Resurrecting my 5x2.5x2.5

[ILLUSN]

In 2012 my wife and I decided it was time to renovate as we were expecting our 2nd child.
part of my specs for the renovation was to relocate and properly house Rohan's 5x2.5x2.5 he gave me many years ago.

the floor was reinforced to take the weight and a drain and tap installed. fast forward to 2015 and I finally started to get the thing setup.

Tank specs
tank: 5x2.5x2.5
filter: K1 sump driven by 2x 3000L/h wave makers with eheim 1262 return pump
heater: 2x shego 1000w
management: Aquatronica with level and temp alerts
Lighting: initial LEDs from past projects, current custom PAR38's future custom LED rig (90% complete) photoperiod 10 hours
CO2: pressurised from 3L tank with solenoid and timer
Décor: 2 XXL driftwood branches 2 large goldvine heaps of caves!
maintenance: EI method for plants weekly water changes of 25% solenoid to be installed to automate changes with chloroamine filter.

Plants:
Blyxa Japonica LOTS
Java Fern LOTS
dwarf java fern
Echinodorus amazonicus x3
Echinodorus "Red October" x1
echinodorus devils eye to be added

live stock
tony Tan Manacaparu red back angles x2
F2 redback angles from fishchick aquatics x2 (bred by me)
L134 x6
L066 x23
L104 x4
Peppermint bristlenoses x5

heres the full story.
2'nd January gluing in walls to hold the substrate
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/11014811_10154003725992195_1151281752696782350_n.j pg?oh=16652f828394e56d9579e2ed43f8969f&oe=5578EBDB&__gda__=1437522596_8f542c6d33237b6e9ee14ffaa4b503a b

then washing 84kg of fluorite black and 36kg of shiny black sand. no need to rinse my a$$
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/11053648_10154003726032195_1395468568593348631_n.j pg?oh=87a7f68e32e2cec5ef3a725a057a6e3e&oe=557B6FCB&__gda__=1437523839_47be89337d08f072f7c1be557464125 8

next came adding the water drift wood substrate and fish this happened between Jan 4 and 10. getting the sump in was a pain.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpt1/v/t1.0-9/11091327_10154003725957195_2794916910551704091_n.j pg?oh=cc03f58c5e21eaafa0a635693fb4c046&oe=55BA175E&__gda__=1433417047_8e08e3bd89caa02e3d64257bb61ea17 8

initial lighting was setup with some old units I had lying around my 40w 6500k led unit and my 75w marine unit.
https://scontent-lax.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/11072375_10154003726132195_893080196827312223_n.jp g?oh=65c8637c2ea2bba2e36dd6f11f21caa5&oe=55AD311A

[ILLUSN]

Fast forward to March and some questions from another forum member gave me the kick I needed I decided to finish planting the tank and set up the CO2 heres the initial setup using my custom marine full spectrum PAR38's (cool white royal blue red cyan and violet)
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/11080990_10154003726197195_6299564373986071226_n.j pg?oh=a38f8dc5bcd00fa1bbd14d90bc210115&oe=55757EDD&__gda__=1433644080_be742e908d7ef8e3b9076ca88407a24 8

then my freshwater PAR38's for my in progress rig arrived
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/11083924_10154003726342195_435502965667006336_n.jp g?oh=768558b74aafcda6ad1c04b8e74d3188&oe=55A4A70C&__gda__=1437381939_0646c021e2e5fa0b89299f3114ceadd 1
here's the fish loving the new tank apologies for the camera phone pics.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpt1/v/t1.0-9/10426836_10154003726272195_1895599774168554706_n.j pg?oh=2cf9e40ce16045b2189ad3c55d1cd1a3&oe=55792316&__gda__=1437325087_332c4c3da1d246397ccdbd0d997efa8 c

I'll update more later as I get photos from this weeks clean (and the real light finished!)

[scott bowler]

Looking great mate , good to see things haven't changed to much and you still have the bug lol say hi to Dee and the kids for me ;)

[ILLUSN]

Ta Scotty, will do!

[shakti]

My kind of tank! Go big or go home. I like the L numbers. Any chance of pictures of the sump? I am trying out different things in mune, and the K1 powered by wavemakers sounds interesting.

[Mattzilla]

looks cool man. i remember when rohan got that tank!!!

great set up

gees you still got some L's as well lol

[ILLUSN]

My kind of tank! Go big or go home. I like the L numbers. Any chance of pictures of the sump? I am trying out different things in mune, and the K1 powered by wavemakers sounds interesting.

Thanks Shaki, I initially tried with twin shego air pumps but the noise was too much fro my wife. here are some crappy pics of the sump, the water enters from the right thorough bulkheads drilled in the divider up the standpipes, the water coming in from the top disrupts the floating k1 and causes it to tumble, the wave makers point strait up and create the turbulence to keep it in motion. K1 stick to the side of the wave makers but is constantly bumped off. the standpipes on the left have been sliced and drilled to allow water to exit the K1 chamber into the settling chamber.

[ILLUSN]

looks cool man. i remember when rohan got that tank!!!

great set up

gees you still got some L's as well lol

thanks mate, yeah still got my L's couldn't part with the 66's and 134's especially as they seem to like spawning for me, saw the girl kicking a boy out of a cave last night so they might go again.

seriously thinking of rehoming the redbacks though, if I ditch the 4 redbacks I could add shrimp along with my neon's

[rburrowes]

Welcome back mate, was sad to see you go.... Knew it wouldn't last for long tho :)

[shakti]

Ok, will try to replicate that sump. Thanks

[Ghoti]

Great to see you back into it Jothy! Also shows I did the right thing hanging onto my K1 media :-)

[ILLUSN]

update!
added 200 neon tetras to the tank on Friday.
today I'm down to 15.

Any sugestions for a schooling fish with bright colours that wont get eaten by angels? I'm thinking redline torpedo barbs or peacock rainbows.

[Mattzilla]

i just got some torpedo barbs and they look awesome mate

[LEG-IT]

Tank looks amazing jothy! nice comeback! still keeping any eartheaters?