my new project-Aquarium keeping part 2

[ocnbrze]

part 1 covered my itch to get back into the fish keeping hobby. within the thread i also talked about how i got my 180 tank installed.
please see this thread:my new project-Aquarium keeping

part 2 will cover my next projects (note plural)

this post will cover my 180gal project. and post #2 will cover my next project which i will explain there.

ok so on my 180 i have been wanting to do a 3-D background and change what is swimming in the tank.

so the best 3-D background that exists as far as i know is from Universal Rocks. they have the best options and are well know all over the internet.

this are two options that i like and both will cost the same:

Spoiler: my two options

grey texas wall

grey Malawi Rock

once that is done i want to get rid of my gravel and go with more of a sand substrate.

after that i want to have a school of African cichlids. the fish i want, its scientific name is Placidochromis phenochilus Tanzania sp also called the star sapphire cichlid.

Spoiler: Star Sapphire Cichlid

and just to add some feng shui i will add some large predatory African cichlids, like these:

Spoiler: large predatory cichlids

trout cichlid

it should be a fun project to do. i'll post pics of my progress. it will probably take a few months to complete especially with the ongoing pandemic we are all in.

ok next post will be on my other project i want to do.

 

[ocnbrze]

well i currently have a 65 gallon reef tank that basically crashed. the fish are alive but my corals have all died. so now i want to go into a different direction.

i want a custom tank that is 36"x24"x12". it is gonna be super short for a reason. i want to grow mangroves. i also want to add some cool macro-algae (seaweed) as well. it will also have some really cool and expensive clams.

the idea i want is to have the mangrove grow on one side of the tank with some rock islands come out here and there with added macro-algae and the clams will be positioned throughout the sand bed, since most prefer to be in sand rather then attached to rocks.

ok so here are some pics that will give you sort of an idea i want my tank to look:

Spoiler: my tank vision

and if you have not seen how cool clams are check these out:

Spoiler: these clams are beautiful

i also plan on making a refugium as my sump filter down below. a refugium is a separate tank usually below the main tank. it is where water flows from the main tank down to the refugium below where a pump inside will pump the water back to the main tank. in the refugium you can grow macro-algea as well as micro-organisms like copepods and other plankton. the algea will act like a filter as they will use the waste from the fish as food to grow and thus filtering the tank. the micro organism that grow in the refugium will in turn feed the corals and clams in the main tank.....so the system is almost self-sustaining. i will still have to do water changes and add certain chemicals as needed.

 

[ocnbrze]

so in case anybody is wondering where i get my cichlids i get them from Southeast Cichlids they have truly the best fish on the net. the owner is super cool and very easy to deal with. all of his fish come healthy and look amazing. i mean he will cherry pick the best fish for you. he will let you know if the quality he has is not there or not. i just reached out to him of my upcoming project. hopefully he can get the fish i want for me.

Though I am back in the fish keeping business with my current job, our suppliers of fish cannot beat Southeast Cichlids in qulaity or availability!!!!!

i am just reading up on the star saphire cichlid. i have kept them before, but i have never had a tank that featured just them. should be interesting if i can get them and even better if i can get them to breed.....we shall see.

as far as mangroves, i have to a bit more research and find a decent supplier. i do not think again that our suppliers here in LA will have what i want. I am looking for more of a mature plant and not a pod'ling like most come in. it will most likely a red mangrove as they are the most common. they also excrete the salt through their root system as apposed to secreting them from the leaves like some of the other mangroves. those you will need to mist and wash the leaves in freshwater.

 

[ocnbrze]

just posting this for my records and for anybody interested:
https://www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com/mangroves/

 

[olbriar]

It's a cool hobby and employment you have there. I tried fish a long time ago but had no working knowledge and the entire experience was negative. I'm a cat, parrot, dog guy and have managed to keep all that in harmony.

 

[ocnbrze]

It's a cool hobby and employment you have there. I tried fish a long time ago but had no working knowledge and the entire experience was negative. I'm a cat, parrot, dog guy and have managed to keep all that in harmony.

yeah that sucks you had a bad experience with aquariums. for me i always had tanks of sorts throughout my years. it is in my blood so to speak. for one i am a Pisces, born at the end of February. i got hooked onto swimming when i was 4. i used to watch all sorts of animal shows and loved Jacques Cousteau films. he was my idol growing up. i have a Aquatic Biology degree at UCSB. i used to own an aquarium shop right before the Great Recession happened and had to give it up because of it.

.......so yeah its definitely in my blood......LOL

 

[ocnbrze]

so this is kind of sort of what i'm going for in my new reef tank, except mine will have a sump.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Aren't salt water aquariums different from fresh, equipment wise?
Is there fresh water corral? I've been away from this stuff a couple of years now. I had a turtle and all it had was gravel and rocks.

 

[MrJavi]

so this is kind of sort of what i'm going for in my new reef tank, except mine will have a sump.

Is that live vegetarian? The subtle motion in the tank makes it all come alive. Really, really nice

 

[ocnbrze]

Aren't salt water aquariums different from fresh, equipment wise?
Is there fresh water corral? I've been away from this stuff a couple of years now. I had a turtle and all it had was gravel and rocks.

not really most freshwater filters will work in saltwater. whether it is a sump or even a canister filter, th eprinciples are the same. but some saltwater filtration will not work as well in freshwater.....mainly protein skimmers.

freshwater corals? no there are no freshwater corals, freshwater plants are the closet you will get to keeping corals. freshwater plants can be as much work as keeping corals.

Is that live vegetarian? The subtle motion in the tank makes it all come alive. Really, really nice

vegetarian? i think you mean vegetation....yes???? if so, then yes everything in that tank is alive. most of the things that are moving around are living corals. the whole concept of the tank in the video is to be clean and simple. no cords or things coming in and out of the tank.

mine will be similar in idea. everything needed to keep everything alive will be plumbed down below the tank where the the sump will be. i'm gonna be making a drawing of sorts so that i have a better idea on how it will be setup. my tank will be a rimless glass tank and i need to plan where the holes will be drilled. i'm also gonna be setting up a saltwater mixing tank with its own pump so that when i do a water change, all i have to do is turn some valves and water will be pumped in and out of the tank.

the problem i am having is how i want the overflow be designed. the overflow is where the water will come out of the tank and drain down into the sump below. i want a clean look, but i also want it quiet. overflows if not design properly can be quit noisy. it can gurgle, burp, and make drizzling noises if not done right. the overflow can be a box inside the tank. it can hang off the back of the tank. it can just be a hole drilled in the back and plumbed downward. but some of those options are not very clean or will take up room in the tank which is not what i want.......more research i guess is needed.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Dang that's big! How may fishes?

 

[ocnbrze]

Dang that's big! How may fishes?

well my freshwater tank is 180 gallons and by my calculations my reef tank will be about 70 gallons or so. but like i said it will be wide and shallow....so the amount of water will seem less when you look at it.

 

[ocnbrze]

ok so i just ordered my background....i went with the texas wall in grey. it should take 2-3 weeks for it to arrive. this is great cuz it will give me time to take the rocks out, remove the fish currently in there and switch out the gravel....which reminds me that i need to hunt down the sand i want.

 

[MrJavi]

not really most freshwater filters will work in saltwater. whether it is a sump or even a canister filter, th eprinciples are the same. but some saltwater filtration will not work as well in freshwater.....mainly protein skimmers.

freshwater corals? no there are no freshwater corals, freshwater plants are the closet you will get to keeping corals. freshwater plants can be as much work as keeping corals.

vegetarian? i think you mean vegetation....yes???? if so, then yes everything in that tank is alive. most of the things that are moving around are living corals. the whole concept of the tank in the video is to be clean and simple. no cords or things coming in and out of the tank.

mine will be similar in idea. everything needed to keep everything alive will be plumbed down below the tank where the the sump will be. i'm gonna be making a drawing of sorts so that i have a better idea on how it will be setup. my tank will be a rimless glass tank and i need to plan where the holes will be drilled. i'm also gonna be setting up a saltwater mixing tank with its own pump so that when i do a water change, all i have to do is turn some valves and water will be pumped in and out of the tank.

the problem i am having is how i want the overflow be designed. the overflow is where the water will come out of the tank and drain down into the sump below. i want a clean look, but i also want it quiet. overflows if not design properly can be quit noisy. it can gurgle, burp, and make drizzling noises if not done right. the overflow can be a box inside the tank. it can hang off the back of the tank. it can just be a hole drilled in the back and plumbed

downward. but some of those options are not very clean or will take up room in the tank which is not what i want.......more research i guess is needed.

Lol, yes vegetation My spelling is horrible.

Is it difficult to get the plants to grow in a tank?

 

[dontpanicbobby]

ok so i just ordered my background....i went with the texas wall in grey. it should take 2-3 weeks for it to arrive. this is great cuz it will give me time to take the rocks out, remove the fish currently in there and switch out the gravel....which reminds me that i need to hunt down the sand i want.

How many Fishys! @ocnbrze?

 

[dontpanicbobby]

My biggest tank was 12 gallon freshwater. Maybe 15 Fishys.

 

[ocnbrze]

How many Fishys! @ocnbrze?

well the Placidochromis phenochilus Tanzania sp. will be in a group of 8-10. i'm think 3 males and the rest females. and i'm gonna start with a new fish i have not posted here yet.

it is an Exochochromis anagenys, sometimes called the three spot torpedo fish. i will probably get three of those. so the blue from the star saphire fish against the yellow, i think will look super cool.

now it might not seem much, but keep in mind these guys can get quite large. the saphire fish can reach reach 7" while the anagenys can get up to 9". so when fully grown they will take up a lot of real estate even for a 180 gallon tank.

 

[ocnbrze]

Lol, yes vegetation My spelling is horrible.

Is it difficult to get the plants to grow in a tank?

not difficult but can be expensive. plants need two things....light and co2. if you provide those two things, you can have a nice planted tank. but they are not cheap, if you want to do it right. planted tanks are the equivalent to keeping a reef tank, in terms of care and cost.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

I grew some plants in my little tank @ocnbrze 15 Fishys.
Long light and Charcoal filter. to small a tank to get a wave in the plants.

 

[ocnbrze]

fish i have are almost gone.....gave them away to my LFS(local fish store). i have one african left which i could not catch. he is a fast SOB!!!!!

i removed the majority of rocks out, at least the really, really, really heavy ones. i had a few that must have been easily 75lbs or more!!!! thank god those are finally out.

i decided to go with aragonite sand wish is fine crushed coral. it looks nice and white. i rinsed them on saturday.......man were they dusty!!!!!!!! took forever to rinse out, but i got as clean as i can get it.

sunday i did a water change, and removed the existing gravel.

today i added in the new sand. it even though i rinsed the crap out of it, it still clouded the tank. i'll take pics once it has cleared up.

now the only hard part will be to install the background when it comes in.

 

[ocnbrze]

ok so after talking with Butch from SEC via email he also suggested in getting these catfish:

Syndontis polli. they school when put in large groups and they look awesome.

so i just purchased 10 of the star saphires (5 males and 5 females) along with 6 Syndontis polli catfish.

all told with shipping and handling, it cost me $392. this may seem expnesive to y'all, but i find that very cheap. these fish you might find in your LFS, but they will jack the price up. the star saphires, i have seen sell for $49.99 or more a piece for the males!!!!!! I'm getting $28 for the males and $14 for the females.

he told me that he will hold them for me until my 3D background is installed in my tank. He is also gonna order for me specifcally the Exochochromis anaegnys which he should have in a few weeks from now.

if you ever want show qualiy African cichlids Butch from SEC is your man!!!!!!!

 

[ocnbrze]

this is exactly what i had in mind

main difference is that i'm going with the anaegyns vs the maleri yellow peacocks. the anaegyns i like better, mainly because they are of a different body shape then the star saphire's.

 

[ocnbrze]

so i stumbled upon this guide to growing mangroves. it is written from one of the reef Gods, Julian Sprung. it is a short but fairly easy to understand how to grow and maintain red mangroves.

http://www.twolittlefishies.com/images/mangrove_manual.pdf

 

[ocnbrze]

so now that i am waiting for my 3D background to be made and shipped out, i have been doing some research for the second part of my projects, the saltwater tank.

i have settled on a dimension of 36"x30"x15". this means the this tank will be wider than my 180!!!!!! this also means that my current reef lights will not work as good. and i will most likely need to get new lights.......which means that i will be spending a boat load of money!!!!!! probably talking about any where from $800 to $1000 bucks on them. i can use the lights that i have now to just light up the tank. i can always get the lights later. my lights (3 of them)are kessil 360we Tuna Blue's. they are pretty nice lights, but they are not suited for super wide tanks. they are more like spotlight type lights and only cover so much real estate. i would have to hang them pretty high to get the whole tank illuminated which also will lower the light intensity.....so i will use them for now just to light the tank. any high light corals and clams will have to wait for the upgrade.

plus i am waiting for the new Kessil lights to come out which i think will be next month. it will give me some time to shop around as well. this tank will take a lot longer to build.....so i can wait on the lights and save up for them.

my next step is to look into the stand for the tank. i saw some awesome metal stands that look simple, sturdy, and cool. i want it open as well so that i can see my refugium tank filtration system which will look super cool by itself when it is all said and done.

 

[ocnbrze]

ok so doing some more research i think for my reef tank i want a really cool and clean look which means i want to color coordinate my plumbing and filtration.

i think i will go with my favorite color blue....kind of like this:

the blue and grey look is striking, especially if i go with a blue sump:

which is why i want the stand to be open.