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Noob with an idea or twelve

I shoot most styles but never underwater. I think shooting through glass into liquid with moving plants/fish might be a challenge. I wonder what my my trusty 5D will make of it? Maybe my 50mm f/1.4 will produce some great depth of field shots. What does bokeh look like underwater?

Just read through Alastair's 1300L tank thread 😱 that dudes got some great looking wood. I only hope I can source some gnarled examples like that. I like the on limb planting as well plus loads of room for swimmers.
 
foxfish said:
Great, we like wealthy people on here ... can we see a 1500l? 🙂
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Wealthy? With all my hobbies? :greedy: Photography, allotment, fishing (10min walk from harbour arm), design/build amps/speakers, music (bought nothing but vinyl for the last 18 months and I buy lots!) and now fancy glass boxes of water :wacky: All I can say is Mrs O is a very understanding woman :angelic:

I dont think I could manage 1500l in our first floor flat. I'd have to rearrange my speakers to use a corner of two outside walls and it would be 5ft deep. That would never do......for now anyway 😀 I can manage 272l as the whole shebang will be about 350kg sat along a supporting wall. I figure that if I weigh 115kg and don't fall through the floor with just my size 12's then I can spread the 350kg over the cabinets footprint. Its about 118kg per sqft for me and 50kg per sqft for the tank if the cabinets flat bottomed.

On a completely unrelated topic I nearly jumped in the car and drove to TheGreenMachine - its only 4:50hrs and 260 miles each way. Couldn't make it back home in time so will put it off for a bit. Went to a Maidenhead Aquatics not far from me to quench the desire. Had 40, 50 or more tetras of various types stuffed into tiny tanks and a poor plant selection :grumpy: They did have a nice 48x30x30 tank with all sorts of planting and a water lilly! Looked really effective. Are there any highly recommended aquatic stores in the south, ideally below the M25?
 
James O said:
I dont think I could manage 1500l in our first floor flat.
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Do you know, I've just found out today a lad I work with has a 5 foot (w) x 3 foot (d) x 4 foot tank (h) tank on a 2 foot high stand 😱 I knew he kept fish. I said 'how do you do any planting in that?', reply 'with great difficulty!' 😀
 
1620L?!?! his water changes must be epic
 
Can't remember what he said, 100 litres a day (10 x 10l buckets) and then something more substantial at the weekends. I'm not 100% sure he knows fully what he's doing lol, I have asked for some pictures (it's not a planted tank btw...)
 
Is TheGreenMachine worth the trip? Anyone been? It'll cost me a whole tank of petrol and a 5am start

What about Charterhouse?
 
Aquajardin?
 
Sorry I disappeared there for a while. Been reading....and reading......and, well you get the idea. So many useful posts, pretty pics and inspirational tanks. My mind has officially been boggled :dead:

Was making plans to make the trip to TGM after a weekend with friends in London. Seeing as how I was going to be 1:30hrs from home and closer to Wrexham etc etc. Then I noticed they aren't open on Mondays 😱 Good thing I didn't book the travelodge at that end :cigar:

I've been looking into tank dimensions again. I REALLY like the 90x60hx45 that TGM used in their 'altitude' tank/video. However as I am a fish lover I understand that a 120 might be better for little fellas. So I guess what I'm seeking advice on it this. Given that I want to plant AND keep good stock levels of fish, which would you recommend and why? (pls include the why so I can learn from your wisdom 😉) The choices are: 90w x 55h x 55d (272L) OR 120w x 45h x 45h (243L)
 
Depends on the fish you want to keep the 120 will be better for swimmers like rainbowfish etc and offer more distance for territorial fish. The 90 offers more volume. The other thing to think about is arm length and the hight x depth if you have short arms then the 55x55 may be a bit to far to reach....
 
Well I can tell you that a smaller tank is easier to maintain 🙂

Water changes on a 60l are almost fun - water changes on a 120l are a chore.

Nobody bats an eyelid at dosing 2BPS of Co2 on a 60l but just see how difficult it is to get guys to does 30BPS on a 120l... so my point is that if your are relatively new to planted high tech tanks, bare in mind smaller tanks are an easer option.

Of course large tanks are fantastic in so many ways, just bear in mind the extra work & the associated problems with flow Co2 supply on bigger tanks.
keeping fish will always hinder a fresh tank start up as getting the Co2 levels right can kill fish!
 
Well arm length isn't a problem! Water changes on a 243L tank would be fairly easy using one of my 50L jerry cans. 50L is basically 20% of the volume so I can use a pump to fill one up and then again to pump in the fresh stuff.

Does the 120cm tank offer more room for shoaling etc? I see 15 or so x-ray tetra's moving about beautifully and maybe 1 or 2 groups of the same size of other docile tiddlers. Maybe some of those celestial pearl danios I dream of?

My harscape/planting ideas are:

For the 90cm tank - diagonally opposed islands in corners of rock with branches reaching out across the tank. Maybe an overlap of the front island in front of the rear to help with depth. gentle planting and a healthy dose of moss on branches.

For the 120cm tank - large island in back right hand corner almost to water level. Made of substrate clad with stone (slate?) and branches laid over (like the tank of here with the word octopus in the name 😕) and into the sand floor. Then about halfway up the tank a long and large branch that reaches across 2/3 of the tank to be planted with moss and tiny anubias. A scattering of rock and plantin underneath and a smaller island from front to back on the left hand end with plenty of tall luscious growth.

Did any of that make sense? :nailbiting:
 
The two tanks are close in terms of volume. Big factor is your water stats - that will govern which fish you can keep, and thrive with.
 
I think the octopuss tank you mean is my one? If so I currently have 20 cardinals and 10 cpds and very rarely see the cpds and could easily double or maybe even triple the tetra schoal without crowding the tank. I've always prefered a large schoal of a single species as it looks more effective. Once I get my shrimp tank running I think Ill swap out the cardinals for something slightly larger like the colombian tetras or dwarf neon rainbows as I find the blue really stands out and makes for better viewing from across the room hence the current cardinal schoal.
 
My current 55L tank is RO so I can manipulate the water stats as I please. My brother-in-law has a 2000L RO production/storage plant in an outbuilding for his window cleaning business so I have easy access (less than 1 miles away) and could theoretically make the larger tanks RO too.

Yup I mean your gorgeous tank Ollie! Just couldn't remember the right name. Then 5 min later got your thread update email! I have kept pics of that tank in my inspiration gallery 😎

So which size would you go for - tall & squat or long & low?
 
James O said:
Yup I mean your gorgeous tank Ollie! Just couldn't remember the right name. Then 5 min later got your thread update email! I have kept pics of that tank in my inspiration gallery
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Thanks 😳 🙂
James O said:
So which size would you go for - tall & squat or long & low?
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I personally prefer the long and low. When I rescaped this time I was tempted to take the tank to a glazier friend and have it cut down to 35cm high so how about 120lx55dx45h?
 
Ooh 297l, long & deep! Thanks for that Ollie

Just got my x-rays doing an oval lap of my cube tank - back left high then round to the front right bottom. Very pretty. They are colouring up nicely too - yellow in the fin and red tails coming back

Any other views or is it really just a preference thing?
 
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