# Hey



## Vase (12 Feb 2008)

I'm new to this forum so I thought I'd say hey.

Although I've had a couple of tanks running I lost a lot of interest in fish keeping, especially after nothing but problems with my main tank (pictured)
But after realising that although I cant live with them, I cant live without them either.  So,  I've decided to pull my finger out and get my tanks back on track.

I'm starting with my 48" and keeping it very low tech. Needs a bit of work but I'll get there. In the mean time I'm going to plan my main tank out again while I save for new equipment etc.
I've learnt loads from here while lurking so I figured I'd sign up and then pester you guys with some stupid questions   

Vase


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## ulster exile (12 Feb 2008)

Hey yourself!  Nice to see you here Vase and looking forward to that 48-incher turning onto one of your beauties!

Tigs


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## Tom (12 Feb 2008)

Hi again    

Hurry up and get those tanks back how they used to be!   

Tom


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## StevenA (12 Feb 2008)

Hi Vase, nice to see more new people on here, hope to see some pictures soon m8. Welcome aboard


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## TDI-line (12 Feb 2008)

Hello and welcome.

Is that an Akva-Stabil 500 or 700 litre tank?


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## Vase (12 Feb 2008)

TDI-line said:
			
		

> Hello and welcome.
> 
> Is that an Akva-Stabil 500 or 700 litre tank?



Hey, yeah its an Effect Line 720 and the bane of my life. Purchased from the wonderful and helpful Shirley Aquatics many moons ago. 
I'm currently debating what to do with the background as something tells me it was responsible for a lot of the problems I had.

One of the balasts blew and  Shirely wouldnt replace it so I got the halide. The only good thing was that the Discus spawned but apart from that....

I love it but I hate it


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## TDI-line (12 Feb 2008)

Snap. 

Same as my tank, funny enough, i have 2 spare ballasts for a 720 which i took out last week and have replaced with D+D T5's.

Just spent most of the day scaping and planting. It just swallows plants and ferts.


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## Themuleous (12 Feb 2008)

Hello and welcome on board


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## Vase (12 Feb 2008)

Did you have one of 'those' backgrounds in the tank as well? And if so how did you remove it.

I need to find out loads more stuff before the tank gets set up again and this seems like the right place


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## TDI-line (12 Feb 2008)

Do you mean a resin-fibre glass background like the ones made by Back to Nature etc.





If yes, then i'll explain later...


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## John Starkey (12 Feb 2008)

*shirley aquatics*

Hi Vase, welcome to the best plants forum on the web   i know shirley aquatics very well and imo it has gone down hill very fast recently, they did start doing tropica plants last year but when ever i went they were always in a crap state, good luck with your setup it has all the makings of a good tank, regards john


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## Vase (12 Feb 2008)

*Re: shirley aquatics*



			
				john starkey said:
			
		

> good luck with your setup it has all the makings of a good tank, regards john



Thanks John. Just had a look at it a minute ago as the stand didnt look right. Seems the wood has warped from when the tank flooded so I think I'll need to buy a new cabinet   



			
				TDI-line said:
			
		

> Do you mean a resin-fibre glass background like the ones made by Back to Nature etc.
> If yes, then i'll explain later...



Yeah thats the one. I think I'm going to remove it as I'm convinced it caused a lot of the problems I had. I dont have any proof, just a gut feeling.
Any advice would be awesome


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## TDI-line (13 Feb 2008)

Ok, what i did was empty the tank as best you can, there was a  small amount of water left. 

My background was very broad and stuck in by silicon which was mainly stuck around the sides and a few dobs at the rear and a  couple on the bottom to allow for water movement. I placed towls in the tank to protect the glass bottom. 

This is were it get's scary, i used jigsaw with rcd cut-off to try and cut through the background so this would weaken it and allow it to be bent, broken and snapped. I left the 2 brace bars in place.  When sawwing i was compensating where the blade could go when in full cycle, i didn't allow it to go anyone near the glass. 

With the BG in a weakened state, i was then able to pull and push on it and it eventually pulled off the silicon side walls, and then came away from the bottom and rear too. It was then pulled out slowly by feeding the whole section through a clockwise manner. I then carried on sawwing by hand with a sharp handsaw, cutting diagnally any piece i could. The jigsaw was only used a couple of times as was not feasible to get it in everywhere. 

Eventually with some relief and patience the BG was removed, it did take alot of effort, and i had a very large pile of expensive fibreglass too. 

I then removed any silicon traces from the glass with a brand new scaping tool, available from Homebase etc. This sounded bad too, but actually did not scratch the glass at all, and to day you would never no there had been soo much silicon all over the glass. I wasn't too particular with the base though.

http://www.lgharris.co.uk/products/prod ... =15&id=225





You can see where i've also cut round the BG to allow for movement around the brace bars.





Is this the exactly the same as your background?

I found i had very poor circulation in the tank, which contributed to very bad algae too. And i lost countless fish behind there too.

Looking back in hind sight, one of those dremmel blades used in a drill or smiliar item may well of been very useful too.

http://www.dremel-direct.com/acatalog/5 ... Wheel.html

Also if you do need a new cabinet, Akva-Stabil are pulling out of the UK market at the moment, so there will be only old stock left. Maybe worth dropping your lfs or Para-Aquatics a line to get hold of one for you. I just had a new Akva 128 tank/cabinet delivered yesterday from them, i now have 2 of these side by side.    I think the cabinet you have may be of a different design, but the tanks are the same though, so no problem there. My proper tank pics will be being posted in the next couple of weeks.

http://www.paraquatics.co.uk/astabil.htm

If you need to know anything, just ask.

Dan.


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## Vase (13 Feb 2008)

Thanks mate thats awesome, very helpful   

My background isnt as 'big' as yours so removing it (in theory) should be easier. Its one of those things that I only want it gone due to practicalities as I really like it. I'll try and remove it without damaging it if possible. Failing that I might try and drill out the rivets that hold the braces in place and then re-rivet them after.

Either way I bet something will go 'mams up'


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## sks (13 Feb 2008)

I don't understand why someone would use such a large background, and surely that void there can't be a good thing.

Dan, were those pictures of the previous set up? Get rid of the horrible heating cable!

Mind you, I do like the Dennerle tree stump, but I've been told that it costs Â£600!!

Vase, your first photo, was that a Dennerle set up?


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## TDI-line (13 Feb 2008)

Sks, unfortunately not really knowing any one in the planted scene a couple of years ago, i ordered my tank and the background without having seen the background, only pics, and ordered a full dennerle system. I was shocked when i saw how little planting space i had, and algae soon bloomed as there was no space, arrgggh!

After a few months the background was ripped out, and at present use the heating coils, co2 and controls from the original dennerle setup, no dennerle ferts are used.

But this site had shown me how much other better gear is available. But having just moved house, this will have to wait for a few years.

Vase, good luck.


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## Vase (13 Feb 2008)

sks said:
			
		

> I don't understand why someone would use such a large background, and surely that void there can't be a good thing.
> 
> Vase, your first photo, was that a Dennerle set up?



I had a Fluval 4 internal behind my background as well as a 2128 and a Fluval 303 filtering the tank. Old school..lol
The tank how it was in the first pic was more luck than judgement. I just tried things that I either thought might work or that had worked in the past. I've learnt so much since then, hopefully I wont make the same mistakes this next time around.

That will also give me the opportunity to make all new ones


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