alastair said:


> Not a problem. Just let ms know how many you need and I'll pack them into a box and get them couriered. Should only be about 13 pound via UPS.



That's brilliant Alastair, thankyou. I'll have a think as to how many I think I'm going to need and I'll get back to you. 

I've been and got some blocks this morning, and the tank is in position. The blocks have only been done very roughly at the moment so as I could move the tank from the Middle of the lounge to make sure it fits. 

It fits!











Now I've got to work out how I'm going to box it all in and make it look good. At the moment I'm sat here staring at it with a very big smile on my face, trying to imagine layouts etc etc


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Brian Murphy (24 Sep 2014)

Just been showing the wife these pics and looking up at our doorway and the look on her face was priceless


----------



## wick (24 Sep 2014)

That's going to look ace when it's finished . It's sure going to beat watching anything on TV.
How many fancies do you reckon it'll hold?


----------



## Wallace (25 Sep 2014)

Brian Murphy said:


> Just been showing the wife these pics and looking up at our doorway and the look on her face was priceless



Ha! Thankfully my wife didn't need any persuading at all, she was more than happy about it. I've just got to close down two of my other tanks in the lounge, leaving me with just a Fluval Roma 240 and the monster. 



wick said:


> That's going to look ace when it's finished . It's sure going to beat watching anything on TV.
> How many fancies do you reckon it'll hold?



Yeah, the tv could end up redundant. 

Re stocking, I have no idea. Obviously it's going to depend on what filtration I use, and I'm not going to crowd them. At the moment I'm thinking maybe 8 or 10. 



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## flygja (25 Sep 2014)

Ah you are living on of my dreams too. I guess most fish keepers started out with goldfish or guppies and will always have a soft spot for them. If only I had the space. I have to limit myself to two tanks. If I ever gave up on planted tanks my 300L will immediately be filled with fancy goldfish. Besides the bubble eye, I'm pretty OK with the rest. Black moors are my favourite.


----------



## Wallace (25 Sep 2014)

flygja said:


> Black moors are my favourite.



Mine too, trouble is as they tend to have the telescope eyes they can sometimes struggle to find food before the other tank mates scoff the lot. 

I've just spent a little bit of time on the boxing in, it's very rough and made just using some left over OSB from when I replaced my shed roof. It looks ok I guess, the centre panel comes out to allow access to the filter 'bay'. 
















Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Wallace (10 Oct 2014)

Quick update. 

The 'cabinet' is mostly finished now. 





Very slow progress really as I've been raising the money to buy a Fluval FX6 so that I can just run the one filter rather than multiple smaller filters. 

I should be picking that up over the weekend, then it's onto the lighting from Alastair and starting to muck around with hardscape etc

Fingers crossed this will be up and running soon. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## sciencefiction (10 Oct 2014)

Nice job with the tank and stand. It's a nice spot there. The cat is going to be excited too, you've got to keep a chair nearby 



flygja said:


> Ah you are living on of my dreams too. I guess most fish keepers started out with goldfish or guppies and will always have a soft spot for them.



Yeah, Isn't it the way.  I started fish keeping more seriously with guppies and I still have a soft spot for them.


----------



## Wallace (11 Oct 2014)

I went out and bought the filter this afternoon, had a bit of a result as Maidenheads price matched Amazon so I got the FX6 for under £200! Pretty chuffed with that. 

All I've got to say is damn it's big, I mean like proper massive! 

It fits under the tank just not in the 'cabinet', as I'd planned on using 2 smaller filters. I've just got to rearrange the blocks the tank is sitting on a little bit so that's it fits properly. Maybe a job for tomorrow. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Tim Harrison (11 Oct 2014)

Yep great job so far...can't wait to see this finished


----------



## Wallace (14 Oct 2014)

Troi said:


> Yep great job so far...can't wait to see this finished



Thanks, and neither can I lol

Well I've put the filter and pipe work in place today, only bugger is that because I have to have the pipes in the lounge rather than the playroom ( the kids would more than likely pull on the pipes ) it doesn't look too pretty. Kind of a let down really, but I'll sort that out in time once I've come up with a 'pretty' solution. 













Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## wick (14 Oct 2014)

Wow! Now that's what I call a filter!


----------



## Wallace (14 Oct 2014)

wick said:


> Wow! Now that's what I call a filter!



It's massive, more like the size of a pond filter rather than an aquarium! 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Wallace (10 Nov 2014)

Well just a quick update on this as things have been moving very slowly, well they haven't been moving at all if I'm honest. 

Goldfish are now off the menu as my Roma 240 has sprung a leak!

So I'm going to swap the Rainbows and Pencils out of the Roma and into the monster. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Wallace (22 Feb 2015)

Long overdue update time. 

I've not had anywhere near enough time to dedicate to this tank as I would have liked, so not much has changed since it was hastily set up. Everything is growing really slowly, but also really healthily. So I'm not too worried about that. 

I've added a black background to the tank now as it was a pain in the backside as there was no real background / foreground to speak of, and also the mess from the kids on the glass was killing me. I've also added a pair of Kribs who have had babies and are doing a good job of raising the fry. 

Fingers crossed I will have some free time to invest in the tank very soon and I'll be adding some more plants, and also some more Rainbows. 

Here is a pic of the tank as it stands today. 








Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Tim Harrison (22 Feb 2015)

Great to see the Monster finally up and running...


----------



## OllieNZ (22 Feb 2015)

Looks like a good start, love the rainbows.


----------



## wick (22 Feb 2015)

Looks fab! Some Red rainbows would also look fantastic in there.
PFK have a piece on Reds in this month's edition. 
I'd forgotten how fantastic these fish are.


----------



## Wallace (22 Feb 2015)

Troi said:


> Great to see the Monster finally up and running...





OllieNZ said:


> Looks like a good start, love the rainbows.



Thanks guys. 



wick said:


> Looks fab! Some Red rainbows would also look fantastic in there.
> PFK have a piece on Reds in this month's edition.
> I'd forgotten how fantastic these fish are.



I've got the mag and seen the article, not really had the time to read it properly yet. I'll be looking to add some more Boesemani (currently 9) and some Praecox too, will more than likely look into the Reds aswell as they are a lovely fish and think their colour will compliment the others very nicely. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Wallace (23 Feb 2015)

I've just ordered a few plants from AE, I've got an Echindorus Bleheri, 2 x pots of Alternanthera Cardinalis, 2 x pots of Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis, and a Microsorium mini should be here tomorrow so the tank will look a little better end of play tomorrow. Fingers crossed anyway. 

I've never attempted to grow LB before, and I've read all sorts of stories of people struggling with it etc so I'll just have to see how I get on with it. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Wallace (23 Feb 2015)

Something I've only just noticed really, it must be because I'm just using my iPhone for the photos as I don't have a proper camera, but, the tank doesn't look anywhere near as bare in the flesh as it does in the pics. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Wallace (1 Mar 2015)

Plants arrived and all in tank now, the Echindorus have added a little height at the back, you can't really see the Alternantheras at the moment although if you look closely you can just about spot them at the back and on the left hand side. I'm pleased with the L.Brasiliensis but as I've never grown it before I'm not too sure what to expect but hopefully it'll spread out and carpet a little. The Microsourium, well what can you say a Java fern is a Java fern lol but it adds something to the wood on the right. 


This is the best pic I can get with my phone so I'll apologise in advance. 





I also added 6 x Red Rainbows today, they seem to have settled in nicely already and seem happy with the Boesemanis. Getting a pic was nigh on impossible!










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## mikka23 (1 Mar 2015)

The red rainbows are the fish I miss the most.  Sadly my tank isn't close to being big enough.  They will look great in your tank when matured (part of the reason I liked them the most)


----------



## Wallace (4 Mar 2015)

Quick update since planting a week ago. Everything is growing on nicely. 

The Alternanthera is showing nice and healthy looking new growth 





The Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis has started to send out a few runners so there are a few new shoots of that starting to show up









Most impressively though I think is the smaller of the 2 Echindorus Bleheri, this new leaf in the centre has shot up within the last day and a half





Lastly a FTS 





Trouble with the FTS is that it doesn't really look any different, not until you get up close and start looking at the plants anyway. 





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Wallace (5 Mar 2015)

I'm such a doofus! I completely forgot that the Fluval FX6 has the drainage valve at the bottom of the canister!

Now I've remembered I no longer have to lug buckets of water about to carry out a WC. 





That is now draining away into the kitchen sink. When it's time to fill back up now I'll simply disconnect the filter end and pop that into the tank, connect the sink end up to the tank and voila, no more buckets for me!

I can't believe I hadn't thought of it before!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## leetaylor (5 Mar 2015)

ok...time to fess up....

I was going to post a smart assed comment about needing buckets buckets to refill your tank....then i had the Revelation that hosepipes can actually pass water in both directions...oh i feel clever now lol


----------



## Wallace (5 Mar 2015)

Only if you buy special 2 way hosepipe, the one I was using had a one way valve fitted lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## leetaylor (5 Mar 2015)

I think im going to the store room to pick up a left handed mallet and some glass nails


----------



## leetaylor (5 Mar 2015)

Oh and a Skyhook


----------



## Wallace (13 Apr 2015)

Update time, I was a bit poorly a few weeks back and the tank was a little neglected and the plants started to suffer somewhat. Nothing major, no Algae to report but as I wasn't dosing any ferts or carbon and the light was still coming on I had a little bit of melt and a few small holes started to appear. Cleaned the tank last week and gave everything a run over and a wipe, also cleaned the filter out too which didn't really need doing but I thought I might aswell. 

Move on a week, after getting the dosing regime back up and running and things are ticking away nicely again. Oh, the Kribs spawned again and the 100 or so fry were free swimming under ma and pa's watchful eye but they all soon disappeared so I think ma and pa ate them. I've dug out an old Aquastart 320 to set up as a fry tank, and I've got the internal filter running in the big tank at the moment to kickstart it. 

Enough waffle, here's the latest FTS. 







Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------

