All About Aquariums??

[hewhodar3s]

No love for freshwater opie?


aww fuk bye
















[IMG]http://i543.photobucket.com/albums/gg475/tylerk144/0606131659.jpg[IMG]

Is that a Frontosa in there with your Mbuna? How does that work out for you

[XtremeOCD]

Ya'll wanna run around talkin' 'bout aquariums like I ain't got none. What - you think I sold 'em all?

Equipment- automated fertilizer injection, CO2, in-line heater, and freshwater top off. Custom euro style stand, Eheim canister filter, ADA halides, controlled via aquacontroller, etc. etc.



Couple weeks after setup



Grown in

^ really nice! Planted tanks were something I said I wanted to take a stab at. I've had discus and they did well, but would have done so much better with live plants. My buddy who owns a LFS here had a planted discus tank and I loved it.

[ErnieMccracken]

^ really nice! Planted tanks were something I said I wanted to take a stab at. I've had discus and they did well, but would have done so much better with live plants. My buddy who owns a LFS here had a planted discus tank and I loved it.

Currently planning something in the 300-400 gallon range. This time, I am going with a remote sump in the garage. I love planted tanks. Always liked reef tanks as well, but the sheer amount of work and $$$$ put into the bigger tanks is mind bottling.

[10outof10Manlet]

Is that a Frontosa in there with your Mbuna? How does that work out for you

No, close though. He is tanganyika , its a neolamprologus tretocephalus. He gets along well. not quite as active as the mbuna, but no issues.

[XtremeOCD]

Currently planning something in the 300-400 gallon range. This time, I am going with a remote sump in the garage. I love planted tanks. Always liked reef tanks as well, but the sheer amount of work and $$$$ put into the bigger tanks is mind bottling.

Nice! I don't see a location, but does it get cold there? I have friends up in Washington state that have issues with sumps in their garage during the winter. They have to run heaters and always have back-ups on hand. I had the total opposite issue here with my saltwater tanks. I had to run fans and a chiller to keep my tank about 78F only allowing about a 2-3 degree swing. Freshwater, I always needed chillers lol

[Pennzoil22]

I got a 55 gallon tank with a Map turtle and in 2 days all this nasty brown algae/bacteria chit appeared out of nowhere and stunk up my whole room. Was a bitch to clean

Apparently leaving the basking light on 24/7 causes this?...

[hewhodar3s]

No, close though. He is tanganyika , its a neolamprologus tretocephalus. He gets along well. not quite as active as the mbuna, but no issues.

That's a cool fish! I love the bright colours you can get with cichlids

[dyetrying91]

IN!

I own an installation/maintenance company, in the process of putting my personal tanks back together. 46g reef and contemplating a NPS nano setup, just not sure if I can manage the timing for feeding.

[XtremeOCD]

I got a 55 gallon tank with a Map turtle and in 2 days all this nasty brown algae/bacteria chit appeared out of nowhere and stunk up my whole room. Was a bitch to clean

Apparently leaving the basking light on 24/7 causes this?...

Depends. With aquariums, you usually want to replicate nature as much as possible by running a photoperiod similar to the sun's cycle. Algae in a freshwater tank is totally different from saltwater. I'm quite familiar with algae in saltwater aquariums and wrote an article on it with regards to what causes them and how to solve the problem, but freshwater is a bit different. I'd reduce the light cycle though for sure. Maybe put it on a timer where it will be on during hours you are home.

IN!

I own an installation/maintenance company, in the process of putting my personal tanks back together. 46g reef and contemplating a NPS nano setup, just not sure if I can manage the timing for feeding.

I have a friend in Kentucky that is in the same business. He goes as far as even building the stands and canopies for his customers. He did really well with it.

[Drufeus]

Just broke down my 36g reef

[Trickmyster18]

Zero maintenance discus tank, just have to add water once a week

[Pennzoil22]

Depends. With aquariums, you usually want to replicate nature as much as possible by running a photoperiod similar to the sun's cycle. Algae in a freshwater tank is totally different from saltwater. I'm quite familiar with algae in saltwater aquariums and wrote an article on it with regards to what causes them and how to solve the problem, but freshwater is a bit different. I'd reduce the light cycle though for sure. Maybe put it on a timer where it will be on during hours you are home.

I see...well I cut the light down to 12 hours a day and the algae hasn't came back, and I also left the old filter cartridge in a bit longer to keep some of the good bacteria. Anyway, here's the tank it's actually a 40G but its' really wide.




He's destroying and eatting all the plants

[Tarck]

I got a 55 gallon tank with a Map turtle and in 2 days all this nasty brown algae/bacteria chit appeared out of nowhere and stunk up my whole room. Was a bitch to clean

Apparently leaving the basking light on 24/7 causes this?...

I have a lot of experience with aquatic turtle aquariums. Yes, when they crash it's like the devil himself took a chit and forgot to flush. But I finally got to the point where my tank's water was flawless. It was a 55 gallon that was filled up to about 4 inches from the top. I had two Hot Magnum mini-canister filters, one at each end of the tank. I also had an under gravel filter. I started the tank with a ton of this stuff (http://www.petco.com/assets/product_...054313141c.jpg) and a few little feeder fish. I let it cycle for about two weeks before I introduced my three turtles. I had one slider and two cooters. They were all about 4 inches.

I probably went way overboard on filtration, but my tank looked awesome at all times. I had that setup for a year before I was forced to break it down to move to a different house. It never crashed the entire time. I would top it off with a couple of gallons of new water every week or so to make up for evaporation, but that's it.

EDIT: That's a good looking tank -- and nice hatchling. I wish they stayed that small.

EDIT EDIT: I see you were talking about algae growth, not water quality. LOL sorry. I always had one or two plecos in my tank and they kept the sides clean for me.

[AKornilov]

what are the most aesthetic fish/eels you can have in medium sized tanks 100g~?

[XtremeOCD]

Just broke down my 36g reef

Bummer...I miss my tank's. Itching to do another soon.

Zero maintenance discus tank, just have to add water once a week

Nice! Freshwater tanks are a walk in the park. My favourite freshwater setup was when I had my arowana and stingray in my 75g gal. When my arowana jumped out of the tank and I found him dead was when I went back to salt.


Here is some of the crap I had just siiting around for my saltwater tank.



Some of the timers and wavemaker controller





And some more DIY I did. When I added the dual 250w metal halides, the water cooked. I bought 6 fans...1 for over the sump, 3 to suck out hot air out of the canopy and 2 to blow cool air across the water surface.

brackets on one pair of fans




Holes drilled and fans being mounted and wired



Fan locations



stainless vents I used



Fan over sump.




Eventually backwall was removed and a chiller added.

[Tarck]

what are the most aesthetic fish/eels you can have in medium sized tanks 100g~?

I don't have any personal experience, so I'm just going to talk out my ass (because that's what I do) and tell you to get a snowflake moray eel. Those things are so badass.

[Pennzoil22]

I have a lot of experience with aquatic turtle aquariums. Yes, when they crash it's like the devil himself took a chit and forgot to flush. But I finally got to the point where my tank's water was flawless. It was a 55 gallon that was filled up to about 4 inches from the top. I had two Hot Magnum mini-canister filters, one at each end of the tank. I also had an under gravel filter. I started the tank with a ton of this stuff (http://www.petco.com/assets/product_...054313141c.jpg) and a few little feeder fish. I let it cycle for about two weeks before I introduced my three turtles. I had one slider and two cooters. They were all about 4 inches.

I probably went way overboard on filtration, but my tank looked awesome at all times. I had that setup for a year before I was forced to break it down to move to a different house. It never crashed the entire time. I would top it off with a couple of gallons of new water every week or so to make up for evaporation, but that's it.

EDIT: That's a good looking tank -- and nice hatchling. I wish they stayed that small.

EDIT EDIT: I see you were talking about algae growth, not water quality. LOL sorry. I always had one or two plecos in my tank and they kept the sides clean for me.

I honestly don't know what the stuff was. At first it looked like rust on the sides of the tank and then 2 days later it was like brown hairy stuff all over the tank. Reeked so bad that I couldn't even see my turtle inside of the water lol. I even had to buy new rocks and stuff cause I couldn't wash the smell off...weird. I don't think algae alone does that, but it hasn't happened again after I washed the tank.

And your turtle didn't try to attack/eat the plecos?

[donmiller212]

in. 75 gallon reef crew.




more to come

[XtremeOCD]

I see...well I cut the light down to 12 hours a day and the algae hasn't came back, and I also left the old filter cartridge in a bit longer to keep some of the good bacteria. Anyway, here's the tank it's actually a 40G but its' really wide.




He's destroying and eatting all the plants

That's pretty cool. I was like you with my freshwater tanks using riverock because it looked natural. When I had pacus, I went with a size up from what you are using.


When I went back to saltwater from fresh, I used a rockwall I used prior in my freshwater tank in the saltwater. It really looked good when I had this rockwall in the freshwater, but I lost those pics when my hard drive crashed. Here it is when I first set it up going saltwater. More liverock was added, but I had issues with detritus getting trapped in the back of the wall so I ripped it all out. The plan was to anchor corals on the wall like you would see here on rockwalls coming off of the island

[bit]

Brackish ftw. Although fresh and saltwater tanks are great, I always preferred brackish as the fish are so different in looks and abilities. Plants are limited but you can still make the tank look as aesthetically pleasing while having interesting fish. Years ago I had a brackish tank 3/4 full with archers, flounders, gobies, etc. In the top 1/4 of the tank I had vines that I put crickets on so I could watch the archer hunt, either by spitting at them or jumping up arrows a style and grabbing them.

[XtremeOCD]

Brackish ftw. Although fresh and saltwater tanks are great, I always preferred brackish as the fish are so different in looks and abilities. Plants are limited but you can still make the tank look as aesthetically pleasing while having interesting fish. Years ago I had a brackish tank 3/4 full with archers, flounders, gobies, etc. In the top 1/4 of the tank I had vines that I put crickets on so I could watch the archer hunt, either by spitting at them or jumping up arrows a style and grabbing them.

I did one brackish tank where I had mono's, scats and puffer fish in. Didn't have it set up too long though and eventually converted back to fully fresh. There was a guy in the forum that had a beautiful cold water saltwater aquarium. He types of fish you see in them and the colors are amazing. Also, with the water temp needing to be so cold, you tend not to have any issues with your typical nuisance algae.

[Tarck]

I honestly don't know what the stuff was. At first it looked like rust on the sides of the tank and then 2 days later it was like brown hairy stuff all over the tank. Reeked so bad that I couldn't even see my turtle inside of the water lol. I even had to buy new rocks and stuff cause I couldn't wash the smell off...weird. I don't think algae alone does that, but it hasn't happened again after I washed the tank.

And your turtle didn't try to attack/eat the plecos?

I always kept my turtles well fed, so they couldn't be arsed with any of the fish. Plus, the pleco was the same size as them.

[Reef58]

Nice setups OCD. Like your rock formations.

[Patriots25]

I am Fish/Aquarium Master Race crew

[XtremeOCD]

I am Fish/Aquarium Master Race crew

Pics?

Nice setups OCD. Like your rock formations.

Thanks man. I spent over 6 hours one day trying to aquascape one of my tanks. I was so mentally frustrated I couldn't get it the way I wanted it to look I almost pitched the thing out the door . I ended up breaking rocks to make the size pieces I wanted and got it done.

[SAD_COW_DISEASE]

Ya'll wanna run around talkin' 'bout aquariums like I ain't got none. What - you think I sold 'em all?

Equipment- automated fertilizer injection, CO2, in-line heater, and freshwater top off. Custom euro style stand, Eheim canister filter, ADA halides, controlled via aquacontroller, etc. etc.


Couple weeks after setup

Hnnnnnnngggggg. I haven't even seen an automated fertilizing system. How many watts in the halides? Kelvin? Is the tank euro-braced or just rimless?

[health4life24]

Him cleaning the tank. Thee windows are 2 1/2 inch thick 10 foot by 6 foot acrylic .

That's got to be a pretty interesting job lol.

[XtremeOCD]

That's got to be a pretty interesting job lol.

He's the owner lol. He says his new house over a 100,000 gal tank. Looking forward to that one.

[health4life24]

He's the owner lol. He says his new house over a 100,000 gal tank. Looking forward to that one.

Talk about some money out of your pocket.

[XtremeOCD]

Talk about some money out of your pocket.

Dude is loaded lol