David R

:lol: despite the name it actually has evolved into a fairly diverse community. Most 'fish people' are at least vaguely interested in the other areas of the hobby to the one they choose to follow. I just thought the step by step log of the set up and development was interesting and worth reading, even for someone not that interested in planted aquariums. There's hundreds of planted tanks as nice as this out there, but seeing the behind the scenes aspect is what made me thing it was worth sharing.

MonsterFishKeepers isn't the place you'd go to looking for planted tanks, but I stumbled across this build and thought it was worth sharing. 6'x3'x20" high tech planted, with a full write up on the build and development over the past year, many slideshows, some showing things like water changes and maintenance. http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... stom-build

I had one from Col. Muammar Ghaddafi around the time Lybia was being invaded. Have also have had one from a bogus-looking fish exporter from Nigeria...

You could always put the sump elsewhere, like how mine will be thru the wall into the garage behind. IMO you should make the stand lower so its easy to get into (especially if you're putting an enclosure on top) and so you can chill out on the couch watching it. But its all personal preference I guess. That 'egg crate' lighting diffuser stuff could work, but I'd be worried about the aro jumping and hitting it, would be like a cheese grater on the barbells...

I think either cut a hole in the glass/acrylic lid to fit the piece of wood or build a box on top of the tank and have more wood sticking up with plants etc as per that other one I showed you. As for the plumbing, you're going to need some MASSIVE flow for a tank that size with the stock you're planning, I would look at running three drains in your overflow, drilled thru the bottom if possible. The first has a tap on it to adjust the flow and runs as a full siphon taking as much of the flow as possible (there was a post on MFK showing flow rates for pipes, and a 50mm pipe at full siphon will flow a HUGE volume of water). Obviously a full siphon not sucking in air will be silent. The second drain has a durso on it and handles the small excess of water not taken by the first, and because of the small flow and the durso it should be nearly silent. And the third drain is a back up so that if something blocks one of the first two it won't flood your lounge. Search for "bean animal overflow", its more commonly used on reef set ups but could easily be used on a massive FW tank if its in your lounge and needs to be silent.

IMO if you're going planted and using CO2 then keep the overflow sealed up and don't run a sump. You could put both intakes for the canisters in the overflow along with your heater to give the tank a cleaner look and allow you to fill the tank right up. Looks good so far, my only concern/question is how the Panaques will go in the planted set up? Will their rasping on the wood and "sawdust" make the tank hard to keep clean? Will they rasp and of the large leaf plants?

Good stuff!! :nfs:

Good stuff, they're great fish!

Looks half way between a royal and a normal with good spots. :nfs:

He makes that tank look tiny!!

Is the aquarium part open again, or do they just have natives now?

200*60*60=720000/1000=720L gross (actual volume is less depending on glass thickness, substrate, water level etc). Anything 60cm high will be fine with 10mm if correctly braced. My 240x97x62cm 1400L and Henwards 210x80x70cm 1200L were both made from 12mm. I don't think you'd need 15mm until you go over 70cm high or want to go rimless.

If its 2.7 long and only 800L then it may not be too tall so you could be ok. If its 2' tall or taller though you may want to check the floor and make sure its running across the joists... Water changes shouldn't be a problem, so long as you have a long enough siphon (invest in something larger diameter than a garden hose if you want to change more than 10-15% at a time or it'll take all day) to reach outside or a drain somewhere. Depending on the fish you keep, the temp of your tap water and the size of the water changes you're doing you may get away with filling it up straight out of the tap. IMO with a tank this size its worth investing in a ~200L barrel (and a small pump and more hose) to pre-heat and treat [if you're using chlorinated water] the water for your water changes.

All of those fish are more interesting because I can't have them. :facepalm:

I'd go for a blackwater set up with low current, plenty of tangled driftwood with 6 of these and 4 of these and 6-10 of these of course this spare tank would be 1000L+ and well filtered.... 8) *edit* and of course a couple of these....

Get the tank made with tinted black glass on the bottom, and perhaps discuss the full-sheet bracing idea with Greg see if it will work?

http://www.aquaristikshop.com/cgi-bin/n ... Q9l6T4KRCP

I still think it could be too abrasive for bottom dwelling fish like your plecs, but I guess it depends on what substrate you use. I think it'll be a PITA when you decide you want a different looking substrate...

That isn't true if your drains are sized correctly. I think the Eheim Compact series of pumps can be run in-line.

Earthworms seem more hassle than they're worth IMO. If you end up with a fussy aro you'll need a LOT of worms to keep it fed! As Henward said, a pellet-trained aro is a good aro...

He might go for the massivore, but it does sink pretty quickly and its not the kind of food you'd want the royals chowing down on! Start it out on the smalelr hikari sticks and as it grows move onto the larger ones, and/or NLS large fish formula, and start adding raw prawn into the diet (just not enough to make it fussy!). Thats always worked for me.

What are you offering? Should take hikari sticks soon enough if you don't cave and offer it shrimp or something tastier! Where are the pics?!

Knowing the size of your tank will be a big help in recommending possible species. But if you're interested in cichlids then monsterfishkeepers.com and cichlid-forum.com are both good places to start browsing. Be warned tho that you are likely to end up feeling jealous when you discover all the fantastic species available overseas that we can't get here. As for books, if you want a "catalogue" of cichlids with pretty pictures and names then the AquaLog books are really good. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_ ... g+cichlids again, same problem as foreign websites, most of the really pretty stuff you won't find here...

I've never been able to tell with any of mine until they actually start doing the deed, best bet is to start with a group and let nature take its course.

You need some of these Jack... one rift lake cichlid I'd love to keep!