Help with 150 extra high stocking...NEW PICS

The tall tank would be perfect for angelfish!

I don't have any experience with angelfish though. But I can just envision angelfish in a 150. If you can afford altums :icon_smil :icon_smil :icon_smil :

Some pictures I found:

http://fish.mongabay.com/biotope_altum_angelfish.htm
http://www.specieslist.com/images/aquarium_june/images/altum_angels_01.gif
http://www.specieslist.com/images/aquarium_june/images/altum_angels_02.gif
http://www.specieslist.com/images/aquarium_june/thumbnails/altum_angels_00.gif
http://www.specieslist.com/images/aquarium_june/thumbnails/altum_angels_09.gif
http://www.specieslist.com/images/aquarium_june/thumbnails/altum_angels_10.gif

Rummynose tetras I do keep and they school non-stop as long as the lights are on.

Just got cardinals today, $20 for 20, but you get what you pay for. 2 dead before even making it through drip acclimation. It's been a few hours and not any more drop-offs. Key observation: older, larger tetras struggling to acclimate. Younger, smaller ones already doing well.

Good luck on your tank. Everything is up to you anyway, set a goal of what you what to achieve for the tank, and go for it!

Edit: For the lights, CO2, ferts, it depends on what you want to get out of the tank, and how much time/money you're willing to commit. Non-co2 goes along with lower lighting very well, so less expense there. It is generally slower plant growth, easier to control, less frequent maintenance.

Since it's a 150g, if you go CO2, you have no choice but go pressurized. DIY is impractical, and excel is way too expensive. With pressurized CO2, it comes with higher lighting, more expensive. Generally faster plant growth, things can go out of control faster. I'm sure lots of people here have experience with pressurized + high lights.

http://picasaweb.google.com/blackwaterfishman

The pictures I have added here are on Picasa. The first photos were from when I set my tank up and the second photos were taken a few weeks ago.
I have a 90 gallon corner bow tank and have Peruvian angelfish (5), Neon tetras (12), serpae tetras (10), clown loach(1), and hatchets (2)

I run jungle vals on the sides and back, Kleiner sword in the center, along with bacopa, anacharis, dwarf hairgrass, duckweed, hornwort, bronze and red crypts, and val. spiralis.

The tank dimemsions are 30" wide x 30" tall x 54" long in the front with the bow. I run one metal halide 175 watt and two 55 watt power compact fluorescents. (lights are Hamilton in a retrofit as many lighting units were too large for my corner tank) This is just enough light. I would recommend a MH in the mix for a deep tank. I have a 10000K MH and two 6700K PC's. It is just right for me. In the daytime when it is bright the tank looks great with all the lights on (I run MH 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM and the PC's from 8:00 AM to 8:30 PM.) and at night when it is dark only the 6700K bulbs are on. I also have a 29 gallon with two 65 watt PC's with CO2 and those plants grow really red and beautiful whereas the 90 gallon gets just enough light to get moderate growth, so that extra 175 MH light just puts me into an acceptable range of light for my heavily planted tank. The deeper tank in my observation needs more light.

I love the driftwood and I have four large pieces in the tank. I glued some pieces together to get the driftwood to be 30" tall. (the angelfish love this!) I used epoxy and jammed two larger pieces together. I managed barely to slide these into the tank as the opening is small on the top of this acrylic tank. There is a picture of the driftwood on the Picasa web site.

I run CO2 and have no problems. PH 6.6, GH 4, KH, 3.5 I do 50% water changes weekly and fertilize at moderate levels.

My angels are no "angels" and are quite aggressive with one another. They are from wild stock. So far, they leave the neons alone and haven't eaten any of them, but rummynose tetras are perfectly shaped to "go down easy" and I don't think they would live very long in an angelfish tank.

I would be interested in the dimensions of your 150 gallon tank. You may need more than one MH bulb as two feet by two feet is said to be their lighting area, so a four foot tank would need two. I love my 30" deep tank. It can be a pain to plant and trim the hairgrass as it is so deep but the angelfish love it and it looks great.

Good luck with your angelfish tank! Keep us posted. Pictures would be nice.

This forum is such a great help and inspiration. Thanks for all the comments so far. Here is a pic of the tank empty in the garage. I just did a test fill and no leaks!

The tank itself is 24" deep, 48" long, and 31" tall. The entire setup is 73" tall!
I about have my mind set on a low tech setup.
Lighting: I was thinking going with something like the Aqualight power compacts with 4 65W bulbs, 2 being 6700K and the other two being 10,000k. Would that still be enough lighting for a low light setup? The great thing is they are easier to find used for about $150. I don't want to be cheap to the point where it sacrifices my setup though. Here is a pic of the space between the tank and the hood:

Substrate: Natural mix of pea gravel along with several large pieces of driftwood to accent the height of the tank.
Fish: School of Angels, not sure what kind but leaning towards the kois. So far I like the idea of a large group of serpae tetras, several clown loaches, and a pleco of some sort.
Plants: Java ferns, Hygrophila polysperma, hornwort, Anubias barteri, and whatever other low light plants I can find.
With the low tech setups do you throw all the plants in at once to cut down on the algae? The other question was I will be filtering with a Rena XP3 for sure and will probably add on 2 Aquaclear 110's. With that filtration should I just go with a plain black background or try one of those DIY cement backgrounds. I was worried with my above described aquascape that a DIY background would make it too busy. I would prefer the tank to seem deep and dark with no end. I wont be able to work on it for about the next week or so, at least it will give me time to order some lights and filters though. Thanks for the help so far, I promise more pics and updates as they come. I wont be one of those that starts a project and leaves everyone hanging.

you are much better off with a pair of 150w MH pendent fixtures.
since you are not going to bother with Co2, you can get a wave
action water output nozzle near the water surface, to great some
wonderful ripple light effects beaming down into the tanks depths.
If you can't afford two, then get one for now, and another later.
MH will make it easier to add a third 150w should you ever decide
to go high tech and add compressed Co2.

I would not use PCF for anything taller than 24" of water & gravel.

I would get 3m ColorQuartz Black T-Grade, since it will hold a slope,
hold down anything you plant in it, and won't damage those larger
rooted low light plants. you want a substrate that will set in place
so you won't have to reach 30" down and mess with it too often,
it's relatively cheap if you can find it locally, and you only need 3"
minimum depth to hold in place any plant you can think of, and the
black color will compliment your cabinet perfectly.

gosh what a wonderful tank. I'm saving up for a 2x2x4' 120gal tank,
but I should would love to have the height and canopy you'll enjoy.

Ok, so back from Christmas with the family and ordered some stuff for the tank. For lighting I ordered the 2 2x55w kits from ahsupply. That will give me four lights at 55 watts a piece, I will be attaching the lights to the underside of the wooden hood. I also ordered another XP3, which will total two XP3's on the tank for filtration. For the cleaner look I also ordered two inline heaters for the filters so there will be no heaters visible in my aquarium! I also have two large pieces of driftwood coming and have some natural colored pea graveled rinsed ready to go. I was worried about my substrate choice, I was really wanting something black. I didn't want the tank to be too dark, however, and thought the pea gravel would look natural with some driftwood and plants. I will also be painting the back of the aquarium with a black latex paint and be painting the two intake filter tubes with krylon fusion spray paint. Can't wait to have all the stuff delivered and start putting this tank together! Will post pics soon when things start coming in.

Need initial help with aquascaping!

Ok, so I decided to go with soilmaster select charcoal color instead of pea gravel. I think it will make the tank 'pop' more and be much more natural looking. I just picked up 2 50lb bags, luckily I found some only about 20 mins from me. I painted one of the XP3 filter tubes, will paint the other one as well but wanted to show the difference. With the black painted background these will really blend in well I think.

I also got in a couple pieces of wood. I need help on positioning the wood along with any rockwork. Please help me here, I welcome any suggestions. Do I need lots more wood, different type of rocks...I know the possibilities are endless. I am thinking I will order some more drift wood from a member on here. Remember this tank is like 30" tall so that makes it a little more difficult but to me all the more important to include the height of the tank in the aquascaping plan!

Here are some of the rocks I currently have. For size reference the larger redish type rock on the right is approx. 10-12" at its longest, and approx. 4 inches tall.

I only have about one or two more coats to go on the back of the tank, and my lighting should be in either Saturday or Monday so I can start working on that. My plan is to start setting it up later next week or next weekend. Let me know your aquascaping ideas.....and thanks.