Any aquarium nuts out there (home tanks)?

[3jvj]

Just curious. I bought a used fish tank about a month ago and I'm not sure how to set it up. I've had plenty of tanks in the past (allfreshwater), and this looks like it might make a decent saltwater tank. Again- don't know the first thing about what I bought. It came with a bag of plastic balls and filter seperators.

Anybody know how to set this up? I'm hoping I can use the gravel that is currently in my 37 gallon to set up the bio system in back of the new (65? gal) tank.

I haven't decided whether to go brackish/salt/fresh yet.

was it worth the $30?

anybody know what the bubble thingy is? Three airlines going in? Is it a filter part or just for pretties?

 

[Gumby]

I have a 180 gallon reef tank.

The thing on the back of that tank is a built in wet/dry filter. Water trickles down over the bio balls where the bacteria lives. The highly oxygenated environment breaks down the ammonia, nitrites and other bad stuff. It works really good except it doesn't get the final stage the waste goes through. The only way to get rid of the nitrates is through water changes. You can do just about any type of fish and most corals with this type of system. It's kinda cool. I've never seen one with it all built in before

The way to go these days is a live rock biosystem with a protein skimmer.

 

[3jvj]

Awesome. I plan on tapping a water supply through the wall. Water changes should be a snap.

So this filter won't break it all down then? Would a carbon sink in one of the chambers take care of it?


Is there a way to add a protein skimmer underneath it? I'm trying to keep it "clean" but as low maint. as possible.

How are you filtering such a large tank?

 

[retrofive]

I had almost that exact tank for years. Originally it was setup for Salt. When given to me I just used it for 4 very spoiled freshwater gold fishies.

The fitlering system like you pictured was full of little waffer type balls. Stayed extremley clean and low maintenance. Not sure in a saltwater setup.

Gumby more accuratley described it. Sorta miss that tank and setup.

 

[sirenmoses]

My inheirited home tank, 50g freshie, houses 3 fishes: black pleco, tan pleco and silver pella shark, the latter 2 saved after a flashover blacked out everything at their house (including the tan kitty). They grew too big in the year they lived w/me to move back in when their other fish buddies went home to a 20g tank.

I don't clean it nearly often enuf.

 

[yooper]

I had to move one of my daughter's abandoned 10gallon old skool glass tanks out of my way today while cleaning up my storage room. I kinda feel like firing it up, it's been a while. If I do it I'll try to make it as natural as possible, with lots of real plants.

I read this book many moons ago and have had it in the back of my mind for a while.

something like these:

 

[Gumby]

Awesome. I plan on tapping a water supply through the wall. Water changes should be a snap.

So this filter won't break it all down then? Would a carbon sink in one of the chambers take care of it?


Is there a way to add a protein skimmer underneath it? I'm trying to keep it "clean" but as low maint. as possible.

How are you filtering such a large tank?

I have about 150 lbs of live rock that do the bulk of the filtering. I run a pretty big protein skimmer too, but there is some debate about how much skimming you really need to do. I think it helps remove the more solid waste and allows for overfeeding or overstocking a bit more. Most of the rock is in the display tank and then I have a sump in the basement with a deep sand bed, a large are for live rock rubble and a refugium for raising copopods and macroalgae.

The neat thing about that tank is it looks like you don't have to have anything underneath it. There are a couple of HOB (hang on the back) skimmers that do a great job and would eliminate the need for you to run a sump at all.

You have to do water changes anyway. About 10% a week is recommended. Those water changes will get the nitrates out. Or you can put live rock in it. They have anerobic bacteria that break down the nitrates. Live rock looks cool, housing tons of cool little critters and filters the water just sitting there. There are few downsides to using it in a saltwater tank.

www.reefcentral.com is a good salt forum.

 

[Junk]

Reef Central Online Community is a good salt forum.

If you think folks pile on quick here about upside down bezels, you haven't seen anything yet if you do anything "wrong" on reefcentral. There's some great knowledge over there, but a bunch of walking spawnboxes too.

I have a 120 display with prob about 90lbs live rock, biggest protein skimmer that would fit in the sump, and a fuge for macro and pods. Water mixes done in the basement and pumped up when needed through the wall.

If you're doing any coral at all then you can't underestimate the need for quality light.

Seriously, the tank is the cheap part, by far.

 

[Gumby]

Light is critical for coral. I'm running 3x250W Metal Halides with 2X96W compact fluorescent.

I spend most of my time in the Chicago area. Great deals and not too much of the "only one way to do it" mentality. There are a lot of other reef forums that are the same way. I treated MI with garlic successfully despite conventional forum wisdom saying it does no good whatsoever. They say I should have torn my entire tank down for 10-12 weeks.

 

[3jvj]

Holy crap. I had no idea salts were so retarded to build. I'm leaning towards fresh now . The "live rock" sections makes me think that there's some serious environmental issues that I don't want to play with. Not to get all tofuish here but the implications are present (not that my curent african lakewood is any different). I'm thinking the setup cost is pretty low for salt though; just plumbing parts for the most part (aside from the coral chunks).

I remember having a shark themed tank that last for six years before the first shark died (I had five different kinds), and the last one didn't die until he was about eight. I just don't see a salt setup being so user friendly (or cheap).

I like the fact that they are easy to maintain, and I'm thinking of a "desolation" theme. Just rocks and sand with the only wood being of the petrified variety. Either that or a setup along the lines that yooper posted. A terrarium style with lots of plants and some frogs. Crabs and crawfish would be cool too.

Got any pics of your tank gumb? My wife would still like to have a "nemo tank". I'm going to go back to surfing the web and overloading my brain with salt info. Now would be a good time to tell me it really isn't that complicated......

 

[FJ40 MNTCRZR]

 

[3jvj]

Holy s***. That thing is awesome. Way over the top of what I'm thinking.

 

[agomez]

I have two hexagon tanks going...one perch and one largemouth bass in the other...eating machines....

 

[3jvj]

I have two hexagon tanks going...one perch and one largemouth bass in the other...eating machines....

yer avi looks like an ex-girlfriend of mine. Who is it?

 

[MaddBaggins]

How about a turtle tank. This is Sam. He's a Red-eared Slider we've had him about 8 months. 75g tank with a canister filter underneath. Very easy to maintain and turtles are generally tolerant of bad water conditions. I do 25% changes about 3 times a month and change the charcoal and sponge media in the filter once a month. other than that, I test the water every once in a while and all levels maintain a acceptable level for the turtle.

 

[scottm]

My tank in college was populated by whatever I found in the stream and lake by my house. Everything was an eating machine, and you couldn't kill them. I dumped in more critters every so often, whatever got eaten was food, whatever survived was a pet. A pleco kept the sides clean, undergravel filter did the rest, it was very clean despite their diet of dorm food (mostly seafoods). I occasionall had to pluck a carcass out, like when the snapping turtles ate a crayfish and left the shell. It was tough getting food past the bluegill at the top, I used chopsticks to shove the food down to the lower critters without getting bit. The bluegill quickly figured out what I was doing, and started jumping out of the water and grabbing the meat out of the chopsticks. It was very entertaining, they could jump surprisingly high, but they didn't always land back in the tank and they still got too much food.

Oh, and I left the tank for weeks unnattended, nothing died, and it was still clean.

 

[Joe_E]

I love looking at fish and critters in aquariums. I just don't like all the work that goes with them. We had two different crawdads that each lasted a couple years. They were in big tanks and were fun to watch but dealing with filters and algae was always a pain in the ass. The algae eaters would last a few months but the crawdads would always lasso their asses sooner or later.

 

[scottm]

The snapping turtles and crawfish didn't eat my pleco, maybe try a plecostumus next time. I did see the snappers bite on him, but left him alone after that.

 

[3jvj]

My tank in college was populated by whatever I found in the stream and lake by my house.

Funny you should say that. It may very well be the deciding factory in going freshwater. The kid's tank downstairs is a collection of fish from the local hot springs. Some jackass threw a breeding pair of african lake cichlids in there, and we go out a couple times a year to stand in buffalo crap and bring back as many as we can. I like that I can throw almost anything in my tanks right now without worrying about jacking up the bios.

As for maint, the "eclipse" systems by marineland are shake and bake. Throw some semi-agressives, three bottom feeders and a plico, stir, feed, walk away. I've had the 5, 15, 25, and the 37. They are great. Stoooopid easy to run.

 

[3jvj]

I don't tink I can go turtle with this one. I would need to drill the tank and cut the filter capacity. I'll have to to post up pics of my buddy's tanks. He's got a turtle tank and another......thing.

He built a "ternerdium". It's the s***. Biodome with frogs and fish. Wicked cool.