This month we will be looking at our Newest Moderator Matt_Harry_Harrison
I have all the Tank I need for September and October, but during October I will be sending out invites for the November Tank.
In this thread Matt will answer any questions or comments on his tank, Hope you Enjoy.
Matts Tank.
Welcome to my tank.
Tank Dimensions and basic information
The tank is a Seashell Marine tank (purchased from Maidenhead Aquatics) this has an internal weir in the back left hand corner, and was pre drilled for a 32mm outlet pipe. When I did the original calculations for the tank and sump I believe it held around 100 gallons or 400 + litres.
Tank Size
60” x 18” x 24” (152 x 46 x 61 cm) Close to 300 litres
Background
Currently I do not have a background fitted – I did have on order a 3d moulded model but this didn't arrive. At some point I plan to strip down this tank as part of a reorganisation of stock (and a second tank) and during this rebuild I will do something with a background however I have not decided what yet.
Filtration
The filtration is set up with an under tank sump which is separated into four chambers for the maximum filtration possible
The overall sump dimensions are 36”x12”x18” (92x31x46cm)
Chamber 1 is the main intake from the tank above – water drains directly into this sump. The sump contains basic plastic pond media sandwiched between two sheets of coarse foam. To ensure the filter gets an adequate oxygen supply I run a large flat air stone in this chamber to provide surface movement.
Water passes from this chamber under the baffle and into the 2nd chamber. The second chamber is narrow and I tend to fill this with media that I am likely to remove, at the moment this is running with polyfilter as an experiment in reducing nitrate.
Water flows over a baffle from this chamber into the third – and main chamber. The base of the main chamber is lined on the bottom with coarse foam (as protection) and contains about 40 litres of Blagdon ceramic pond media, (7 bags) on top of this is another layer of medium foam. I also use in this sump 2 pond planting baskets, 1 containing coral gravel and 1 containing spare canister filter media in case I need to set up another canister. Finally this chamber also houses a very small internal filter that I can use for emergency quarantine or treatment tanks.
Water flows out of the main chamber into the final section. This contains two 300w heaters and a fountain pump with two outlets. One pump outlet returns the water back to the tank. This passes to a 48” x 15” under gravel plate. Effectively this is working in a reverse flow mode so water passes up through the gravel (providing another filter bed).
The pipe work for the pump is a large bore tube with spirals and fits almost perfectly into the under gravel uplift tube.
(TIP - if you use reverse flow systems a small hole is essential at some point near the top of the tank (in my case the hole for the airline tube) to prevent any potential of the tank siphoning out – remember the “end” of the pipe is effectively under the gravel.....)
The second pump outlet passes water back into the front chamber of the sump, allowing me to fine tune the volume of water returning to the tank. The pump is an Aquarius 3500 which should provide 1800 litres hour at 1.5m head if used to its optimum potential. When I set the tank up this actually pumped water back into the tank quicker than the water was coming out – and I was at risk of pumping the sump dry – hence the use of the second outlet and some fine tuning between the two flows.
Since I rely on a single pump - in addition to the sump, I have a Fluval canister 405 which came with the standard Fluval media. This provides some peace of mind that the tank will have some filtration if my fountain pump fails.
WATER PARAMETERS
TEMPERATURE – 25 deg C /75 deg F
Stats by Strip tests
AMONIA READINGS = 0
NITRITE READINGS = 0
NITRATE READINGS = today around 25 - 40 ppm
PH READINGS = between 7.4 and 8
GH READINGS = 180+ ppm
KH READINGS = 240+ ppm
WATER CHANGE ROUTINE
I change about 24 gallons each weekend (which is between 12 and 15 buckets). This works out at about 25% of the tank volume. I fill 5 buckets with water and ensure that the water is up to the correct temperature,then siphon 1 bucket out and add one bucket back. The old tank water goes over the front garden and the roses thrive on it!.
Doing one bucket at a time in this way means I don’t need to stop and start the pump and I can leave it running all the time, this I believe reduces any strain on the pump.
I also add water conditioner to each bucket (API stress coat) and I add a small dose of Malawi salts. I am not at this point going to increase the Ph parameter as I am going to add more fish and none of my local dealers keep their rifts at these levels. Once I am fully stocked then I will start to increase the Ph.
OTHER EQUIPMENT DETAILS
HEATER DETAILS
I have a pair of Fluval G 300 watt heaters – this provides a margin of error if one fails on – or off. I like the way that a quick glance each day at the green LED gives such confidence that the tank temperature is level.
Large two outlet tetratec air pump with two oulets – 1 outlet runs a big air stone in the sump and the other a single airstone in the main tank.
Rocks
Currently the rock work is a mix of well aged (15+ year old) tuffa rock and more recently 50kg of ocean rock. The tuffa rock has been cut by a hand saw to leave a flat back, so that they can sit flush to the tank. All my rock gets a good going over with the pressure washer before going into the tank. You can make a number of holes / caves in tuffa using this method.
In addition to the rocks and since Pseudotropheus Acei are frequently described as picking at branches in the water. I have several pieces of plastic “bog wood”. The Acei ignore them and one of my Auratus lives in it instead.
Substrate
I have very traditional gravel which is fairly large grained. When the tank is re scaped this may change to a finer sand / gravel mix. However I have used a reverse undergravel for so long without problems – and I had anaerobic problems with the only unfiltered substrate I tried, so I need to develop a little more confidence in it!
Since I have a under gravel plate I can put all the rocks directly onto the plate which helps reduce the amount of “mulch” that builds up under the rocks and just fill in around the rocks with the gravel.
Stock List
To the best of my knowledge, all of my fish are straightforward tank bred fish from a couple of LFS that keep a half decent stock of rifts.
I have the following stock – which is currently a little low.
5 Labidiochromis Caeruleus (2m and 3f(?))
3 Labeotropheus Fulleborni (1m and 2f(?))
4 Psuedotropheus Demasoni (1m and 3f)
2 Psuedotropheus Olive Tiger (1m and 1f)
4 Melanochromis Auratus (1m and 3f)
6 Psuedotropheus Acei yellow tail (2m and 4f)
1 Synodontis Occelifer
I have arrangements for 6 F1 Mylandia Estherea (3m and 3f) which will start to resolve my under stocking and start to improve the general stock.
I have no obvious problems with aggression in the tank, at least I never witness any with the lights on – but I think my Male Tropheus has seen off 3 females after lights out, as losing these females has been the only problems I have had for the past few months – aside from a brief skinny problem with the Demasoni (despite quarantine!)
Here are a few of my fish stock in pictures below, i hope you have enjoyed reading about my tank and i am open to plenty of questions and suggestions from the members of this forum on my Tank of the Month article
Photos
How do you find your auratus.
and the "wood" is pastic, but obviously quite realistic !
