25G - South America Community Tank

[bizfromqc]

Well let me burst your bubble right away, there's no Amazon biotope.... YET!  

I just got started setting up my new 25G tank (the 3rd in 6 weeks as peekay rightfully noticed). The plan is to eventually set it up as an amazon biotope or the closest I can get to it anyways.

This is an old tank that I entirely re-silliconed, a major PITA as I'm sure daworldisblack can attest as well  

I ended up buying a new stand (Perfecto Majesty) because my wife and I didn't feel too confident about the one we had (came with the tank). The Perfecto is entirely made of pine and is solid as a rock. It's also got plenty of room to hide all the gizmos under the tank.

So here's a bit more about the tank:

- Perfecto Majesty black stand (30" x 12")
- 25G Hagen tank (30" long x 12" wide x 16" high)
- Fluval 205 external canister filter
- Marineland 24-36" DoubleBright LED with 8 whites and 4 blue (moonlights)
- Marineland 100W submersible heater
- 50 lbs of white pool filter sand (some sort of white silica that I cant recall the name)

I also decided to skip the aquarium background plastic and/or vinyl and paint it directly. I am really glad I made this decision as it looks AWESOME. No bubbles, no unsticking, nothing. Just a nice black background. I used two coats of the Krylon Fusion brand of paint (spray), I highly recommend it to everyone if you plan on sticking to one background color (and apply it outside if you can because the stuff smells).

That's it for now (for this tank at least). Some picture so you guys can go oooooh and ahhhh (the sound I make when i see LED reflections in water LOL)

[DaWolfe]

Nice, can not wait to see the progress.  The background is sweet.  I would love to do it to my tank but it would be very hard work, unless I can paint with a roller instead of a spray...

BTW I am not returning the other 50lbs bag of sand for you... 

You now have 55 gallons, your're getting there...

Dan

[bizfromqc]

They do make Krylon Fusion in a roll-on paint but I haven't seen it offered here locally just the spray.
I'll keep the extra 50lbs of sand for another eventual project

[touchofsky]

It looks great!  I just love the look of the LED's on the water and once you get the filters running, the water movement will make a lovely shimmer.

With the case of tankitis you have, you probably won't have that big bag of pfs left over for long 

[bizfromqc]

It looks great!  I just love the look of the LED's on the water and once you get the filters running, the water movement will make a lovely shimmer.

With the case of tankitis you have, you probably won't have that big bag of pfs left over for long 

The shimmer is, for me at least, the best part about having LED lights, it's really cool. I also love having an open top and a very thin sleek looking fixture on top.

I started the filter last night but the water is still a bit cloudy, should clear up in a couple of days. The white pfs is neat looking for a little sprinkle of black particles in there, sharp! 18$ with taxes for 2 bags of 50lbs

That's it (for now at least) for new tanks, I don't want to turn that MTS (Multi-tank Syndrome) into an AWS (Angry Wife Syndrome) 

[Monte]

Where did you buy that pool filter sand. Nice colour.

[bizfromqc]

Where did you buy that pool filter sand. Nice colour.

Thanks for looking!

Mermaid pools on Ogilvie. All the other pool places I called didn't have any (and the HD and Rona's of this world don't seem to carry the white silica sand at this time of the year).

I already have two other tanks with the black natural stone for pool filtration and wanted to try the white sand. It's really nice, you can't really see it from the pictures but it's all white with some specs of black in it. An interesting mix.

[Monte]

Great thanks. I tried Mermaids on Merivale Rd. And they told me they would not have any until March.I will go and get some on Ogilvie.

[charlie]

Nice Eric, it`s getting tough to keep up with all the projects you have on the go, i can forsee another few tanks in the near future & then you can say to the boss "i think i`m going to consolidate all these small tanks into 2 big tanks 
Errol
psssst start a shrimp tank , not as hard to breed as some make it out to be, stick to the basics & don`t over think .

[bizfromqc]

Well, it's teardown time  

Everything was just going GREAT with this tank up to now. Painted the background, got my canister filter setup, go the LED lights going, got a new stand, got some white sand... It was all coming together...

Except, this morning, I sat on the couch and noticed an orange spot in the white sand substrate... Closer look, ITS RUST and it's everywhere in the tank!

Substrate came from Mermaid pools on Ogilvie and is sold as Nepheline Syenite. Researched the web and all sources pointed out to it being safe and most of the people said it was the equivalent of white silica sand. Some people even claiimed to have been using it for years without any problems.

So what's up with my batch?!? RUST??? It looks as if most of the substrate is made of sillica but there's some black speckles in it, I just assumed it was part of the mining process and didn't make a big deal out of it. Turns out that some, not all, of these black specks are all rusting !!!

Now there's no way I can keep this in my tank. First of all, rust is no good and i was planning on doing an amazon biotope in there. Water probably turned to liquid rock but I have no way to tell since I dont have a test kit.

Now water hardness is not something that's entirely bad if you're keeping a specie that likes hard water but I can't see anyone wanting RUST in their tank, for that reason, I'm going to have to take recommend people not use it.

Worst part now is I have to take everytying down, clean it and start over... i'm just thankful there was no fish in there yet.

[touchofsky]

I have pool filter sand in two of my tanks, and have never had a problem with rust.  My sand does not have the black specks in it.  It is uniformly white.  The brand is Unimin and it is nepheline syenite.

You didn't add any root tabs to the tank, did you?  I have had rust on my sand after adding API brand root tabs.  It didn't actually cause any problems.  After a water change or two it disappeared.

[Timm3h]

I have pool filter sand in two of my tanks, and have never had a problem with rust.  My sand does not have the black specks in it.  It is uniformly white.  The brand is Unimin and it is nepheline syenite.

You didn't add any root tabs to the tank, did you?  I have had rust on my sand after adding API brand root tabs.  It didn't actually cause any problems.  After a water change or two it disappeared.

What brand are you using that doesn't have any problems? Fresh water or salt?

[touchofsky]

My tanks are freshwater and the brand is Unimin.

[bizfromqc]

I have pool filter sand in two of my tanks, and have never had a problem with rust.  My sand does not have the black specks in it.  It is uniformly white.  The brand is Unimin and it is nepheline syenite.

You didn't add any root tabs to the tank, did you?  I have had rust on my sand after adding API brand root tabs.  It didn't actually cause any problems.  After a water change or two it disappeared.

That's the weirdest thing ever. I have exactly the same thing you have, also from Unimin and you can see what it did in the pictures. It's not anything I added since I didn't add anything. That tank had water, sand, a heater and a filter, that's it.

I really wonder what could have done this. Is this something I should be worried about (at first thought It would seem to be a concern) but maybe it's not a big deal ?!? I don't know what to do, I really don't want to start over but I will if I have to.

Valerie, you have the same stuff from the same company yet yours doesn't have any black particles in it? You can see my stuff in the picture I posted earlier, is it much different than yours? You'd thing the same company making the same sand would be similar... What about your water hardness, how is it?

I've searched the Internet and it seems no one else reported any problems with this stuff... WEIRD.

[touchofsky]

My sand doesn't have the black particles in it.  It is uniformly white.  I haven't tested the hardness of the water in either tank, but I am currently keeping angelfish, corydoras, ancistrus, glass bloodfins and harlequin rasboras in the tanks without any problem.  Also, keeping a variety of plants.  As I mentioned, I did have some streaks of rust on my sand right after adding API root tabs.  They broke up a bit when I was putting them in the substrate, and they are high in iron, so I am sure that is what caused the rust.  I just vacuumed the sand lightly while doing water changes, and the rust disappeared.  I didn't experience any problems in the tank because of it.

The only thing I can see different is that the printing on the bag I bought is blue and not green and my sand was in a paper bag.

[bizfromqc]

My sand doesn't have the black particles in it.  It is uniformly white.  I haven't tested the hardness of the water in either tank, but I am currently keeping angelfish, corydoras, ancistrus, glass bloodfins and harlequin rasboras in the tanks without any problem.  Also, keeping a variety of plants.  As I mentioned, I did have some streaks of rust on my sand right after adding API root tabs.  They broke up a bit when I was putting them in the substrate, and they are high in iron, so I am sure that is what caused the rust.  I just vacuumed the sand lightly while doing water changes, and the rust disappeared.  I didn't experience any problems in the tank because of it.

The only thing I can see different is that the printing on the bag I bought is blue and not green and my sand was in a paper bag.

When and where did you get your sand?

[touchofsky]

I bought it last summer at Tropicana Pools and Spa in Arnprior.

BTW, what kind of fish are you planning on keeping?  My water is hard from my well, and I don't have a problem with cardinals, neons, angelfish, etc.  Fish that are normally thought of a soft water fish.

[touchofsky]

Rust is basically iron, so if that is what it is, it isn't inherently bad (depending on how much there is, of course).

[bizfromqc]

I bought it last summer at Tropicana Pools and Spa in Arnprior.

BTW, what kind of fish are you planning on keeping?  My water is hard from my well, and I don't have a problem with cardinals, neons, angelfish, etc.  Fish that are normally thought of a soft water fish.

Original plan was for more apistos, probably A. Baenschi inka.

Wouldn't happen to have more of that sand that I could buy off you hey?   I really like the look of white sand and the apistos would love the fine sand too...

[touchofsky]

I only have about a cup of it left.  I wish I had more.  I can call the pool place in Arnprior next week and see if they have more.