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“A Little Unconventional” - Bucephalandra & Hakkai - Custom All In One

Little

Little

Member
Joined
26 Dec 2023
Messages
427
Location
Kent
My custom tank arrived from ND aquatics today.

600 x 400 x 400
Over spec 12mm optiwhite glass
Custom rear sump
Black glass divider and silicon.
Custom Cabinet with fabric effect wood

IMG_3085.jpegIMG_3086.jpegIMG_3087.jpegIMG_3088.jpegIMG_3089.jpegIMG_3090.jpeg

Filtration:
Poret sponge in chamber 1
Two air driven sponge filters in chamber 2
Mature media from last tank in chamber 3

Pump:
Aqua Illumination with 22mm pipe

Light:
Chihiros Universal WRGB

Really pleased with the tank.
ND Aquatics did a great job.
 
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I have some floating plants and fast growing stems floating on the surface to help it mature.

The main / feature Bucephalandra is the brownie ghost 2011 that Sid sold me several months back. I placed it in the focal spot of the golden ratio.

I will be adding more Bucephalandra over the next few weeks as the tank starts to stabilise.

There is a small black sand patch as I am looking to have Corys in the future. I originally planned to lay more buce in that space.

Note: The little heater on the right side is just to help the initial heating up (it’s my water change bucket heater).
The main heater is in the rear sump on an Inkbird.
 
Nice custom build! Look forward to seeing how it develops. You have a lot of filtration for the size of the tank, something you usually see in heavily stocked cichlid tanks.
What are the two boxes in the cabinet?
 
Thanks for the comment.

I come from a pond keeping background so am all in for over filtration. The previous tank I had was the same proportion, 1/3 display volume as filtration and was a dream to look after so I replicated that.

The boxes are battery backup power supplies.
They keep the heater and filter running for a few hours in the event of a power cut.
 
Thanks.
Doing daily water changes for the first two weeks so felt comfortable to put my Alien Betta in.
Nice to have some movement in the tank.
Still a lot more planting to do trying to pace it so I can keep up with remove melting leaves etc… joys of moving Bucephalandra about.
Also have yet to set up my auto doser, will do a post of all the tech once that’s done.
Lots of little tasks and in maybe three weeks, shrimp will be going in (Zebra Babaulti). IMG_3107.jpeg
 
Moved the hospital (and plant grow on) tank to under the new main one.
Set up the technology….
Two large UPS power banks, two air pumps, auto doser, two heaters on an inkbird for main tank and small heater for small tank, co2 on Phillips smart switch, main tank pump controller, small pump and mini Chihiros light for the spare tank…. Barely fit it all in. Oh and smooshed in some sound absorbing panels I had leftover. Not pretty but I’m ok with that. IMG_3116.jpeg
 

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Thanks. I’m looking forward to getting more buce in and the floating mess out at some point.

ND was initially trying to down sell me on glass thickness* so it’s clear they was not after profit… and the quality is great. Was a bit of a long wait but I guess custom made and awkward specifications caused some of that.
I would definitely recommend them based on the end product.

*Im glad I was stubborn as the 12mm looks so good on a small tank. Also pets (and humans) can bang into it and it won’t budge an inch. It’s a tank of a tank.
 

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Little said:
Thanks. I’m looking forward to getting more buce in and the floating mess out at some point.

ND was initially trying to down sell me on glass thickness* so it’s clear they was not after profit… and the quality is great. Was a bit of a long wait but I guess custom made and awkward specifications caused some of that.
I would definitely recommend them based on the end product.

*Im glad I was stubborn as the 12mm looks so good on a small tank. Also pets (and humans) can bang into it and it won’t budge an inch. It’s a tank of a tank.
Click to expand...
Wow that is think, I think mine was 8mm and even that seemed fairly solid.
What fish are you going to be adding??
 
IMG_3148.jpeg
Few more Buce added.
I added a random flow generator nozzle.

The higher and more directional flow melted my filiformis / rosemarin on the far right, it may well regrow but perhaps not.
Also melted one of the two lamandau purple (my second fav plant). The other one is going strong so hope to propagate from it eventually.

The needle leaf mostly held up from the change, some small melt only. The brownie ghost 2011, kedigang and bibilis did not blink, they seem the most robust to flow change.

Likewise the sordidula blue seems a little rough but should be fine. I tucked it much deeper in as it keeps dislodging / the Betta likes to push under the leaves. Hopefully will spread more but I plan to add more anyway.

The velvet on the lower left is not looking great, a snail keeps trying (and failing) to dislodge it by squeezing past. Will just leave it alone and see how it fares.

Overall things are fine. It’s a slow growing tank but has zero algae so the low lighting and low co2 seems well balanced. It has 3mil of APT3 auto dosed daily and I feel that is about right.

Hope to get my Zebra Babaulti delivered soon now the weather is improving.
 
Small update.

The random flow generator nozzle seems to be stressing out the Betta. In hindsight it was a bad decision to add it.

When the flow moves round and blows on him he quickly darts away and hides for ages. He eventually comes back out and is fine till the flow randomly gives him another nudge and it repeats again… all day. The flow was not strong but the intermittent nature of it seems to really startle him.

I have removed it (shame as it was really nice to see different leaves swaying at different times). Good learning experience for me.
That learning is: Random flow, despite being gentle, is not appropriate for a Betta.

Tank is otherwise doing well, I have another Sordidula Blue on order and some more floating plant varieties to start preparing for the Baubaulti shrimp (more top of tank surface for them to explore).
 
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