Pict of my DIY build- now recycling

[jus85411]

looks awesome, i really like the decor. makes it a terrarium look like its reptile ready but for fish

 

[spiff]

you know that's a good bit of info there. never really thought about the flexing from maintainace of such a large tank.

awesome tank setup

Thanks for the positive replies.

But yeah, I would never use epoxy on a wood tank again. I think something that stays flexible makes more sense.

 

[Egon]

Did you go with the two Ultima 4000 filters for redundancy? Or is there another reason to have two filters vs one larger filter?

Just curious, I try to use two filter systems just in case one fails.

 

[spiff]

Did you go with the two Ultima 4000 filters for redundancy? Or is there another reason to have two filters vs one larger filter?

Just curious, I try to use two filter systems just in case one fails.

Yes, you called it. I did it for redundancy mostly. I have two of everything, air pumps, water pumps, filters and heaters. One of my concerns, which I can't substantiate but is just a feeling, is that when you back wash these canisters to clean them that I think they lose a bit of filtering capability until the media repacks and accumulates a bit of stuff again as well as the bio capacity. With two its no big deal to only clean one at a time.

 

[spiff]

I bought a used Cannon A580, the first descent camera I ever owned. I think I got a good deal for $50 and it had batteries and a 2GB chip left in it.

Anyway, just playing around with the video. Here's my novice first effort capturing some schooling green barb action. Disregard the heavy breathing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peJ_BJbXfW8

 

[Griller]

Wow - that is such a cool effect having the small fish in a huge tank. Watching your clip reminded me of SCUBA diving in fresh water lakes! Even the aquarium decor looked like the real thing.

Well done - and thanks for the tip about pond armour and epoxy. You might have saved my project which will be a swim in aquarium.

 

[spiff]

Wow - that is such a cool effect having the small fish in a huge tank. Watching your clip reminded me of SCUBA diving in fresh water lakes! Even the aquarium decor looked like the real thing.

Well done - and thanks for the tip about pond armour and epoxy. You might have saved my project which will be a swim in aquarium.

Thanks, man. I can't wait to see your project come to fruition. It looks like it'll be a doozy.

Man, sorry, I don't remember giving an epoxy tip. I hope it was to not use it. Especially if you'll have tank sides that will be flexing sheet metal. Epoxy wouldn't handle that well.

.

 

[Glasman]

This tank may have convinced me to do a huge community on my upcoming build instead of a few Monsters! One question, why such small schools of fish? I would have expected more like 100 green tiger barbs.

 

[spiff]

This tank may have convinced me to do a huge community on my upcoming build instead of a few Monsters! One question, why such small schools of fish? I would have expected more like 100 green tiger barbs.

Cost would be the main reason. I’m still getting a feel for things, compatibility, which fish I like, how they behave in the tank, stuff like that. Also, I expect that the tank will be constantly evolving. I love the tiger barbs, but I don’t expect them to live more than a couple years. By then the loaches will be pretty big and I can get some Bala sharks and Tinfoil barbs. I figure 3-5 years from now, when the loaches are big, then I can get cichlids or something similar. By then all the cool schooling fish will have died off anyways from old age.

I had 30 neons in there. That was really cool. Less than half of them are still around today. Not sure why. I don’t think anything is eating them and the parameters are always perfect. But I did spend a fortune on fish already. I could have either got more of one species, or a lot of variety like I have now. I chose variety.

 

[tcarswell]

sweeeeet , love the natural look. I myself probably couldn't resists putting monsters in there with some large silver dollars and tinfoils. But I love the look.