Finally have my new tank

[Jeff1192]

Well I finally got my 90 gallon tank today! I started working on it this afternoon with the "help" of my 3yr old son. Let's just say, rinsing fluorite in the driveway when a 3yr old is controlling the hose is a very, very wet experience  . Most of the fluorite is rinsed and in the tank. I probably won't be able to get to putting the water in until tomorrow because my son wants to help with everything and he goes to bed pretty early. I'm hoping to have it planted and running tomorrow night. I'll post some photos in my gallery as we go.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me out with all my questions. A lot has changed in this hobby since I last had a tank some 12yrs ago! 

Jeff

[babblefish1960]

You sound like a great dad being a sport like that, with any luck you are training another future aquarist, looking forward to the pictures of course, take lots.

[plecoL83]

Congrats! make sure to post lots of pics...

Let's just say, rinsing fluorite in the driveway when a 3yr old is controlling the hose is a very, very wet experience .

he he

[Jeff1192]

Well we finished rinsing the 8 bags of fluorite black that I bought for the tank and I only had to change my clothes 2 times!....not bad. 

Jeff

[dan2x38]

Well we finished rinsing the 8 bags of fluorite black that I bought for the tank and I only had to change my clothes 2 times!....not bad. 

Jeff

That is great can't wait to hear what ya stock it with... and see some pics... what's the plan?

[Jeff1192]

Well I've had an Eheim 2026 that has been running in a rubbermaid bin in my basement for 2 months now. I bought it from sniggir and it had used media in it. I kept the bacteria alive with ammonia so I'm not expecting too bad of a cycle. It will be a planted tank and I figure I'll add 8-10 small tetras for now until things balance out and I see what type of cycle I'll go through. First off though will be to go out tomorrow and get some plants as I have a nice bed of black fluorite just waiting for plants! After that I'm not totally sure what else I'm going to put in there. It will definitely be a community tank with a couple of livebearers but beyond that we'll have to see. It will also depend on what my son likes when we go to look at the store!

Jeff

[kennyman]

If you get a good amount of plants established first you wont have any worries with "cycling" a tank Jeff. The plants can act as biological filtration for an appropriate fishload provided they are actively growing. 

Good luck with the new tank. Sounds sweet.

[Jeff1192]

If you get a good amount of plants established first you wont have any worries with "cycling" a tank Jeff. The plants can act as biological filtration for an appropriate fishload provided they are actively growing. 

Good luck with the new tank. Sounds sweet.

Yeah that's what I had read. And I figured having an active bacteria colony already established in one of my filters should also really help with any cycling problems.

Jeff

[dan2x38]

If you like can give a few plantlets of spiral val it will grow nice in the background of a big tank... probilly can pull out some java fern too got lots of that... how old is your son? there are tons of great tetras don't start with rummy nose they need stable water... I hate when ppl set up new tanks...  Makes my MTS flare up...  My son 8 at the time wanted some mickey mouse platies...

[Jeff1192]

If you like can give a few plantlets of spiral val it will grow nice in the background of a big tank... probilly can pull out some java fern too got lots of that

Thank you for the offer but Charlie gave me a ton of trimmings today and after adding that to what I bought I think I'm good for now. Also I'm dosing with Excel and I read that Vals and Excel don't mix well.

how old is your son?

He will be 3 at the end of the month. It's funny he keeps asking why there are no fish in the tank.
We went to Big Als and bought some plants today and I had him looking at the fish to see which ones he liked.  He liked most of them....not good. But he spent extra time looking at the Paraguay Darter Tetras that they had. I really liked those ones too. I haven't been able to find anything about them on line. When I do a search the fish I'm finding aren't the ones at Big Als. I'll have to keep looking. I figure I'll start with 10 or so small fish right now just to see how things go "cycle-wise".

My canister filter is eating up lots of ammonia right now and no nitrites so keeping it going in the rubbermaid container was definitely worth it.

Jeff

[Jeff1192]

Ok they're not Paraguay Darter Tetras. After a lot of searching on the internet I have no idea what they are. I'll have to go back to Big Als and find out what the proper name is. They have a silvery coloured body with white and black tipped fins and are about the size of a neon tetra.

Jeff

[charlie]

Jeff is this the fish

http://www.characin.com/carey/species/characin/tetra/other/dawn.html
If thats it , it`s native to my home country had ton of them & they are hardy.

Regards

[babblefish1960]

If that is the fish in question that charlie dug up, then by all means, run, don't walk, go get some fish man, we're all shopping vicariously through you here, so hurry!

[Jeff1192]

Haha...I'm chompin at the bit to go get some first fish....but my little guy is having an extra-long afternoon nap (of course!). So it may have to wait until tomorrow. But I still have hope!

And yes it would appear that Charlie found the right fish. I love the look of them and the size but I'm a little concerned about the fin nipping they're apparently known for. I was planning on having some guppies in the tank as well so these guys may not be the best idea.

If that's the case I'm not too concerned as I have TONS of ideas as to what I want to put in here.


Jeff