31/03/14
TotM April 2014
This month's Tank of the Month belongs to Bradley Radlof
View a video of Bradley's tank on his YouTube Channel.
Inhabitants:- * Sliver Shark x 3
- * Blue Ram Cichild x 13
- * Gold Ram x 6
- * Golden Gourami x 2
- * Honey Gold Gourami x 8
- * Sparkling Gourami x 13
- * Pearl Gourami x 6
- * Moonlight Gourami x 2
- * Opaline Gourami x 3
- * Three Spot Blue Gourami x 2
- * Red Flame Dwarf Gourami x 5
- * Coral Blue Dwarf Gourami x 5
- * Neon Dwarf Gourami x 1
- * Short Fin Molly x 3
- * Balloon Molly x 8
- * Green Tetra x 20
- * Cardinal Tetra x 20
- * Tetra Black Neon x 7
- * Tetra Glowlight x 6
- * Blue King Tetra x 11
- * Rummy Nose Tetra x 11
- * Neon Tetra x 6
- * Hengels Rasbora x 10
- * Endlers Redline Male Guppy x 10
- * Endlers Gold Leopard Male Guppy x 10
- * Halfmoon Female Fighter x 2
- * Leopard Corydoras x 6
- * Panda Corydoras x 9
- * Sterbai Corydoras x 2
- * Bristle Nose Catfish x 2
- * Otocinclus x 12
- * Siamese Flying Fox x 3
How big is your tank?
This tank is a 6ft x 2ft x 2ft and holds about 650 litres.
What equipment are you using (filtration, lighting, heater, CO2 gear etc)?
In this tank I am using the Eheim Professional 3 2180 filtration which also does the heating. (Which I must say is an excellent feature designed by Eheim), less mechanical equipment in the water makes it look more like nature.
Lighting is 2x Zetlight ZP3500 144w Led 6,500K.
CO2 is 2x Sicce CO2 life model 2.
For aeration I have 3 air stones and 1 bubble wall running on 2x Eheim 400 air pumps. Also there is one Aqua One UV steriliser connected to the Eheim Professional 3 filter
What aquascaping have you done (gravel, plants, corals, etc)?
I am just using aquarium gravel sky blue, black and white mixed together for about half the tank, and then I changed it to all grey gravel for a quarter of the tank, and then the remaining quarter of the tank is all white gravel on like a curved angle going from the grey to white gravel were I have my rock features.
I have something like nearly 30 live plants in there for good coverage and hiding places for the fish, and to make the tank look more natural. I have a big mix of plants like: Java Fern, Vallisneria Contortionist, Green Baby Tears, Windelov Microsorium, Lilaeopsis, Anubius Afzelli, Nomaphila Stricta Blue, Nasea, Cryptocoryne Balansae, Giant Val, Lace Fern, Filgree Milfoil, Ambulia, Pine Needles, and Amazon Sword.
How much time do you spend maintaining your tank per week?
Roughly I spend about 30 minutes each morning with feeding and taking out any floating / dead leaves , and about 2 hours or so on the weekend when I do my water changes, flourish and other fixes every weekend to a fortnight.
Tell us some interesting/unique about your tank?
What is unique about my tank? That’s a hard one! I guess it’s just the fact I try to make it look natural, something that you would find in the wild the way the setup is, and interesting I think is having the peaceful mixed community tank by having the all these different bright lively fish types and colours of the fish really makes it interesting and something you want to look at.
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If you'd like to be our next Tank of the Month winner, please email photos or youtube videos with a brief description of your tank, and the species being kept to online@coburgaquarium.com.au. The winner receives a $50 gift voucher that can be spent in-store or on-line. Good luck!