My 180 Gal Brackish Tank

[brackishdude]

your fish are getting huge, love the colors on the archers. too bad the tetracanthus look so dark in there. I've seen some adult ones that stay gold colored!

Thanks, Wes.

Figures you'd like them, the scats and two of the three archers came from you.

Nothing new in there since the Ctenopoma almost three years ago. Still waithing for a replacement giraffe eel G polyuradon or any ol' special fugupuff surprise that won't unduly tilt the balance of power!!

Ctenopomas are not brackish. I had read somewhere that they will tolerate a light brackish tank, like mine, but I had never had luck with them until this one. It was much larger than any I had ever seen offered, so I took the chance.

Although he has flourished, I have recently done a semi-thorough google search and can find only a few generic references to the family of climbing perches sometimes being found in brackish water. Other sites directly contradict this.

I don't usually use ignorance as an excuse, as I generally know exactly what I'm putting in my tank. And I would never intentionally put a fish in a wholly wrong tank, water-parameters-wise. I would never buy this fish knowing what I think I know now, but I'm glad I didn't know then. He's beautiful, and I swear he's happy.

 

[DanyoWanyo]

really like your setup inspirational to me

 

[goestonemoa]

your aquascaping is fantasic that drift wood is awsome.....i wish i could find peices

 

[The Amazonian]

Awesome tank

 

[brackishdude]

your aquascaping is fantasic that drift wood is awsome.....i wish i could find peices

The tank sat in my garage for over 3 yrs. Though that was torture, it did allow me to be somewhat selective in designing it, inside and out.

I had the stump for over a year before cutting it down and setting up the tank.

It sat in a creek behind my house for a long while, then washed away after a big rain, despite being tied tot he bank. Hauling that big mother almost a mile back, with big untrimmed roots grabbing everything, was awful. Wet, it weighed, I guess about 250-300 lb. Freakin miserable. Almost left it more than once. Ah, the memories. . .

I still look over every bridge at the water's edge to spot for cool wood. Old habits die hard.

 

[brackishdude]

oops, wrong thread

 

[brackishdude]

Well, I was inspired to move toward end-game on installing my sump. It will require a significant tear down, as I have decided to redo the plumbing.

Currently:

It is so ghetto fabulous. A filter sock hangs in the bucket.

I am going to set up the sump shown previously using a beananimal drain. Briefly, it uses three drains, a siphon (controlled with a valve, moves large volumes without air/noise), an overflow (low volume, siphon does most of the work), and an emergency overflow for insurance.

But it requires one box, and I have two

So I'll be making a new box (green), plugging the bulkheads in the left box (pink), drilling a new hole (yellow), removing the right box (red), and using three drains (purple)

 

[brackishdude]

Despite the apparent lack of progress, I am really close. Maybe this weekend.


My new pump. Quieter, still about 1000gph

drilling the new box

GLuing up the new box using RTV108 silicone adhesive (not your mamby pamby sealant!). When cured, will be ready to put on back of tank

The glass lying flat on the counter is just a spacer for the sides, not glued in.

The flat counter top makes for a good planar surface to be sure I get good and flush with back wall of the aquarium.

 

[AOmonsta]

Never been much into brackish but yours is awesome. Good luck installing the new plumbing.

What temperature is the tank at?

 

[valderi123]

sweet set up