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Orca 80L Tank


Timm

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Hi All,

i've owned this Orca for about 6 months but havent used it because i was painting inside the house etc, anyway i originally was planning a SW setup but thought i will give Cichlids a go first.

Only mods so far is an extra 50/50 24w light running off a nelson elec ballast (out of energy saver globe) i may change this to an all white globe suited to freshwater.

I have some white LEDs which i may colour blue and make a moon light but that will be down the track.

Filtration is standard with sponge, noodles and bioballs (any suggestions?) heater is in the compartment with the pump which i wouldnt mind upgrading to a higher flowing quiter one (again any suggestions?)

Enough rambling, here is some startup pics.

one of these

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Cut it open to get this (size of 50c piece)

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then you can have this

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then it looks like this

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Water going in

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Water in with pool filter sand

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Settling

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Sand

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I would like to get some caves happening in the background and some shells in the front, texas holey rock would be great but hard to get.

the fish i want are from the cookie cutter guide,

Neolamprologus leleupi - 1 pair

'Lamprologus' occelatus - 1 trio

just where to find them...

i will update when i have more progress

Thanks

Timm

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Timm,

I have one of this type all in one tank and wondering what do I need to mod the light like yours? It has an internal ballest in it can I just chop and change using the existing ballest?

Forgot to add nice looking MOD...lol

Cheers

Hilton

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hey hilton,

You add a new ballast out of the energy saver globe and wire it up to a new globe, i will find the link of where i found the info.

I will probably change the original ballast to one of the electric ones because i think they run alot cooler and take up a heap less space.

found the links

http://www.masa.asn.au/phpBB2/viewtopic.ph...t=cheap+ballast

http://www.nanotank.com/forum/viewtopic.ph...hlight=jbj+cube

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Nice tank mate!

If i were you i'd Nano reef it! Haha.

cheers,

Richard.

Hey Rich,

Yeah i will eventually do that when i have more time to play around with it.

but for now i'll start with cichlids :)

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Added some rocks, a mixture of granite, sandstone, serpentine & some other type i cant remember what its called though (bottom right whiteish one)

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Left

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Middle

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Right

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now i know why there is so many Aquascaping questions, its not easy. I dont know if i will keep it like this yet.

also i got the rocks for free from the local nursery

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Nice mods on the lighting. A quick tip: get the same type of rocks, look heaps better.

yeah i agree im not happy with it, i wanted slate but cant seem to find any. also need some shells.

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Nice mods on the lighting. A quick tip: get the same type of rocks, look heaps better.

yeah i agree im not happy with it, i wanted slate but cant seem to find any. also need some shells.

you can get some texas holey rock from addicted 2 cichlids

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you can get some texas holey rock from addicted 2 cichlids

I originally wanted that but its so hard to find, i will shoot him an email and see if he has any

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he got some advertisd on his website for 70 bucks

http://www.addicted2cichlids.com.au/new_page_2.htm

its a lil Bit pricey, i'll see if i can find slate in the meantime. i think i might like the darker rocks better than the light holey rock.

Stuck on fish though, i was going to get occies and leluipi but ive read that occies are nasty. i want something colourful but interesting... hmmmmmmmmm

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nice tank mate!

If i were you i'd Nano reef it! Haha.

cheers,

Richard.

Looks like im now reefing it.

The mrs likes the marine fish better :)

stay tuned

Way to go mate! Let us know how you go with everything. Theres quite a load of mods to the filter etc for these tanks as you know on the MASA forum. Looking forward to seeing the progress.

Cheers,

Richard.

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I will be starting shortly.

I have made an LED moon light i am yet to fit and i will have to decide on substrate (crushed marble etc) and whether i am going to use ASW or NSW.

i will probably try NSW from swansea first.

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