245 Starfire “FishTV”
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Oh, my recliner is directly in front of the tank 10’ away. I have a beautiful 4k tv to my right, haven‘t turned it on in months.
Fish Tv for the win! No commercials, no repeats, priceless.
Also on a side note i have been known to use binoculars when i am curious and lazy at the same time.
Fish stocking list as of now:
50 Cardinal Teteras
8 Angels various colors (all are pared and have had three produce wigglers)
3 Red bristle nose pleco
6 Sterbei Corys
6 Ottos
4 Farrowella cats
1 Galaxy Pleco
5 Bosemani Rainbows
6 Dwarf Neon Rainbows
6 Siamese Algae Eaters ( BBA erasers)
5 Fancy Guppies in display and 4 batches of fry in a pair of 40 breeders in the basement ( 60 total i think)
20 Nerite snails
Ok here is where i get in trouble, plant names. What can i say i like what i like.
Swords,Crypts,Vals and some Anubias.
My tank has a good amount of flow with the returns and the Gyre pumps on the back wall,
The tank may seem lop sided but is intentional because the left hand end pane is the first thing you see when you walk in my front door.
Its fun to watch the look on a persons face when they walk around the corner and see the front. They usually sit down in the chair in front and lose themselves for a minute or 10. Then come the questions LOL
Fish Tv for the win! No commercials, no repeats, priceless.
Also on a side note i have been known to use binoculars when i am curious and lazy at the same time.
Fish stocking list as of now:
50 Cardinal Teteras
8 Angels various colors (all are pared and have had three produce wigglers)
3 Red bristle nose pleco
6 Sterbei Corys
6 Ottos
4 Farrowella cats
1 Galaxy Pleco
5 Bosemani Rainbows
6 Dwarf Neon Rainbows
6 Siamese Algae Eaters ( BBA erasers)
5 Fancy Guppies in display and 4 batches of fry in a pair of 40 breeders in the basement ( 60 total i think)
20 Nerite snails
Ok here is where i get in trouble, plant names. What can i say i like what i like.
Swords,Crypts,Vals and some Anubias.
My tank has a good amount of flow with the returns and the Gyre pumps on the back wall,
The tank may seem lop sided but is intentional because the left hand end pane is the first thing you see when you walk in my front door.
Its fun to watch the look on a persons face when they walk around the corner and see the front. They usually sit down in the chair in front and lose themselves for a minute or 10. Then come the questions LOL
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237 Posts
Update photo. I need to do some trimming this week. They don’t show up in the picture, but there are 50 guppies that i grew out from the original ones that spawned. That brings the fish stocking to close to 160 fish. I have stopped using ferts and just run a ton of CO2 and dialed back on the water changes to every other week. Lighting is set to 85% for eight hours and then ramps down to moonlight level for two more hours before all is dark. Algae only appears on front glass and takes about two weeks to become noticable enough to make me scrape it ( wearing my glasses seems to speed this up).
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I really like this tank! The picture doesn't reflect just how big a 245 is but still....
I think I read on another thread the dimensions of this tank are 72L x 27H x 30W, yes? A custom tank? Looking thru the older pics it looks like you can access the tank from both front and back, else reaching the back of this tank from just the front has got to be a challenge!
I think I read on another thread the dimensions of this tank are 72L x 27H x 30W, yes? A custom tank? Looking thru the older pics it looks like you can access the tank from both front and back, else reaching the back of this tank from just the front has got to be a challenge!
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The tank is a semi custom, it was made by Great Lakes Aquariums in Michigan. They went out of business after the owner passed away. The tank is accessible from 3 sides. The front through a hinged panel and the back and one side from a room behind the tank via a door next to it which is a home office. Sometimes even with three sides there are hard to reach spots around the driftwood. The only way to remove fish is to feed the tank and net them on the surface. Otherwise once they are in, there is no getting them out. Its worse than my reef tank was. Yes, from the picture it looks like a 20gal long. Even standing in front of it, it seems small. The only time that it really shows its size is standing on a step ladder behind it looking down at the top. Then you get distracted by all the fish at the surface looking for food amongst all the plants, but thats what is all about in the first place!
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237 Posts
Originally this system was designed to be a large full blown reef set up, so there are some characteristics that are not really needed for a planted tank. However, before the current configuration it was a discus only setup. Between the discus and now it was completely torn down and dry for 2 years. As it stands now, the display is 245gal with a 180 gal partitioned sump. All filtration is in the basement to keep the tank as free of equipment as possible.
Large tank setup challenges are: space for equipment, choosing large enough equipment, and designing your system for ease of operation and maintenance. I believe if its worth doing it, its worth overdoing. Especially in the filtration department. If the manufacturer rates it for your tank size, double it. Redundancy on heating is a must. Having backups for equipment or spare parts for return pumps is recommended. Nothing breaks when stores are open, and considering shipping times these days... yikes!
Most of the rest is preference or style of tank and the plants and animals you want to keep. And last but not least is cost. The price on equipment takes a jump when you start getting to tanks over 90 gallons and can get worse over that. 125 gal seems to be the average “large tank”, anything above that you will not be finding at Petco. I can list the equipment i chose and why but it will differ from person to person and tank to tank, and also the location. If you want that breakdown let me know.
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![Plant Property Building Window Wood]()
Large tank setup challenges are: space for equipment, choosing large enough equipment, and designing your system for ease of operation and maintenance. I believe if its worth doing it, its worth overdoing. Especially in the filtration department. If the manufacturer rates it for your tank size, double it. Redundancy on heating is a must. Having backups for equipment or spare parts for return pumps is recommended. Nothing breaks when stores are open, and considering shipping times these days... yikes!
Most of the rest is preference or style of tank and the plants and animals you want to keep. And last but not least is cost. The price on equipment takes a jump when you start getting to tanks over 90 gallons and can get worse over that. 125 gal seems to be the average “large tank”, anything above that you will not be finding at Petco. I can list the equipment i chose and why but it will differ from person to person and tank to tank, and also the location. If you want that breakdown let me know.
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This tank is stunning all around. But my favorite thing about it is that you've kept scale in mind throughout its development. Really helps things appear more natural.
Also love the fact that you have a zillion Tetras in there and it still only looks like a handful. Their little blips of color really pop and make the heart skip a beat when you notice them.
Also love the fact that you have a zillion Tetras in there and it still only looks like a handful. Their little blips of color really pop and make the heart skip a beat when you notice them.
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237 Posts
I started out with a little over 50. Some were lost due to not staying out of the overflow at night. I am always sad to find somebody stuck to the screen in the overflow but usually they are swimming around below it waiting to be rescued. The thing that amazes me is how a 5” long Farowella cat ends up in there!
The up side to that is the overflow is extremely clean lol. My wife originally picked out 5 guppies, which i wasn’t in favor of, however they grew on me. She asked if we could get a couple more. I suggested we make our own ( silly me), so i set up a 40 breeder and dropped the two very fat females in. Within hours we had 60 babies. Once i could determine sex i split them up and grew them out. Somehow we ended up adding all of them into the display as the got big enough not to be food for the angels and rainbows. I originally had plans for hatchets, but the guppies are just as active and vastly more colorful and have no fear. If i cup my hand they will swim in to look for food. My latest quest is to spot my galaxy pleco. We haven’t seen him in over a month, but considering how thick the plants are and the amount of driftwood it could be a while.
The up side to that is the overflow is extremely clean lol. My wife originally picked out 5 guppies, which i wasn’t in favor of, however they grew on me. She asked if we could get a couple more. I suggested we make our own ( silly me), so i set up a 40 breeder and dropped the two very fat females in. Within hours we had 60 babies. Once i could determine sex i split them up and grew them out. Somehow we ended up adding all of them into the display as the got big enough not to be food for the angels and rainbows. I originally had plans for hatchets, but the guppies are just as active and vastly more colorful and have no fear. If i cup my hand they will swim in to look for food. My latest quest is to spot my galaxy pleco. We haven’t seen him in over a month, but considering how thick the plants are and the amount of driftwood it could be a while.
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51 Posts
What an amazing tank and build! You've really used your reef experience to full advantage. 
Can you tell us more about your lighting? Model, color spectrum, etc?
Can you tell us more about your lighting? Model, color spectrum, etc?
Joined
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237 Posts
What i have are three 68” Reefbar Pros with straight 10K. All are running on individual programable dimmers. This allows me a more gradual ramp up and down over a longer time. I have the clock on each about 15-20 mins apart. I did have one power supply die on me, a phone call was all it took to get a replacement sent out. They are great folks to work with both in ordering and any issues that might pop up.
I like the fact that there are no fans and the cords are long enough. There are more features on the dimmer than i need, like cloud and storm effects. If i didn’t have fish i might play with the storm stuff lol.
I like the fact that there are no fans and the cords are long enough. There are more features on the dimmer than i need, like cloud and storm effects. If i didn’t have fish i might play with the storm stuff lol.
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