# Solid's Osaka 320



## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

So ive been seeting up a new tank, a Osaka 320 ~84 gallon tank and figured id make a journal for it.

I decided id try the full ADA Soil system so here is a border of AS2 with a sprinkling of Tourmaline BC in the center.








Powersand Covering








And the final AS toppper, its sloped from about 2 inchs in the front right area to about 10" in the back left area.

















It came with a Fluval 405 and i added a Fluval 305 from my old tank as well as the CO2 system.
This is the right hand cabinet. I was actually surprised it all fit, its tight but works pretty well.









This is the left hand cabinet. 









Over the last 2 weeks Ive been running the filters and doing water changes because there was a TON of ammonia in the water even though there was no fish, Im guessing because of the aquasoil. I also migrated plants from the old tank into the new one and set up a hard-scape using granite rock and some nice manzanita wood (thank you badcopnofishtank). The tank finally cleared up from the ammonia so i was able to add fish.
And here are some shots of the tank now.
Left side.








Right side.








And some FTS.
















It still needs to grow in alot, and there are actually alot of crypts around the rocks that all melted. 

So far i have in the tank
Fish:
4 fancy guppies
4 neon tetras
3 Cardinal tetras
4 Otto Cats
2 German blue rams
1 Golden nugget pleco
1 Bamboo shrimp
a few surviving RCS

Plants:
Eleocharis sp. "belem"
Echrinodorus tenellus
Nymphaea stellata
Hygro. corymbosa 'angustifolia'
Ludwigia 'Cuba'
Polygonum 'Sao Paulo' 
amazon swords
wisteria
Anubias nana 'cofeefolia'
Carolina fanwort
green tiger lotus
Red tiger lotus
crypt wendtii "red"
crypt wendtii "green"
crypt wendtii " florida sunset"
Crypt Cordata "rosanervig"
Crypt bangkaensis 'Bangka Giant'
Crypt x timahensis

On monday i should be getting some more fish. As of right now I'm thinking 4 more Rams and 30-40 more tetras, either rummy nose or more cardinals. I was thinking of putting in 4-6 discus, but i don't think ill do that for at least a few months. Looking for discus here in south Florida led me to a importer who is selling me 40 rummy nose or cardinals for ~$.50 each. Ive also ordered 12 Amano shrimp.

Anywho, this is only my second fish tank so any advice or criticism is very welcome.


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## SearunSimpson (Jun 5, 2007)

Yeah, AS is known to release ammonia for a while after initial set up. Just keep doing water changes and things should get to normal over time. That hardscape is going to look really good once it all fills in. In a tank of that shape, I wouldn't really get alot of bigger fish (congo tetra size, even), but rather stick to a decent sized school of something smaller.


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## isu712 (Jan 11, 2008)

Those rocks and tree on the left side are pretty awesome, can't wait to see it fill in.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

That looks great so far. You have some cool plants in there. Is that the green tiger lotus to the far right? That is interesting I have never seen that plant before.

Hey those white mangrove propagules that you sent are all slowly sprouting and they look good. I hope that they will open up and show me leaves pretty soon. They already have good root development.


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

hydrophyte said:


> That looks great so far. You have some cool plants in there. Is that the green tiger lotus to the far right? That is interesting I have never seen that plant before.


Yea that's one of the first plants i got from a gold coast aquarium meeting. Its pretty cool i also have the red version but they are still tiny. You can see them in the very corner.


















So any advice on tetras? Should i get 40 Rummy nose, 40 Cardinals or 20 of each?


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## jmhart (Mar 14, 2008)

Looking goooood. That's pretty nice that the 2 filters and co2 all fit in that half of the stand.


What are the dimensions of this tank?


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

Thanks for the compliments.



jmhart said:


> What are the dimensions of this tank?


It's 120cm long x 64cm high x 45cm wide (48" x 18" x 25") which is basically the same footprint as a 90 but with rounded corners.


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## EdTheEdge (Jan 25, 2007)

Lookin' good Solid! roud:


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## NJAquaBarren (Sep 16, 2009)

Rummynose are a great Tetra option. I have 9 in my Osaka 320. Great schoolers, hardy, nice fish. I also have some cardinals. They're nice too, but the Rummynose are much more interesting and better schoolers....my opinion of course.

I also bought a pair if cichleds from SkiBoy on Aquabid. Check these out before you imake an Apisto decision. If your water is a little hard, these are easy to keep.

At Aquabid.com. Great experience with SkiBoy....Home > All Categories > Western > Auction # 1260759534


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

I tried but couldn't really find the fish you are talking about. But Yea i think i'm going to get a bunch of Rummy Nose tomorrow.

Heres a pic of my favorite plant. 
Cryptocoryne Cordata 'Rosanervig'


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## NJAquaBarren (Sep 16, 2009)

That is a nice plant. Tank is looking great. 

It looks like that entry expired last night. Here's a similar one for reference: http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwcichlidsw&1261129803

I had a great, quality experience with SkiBoy, so keep checking african/Western for his stuff if you like. Others may be good too, the transaction with him was just exceptional. 

Also, my local LFS will look to see if a specfic species is available and order it for me if it is. Some of these more uncommon varieites they just can't get, or get in good quality.

I see that you upgraded your light. What did you move to and how is it working in comparison?

AB


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

I upgraded my lights to this fixture. 
http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/product_info.php?cPath=71_167&products_id=1634
It's nice, but the LEDs do not add that much light. Not nearly as much as a 175w MH as they claim. They do add some light and a little bit of that nice shimmering effect. The moonlights are awesome, much better than the ones i had before. If i had known how much light the LED strips made i probably would have stuck with the original lights or gone with a 3x54 fixture, but it looks good so I'm happy. The guys at Catalina make great lights and have good customer service.

I plan on borrowing a PAR meter from the botony dept at my school and testing it one of these days.


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## F22 (Sep 21, 2008)

those osaka tanks are sweet, but super pricey.. the only downfall is that they come with a fluval filter... lol

they should come with a 2217.


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## MONARK (Jun 4, 2009)

I saw Solid's tank yesterday and it is coming out really nice. It'll look awesome once filled in. 
Keep up the good work man!!!!

(Thanks for the DW, I cut it and fitted perfectly in my tank)


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

That 'Rosanervig' is such a cool plant.

Wow I never saw that light fixture till now.

That Osaka would be a cool tank for a riparium setup.


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## F22 (Sep 21, 2008)

awesome rock scape in the corner.. plants look good too... all in all a sweet tank.


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

So what does a bucket doing drip acclimation mean?









NEW FISH!!! WOOT!

So I got 50 rummy Nose tetras and 4 new GBRs! They were just put in the tank so they still haven't colored out yet.










Which one of these is not like the other?!?










This one. I guess i got 49 rummy nose and a hitch hiker.










Anyone know what kind of fish is this is? It came straight from an importer.


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## tuonor (Nov 26, 2009)

Beautiful setup. If you don't mind me asking, how do you feel about the quality of the Osaka stand (can't find one on display locally)? Is it veneer over MDF or solid wood?


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## PaulJ69 (Jun 19, 2008)

looks kinda like a black neon tetra, they have that distinctive gold line going through them.


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## MONARK (Jun 4, 2009)

How about a glow light tetra????


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

tuonor said:


> Beautiful setup. If you don't mind me asking, how do you feel about the quality of the Osaka stand (can't find one on display locally)? Is it veneer over MDF or solid wood?


Its nice. I hate particle board furniture, and yes this is MDF, but this stuff is really high density. It is very hard not like most particle board I've come across. 
The other issue i had with it was that it is split into 2 cabinets plus a drawer and a shelf. So i thought i would have an issue with putting 2 filters plus a CO2 system under neath there, but i got it to fit. Obviously you couldn't fit a sump or some larger filters under it.
I was actually planning on building a new stand for it, because i dint think i could fit all my stuff and because i hate particle board furniture. However after using it for a month, it works well and looks great so im keeping it.

And about the fish, i dont think its either a glo light or a black tetra. The top half of its eye is really neon red, and it has a gold line down the side, really a pretty fish.


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## SearunSimpson (Jun 5, 2007)

Just keep an eye on amonia. Its usually advised to not add such a high fish load all at once- perhaps 15 to 20ish of the tetras at a time, over a week or so. It's just that sometimes the biofilter can't keep up with the amonia being produced. 
So far its looking rad.
Cheers.


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

SearunSimpson said:


> Just keep an eye on amonia. Its usually advised to not add such a high fish load all at once- perhaps 15 to 20ish of the tetras at a time, over a week or so. It's just that sometimes the biofilter can't keep up with the amonia being produced.
> So far its looking rad.
> Cheers.


Yea I really only wanted ~20-30 of the tetra but buying 50 (min order) from a importer was much cheaper than just getting 20 from the LFS. I think i may try and trade some in to the LFS... 

I will do water tests, daily small water changes and add prime, for the next few days.


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## jmhart (Mar 14, 2008)

What importer did you use?


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

Not sure tbh, i got them from a friend who buys black worms regularly from a tropical fish importer and he picked them up for me.


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## Church (Sep 14, 2004)

That fish up there _is_ a black neon, just so you know.


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## fastfreddie (Sep 10, 2008)

Niceroud:


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

So a little update. I just picked up 2 Bristlenose plecos and 4 of these little guys. 









They are Halfbeak live bearers. They probably would be better off with much harder water and a bit of salt but they are so cool and i wanted a few more fish at the surface. Speedie408 has had success with them so i figured id try them out, and did i mention they are super cool!!

Here is a C. Wendtii 'Green Gecko' (thans legomaniac!) that melted completely but is growing unbelievably fast (for a Crypt)









a couple shots of my rams.









Hey what you doin?









and a FTS









These pictures were taken with a new Christmas present, a Canon T1i. Its pretty sweet but its showing me that apparently my glass needs to be cleaned a bit... Also taking pictures has become pretty difficult because a cloud of hungry Rummynose tetras and Rams follow me where ever i go around the tank. :icon_lol:


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## cannonj22 (Dec 7, 2004)

that is one sweet hardscape. That branchy driftwood looks awesome.


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

Thanks! I'm very happy with the hardscape as well. I am trying to decide what to do with some of my plants, because right now I'm not completely satisfied. Some advice or criticism would be very welcome.

Anywho, im having fun with my camera so heres a few more shots.
Amano scrimps.
















Heres my favorite pleco, Nuggs!








Another shot of a ram.








And a rummy.









And I'm getting a bit of BBA here and there but am not sure how to cure it. Could it be that its just a new tank and still settling in. Some advice would be GREAT! Heres a picture of my drop checker, this is the proper color it should be right?


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## JennaH (Sep 28, 2009)

tank is looking great! i LOVE your gold nugget pleco, i want one for my 40g, but the lfs wants 35$ for it...


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## mumushummus (Sep 16, 2009)

halfbeaks rules man I have 2 of them


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## rhytemaker (May 29, 2008)

nice tank from a fellow Osaka owner! be careful leaving the magnet scraper inside the tank. I had a few MTS burrow under mine once and scratched the glass pretty good when I went to use it!


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## tinctorus (Feb 22, 2010)

Where are you getting most of your plants and fish from because I live in the ft lauderdale area and havent found many places that have a great plant selection aside from big al's and VERY occasionally beverly's


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

Awesome tank!

By that way, that mystery fish looks more like a Lemon Tetra


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## MONARK (Jun 4, 2009)

How about an update????


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

So I recently bought a new house, and have been crazy with fixing it up so this tank really was neglected. But we finally moved out of our apartment and so I took the opportunity to do a rescape. Woot!

Anyway I wanted to do something similar but a bit more dramatic. So removed about 1/3 of the Aquasoil and piled the rest up in one corner. Then used used pool filter sand for 2/3 of the tank. Im moving towards more of a SA biotopeish tank. Everything except some crypts and some ghost shrimp (not really sure where they are from).

This was my first time moving a fish tank. And it went pretty smoothly, thanks to many posts on here. Wow tetras are hard to catch!

Anyway, on to what everyone wants, some pics:

My fishes overnight home (please excuse the mess)









Redoing the hardscape









Finally, The finished set up... well almost.









Once it cleared up, voila!


















My Very fancy ghost shrimp! 









And my best attempt at a speediesque FTS


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## mrchach (Sep 8, 2010)

nice rescape


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

I love it it is awesome!

This is definitely not a cookie-cutter setup.


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## SkyGrl (Jan 7, 2010)

nice i love this tank! JEALOUS!!!!


Amy


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

Thanks for the compliments! 

I added some Indian Almond leaves that i collected at a local park. They are still kinda getting pushed around...









And a look at things that are in the works...









and









Very excited!!!


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## akdmks (Nov 15, 2009)

love the rescape!!


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## nonconductive (Jan 29, 2010)

awesome tank.


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## BigJay180 (Jul 20, 2014)

Love the vals, wish I could keep them!


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

Ok so its been only 4 years since I updated this so I figured Id post an update. This tank has changed quite a bit over that time. I kinda neglected it for the last 6 months due to family life and most of my plants died and many fish died, so I recently rescaped it. Here are a few photos before the rescape.


































This is what the tank looked like right before the rescape. My tank had really fallen off and the only surviving plants were 2 swords and a few ratty looking vals. At this point I had started adding more plants for the panned rescape.










Here is a sketch I did on my phone of the planned rescape. 









This is right after the rescape, still with some cloudy water.










And here are some pictures of what it looks like now.

































Ill try and post some more info and pics soon, as I have been adding more plants and the plants in there need to grow out. You will also notice a big ball of floating plants that I either need to replant or rehome. Current stock stock list is 6 Turquoise Discus (1 is 4 years old and 5 are new), a pair of Apistogramma Cacatoides, 15 Green Tetras, 7 Rummy nose, 1 Black tetra, 7 Ottos, 5 bronze corys and 2 skunk corys.


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## Sajeev (Mar 24, 2010)

how often do you change the water in your tank now that you have discus ?


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

A lot. Right now with the new fish I do a 30% water change every other day and a 50% on the weekend. In a few months when the tank gets more established and the fish are settled in, I plan on reducing it to one 60-75% water change a week. I bought 5" fish so they don't need them as often and I'm not feeding beef heart. I dose EI ferts, so once a week 50% water change is normal. Right now I dose NPK after every water change. Then on off days I dose micros and fill my water aging barrel for the next days water change. It sounds like a lot of work, but after getting your method down, 30% water changes take 10-15 minutes and off days takes under 5 minutes.


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## Sajeev (Mar 24, 2010)

i had 5 in a 55 gal tank. Pics are somewhere in these forums. If i didnt change 50% every day, they would stink up my basement. That dirty fishy smell. Sadly i had to sell off everything because it because so bad I would not bring guests home and now i have just regular small fish.


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

Really? I've never noticed a smell even in the past when I didn't do a water change for 2 weeks. My tank is open top in a little office alcove next to my living room too. I donno everyone has a different experience it seems, especially with discus. 

BTW, in this video your tank looks awesome!


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## jerrybforl (Aug 19, 2008)

Looks good Matt! I sent you a PM. Shoot me a text. I moved back to Texas for almost two years, but I moved back last September. Gotta see this in person.


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

Here are some recent pictures of my tank. The plants have kinda taken a back seat as of now and I am focusing on keeping healthy fish.


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

really cool tank!


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

Thanks Andrew.


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## mistuhmarc (Oct 1, 2013)

I unfortunately can't see the pictures


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

I relinked the images in my last post. Let me know if they work now. Thanks.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

geez i missed my curved edges tank
what's your background? looks very natural


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

Background is a universal rocks slim flexible background. I highly reccomend it. It's about 1/2" thick So it doesn't take up much space in the tank. Also it's flexible and doesn't float so it's easy to install. You can find it on Amazon here: Amazon.com : Universal Rocks 48-Inch by 24-Inch Rocky Flexible Aquarium Background : Aquarium Decor Backgrounds : Pet Supplies


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