Staffylovers Barbarium (active tank)

[Staffylover]

New tank has arrived, this is primarily for the Barbs which currently reside in the 340l 4ft tank, I hope it will be an active tank with plenty of movement,
Tank itself is 2m long, this is my maximum available space if I could have a longer tank I would, it's 60cm wide but only 50cm high to the top of the glass, this is because I have struggled with the Aqua Oak which is 60 high, I can manage it now with the lid off but I don't want maintenance to become a chore, for this reason also it has a pelmet and not a lid, it does have glass sliders along with the substrate this makes it a long but shallow tank, water volume is something like 480l once this is taken into account, still it's a good increase for them in terms of volume but it's the bigger footprint which I hope they will like, this is why I want active fish in here that will use the space, here is the basic tank,

[Staffylover]

Gone for sand substrate this is always better for fish and won't restrict my choices, in a fairly light colour as tank has a black background, it's the Unipac aquarium silica sand, I like the Unipac sand, after trying out gravel and maidenhead aquatics sand think I will stick to this from now on so it had to be from their range, no planting substrate there isn't the space, only root tabs, plan to also add my liquid ferts,

Found some nice wood in a local shop but it's currently all weighed down with stone so it doesn't look too good right now, some plants have been taken out of the 4ft I also ordered some more, I had to try and pick ones they wouldn't eat, also I failed to consider the parcel would not be left, had to get a redelivery so the plants had been in the dark for 5 or 6 days when I finally got them, it wasn't the best start, there is a lot of die back, some will need replacing, the sand is too thin for planting at the front so I can only plant the back half,

[Staffylover]

At the moment I will keep all tanks running, but it's likely the kitchen tank will get shut down and if I struggle will also shut down the Fluval, the 2 big tanks will be on alternate weeks, the Fluval and 50l get done every week along with 1 of the big tanks, with the hoses this takes about an hour, so it's not too bad, the QT and kitchen tank get done with buckets on a different day, the QT only takes 10mins but the kitchen tank takes at least 20 as it needs more cleaning and is all planted up,

Plants have now been in 3wks, the first fish have been in a week, they had the first water change today, I moved them along with the filter straight from the quarantine tank, so at the moment the QT is shut down, I have 6 Leopard Danio and about 12 Tiger Barbs, I got a mix of bottle green and orange variants, the green ones were tiny when I got them and have not done well, I only have a couple left, I think they were too small to move, the orange ones are doing ok but they are also small although not as tiny as the greens, so will just have to see how they get on, the danio are full grown and have been fine, they have been using the space and making the tank look busy already, and there is another 5 in the 4ft to join them soon, so then it will be really hectic..


orange tigers,


Danio looking like mini Trout

There won't be any big changes to this tank now until I am ready to re scape the 4ft, also will need plenty of time to catch all the fish and transfer the filter media, but I hope to get it done sometime next month.

[VikingMummy2015]

Looking good!

[fr499y]

nice, big old tank

[Stephen]

Very nice

[black ghost]

Nice big tank. They’ll love it. The danios probably think you’ve set them free…

[Martinspuddle]

this is because I have struggled with the Aqua Oak which is 60 high

Also my regret with the main Puddle, it is a pain to do anything with a tall aquarium. Think Mr.@fr499y started a new trend by going shallow.

Look forward to seeing how your new tank progresses.

[LookoutTrout]

I have tank envy, looks very nice.

[plankton]

This is going to look really great when populated.