Patio Tanks Rock!

[Ulu]

Thank you T L.
I have always got a great deal of satisfaction and joy from the things that I’ve built.

Particularly the successful ones. LOL

I’ve certainly built some failures in my day.
Now little sunflower is a fish keeping failure. He’s living in the patio, in the brown barrel, as a quarantine.

I finally decided he would survive for while longer in spite his huge tumor or cyst. I gave him a foam filter and a heater, and an insulated lid.

 

[duanes]

Considering the rate with which these Pleco‘s and cichlids are willing to hybridize, none of this tends to surprise me.

I can’t really tell from the pictures how large those fish are but I’m imagining the peco is around 6 inches and the others maybe four?

It is around 6", you hit the nail on the head.
Some others I caught and threw back, were found further west, but I believe they are a different species, the fish in the Mamoni seem unique compared to other rivers.

Above is part of the Chagres river system, near La Chorrera, 2 hours drive west of the Mamoni.
I believe these large Plecos (12" +) from Chorrera are a different species.

Above in a 5 gallon bucket.

 

[Ulu]

Lots of spots and no bristles? I don’t have anything that looks like that.

 

[Ulu]

After 5 years continuous duty, I retired my $69 Petco sale tank stand from heavy rust.



Legendary rust. The kind where bare hands can do most of the dismemberment.





I bought the same stand, which now costs (on sale) 50% more, but has painted connectors that won’t rust as quickly.

I’d like a stainless tank stand, but the cost of new stainless angles and tubes is pretty steep. This was a fraction of that cost.

Butterfish waits in his temporary tank. I put all the little fish indoors.



He didn’t need a heater.



It took me 8 long hours to do everything. This includes modifying the stand for braces.



Also, I had to build the new stand around the existing plumbing, so the indoor tank could keep running.

It was a big pain, but it needed doing before this thing collapsed quickly. It was already collapsing slowly, being re-leveled with lots of shims; and one tiny earthquake could have toppled it.

Fortunately, I’m in the part of California that never has big quakes. Just drought, and the daily water changes from this 240 gal system are watering 5 huge redwoods nicely.

It’s easier than it sounds. I plug in a pump and turn on the valves. That waters the trees, and a constant drip from my RODI refills it.

I do turn off the drip at night. I must put it on a float valve someday, but so far it keeps the fish and trees happy.

 

[Ulu]

The patio tank still runs in the winter! But but it runs fully insulated including the water purification system, tank, pump sump, and overflow barrel.

 

[duanes]

Almost forgot about this thread, its interesting to see how these tanks continue to evolve.

At this point for me, all aquatic plants have been relocated to the sump, only the dangling terrestrials remain in the 180.
The mangroves went thri a period of decline, until I discovered they were being eaten by caterpillers at night. The larve were then quickly fed to the fish.

They are now recovering partially, just one of the many dangers of an outdoor tank.

Some of the wild caught cichlids have gone from only a couple inches to "half" a foot.

As has one of the Awaour gobies.


And the terrestrial Dieffenbacia stems are getting wrist thick, sucking up nitrate..