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Made a start

PostPosted:07 Feb 2018 20:23
by QDanT
Well thanks to all Odins guides and his sugestion for obtaining RO water I've been shopping today

25ltr Fluval tank £24 (discounted because no internal filter, planting tray or lights)
25ltr RO water £2:50
4kg Tropical marine fine gravel, porous and buffering £6:50
1.24 kg Tropic marine Sea salt £6
Marina 50w heater £15
Lava rock £1:50
I'll wash the tank out with RO water in the morning then the gravel and put it in and see if I've enough. Only got the one water container so I'll put it in the tank and go for another 25ltr then Marine salt and heater. I might try to drill some holes in the Lava rock to make hiding spots. With it not being BBQ season yet no one is stocking sacks of Lava rock yet so if a phone round is blank I might buy a couple more large lumps and get the hammer out'
Work in progress - Cheers All Danny

Re: Made a start

PostPosted:07 Feb 2018 20:27
by odin
Oh awesome you found RO! I’m glad you tracked some down.. shops love selling it as it’s cheap for them to produce and it’s money in their pocket!

If you struggle for lava rock I bought mine from here:

http://m.zooplus.co.uk/shop/fish/decora ... cks/317311

Keep us up to date with your tank build! We are looking forward to it.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Re: Made a start

PostPosted:08 Feb 2018 18:40
by QDanT
Drilling the Lava rock went OK, drilled x2 16mm holes right through, meeting in the middle, with the largest Masonry bit my drill will take.

Re: Made a start

PostPosted:08 Feb 2018 23:29
by opae ula related
Nice looking lava rock. i guess designs are limitless...

Re: Made a start

PostPosted:09 Feb 2018 16:11
by QDanT
Went to LFS for another 25ltr RO water and at £1:25 per Kg bought some more Lava rock, not washed it yet just playing around with how to stack it.
I was going to use my angle grinder with a stone cut off wheel to trim some flat spots but this stack is very firm with lots of cave hiding places.

Re: Made a start

PostPosted:09 Feb 2018 16:27
by odin
At that price it would be rude not too! :lol:

Re: Made a start

PostPosted:09 Feb 2018 22:05
by QDanT
More drilling
Lava rock more drilled.JPG
Lava rock more drilled.JPG (98.28 KiB) Viewed 10739 times
The Lava Rock Hilton :wink:

Re: Made a start

PostPosted:10 Feb 2018 14:23
by QDanT
Water in the tank at last :smile: ended up using
Coarse grit.jpg
Coarse grit.jpg (47.5 KiB) Viewed 10718 times
for substrate couple of rinses and it was clear where-as the Marine gravel just stayed cloudy no matter how many washes :angry:
water in 1.jpg
water in 1.jpg (137.58 KiB) Viewed 10718 times
water in 2.jpg
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water in 3.jpg
water in 3.jpg (94.14 KiB) Viewed 10718 times
water in 4.jpg
water in 4.jpg (138.22 KiB) Viewed 10718 times
just letting it settle then I'll turn the heater and small sponge filter on I'll also peel the Fluval sticker off the tank and make a start on the lighting I've some GU10 LED daylight bulbs 6500K and a full spectrum plant growing one also a timer and an air pump. Getting there :happy:

Re: Made a start

PostPosted:10 Feb 2018 14:24
by odin
Looks like you are on top of everything! exciting times for sure. :happy:

Re: Made a start

PostPosted:11 Feb 2018 03:29
by opae ula related
I see microscopes.. Are you a scientist? Can you record videos on those microscopes?