Grinch and Bichir Girl's Fish Room
- Thread starter Grinch
- Start date
Awesome thread, you guys did a great job. I loved the sajica and nanos
Will be looking forward to all your updates !!
Will be looking forward to all your updates !!
So, this happened:
Walked into the fish room this morning to find the euro brace of our 90g dangling in the tank and a dead fish floating in the tank. I guess the brace hit the fish near the surface? Amazingly, neither of the plate glass tops fell into the tank and the light was still high and dry. AND the tank didn't pop when they brace let go LOL. They build those Oceanic's tough! This tank WAS going to go onto the new rack as the "show" tank, but now not so sure. The logistics of repairing this tank and moving fish around seem to make buying a new 90 the way to go... hmmmm
On the up side, putting the fancy light from the 90 onto the 75g next door made this young male pop pop pop:
Walked into the fish room this morning to find the euro brace of our 90g dangling in the tank and a dead fish floating in the tank. I guess the brace hit the fish near the surface? Amazingly, neither of the plate glass tops fell into the tank and the light was still high and dry. AND the tank didn't pop when they brace let go LOL. They build those Oceanic's tough! This tank WAS going to go onto the new rack as the "show" tank, but now not so sure. The logistics of repairing this tank and moving fish around seem to make buying a new 90 the way to go... hmmmm
On the up side, putting the fancy light from the 90 onto the 75g next door made this young male pop pop pop:
With our 90 having lost its center brace, we decided to move up the plan-of-attack on the new rack I've been working on and snagged a new tank from Tropiquarium down-the-shore (they sell new tanks at cost!). First, I removed the temporary lights and rigged up the permanent lights:
Obviously, glare is an issue. Time to get casing:
Not 100% happy with how I've got this light setup, but it'll do for now.
Cased the side as well, then painted it all:
And the new tank set in place:
At this point the finished product is starting to take form and the room feels totally different... better! Much cleaner looking too. I was planning to leave the bottom open so I can see what's going on with the sump, but I hear bichir-girl has bought some fishy fabric and is planning curtains...
Obviously, glare is an issue. Time to get casing:
Not 100% happy with how I've got this light setup, but it'll do for now.
Cased the side as well, then painted it all:
And the new tank set in place: At this point the finished product is starting to take form and the room feels totally different... better! Much cleaner looking too. I was planning to leave the bottom open so I can see what's going on with the sump, but I hear bichir-girl has bought some fishy fabric and is planning curtains...
Corner molding added:
Here's what the 5.5g rows look like now (ignore the algae!)
Drains are plumbed in, but not glued yet. Main drain for the 90 on the right, emergency overflow on left. I didn't need to use braided vinyl for this, regular vinyl would have been fine, but this was actually the cheapest option picking from what was in stock at the home-center in a pinch.
Here's what the 5.5g rows look like now (ignore the algae!)
Drains are plumbed in, but not glued yet. Main drain for the 90 on the right, emergency overflow on left. I didn't need to use braided vinyl for this, regular vinyl would have been fine, but this was actually the cheapest option picking from what was in stock at the home-center in a pinch.
Plumbed in the returns and glued it all together. Not super excited about how the return worked out. Sitting in our chairs with the big room light off it won't be very noticeable, but maybe I'll paint it. Or maybe bichir girl will do an L-shaped background... hmmm.
Oops!!!
All better!
Leak-testing tomorrow and then we get to see what the sump-pump is really capable of
Oops!!!
All better!
Leak-testing tomorrow and then we get to see what the sump-pump is really capable of
The new 90g passed the leak test yesterday and we went ahead and pulled the fish for this tank. This is the new home for "George" our female ornate bichir, Rhino our current record holder for oldest fish (fish longest in our possession?) and our $5 flowerhorn who has, criminally, been hanging out in 15g for months waiting for this tank.
We're giving this combo of fish a few days to get used to each other before moving more fish around. We've kept this pleco and bichir together in the past and there has been only light-snacking of slime coat, but they are together on a trial basis right now. The flowerhorn has been asserting itself a little, but so far so good on the aggression.
While I had the Rhino out of the tank, we snapped a picture; great fish.
Interestingly, about 30 minutes later the Rhino was having slime coat problems. My first worry was some leftover solvent from gluing the pipes together etc., so I dropped some extra prime into the water. Then I was thinking it might have been from me holding the fish and maybe I had something on my hands. Maybe it was net abrasion from when I cornered him. Not sure what the problem was, but it cleared up over night.
Bonus video! The bichir was having "fun" last night acclimating to a bare tank.....
We're giving this combo of fish a few days to get used to each other before moving more fish around. We've kept this pleco and bichir together in the past and there has been only light-snacking of slime coat, but they are together on a trial basis right now. The flowerhorn has been asserting itself a little, but so far so good on the aggression.
While I had the Rhino out of the tank, we snapped a picture; great fish.
Interestingly, about 30 minutes later the Rhino was having slime coat problems. My first worry was some leftover solvent from gluing the pipes together etc., so I dropped some extra prime into the water. Then I was thinking it might have been from me holding the fish and maybe I had something on my hands. Maybe it was net abrasion from when I cornered him. Not sure what the problem was, but it cleared up over night.
Bonus video! The bichir was having "fun" last night acclimating to a bare tank.....
I spent all day in the fishroom today............ and bichir girl spent about 3 hours decorating.
Phase 5 *almost* complete!
I'm declaring Phase 5 complete. There are still a few little things to do on the new rack, but it's all up and running with fish. The completion of this rack signaled a reorganization of the fish around the room to better accommodate growing fish, which we completed two days ago. While we were moving the fish around we took the opportunity to give the tanks and sponge filters a good cleaning. It has been 5-6 months since the sponges got a cleaning, so it was time. With the sump up and running, most of the floating pot-scrubbies from around the room are gone, giving most of the tanks a more natural look (aside from the sponge filters!).
The new rack:
The reorganized main-rack:
Here's the current view from the sitting area:
Next step: addressing glare from the new 90 and the 120's along the bottom of the main rack. It's not as noticeable in person as it looks in the pictures, but it is noticeable and annoying. I'm also going to be taking another shot at the distribution manifolds and tank-lids on the 5.5 gallon rows... I'm not happy with a few aspects of the design.
Phase 6 will be "something" along the wall where the lone 75 gallon tank is sitting now. We really have no idea what we want to do over there. Leave it as is? Work-space? Big tank (if we can get it into the basement) with sump? Medium sized tanks (40-75g)?
The new rack:
The reorganized main-rack:
Here's the current view from the sitting area:
Next step: addressing glare from the new 90 and the 120's along the bottom of the main rack. It's not as noticeable in person as it looks in the pictures, but it is noticeable and annoying. I'm also going to be taking another shot at the distribution manifolds and tank-lids on the 5.5 gallon rows... I'm not happy with a few aspects of the design.
Phase 6 will be "something" along the wall where the lone 75 gallon tank is sitting now. We really have no idea what we want to do over there. Leave it as is? Work-space? Big tank (if we can get it into the basement) with sump? Medium sized tanks (40-75g)?
