David R

I went with 100x50x5mm for the 1100mm span between the front and back horizontals under the tank, the other option was 50x50x3 with a row of legs in the centre to reduce the gap to 525mm. The first option was less welding and they happened to have a few shorts of 100x50x5 so that was the one we chose. The front and back are 100x50x3. I have seen a stand for a 1200 wide tank made with 50x50 and no centre legs, nit sure I'd be game to try it myself though! 800 wide and 650 tall, hmm. I'd be inclined to over-build and go for something a bit more rigid than 50x50 if you want to span the gap without centre legs. http://www.unitedsteel.co.nz/categories ... gular-rhs/ 100x50x3? 75x50x4? Or 75x40x? TBH I'm not sure of the required calculations to be sure, probably best to talk to an engineer! Warren on here is pretty clued up on that sort of thing, there was a bit of a discussion a while ago when Henward and I were planning our stands, he went with the option of an extra row of legs down the middle with threaded adjustable feet, which was a good move IMO. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=62337

:thup: :thup: :thup:

Great stuff, thumbs up for science!!

Good work!! I can send you the sketch-up drawings for my stand if you're interested. I love the stocking idea too, I swear if/when my aro dies I'm going to see what a school of a few hundred tetras looks like in my big tank... Remember to make sure with the sump that there is enough room to hold the 'skim' when the pump switches off. With your 250x80cm footprint you're looking at about 20L per cm of depth that siphons back, plus what ever is in the pipes/overflow. If you've got 40% of your sump spare (100L) you should be right, just remember to take into account media, baffles, fudge-factor etc. Good idea going with the bean animal type set up too, I've done something fairly similar and I'm very happy with how quiet it is. Certainly quieter than any other sump set up I've had despite pushing 8500-9000LPH!

I wouldn't recommend it unless you're planning a bigger tank or just want the vieja and a few other smaller fish in the 450L. When you're talking about a fish that can reach a solid 12"+ 450L isn't that much water and space for territory. They can be stunning looking fish when large, but you'll need a suitably large tank if you want to mix it with other cichlids.

Bugger! Natural selection at work, runts getting picked off? You were lucky, I saw this on MFK a while back, the geo tried eating a filiment barb and they both died...

Do some research into arowana tanning, that's proabbly about the closest thing in the hobby to people trying to replicate the effects of natural sunlight on a fish.

So is it a unit that retrofits the old models, or an entirely new unit meaning my nearly brand new lights are out-dated??

:thup: There may well be a couple of cheap 4' and 3' units up for sale if they bring out a unit with programmable modes/timer...

Hmm tempting, how large is large?? Thing is with this tank I really want to have a one-way policy for fish, once they're in there they are there for life. It took two of us to get the stump in there when it was dry and the tank was empty (one standing in the tank, one lifting it in), so getting it out if ever I needed to try catch something would be damn near impossible. Even the other smaller pieces of wood are hard to reach, catching anything in there would be such a nightmare I don't ever want to go there! Nothing much else to report, everything ticking over nicely. I added a couple of Philodendron cordatum poked thru the lids with their roots submerged in the water to help with nitrate removal and reduce the need for water changes (not that it has been very demanding so far with the current stock!). I'd still really like to find a Pothos plant, but haven't been able to track one down yet.

8000LPH is a heck of a lot of current, and I think you're right in presuming the manufacturers specs are over-exaggerated. The Laguna MaxFlo 11000 on my tank is pushing around 8-8500LPH at a conservative estimate, based on ~100cm head, less than ideal 40mm return plumbing, and a bit of a fudge factor (claimed 2504GPH @ 4' head, = 9479LPH). This is enough to have water cascading over the 50cm wide wiers in my sump in a big waterfall, is enough to max out a 50mm drain at full siphon, and enough that with the 40mm return plumbing before I added the spraybar with just a 45* elbow on the end of the return it would have been blowing over fish half way along the tank. I'm not sure how big the tank in the video is, but it doesn't look massive, I think if you had actual [not manufacturers claimed] 8000LPH it would be a whirlpool.

Love that big L14!!

There is certainly room for more fish in there, but I quite like the under-stocked look. It's not until all the plecs come out to feed that you realise how many fish are in there, and when you consider that seven of the plecs could get to a foot or more in length, and the geos and the aro still have a bot of growing to do, I don't want to get carried away with stocking it. I would like to add more angels, and if I could find some nice uaru I'd like to add a pair or small group of them. Karina, the altifrons are available in most stores as "surinamensis", which was the generic name for most Geophagus back in the early days when they were first available in the hobby, they have since been classified into several different species, altifrons being the most common. The angels are "Peru Altum" P. scalare. The sand doesn't really get dirty, the waste does build up on top of it though, which is far easier to clean. Before I added a powerhead to keep it moving this is what it looked like 24 hours after adding the plecs (and before I'd fed them a thing!). Thomas, I agree the sunset effect (and the lightning...) is kinda gimmicky, the only thing I'd like to be able to do is to switch it to moonlight for a couple of hours before it switches off. I'm sure there is some way to make it happen, will try figure it out when they're set up.

Seems strange to me wanting so much flow for lake-dwelling fish. I don't use spray bars on canisters, they seem terribly restrictive to me and the piss-weak trickle that comes out of them does nothing for circulation. If you're getting waste building up try replacing the spray bar with just a 90* elbow. Air stones can also be useful for helping prevent crap building up in certain spots too.

Maybe not dumb, perhaps just too lazy to look? See the little box beside the photo that says "Links To Share Photos"? Hover your mouse over the question mark next to it and it will say something along the lines of "blah blah blah, use the IMG code for bulletin boards and forums". So you click on the text box where it says "IMG" and it automatically copies, and then you paste into the box here and VIOLA! Nice looking bit of wood!

Yes that is the only downside, a built in timer so you could set the sunset/sunrise/moonlight modes would make them perfect, however from what I've seen of them they are still a big step up from the other "cheapo" LED units in terms of quality and what they can do. Just hope they don't bring out a programmable model in a couple of months time ... :facepalm:

www.kensfish.com

Lighting has been ordered, two 3' and two 4' units of these; http://www.current-usa.com/aquarium-led-lights/satellite-freshwater-led-plus But in the mean time here's some fairly average pics taken with the current 4x T8 fluro lighting. Geos Angels, they seem to have lost their stripes since being added to this tank, not sure if it is stress or feeling comfortable, but they seem perfectly happy and healthy... Plecs Aro FTS and someone who has been spending as much time on the couch in front of the tank as me.... I'm hoping the new lighting will make it a bit easier to get some clear pictures, I probably need a bit more practice using the camera too! I couldn't seem to stop the big stump getting over-exposed and looking all bright and white. It was hard getting a good shot of the aro too, it doesn't sit still like the others and the crummy lighting tends to make it hard to focus on it, let alone get a good shot of the colours. I think part of the problem is that the 4' width of the tank is only illuminated by two narrow tubes sitting directly on top of the tank, the new LEDs will be raised up about a foot above the tank to allow the light to spread a bit more before hitting the water.

Are there any rotting parts on it? I've had a sulphur-ish smell when soaking wood that has had rot in it.

It's a sad fact of retail sales today, it seems in so many cases the international distributors seem blind to the opportunity to shop online and still think they can rape little old NZ on prices for everything. Like Smidey I would much prefer to support local stores when possibly, but when I can buy the goods online cheaper than HFF can buy them for it's just not realistic. I just ordered some NLS from Kensfish, along with some LEDs for my new tank (I was talking to HFF about them, same story, no one can supply them with anything remotely competitive to what is available online). HFF still have some NLS in stock at reasonable clear-out prices, might pay to give them a call before ordering to see what they have left?

eel + ctenopoma + butterfly fish + smaller bichirs + a school of something large and fast moving like congo tetras.

I've seen Greg/Tanks2U shipping off fairly large tanks before, maybe give him a call and ask him who he would recommend.

What are you filtering the new tank with?? I hope there's usually a bit more cover in there for those loaches...

Yeah they're pretty timid in most cases, the storied about them tearing cows to pieces would be from the odd occasion where a school gets stranded in an isolated pool somewhere as the high water drops at the end of the wet season in the Amazon. A week isn't that long, maybe if they'd left them for a month or two with minimal food they would have gone for him...

:nfs: love the pandas!