Thoughts on future cichlid tank

[Ismart120]

Hi all

Just looking to the future and what I'm likely going to get in the next few years, that is, a bigger tank for my fire eel and ghost knife.

They're currently in a 375 litre but I'd like to go up to a 1.8m+ 600ish litre tank within two years or so, so what would you recommend?

The only thing I've seen as a stock tank is the aquaone 1800rt which is nice but anything else out there? Or, if I were to go custom made, what dimensions would be best?

What would you filter it with? Lighting?

Plus, as the other tankmates will likely stay, what would you have have with them, that wont be food or make food of those two?

I like loaches, cichlids and plecs as a general rule but unusual/beautiful is the key factor here

Tl;dr, tell me your dream set up for a fire eel and a ghost knife, tank, co-inhibitants and utilities.

[David R]

For that size go with glass, custom made rather than an expensive off-the-shelf unit. Dimensions, bigger is better but if you stick to 60cm high you should be aright with 10mm glass and save some money, if anything go wider, eels, plecs, cichlids, knife fish and loaches are all going to benefit more from a big footprint than a tall tank.

for me, I'd go 180x75x60cm, 10mm glass, filtered with a sump running filter socks and submerged media, and set up with a herbie-style overflow so it is nice and quiet.

[Ismart120]

What size sump would you use? I'm not up on sumps anymore.

In terms of noise, are the herby-style sumps as quiet as say a fx5/6? I'd be keen to go for the best filtration overall but have to keep in mind pros and cons of both