logo Sign In

The Fish Enthusiast Thread (My fishies are now thousands of miles away, but I finally uploaded pics of a couple of my tanks :-) ) — Page 2

Author
Time

It was, thanks for sharing. I'm not much into keeping saltwater fish, but they still interest me.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I immediately thought of this when I read the thread title. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y410SQD2mz8

John Laroche said:

Look, I'll tell you a story, all right? I once fell deeply, you know, profoundly in love with tropical fish. Had 60 goddamn fish tanks in my house. I skin dived to find just the right ones. Anisotremus virginicus, Holdacanthus ciliaris, Chaetodon capistratus. You name it. Then one day I say, "fuck fish". I renounce fish. I vow never to set foot in that ocean again. That's how much "fuck fish".

Don’t do drugs, unless you’re with me.

Author
Time

Our two tanks arrived a couple hours ago. Unfortunately, they were a bit scratched up in places, and they arrived long after the estimated date, but all's well that ends well.

It's quite a job getting them down the stairs though. We have to take railings and doors off, and the stands don't quite fit, so we have to remove a section of them at the top of the stairs, and put it back on at the bottom.

We'll be setting them up over the weekend, and I'll post pictures of the final result (there will be three ten foot tanks (2 x 430 gallons, 1 x 300 gallons) and one five foot tank, so it will be quite a set-up).

Author
Time

We're going to have about 14 tons of water in our basement...

I'm excited.

Author
Time

We've set up one 430 gallon tank so far. Our medium-sized fish are in, and going to be in that one. Next, we're setting up the other 430 gallon, and putting the big fish (meaning 6-9 inches) and aggressive cichlids in there. After that, we'll move the 300 gallon tank downstairs. The small fish, like tetras, are going in there. Our gouramis and angelfish are going in our 180 gallon tank upstairs, and some of our livebearers are going in the itty-bitty 112 gallon tank which will also have floating plants for the babies.

I should have pictures up on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Author
Time

The tank for the big fish has been set up. Most of the fish headed for our two biggest tanks have been put in them. It's a lot of fun watching them swim around in their comparatively huge environment, especially the baby cichlids, which are only about one to two centimetres in length.

Author
Time

We're dissembling the 300 gallon tank now. It's a lot of work. We started catching fish almost five hours ago, and we just finished catching them. We still have to empty out the remaining substrate, and then move the tank itself downstairs where we will then have to set it up again. I anticipate being up until about five in the morning.

Author
Time

I stayed up until 4:40 this morning. As soon as I got up, I helped move the 300 gallon tank downstairs. I finished moving the fish into it about an hour and a half ago, but I have yet to decorate it and plant the plants. That, and cleaning/setting up the 180 gallon tank upstairs will occupy me all day tomorrow.

Author
Time

I lied about posting pictures, but I had planned on having an opportunity to snap a few photos before we set up the furniture and blocked the view. I didn't want to bother, since nobody here has much of an interest in this kind of thing. I also can't figure out how to post pictures from Flickr since they changed it again in the last update.

Author
Time

In the fall of 2012 I had moved into a new townhouse, and set up my 65 gallon Red Sea salt water reef aquarium.  Here are some videos from just after the set up.

Video  - A shot of my 65 gallon Red Sea Max salt water reef tank on week number three. This is after re-setting it all back up at the new location. Seems to be doing well so far.

Video - Reef Tank: Snails #001 -Nassarius and Mexican Turbo Snail 

Unfortunately, the new townhouse was in an area of California that got much hotter then cool foggy San Francisco (where I had lived before). The following spring the tank water raised in temperature too high and much too quickly for the sea life in the tank to survive. I should have had a water chiller installed, but I did not realize how warm that area was.  I've since moved again, and the tank is in storage until I am sure I am going to stay where I am, and have the time and funds to maintain the tank in the proper way.     

“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison

Author
Time

LOL, I love how you Americans need chillers in tropical tanks. Canadians would never dream of using them. :P

I love that snail in the second video that looks like it's trying to jump over the rock. Those guys are a lot more entertaining than Nerite snails.

It's too bad about your tank though. My grandpa has also had disasters with his fish hobby. One time, he introduced a wild fish, not thinking that it might be diseased. All 3000 or so of the guppies he had in that tank were dead the next morning.

Author
Time

This is my install\closet conversion for a 120. I did this about seven years ago.  The pics will be somewhat self-explanatory.  I still have this tank. It's primarily a plant tank with Discus.

This started as a double-door closet.  I gutted the interior of the closet then removed all the hardware and part of the framework.  The stand is a piece of furniture from Crate And Barrel. 

I didn't think it would be even close to being able to support the weight, so I came up with a structural idea.  I went to Home Depot and had them cut and thread four pieces of 2" steel pipe.  On each of those I fitted two cast iron flanges for support.  This also allowed me the ability to snug the support pipes once they were in place.

For a final bit of added stability and weight distribution, I cut a piece of 1" plywood the same size as the floor to go between the tank and the furniture piece.  This would eliminate any lateral movement.  I cut holes in the small gap between the tank and the back wall to run hoses for the dual Eheim canisters.  Those two Eheims (not in the picture) have been running 24 hours a day for the past seven years.  Bulletproof. 

Final touches were rebuilding & painting the framework around the opening and frosting the glass on the furniture doors. 

Funny you started an aquarium thread, as I'll be doing a second one of these conversion\installs very soon.  An electrician is coming out Monday to give me a price on drops into a single-door closet. 

I'm planning on a 60 gallon cube, set up very much like this one build-wise.  I'm toying with the idea of a limestone\driftwood hardscape and Cichlids.  Pics when I start the install.

Forum Moderator
Author
Time

I love that tank set-up, Anchorhead. Very cool. What kind of Cichlids are you planning on keeping (or have you not thought about it yet)?

Author
Time

Haven't really looked into it yet.  My only experience with Cichlids is Angels.  For years i was the sole supplier of Gold Angels to one of the largest fish stores in the city.  Had a breeding pair by themselves in a planted 30.  They lived about eight years, in their own stress-free environment.  Took the tank down after they passed. 

Forum Moderator
Author
Time

South American cichlids are less aggressive than African cichlids, so they might do better in 60 gallon tank. And don't get Oscars, because they grow too big, too fast (so do most cichlids, for that matter). I don't know if that's helpful, or if you know it all already, but keep that kind of thing in mind.

Author
Time

Man. Makes me want a tank. Been following /r/plantedtank on Reddit for awhile now. Beautiful stuff.

Anchorhead and Ric have great setups.

Keep Circulating the Tapes.

END OF LINE

(It hasn’t happened yet)

Author
Time

Now that there's actually some interest in this thread, I'll have to post pictures sometime. :) I'll have to figure out how to post pictures here from Flickr again, since Flickr likes to make it really inconvenient to do so.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

RicOlie_2 said:

Flickr likes to make it really inconvenient to do so.

 Tell me about, jeez. The new method I worked out...

1. From your timeline/picture-wall/irritating-thing: Left click on the image you want.

2. Left click the 'three dots' / 'more actions' icon on the right of the screen.

3. Select 'Download all sizes' from the drop down menu.

4. Left click 'view all sizes' from the popup window

5. Select the size you want

6. Right click on image

7. Select 'view image' from the dropdown menu

8. Copy-n-paste link from the bar at the top into whatever you want

Simple as that! LOL

e.g.

^ Nice photo :-)

VIZ TOP TIPS! - PARENTS. Impress your children by showing them a floppy disk and telling them it’s a 3D model of a save icon.

Author
Time

Thanks again, Ryan! I guess Flickr does it to prevent people from using your photos without your permission, but it would be nice to have it easier with your own photos. I'll get photos up once I take them...(I haven't taken any with the tanks fully set up because I've lost my battery charger :P).

Author
Time

RicOlie_2 said:

Thanks again, Ryan! I guess Flickr does it to prevent people from using your photos without your permission, but it would be nice to have it easier with your own photos. I'll get photos up once I take them...(I haven't taken any with the tanks fully set up because I've lost my battery charger :P).

 LOL. Flickr have just changed it up again. Actually much simpler for once.

1. Click image

2. Click arrow thing on right and select "view all sizes"

3. etc

VIZ TOP TIPS! - PARENTS. Impress your children by showing them a floppy disk and telling them it’s a 3D model of a save icon.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I finally got around to uploading a couple pictures of our tanks to Flickr. I said I would do it earlier, but I was hoping to get better pictures first. Then my family ended up going to Québec, and with the cleaning and month-long trip, I wasn't able to upload pics until now.

The tanks weren't looking their best in the pictures, but they're OK. Here they are:

430 Gallon Cichlid Tank, Shortly after Set-up

300 Gallon Tetra Tank, Shortly after Second Set-up

^The images might not show up, but I'm working on it. Flickr changed things again, so I'm trying to figure out how to insert them here.

EDIT: Got it!

Author
Time
 (Edited)

The first picture is one of our 430 gallon tanks. We have another 430 gallon tank to its left, with larger and more aggressive fish in it, like Oscars and African Cichlids. The second picture is the 300 gallon tetra tank. We still have the 180 gallon tank upstairs, and the 112 gallon tank, which we use for baby guppies, platys, etc. and the pregnant female live-bearers.

EDIT: Or at least that's how it was and will be when we get back to the house in Alberta. I miss having fifteen tons of water in my basement....

Author
Time

Pretty. You should get into planted tanks. I'm seriously considering getting a little one and planting it for the new apartment.

Keep Circulating the Tapes.

END OF LINE

(It hasn’t happened yet)

Author
Time

There are plants in the tank in the second picture, but they didn't hadn't had much time to grow at the time of the picture, and we hadn't replaced any of the ones that had died. At one point our 180 gallon tank was pretty thick with plants, but those all died when we tried to treat the tank for green slime algae (a nasty type of bacteria). Our 300 gallon tank was also heavily planted when we had foxtail (not the stuff that grows in fields, but a really fast-growing water plant) in it, but the foxtail completely took over, killing many other plants in the process. When we removed the foxtail, there was little else left to plant, leaving us with what you see.

When we get back home, we'll be sure to plant that tank properly. The Cichlids don't do well with plants (they tear them up and eat them), so the only plant we'll keep in there is floating foxtail.

I'm assuming that's what you meant by planted tank and that you weren't encouraging me to start up a terrarium or anything. :)