Prepping 8' Tank w/ teak wood stand for new Arowana

[islandguy11]

Oooh. What kind of poly did you get?...

Nothing overly fancy, just a common P. Delhezi but he sure is cute. I wanted a bit more active Poly, not one that hides all the time -- maybe a bit of eye exercise for the Aro so he's not looking down all the time. He's in a quarantine tank now for about a week then will go into the 375 ahead of the GB XB.



Been looking for a Flagtail to be part of their threesome, but so far I can only find little juvis about 1.5", too small for the Aro.

 

[MariaS]

@islandguy11 , gorgeous poly

The flagtails grow very, very quickly when small
I had the same problem a couple months ago and landed up buying a little one
Keep him in the quarantine tank a few weeks and he will be ok to go in with the aro

 

[Dloks]

My friend from across the ocean tell me is that tank drilled? I see you mention there’s no overflow box I see one on the left how big is the hole drilled if drilled

 

[islandguy11]

My friend from across the ocean tell me is that tank drilled? I see you mention there’s no overflow box I see one on the left how big is the hole drilled if drilled

Hey Dloks, there is an overflow box for the corner filter (which can hold a pretty good amount of media) but unfortunately the tank isn't drilled and don't think I go about doing that now. I think the corner filter plus a decent sized canister filter will do the trick for my needs -- for sure this is not going to be a heavily stocked tank.

 

[islandguy11]

Installed some basic plumbing today, incl. a new Jebao TM-10000 pump

I'm not super hip on the blue pvc (hard to find anything except that here), but you won't really be able to see it so much when the lid pieces are fully on; later I may replace some of the pieces with painted black pvc.

The top lid pieces have all been re-laquered, then smaller mesh on the sides and thicker plastic mesh on the very top pieces.

Bottom of the tank stand will be re-laquered tomorrow, day after tile substrate, water and pre-seeded bio media goes into the tank.

 

[Matteus]

Installed some basic plumbing today, incl. a new Jebao TM-10000 pump

I'm not super hip on the blue pvc (hard to find anything except that here), but you won't really be able to see it so much when the lid pieces are fully on; later I may replace some of the pieces with painted black pvc.

The top lid pieces have all been re-laquered, then smaller mesh on the sides and thicker plastic mesh on the very top pieces.

Bottom of the tank stand will be re-laquered tomorrow, day after tile substrate, water and pre-seeded bio media goes into the tank.

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Beautiful. I personally like the blue pvc better than the white.

 

[islandguy11]

After going back and forth about substrate (complicated somewhat by having to take into account the needs of my GB's Bichir tank mate), I finally decided (at least initially) to use a mixed set-up: tiled in the center, with decent sized rocks around the edges (which are surely big enough my Birchir won't swallow them





The main reason I'm using the rocks is that the center of tank is recessed due to the outer edges being supported by glass crossbars or whatever you call them. I didn't feel like putting tile all along the edges, too much extra work come cleaning time. I'll scatter the rocks around a bit more to make it look more natural. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if over time I take out the rocks and just leave the edges as BB.





I've seen horror videos of peeps with tiled tanks discovering how much detritus can actually accumulate under the tiles -- but they were lazy and waited 6 months-1 yr to clean under them; I'm borderline OCD with my tanks' cleanliness, so wouldn't let it get to that stage. Just as with my bare bottom Kamfa tank, I'll be using one my best friends to help me zap out waste before it really even has time to settle under any of the tiles.



A couple of wave makers will be added at the right side to push any waste toward the left cornerSo water was added to the tank today, I'll show more pix tomorrow as it's pretty blue due to water conditioner (house is on a well with good water, just using the conditioner for first filling of tank and clean the new substrate a bit). Will be tweaking the plumbing a bit (and later installing a pre-filter and new UV sterilizer under the tank).



As I've done with my Kamfa's tank to protect his noggin, I tied pieces of new yoga mat around the thick glass crossbars, which will help reduce the chance of injury a bit in case of Aro jumping.

Tomorrow, besides putting black Oyama sticker on back and sides, pre-seeded bio-media will be going into the tank and filter (along with some Ocean Nutrition pellets to give the bacteria a bit of sustenance). A day or two later the Bichir and possibly another tank mate will be going in before my GB's arrival.

 

[krull]

Tank and stand is looking awesome mate,
Good work!!
Cant wait to see it with some fish inside.

 

[MariaS]

Looking awesome @islandguy11 !!

 

[islandguy11]

Well a couple of set-backs, though neither should affect timeline of Aro being shipped on 11th Sept., 2 days after we move into new place where the tank is.

First and worst, the day after we filled the tank, we found a trickle of a leak in the right back corner; the tank didn't lose much water but of course no choice but to drain the water and re-seal the tank best we could, though we only did the corners, not really any at the base, which was in better condition.

In any case I've decided that while I will use this tank for about 3-6 months, I will buy a new, similar sized tank in the not too distant future.

The other issue is that if you look at previous pictures, the back glass didn't look so bad: however, after applying some black Oyama sticker, it looks quite terrible: I'm pretty sure it's calcium build up, so I will likely need to drain the tank again tomorrow, do a proper cleaning with some vinegar and razor, then see if that does the trick. If not I'll remove the black sticker and go with a lighter colored background that doesn't show the white marks as much. Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.