Back(ing) Breaking Installation

I have finished installing the Juwel Rock 600 structured background, which had to be cut and shaped to fit the aquarium. Once the correct shapes were achieved, I glued both pieces onto the back glass of the aquarium using silicon glue. This turned out to be more difficult than expected as the backing was slightly curved. But after lots of glue, what felt like hours of pressing and with a bit of luck, I think they are either glued into place or just wedged together, waiting to pull away at an inappropriate time. We will see what happens when the water goes in.

As you can see from the picture, there is a distinct line where the one backing joins onto the other. I will try to hide this with some tall plants like the Amazon Sword (Echinodorus amazonicus) or by using bogwood or both.

With the help of L, we moved the tank onto the cabinet, which led to a few hair raising moments and lots of back pain for the both of us. Big is not aways better, but is aways heavier! The combination of size and weight made picking and moving of the tank very difficult. From getting your fingers and hands under the tank to moving the tank into position can be very tiring and finger/back breaking. But we managed none the less. Thanks L for all your help!

Completed Cabinet

By Sunday night I had completed the cabinet and after cleaning the alcove L and I moved it into place. The dark wood is a bit lighter than the rest of the lounge furniture, but still matches nicely.

I have decided to put an artificial backing in the tank and am going to use the Juwel Rock 600 structured background. It is a 3 dimensional background, which is attached to the inside rear glass panel with silicone adhesive. Hopefully it will create a few crevices for the fish to hide under and a place for a few plants like Java Fern (Microsorium pteropus) to attach to. Currently I am waiting on the delivery of a second panel to the pet shop before I will be able to install them. Once the panels are in I will move the tank onto the cabinet and start the next phase of putting the gravel and water in. 

Tank Arrival

The tank arrived on time as promised. I was at work, so L took the delivery photos.

This was the truck's third fish tank delivery this morning. It appear tropical fish keeping it popular in our neck of the woods.

One heavy pallet. When I arrived home at lunchtime it took myself and our handyman, who luckily happened to be doing some work around the house for us, to move it into the conservatory.

The 35 kg of Dorset pea gravel did not help with the weight. The filter, heater, auto feeder and net added a few grams as well. 

Unpacking the cabinet.

Half completed cabinet. More photos to follow ...

Exciting News

If all goes well tomorrow, my tank will be delivered. Then the fun can begin ...

First Of The Hotel Furnishings

On Sunday L and I went to our local pet shop that specialises in Koi to get a water testing kit so that I could test the hardness and pH of our tap water to get an idea what we are facing. I bought a Tetratest Laborett test kit, which covers pH (acidity of a solution), KH (carbonate hardness), GH (general hardness), NO2 (Nitrate) and CO2 (carbon dioxide).

While we were there we had a look around at some of the aquarium backings you get, perused the fresh water fish and plants, and came across this piece of wood, which we both could not resist.

It is 55 cm x 41 cm x 41 cm (Length, Width, Height). We felt this could either become a centrepiece or be used to distract from the filter. We will decide on that later. In the meantime I have given it a good rise and have put it in the outdoor fishpond to soak to remove any tannins.

Tank Ordered

After much window-shopping at different pet shops I decided to order the Juwel Rio 300 Aquarium with a dark wood cabinet on Friday. The dimensions of the tank are 121cm x 51cm x 62cm and the height of the cabinet is 73 cm. All being well it should arrive sometime this week.

Location, Location, Location

L and I had already decided to keep the fish tank in the lounge as we both enjoyed having one there when we lived in SA. Choosing the room was the easy bit, finding a spot in the room was a bit more difficult. The two main factors that were affecting the location were the current setup of the lounge furniture and the location of power sockets. Luckily we had some work done in the lounge, which gave us the opportunity to rearrange the lounge with the fish tank in mind. The location I chose is an alcove between the fireplace and the radiator. The alcove is 135cm wide and 33cm deep, with 2 power sockets.

It faces out to the conservatory, so there should be lots of natural light for the tank and it is far enough from the doorway that the fish should not be affected by people coming and going, and from any drafts.

Currently my only concerns are the effects of the heat from the radiator and gas stove during winter and the algae growth from the sunlight in summer. Only time will tell.

Beginnings

It is the usual story. You mention to someone you are about to do something and they suggest you do a blog about it. So I happen to mention to my best man that I was going to get a fish tank and he suggested that I do a blog about it from the beginning. I gave this some thought and realised that he was right, this would be a good way to keep my ideas as I plan and setup my tank and a way of sharing my experiences.

Welcome to the Fish Hotel (you and the fish)