150g Attempting Dutch! New updates 1/3/2012

[Craigthor]

Well I decided to tear apart the Riparium and try the tank full of water. Currently the plants are pretty much out with new ones on the or atleast some of them. The 2 Eheim 2217's are getting swapped out for a pair of beastly 2262's I may have to move to larger Loc Line returns if they put out too much pressure for my new setup. It's time to put a new set of bulbs in my 70 watt Viper MHs and have the replacements in the garage.

Equipment:

150g Aqueon with the overflows removed and the cannister plumbed through the bottom
3- Viper 70 watt MH
2- Eheim 2262 cannisters
2- Hydor 200 watt Heaters
1- Coralife 9w UV filter (may get a second and run one on each side)
2- Cerge's CO2 reactors
Probably add a CO2 system of some sort.


Plans for flora:

Amazon Sword
Brazilian Sword
Brazilian Pennywort
E. Tenellus 'Micro'
E. Parviflorus
Dwarf Sag (This is a possibility but it is more native to north america but has found its way down to the Rio Orinoco area.)

Hardscape:

I will be using the original wood layout with a few new pieces set to arrive so I can play around with layouts

Fauna:

Thinking a shoal of 10-15 Altum Angels as when the grow tall they would be stunning in this tall tank.
Possibly some Plecos from the Rio Orinoco area the L204 would be a good match and could easily add a few of them

Going to be donating my old fish stock to a local hospital that has several tanks that a friend cares for so they can continue to be enjoyed by many.

Craig

[Sd760]

Sounds like a lot of fun. Good luck keep us up dated

[RipariumGuy]

I applaude your use for for your old fish! A great way to spread the joy of fish watching.

Let me get this strait though: no more riparium? If so, I am sad. But the fact that this is a biotope counteracts that! I am subscribed!

[kingdave]

Sounds like a great setup. I'm looking forward to seeing your setup... I'm subscribing to this thread.

[Craigthor]

Originally Posted by RipariumGuy

I applaude your use for for your old fish! A great way to spread the joy of fish watching.

Let me get this strait though: no more riparium? If so, I am sad. But the fact that this is a biotope counteracts that! I am subscribed!

Nope no more riparium. Hoping to grow some altums out to full potential and they can get 13-15" tall so they need all the height I can give them.

Craig

[RipariumGuy]

Originally Posted by Craigthor

Nope no more riparium. Hoping to grow some altums out to full potential and they can get 13-15" tall so they need all the height I can give them.

Craig

Ah, OK! I wasn't sure if you where going to keep some of the riparium plants and keep them up by the rim or not.

[Craigthor]

Well the tank is almost bare. I've removed all the existing driftwood, just have a few places to scrape silicone off the back wall where they were stuck on. After watching a few videos of Altums in there natural habitat I want a full long term plan. I want to purchase a bunch of Manzanita from Mr Barr and get some rock that will look similar to stuff I have seen in the videos.

As far as plants they seem few and far between and the PH is really low in the area down to around a ph of 5. There was some algaes growing in the area which was about all the greenery I could see.

I will probably be placing a group of L129 Zebra Plecos in with the Altums as the habitat the same areas.

Craig

[Craigthor]

A cool link, it is in German but the video is great.

http://www.aquanet.tv/Video/329-am-o...m-altum-skalar
Craig

[oldpunk78]

Cool video. Too bad I don't remember much German anymore. Can't wait to see this one with fish added.

[speedie408]

I'm looking forward to this one Craig. I've always liked Altums and that video just put them back at the top of my to have list... Sorta haha.

Thanks for sharing the vid. Wish there were subtitles tho.

[Craigthor]

Originally Posted by speedie408

I'm looking forward to this one Craig. I've always liked Altums and that video just put them back at the top of my to have list... Sorta haha.

Thanks for sharing the vid. Wish there were subtitles tho.

I know right, there are several videos but that seems to be one of the best ones so far that I can find. It is amazing how much rock there is in that area, also the tea stained water is really cool against the super white substrate.

Craig

[Craigthor]

So a small update on coming arrivals:

Monday: rest of my media for my 2262s arrives
Tuesday: 200 lbs of Carbisea Torpedo Beach sand will arrive
Thursday/ Friday: 2 cannisters from Nikki for peat filtering, and hopefully my first order of wood from Jake should arrive.

Next week an order of wood from Mr Barr should arrive as well so I will have tons of wood to choose from for this scape. Still need to go rock hunting which I will probably do Wednesday as I get 2 days off for a change.

For the substrate I choose the Caribisea Torpedo Beach Sand after talking to a couple of people who have gone down collecting this substrate is almost a perfect match to the biotope I'm creating.

Once I get the tank rescaped I plan on getting some cardinal tetras ordered and some L129 plecos coming in. The Altums probably won't arrive will August so this gives me 2 months to get everything changed over.

Craig

[Craigthor]

Todays agenda (wife is taking the little one to a play group so I will be starting once they head out.):

Remove current stock to a 30g holding tank
Remove current Turface substrate
Clean Glass inside of tank
Change bulk head threaded fittings for new filters
Install new Eheim 2262 filters
Put in new Caribi Sea Torpedo Beach sand substrate if it arrives today (is scheduled but not out truck yet)
Refill tank - This will happen somewhere in here
Borrow 14" Diamoind Blade saw to cut down scaping rocks
Cut Stones and wait for help as these things are super heavy

2 Eheim 2262s ready to be filled.





Rocks for scaping: (The largest one is over 100lbs by itself.)






Looks like I will be busy today.

Craig

[Sd760]

Pumped for u

[Gatekeeper]

Is that rust I see on those rock?