I've got a 180 gallon coming today, made a deal with a local guy on Craigslist and I'm super excited.
I'm NOT super excited about the substrate cost - I used Flourite black sand in my 65 gallon and the calculator says 2" is 8 bags and that stuff isn't cheap! I think this time I may use some pool sand in the back (to help with the slope towards the back) and put something over top of it.
Step one though, carpenter friend is coming over to reinforce the floor with me. It's going on the second floor, across 4-5 floor joists on an outside load bearing wall. Just to be safe, we are going to beef up the floor some. Good news is it's over the garage - unfinished ceiling there so we have easy access to do it.
It's a matter of finding balance. The fish need oxygen, the plants need oxygen, but the plants also need Co2. Too much agitation means less Co2.
I've seen very heavily stocked tanks (and I'm talking 60 fancy guppies in a 20 gallon) with only a HOB filter for water movement. Healthy fish, and vigorous plant growth. You don't a torrent going on.
The tanks I speak of, the guy does large water changes twice a week to maintain that fish load BTW. He breeds them.
You can use a canister on one end, and a power head throttled down a bit on the other, this will allow you fiddle with the current more.
Don't let me make you think that adding the second canister is a bad thing, if you end up stocking very heavily it could be of help to you.
I just wanted to point out that the plants themselves can be the ENTIRE filter in many cases.
Every tank is different.
I think I will setup both ( I found a spare elbow) and see how it is. I don't want the fish to be blown all over the tank, but I do like the idea of dual filters (I'm an IT guy, redundancy is ingrained into my way of thinking anyway )
I do understand that the plants can be the filter all to themselves - but I know that my girls enjoy lots of fish in the tank, and they are already planning what fish can go in the tank and I don't even have it plugged in yet
If you are making a dirted tank make sure that you aren't going to make many changes to the aquascape. I used to only do dirted tanks and while they do great in growing plants, any time I wanted to move plants around it created a serious and annoying mess.
Thanks - I am probably not going to go dirted the more I look, as I do tend to move things around a lot (especially in my first large tank I'm sure I'll be rearranging)
We added 6 additional studs, and cross braced everything under the tank, along with doubling all the joists under the tank. According to the builder, complete overkill - as this was already an outside/corner load bearing wall - in fact, he repeatedly laughed at the extent of the overkill while assisting me do it
Got her up and running yesterday. Still a lot of work to do.
I ended up only hooking up one XP4, the flow seems fine and as the wife enjoys the "jungle" look anyway. I believe as was suggested earlier the second one would of been wasted current.
Fish seem very happy, my loaches are incredibly active, it seems like they are reestablishing their pecking order in the new tank.
Please excuse the mess, so many things need cleaned up - I have cords everywhere, suction cups that are not holding things right, plastic that isn't fitting - ahh the joys.
As you can probably tell, I ended up going with pool filter sand. I really liked the black blasting powder from Tractor Supply but after stabbing myself on a piece of it, I just felt bad doing that to my loaches. Once it grows in you can hardly see the substrate anyway. I thought about a dirt/sand cap a lot - but in the end the amount of people saying they had trouble with replanting scared me off. I know I will be rescaping a lot as this is my first really big tank where I can afford to try things I wasn't able too before.
Decided to throw the second XP4 on as I wasn't happy with the amount of water movement on the far end of the tank - I need to look into it more carefully tomorrow, it may just be that the first one needs cleaned, as it was plugged in for most of my initial planting.
I will say this, a single XP4 is >>>>>> louder then my Eheim 2217. In complete fairness, I haven't enclosed the bottom cabinet yet, but I suspect that won't be enough to make up for it.
Hi there - whats the lighting you have on the tank? Im in the process of tearing down my reef tank and going planted and its a similar size to your tank (30" front to back, 28" water depth, 7 foot long) so im following your thread with a lot of interest! In the photo it looks like DIY lighting? Are they MH or some kind?
I spent some time on my canopy this morning while the girls slept in, and I've got it to a pretty decent state. The original lights on top of the tank:
So I built a frame out of 1"x2" pine to keep it light.
I then boxed in the frame with 5mil plywood project panels from Lowes. I painted the outside black to match the stand:
And the inside I painted white with Killz for a little reflective properties, and to help with mold/mildew as I've read it's decent at that. I built the front panel on a hinge to give me easy access. I did make a mistake on the hinge placement, so that the panel won't lay flat on top of the tank when opened completely - I will have to score off a sliver along the top edge as the front panel when it folds up will hit the top panel - once I score that off it should allow it to swing all the way to rest on the top.
I still need to consider if I'll add any trim around the edges (corner molding perhaps) - and I want to add some magnetic cabinet hardware to keep the panel tucked in tight when it's closed.
As the original stand was just a 2x4 skeleton, I took a piece of the plywood and made a panel for the bottom as well.
The knobs unscrew to allow the entire panel to be removed to access filters and storage.
Today's project - moonlighting. Just a 16' rope LED mounted to a piece of scrap wood. I may change it out, as I wanted a bit more of the streaking look as opposed to the blue glow I have now.
Try white ones - it is all personal preference but I like a dim white moonlight rather than the artificial blue glow (look at the moon at night, it is clean bright white, not neon sign blue )
Picked up a piece of Mopani wood. If it works the way I want, it will stand in the back of the tank nearly 22" tall. I'm really excited. Soaking it in the tub with some dechlorinator.
I will say this, a single XP4 is >>>>>> louder then my Eheim 2217. In complete fairness, I haven't enclosed the bottom cabinet yet, but I suspect that won't be enough to make up for it.
I have two canisters on my 6' tank too. I think the flow is a good idea plus it simplifies things when one canister gets cleaned (just rinse under a faucet) or is not working :angryfire. I spray one across the top and angle the other towards the center of the substrate.
Have you told us what you plan on keeping in there?
3 clown loaches
3 yoyo loaches
1 loach that was supposed to be a yoyo, but might be a kubotai
2 featherfin
2 rainbow shark
5 unknown tetras
6 neon tetra
10 adult mollies and maybe 7 fairly neon sized ones that have grown up
1 betta
Mainly a community tank. I like the loaches, and my girls like watching the molly babies.
I might pick up a few more of the loaches once I get through the Ich I'm fighting right now. I would of preferred a pair of angels, but they would probably snack on the neon's and the baby mollies so they are a no go.
That driftwood is insane! Very nice piece! Great job on the reinforcing of the floor and building the hood also. Coming along nicely man, lookin good! I actually like the glow from the moonlight, never thought about rope lighting in a full hood...very ingenious. I am sure you could find an in-line dimmer and set it where you prefer if you would want...just a matter of finding or modifying something to work. In fact, you could prob buy a cool white ropelight to add to it and have a dimmer on that also and mix the blue/white to where you want it. Thats basically what I have done with my moonlights.
I've just replaced all my 13=60 watt CFL bulbs with 23=100 watt CFL's. I felt like i wasn't getting the light I needed for my pressurized CO2 setup so I've decided to up it and see.
Playing around with the panoramic mode on my camera.
I just bumped up my lighting, but I didn't notice my C02 tank was empty - I think that's' why my bubble counter was bone dry one day a week or two ago, and I didn't notice it. Woops.
Well, I moved and I ended up not liking the offer I got and decided I really didn't want to get rid of my tank anyway. The wife isn't happy, but it's here!
I lost a lot of my plants as I haven't been dosing EI or keeping my CO2 tank up. So it's time to get that fixed!
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