9' long 4'high 5'deep ply tank has begun.....kinda!

[mike huntley]

a little up date. all going well, got some more fish now, L200 and three L114 plus a nice Niger, about 12" plus.

Big pump now turning it over much better, still got to hook up the UV and probably add another pump to increase the flow even more. Next thing is loads more oak to hang down across the back and will start planting it out a bit over the weekend.

only problems so far are successfully cleaning the front panel below about 30" and so much crap gathering on the bottom, maybe its the leporinus constantly crapping, i do have a small gibbiceps which is at it all the time, perhaps remove these and see what happens.

 

[Yanbbrox]

Under water air jets??

 

[mike huntley]

update.

tank doing great, no problems at all still not finished tweaking ( do you ever finish?)

lots of new stock and decor, will post some pics soon, been too busy with my new baby daughter who was born 30th november

 

[Yanbbrox]

update.

tank doing great, no problems at all still not finished tweaking ( do you ever finish?)

lots of new stock and decor, will post some pics soon, been too busy with my new baby daughter who was born 30th november

Bloody kids! Get in the way of everything

 

[doyboy]

congrates on the baby daughter mike, looking forward to seeing the pics, iv been looking myself for a large niger cat bet it looks great in the tank.

 

[mike huntley]

Under water air jets??

would you care to elaborate please mate? sounds good idea to me. i was just gonna run a second pump flowing into the tank at the sand level to push the stuff around.

since removing a gibbiceps (small one) and adding lots of geophagus and a Niger the issue seems to have gone

 

[mike huntley]

congrates on the baby daughter mike, looking forward to seeing the pics, iv been looking myself for a large niger cat bet it looks great in the tank.

thanks mate, she's fantastic.

pics on their way asap, promise

i think oddball express, advert on aquarist classifieds, still has a decent size niger for sale, check it out

 

[Yanbbrox]

would you care to elaborate please mate? sounds good idea to me. i was just gonna run a second pump flowing into the tank at the sand level to push the stuff around.

since removing a gibbiceps (small one) and adding lots of geophagus and a Niger the issue seems to have gone

You run pipework in the tank to create base flow which moves the crap up so your filter can grab it. Doesn't need to be a massive amount of flow just enough to move stuff. Bare with me I'll dig out a couple of links.

Going to be building my tank next year and am seriously thinking about going with a bottom drain for this issue. Down side, no substrate.

 

[Yanbbrox]

Can't find the link I was looking for but here is something similar:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ug_jets.php

 

[doyboy]

i use a 6000 L/h wavemaker at the bottom mike, about 2 or 3 inches about substrate and this keeps anything from gathering in one place or any dead spots around the bottom, only cost a tenner of ebay. just checked out oddball express, cheers for that i have to place an order.