Tropical Aquariums

B5150

B5150

Legend
Who has one, what you got, what you got in it?

After a very long wait and having finally finished 90% of my home remodel work I have just repainted my stand and put it and my tank in place. This is the first tank, other than the bowls in my kids rooms, that I have had since I was a teenager. I am very excited.

I have a 60g (long) tank with stand and top. I have a Fluval 403 canister filtration system. It is planned to be freshwater.

I enjoy African Cichlids with particular enjoyment in Tiger Oscars as well as various other Cichlid species.

Tiger Oscars
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I picked up the equipment for a steal from my brother-in-law. I still need filtration media and gravel and the likes but it is on it's way and hopefully will soon be a living thing.
 
My grandfather had 3 tanks in the house......all full of weird exotic fish...I used to buy small fish when he wasn't looking and throw em in the tank and watch em get eaten.....:D

I don't have the money now, but I'd like to get a big tank....with carnivorous fish and some cool lighting......
 
My room mate keeps a 60gal in our living room with some huge piranha. All I know is that we feed it mice LOL
 
My 9 year old is a shark fanatic....If I had the time and patience, I would love to do one for him....Ive seen a few set ups at the pet stores around here that were insanely nice.

holy
 
had I not got this equipment so cheap I would likely not have one or bother with the one I could afford to invest.
 
They are beautiful and relaxing to watch. I've thought about getting one for years bur not sure if I want to make the time commitment. My uncle had a 30 gal or so with 4 red pirahna and those little buggers swam around in there like a team of asassins.
 
Mine is big enough that I can get a school of a couple different breeds of cichlids that cohabitat well enough to have a nice balanced community.

It will be freshwater and low maintenance. High maintenance fish need not apply.
 
210g Reef Tank.

1200 Watts of Lighting..Metal Halide/Compact Florescent mix.

2 6100 Tunze Streams, 1 Wavebox

MSX Skimmer, recirc Mod pulling 50+ scfh.

2 55 gallon Resevoirs, 1 pre mixed with Kalk...I use a doser with a float valve for top off.

1 Set of lights come on 9am, MH come on 12-6, last lights go off at 9pm.

35 Gallon Refugium with 24/7 lighting period with Chaeto, 30lb live rock.

36x UV Sterilizer

1 Blonde Naso Tang
1 Powder Blue
1 Yellow Tang
1 Green Coris Wrasse
5 Blue Chromis
4 Lyretail Anthias
1 Purple Fridmani sp?
2 False Perculas hosting in Rose Tip Anemone
Various SPS and Soft Corals
250lbs Fiji Rock

Similar Aquascape as this one:

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Another one of my favs. Color and coral is amazing.

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Kruger said:
210g Reef Tank.

1200 Watts of Lighting..Metal Halide/Compact Florescent mix.

2 6100 Tunze Streams, 1 Wavebox

MSX Skimmer, recirc Mod pulling 50+ scfh.

2 55 gallon Resevoirs, 1 pre mixed with Kalk...I use a doser with a float valve for top off.

1 Set of lights come on 9am, MH come on 12-6, last lights go off at 9pm.

35 Gallon Refugium with 24/7 lighting period with Chaeto, 30lb live rock.

36x UV Sterilizer

1 Blonde Naso Tang
1 Powder Blue
1 Yellow Tang
1 Green Coris Wrasse
5 Blue Chromis
4 Lyretail Anthias
1 Purple Fridmani sp?
2 False Perculas hosting in Rose Tip Anemone
Various SPS and Soft Corals
250lbs Fiji Rock

Similar Aquascape as this one:

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Click to expand...

How much money/labor for that?
 
Kruger said:
210g Reef Tank.

1200 Watts of Lighting..Metal Halide/Compact Florescent mix.

2 6100 Tunze Streams, 1 Wavebox

MSX Skimmer, recirc Mod pulling 50+ scfh.

2 55 gallon Resevoirs, 1 pre mixed with Kalk...I use a doser with a float valve for top off.

1 Set of lights come on 9am, MH come on 12-6, last lights go off at 9pm.

35 Gallon Refugium with 24/7 lighting period with Chaeto, 30lb live rock.

36x UV Sterilizer

1 Blonde Naso Tang
1 Powder Blue
1 Yellow Tang
1 Green Coris Wrasse
5 Blue Chromis
4 Lyretail Anthias
1 Purple Fridmani sp?
2 False Perculas hosting in Rose Tip Anemone
Various SPS and Soft Corals
250lbs Fiji Rock

Similar Aquascape as this one:

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Click to expand...
That sounds like my other brother-in-law.
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Very cool.
 
I used to have a 20 gallon with the little fish, you know, neons and guppies. It was too much for me to take care of with my schedule at the time. But I'd like to start one again, with the bigger fish such as oscars and Cichlids. Cool thread!
 
Omen said:
How much money/labor for that?
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Initially, a lot. It was something I always wanted and finally did when I bought my house back in 05.

Now its just salt/kalk/GFO which I buy in bulk.....20% water change every other week but I have it set up to the point where its pretty easy to do.

Once a month I will do a major algae scrub.
 
B5150 said:
I have a 60g (long) tank with stand and top. I have a Fluval 403 canister filtration system. It is planned to be freshwater.
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Too little communication and a huge big miscalculation.

As mentioned I inherited the equipment.

I was diddling over a few numbers regarding my tank. I was at work and needed tank dimensions. So I had my daughter measure up the tank for me. It is 72" x 18" x 24".

72" x 18" x 24" = 31,104 cubic inch = 134.649 gallon [US, liquid]

I knew the tank was big. I wanted a big tank. I was really dumb to not realize it was bigger in gallons. I am thrilled at the deal I got. I paid $200 for the tank, stand and filter.

Problem - the Fluval 403 is rated to up to 100 gallons. Apparently my brother-in-low used a secondary filter that he previously sold to my other brother-in-law to use in his pond.

This ain't going to be enough for clean fish. I intend to fill it with African and South American Cichlids which are rather dirty fish.

Very cool - I have a 125g tank :thumbsup:

Down side news. At my mother-in-laws yesterday. I friend of mine lives around the corner. He has a surplus of .75"-1.25" river rock on his side yard. I brought several 5 gallon buckets with me so I could pick up some gravel (I am using a sand and river rock setup - cichlids love sand).

Just before dinner I loaded them and lifted them into the back of my van. A couple hours later, after getting from the dinner table, I stand up to walk into the living room - my knee is swollen and in pain. I aggravated an old knee injury. Apparently I made a torsional/twisting movement when loading the heavy buckets. This is a no-no for my knee :(

At the moment I am debating on whether to get a second canister or get one bigger, higher rated one.
 
i have a chichlid tank,and they really are messy fish, i would just add a second filter of the same size, for me, two smaller filters seem more efficent.

i also could reccomend cory catfish, they are small, come out at night, and seem to do a good job of keeping the bottom clean (somewhat within reason) and pretty much stay out of the bigger fishes way
 
Hmm, I just have a 30 gal and a turtle. you want low maintenance? Get a turtle. I buy her guppies once a month and she is pretty much good to go aside from some pellets and lettuce daily.

Very low maintenance.
 
had roommates who all worked at petco and they always brought in fish...lionfish, those puffer fish and a bunch others.
 
i have a 75 gallon cichlid tank. 2 oscars, 4 sunfish, 1 eel, 2 pleco's, 1 diff. pleco (dont know what kind) and a golden gourami
 
I'm still twiddling my thumbs in the set-up mode.

I purchase and washed 200lbs of #20 silica sand and filled the tank with about 125lbs of it.

I have a new Fluval FX5 canister on the way. This sucker has a 950 gph rate empty and just over 600gph full of media. I also have parts and media on the way for the Fluval 403 that I have.

I have come across some very cool fish forums in my research.
 
I used to have a 60 gal tank some years ago in it I had a red belly pacu which looks like a large piranha, i loved going to buy feeders for him and watching him tear up those feeders before he died he was half the length of the tank (i've seen them as big as 3 feet long), I started feeding him cat food (whickers) and he loved it and got huge. Later i got an Oscar fish but had many problems with holes in the head, the problem with these large carnivorous fish is when buying feeders often they are sick fish and get your fish sick as well.

I also had an Araguana these are cool but once it jumped out of the tank and those suckers are slimy and hard to pick up, I dont remember why but that sucker died.

Anyhow, I'm done playing with large fish they require lots of maintenance to keep the tank clean the bigger the fish the bigger sh*t they make and even if you have lots of bottom feeders and sucker fish the water gets too dirty.

I just found these old pics.

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Heat its only a matter of time before you make the jump. I started with a 20 gallon fresh water, went to a 46 fresh water bow front, and now have my 90 gallon reef. Aww the wonders of aquariums.
 
i just remember a funny story about that fish... i had bought some feeders for him and the fish got sick again, so i had a smaller tank to treat the fish, one night i had to treat him and was having a party so i dropped the fish in the small tank and added a heater to keep it warm and forgot all about it till the fish was trying to get out of the tank... i had to pour cold water in there and felt pretty bad to the old fella.
 
Heat Miser said:
At the moment I am debating on whether to get a second canister or get one bigger, higher rated one.
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Even though you have the fx5 now, the second one will still be good to run and you can take turn changing media in them and can maintain good bacteria at all times. You don't want to change both at the same time. I have some chiclids and love them.
 
I just received my FX5 and in record time. It's up and running just minutes ago. It sure does move some volume. I'm running it without media (only the foam) at the moment to clear the cloud that stirred up from the fill.

Yes, having the second is a very good idea for that very reason. I can also experiment with polishers and various pads in either or without hindering flow rate throughout the whole tank.

After it clears I'll be dropping in about 2 dozen goldfish to start fish cycling it for a month or so before I start to stock my cichlids.

I'm planning a river run this weekend to go score some natural boulders.

This new canister is sweet. This whole set up is kind of sweet. I'm like a kid on Christmas morning. Except I don't have on my pajamas with the feet in them :D
 
Lace rock....
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Most good fish stores may also carry this. I got all mine from a local store in Charlotte.
 
Heat Miser said:
Who has one, what you got, what you got in it?

After a very long wait and having finally finished 90% of my home remodel work I have just repainted my stand and put it and my tank in place. This is the first tank, other than the bowls in my kids rooms, that I have had since I was a teenager. I am very excited.

I have a 60g (long) tank with stand and top. I have a Fluval 403 canister filtration system. It is planned to be freshwater.

I enjoy African Cichlids with particular enjoyment in Tiger Oscars as well as various other Cichlid species.

Tiger Oscars
Invalid Link Removed

I picked up the equipment for a steal from my brother-in-law. I still need filtration media and gravel and the likes but it is on it's way and hopefully will soon be a living thing.
Click to expand...
i had 5 oscars for a while when i ws younger and they got to around 12"-14" each

im gona set one of my old tanks up pretty soon now that im finally all acclimated to my new place it a hexagon shapped 70gallon high tank

im probably gona go fresh water with it and do little fish since they are easier to take care of im planning on having 20neon tetras, 20 silver tip tetra, 20 zebra danio, 8 cory cats (clean up crew for the bottom, and a dozen shrimp and snails

also gona do a mix of real plants and fake plants

my filter is a cascade 1200 canister filter rated for 150gallon tanks(my oscars were pigs) and filters 315 gallons a hour so it will be able to keep up with the bio load
it sounds like a lot but these are mostly school fish and by gogin small with schooling fish you can get more in a tank with out stressing the fish


or i may go with Oscars again i loved them
 
75gal and all equip. - currently to either start or sell all
36gal reef
35gal freshwater
10gal beta tank

I think I've seen you Yukon.. I'm also on RC, SWF, Nano-reef, AF, reefland and PBMAS. SN is Future or Tomato Clown I just don't post much.
 
I bough a ten gallon set up last year before i knew anything about fish and put a shark cat in it along with a few guppies and a clown pleco. I have a 20 gallon now, but the shark cat just keeps on growing. Not to mention he eats anything small I put in there. I'm thinking about getting a 50 gallon or so for him.
 
Is that an Arowana in the back ground of the Oscar tank? I have had a few chiclid tanks....Arowanas are my favorite!
 
Sorry for the poor quality. Those are Firemouths, Jack Dempsies, Albino Zebras and a couple variety of South Americans. No Oscars in there.
 
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