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

[Little]

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



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.

 

[Little]

I spent three hours today setting up the hardscape, planting and filling the tank.
It’s coming up to temperature currently.
The cats are enjoying snooping around it.

 

[Little]

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.

 

[Matthias]

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?

 

[Little]

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.

 

[G mac]

Looks like a quality tank and cabinet, very nice.

Love the aquascape.

 

[Little]

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).