New Tank

[dSerk]

I just bought a new 75 gallon, 4' x 18" x 20" tank and I'm asking for input... live vicariously for a moment and tell me how you'd do it

I haven't decided on much yet. I know it'll be a community tank, sand bottom, 108W of lights, 1 Eheim 2217 to start, but everything else is kinda up-in-the-air atm. I think I mostly like SA fish but a few CA varieties might go in the new tank. The way I understand things, mixing CA/SA isn't really problematic.

Some of the fish I'd like to keep:
- Severum
- Geophagus, Satanopercas (surinamensis, braziliensis, altifrons, rio tapajos spp., leucostica, jurupari, etc)
- keyhole
- acara
- bolivian rams
- maybe apistos
- maybe uaru
- maybe angels
- cories, tetras, otos, etc

I like plants so with all this space (30gal is my biggest tank) I can fit a few fat echinodoruses, but my concerns with plants are whether echinodoruses can do well in a sand-only substrate. I don't think I want to do soil in a cichlid tank (no matter how much sand/gravel is on top). Would a first layer of flourite/laterite be enough, or maybe just a few periodic substrate fertilizer pellets, to keep the swordplants healthy? Also, I'm not sure about mixing plants with some of the fish I'd like. I've heard Uaru's will tear through plants. Will severums? Can I discourage the geo's from digging up my plants with some heavy, well-placed stones?

How about the aquascape? I plan on using play-sand, plain old store-bought, stone-weighted wood and found stones. From the perspectives of maintenance and hiding-spots/territories what suggestions, strategies, tricks, or traps does anyone have? I'm thinking of a two-island design with space in the middle or perhaps an assymetrical 1-island to the left or right. I see alot of tanks laid out with lots of hardscape in the middle to, i assume, block the fishes view of the other side of the tank.

How do you do water changes on big tanks? I live in Fairfax/Falls Church so I have to dechlorinate (I think they dont use chloramine). I siphon out 5 gal and add 1 gal jugs of dechlorinated water... 1 at a time I might consider getting an RO system but it seems like anything I could afford is not quality.

Hardware... no heater. My apartment stays warm enough I think. UV filter.... some like them, some say they're unneccessary. A single Eheim 2217 should be sufficient to start, no?

I don't have a stand yet. Where's a good place to get one? Anyone getting rid of one?

Thanks for the help. I'll bump the thread when I have more questions.

 

[F8LBITE]

Have you considered Discus? 75G is a perfect size for them. I also live in a condo situation and I use a python hose that hooks onto my kitchen sink. I usually do 50% WC's twice a week in my 125,120,50g tanks. I prefer pool filter sand because it sinks immediately and doesnt get sucked up into the filter. good luck with your tank setup.

 

[MonteSS]

Gratz on the new tank.

My 75g SA Comunity has

4 wild angels 3.5"
1 adult Australoheros Oblongum 5"
3 3.5" Keyholes
1 4" Green Severum
6 pepper cories
8 2.5" Columbian tetras
6 black skirt tetras
5 blue tetras
1 roseline Shark
2 pairs apistos

Definitely get Pool Filter sand.
I have driftwood, rounded river rocks, and fake plants.
I keep temp at 76* via 250w Jeager heater (love them) and ph 7.2.
Eheim 2026 (love it and $179.95 at Big Al's) and an Aquaclear 110. Water is very clean.
I do 50% WC once a week. I add Prime as a dechlor and use a garden hose to siphon and fill

Everybody gets along pretty well so far. The Sev is a bit of a bully and may be a prob as it gets older. Its a great tank that looks good, is easy to maintain, and is always active. The Apisto hide ALOT and are not seen that often.

I think people are getting tired of my videos so I wont post another

GL....Bill

 

[jonclark96]

+3 on the pool filter sand. I would be careful with severums and plants. Mine always tore them up when I tried to keep live plants with them.

 

[dSerk]

F8lbite, I have considered discus, but their expense and fragility is a little intimidating. I am not totally confident I'd be able to keep the water params ideal for them. Anyway, I'm not going to overstock the tank as soon as there's water in it so maybe in the future...

MonteSS, are you saying you add tapwater directly to your tank and add the Prime directly to your tank? Or, the Prime first? Do you use enough Prime to dechlorinate the entire tank's volume or just the 50% you replace? I watched several of your videos the other day and they are very good. Qual picture, gorgeous tank. At first, I even thought you had live plants. I'm not tired of your videos at all. You tank is pretty close to what I want... I even had already thought about Columbian R&B tetras

jonClark96, my Sev doesn't seem to chew on the plants very much. I've seen him take a few bites of thread algae but don't think he's gone directly for the plants. I don't plan on acquiring any "big" fish (I'd rather try and grow them that is) so I'm hoping the swords will have time to set down long roots. If plants are just too much trouble.... well, I suppose I'll just go to a woods & rock only 'scape.

Pool filter sand.... OK! Did you all rinse your pool filter sand? I wanted play sand BECAUSE it's finer and I could get a light-colored sand, but I don't really have experience. Will hardware stores (home depot?) have pool filter sand? I don't suppose it comes in colors :-/ Is there a particular "gauge" or "size of grain" I should look for?

 

[MonteSS]

Thanks. I thoufgt I would let you know what is working for me. Your ideas seemed pretty similar.

I think Jon was saying that the Sevs like to dig,uprrot, and move plants,as most large cichlids do. Not neccesarily eat them.

I had to gey my PFS at a pool shop. It is very clean and does not require too much rinsing. It is tan but looks white in the aquarium as seen on my video (IIRC the bags said Arctic white). It it slightly larger grained which is good as it settles nicely and is easier to vacuum. Play sand stirs easily and is a nightmare to vacuum and hard on your filters.

I siphon 33-50% with a hose. Others use a python. I add prime for the amount of new tap water I am adding. I fill with water from a faucet in the bathroom that I adjust to proper temp. I have done it long enough where I know just where to pu the knows.

Basic 50% water change in the 75g takes about 15-20 minutes. Very easy.

GL....Bill

 

[chris_todd]

Dan, nice to see you back! You should definitely get back into GWAPA for your plants... we had a great auction today.

Definitely go with PFS instead of play sand - you really don't have to rinse PFS, and the finer play sand is just messy when you gravel vacuum/python vacuum, while the PFS is just heavy enough to fall back down to the substrate.

If you want to combine sand and plants, might I suggest using terra cotta pots with a good plant substrate? That will prevent digging cichlids from messing up their root structure, and while it's not necessarily the prettiest from an aquascaping perspective, it is practical and effective, and the pots can often be hidden behind rocks or driftwood. Using root tabs in sand runs the risk of them getting dislodged and dumping a ton of nutrients into the water column, which can cause problems.

Another trick I discovered is that if you put egg crate under the PFS (also good for preventing rocks from potentially damaging the tank floor), then plant your plants, and give them a week or to to grow *before* introducing your digging cichlids, then the plants will wrap their roots around the egg crate, making it impossible for the cichlids to dislodge the plants. Of course, neither can you, so be sure to get your aquascape right the first time, LOL!

Welcome back, and post pictures of your build. And get back into GWAPA - I've got swords for you when you're ready...

 

[dSerk]

Hey Chris! It's nice to see some familiar names.

I'm sold on the PFS. My prior experience with play sand was a debacle (i did not rinse it). All my fine leaved rotolas, limnophilas, diandra and stuff got choked by diatoms... so PFS it is.

I thought about pots. Yeah, I thought that'd be ugly, but I am no ace aquascaper so w/e At least with pots I can use peat moss which should work well with the SA theme. What exactly do you mean by egg crates? The little styrofoam dozen-eggs containers?

I don't have a good camera anymore (any pics you saw before were with a roommates camera) but I'll try an document things as I go with my less-than-awesome camera. I am in no hurry however. I'm set on taking my time to get it right rather than slapping it together in a weekend as I have so many times before.

What swords have you got? I think I'd like a pair of the Tropica(tm) amazonica. (All i have for trade is convict fry lol) There's lots of cool stuff on Aquabid these days.... yeah, nothing like what's usually available at GWAPA auctions.

BTW, SuperPetz in Annandale has some E. parviflora. I got three for my 10 gall., which is now my only "planted" tank. Parviflora is one of the smallest sword plants and I was kinda surprised to see it in the LFS.

 

[verbal]

I just bought a new 75 gallon, 4' x 18" x 20" tank and I'm asking for input... live vicariously for a moment and tell me how you'd do it

I haven't decided on much yet. I know it'll be a community tank, sand bottom, 108W of lights, 1 Eheim 2217 to start, but everything else is kinda up-in-the-air atm. I think I mostly like SA fish but a few CA varieties might go in the new tank. The way I understand things, mixing CA/SA isn't really problematic.

Some of the fish I'd like to keep:
- Severum
- Geophagus, Satanopercas (surinamensis, braziliensis, altifrons, rio tapajos spp., leucostica, jurupari, etc)
- acara

I would leave the severum out if a planted tank is important. Or at least make sure there is an alternative tank available if he is problematic.

I might also check about a specific Geophagus or acaras being compatible with plants. I think flag cichlids are ok, but blue acaras may not be.

- maybe uaru

From what I have heard these are at least as difficult as discus.

- keyhole
- bolivian rams
- maybe apistos

- maybe angels
- cories, tetras, otos, etc

I think this list of fish gives you a variety of fish that generally work well with plants.

Hardware... no heater. My apartment stays warm enough I think. UV filter.... some like them, some say they're unneccessary. A single Eheim 2217 should be sufficient to start, no?

If you are going to do large water changes it might be a good idea to get a heater even if you set it lower than the normal temperature.

 

[chris_todd]

What exactly do you mean by egg crates? The little styrofoam dozen-eggs containers?

No, egg crate is actually a plastic lighting diffuser in a square criss-cross pattern. It's available in home improvement stores in the lighting section.

What swords have you got? I think I'd like a pair of the Tropica(tm) amazonica. (All i have for trade is convict fry lol) There's lots of cool stuff on Aquabid these days.... yeah, nothing like what's usually available at GWAPA auctions.

Nothing terribly special, some ozelot, Rose, and Flame.

BTW, SuperPetz in Annandale has some E. parviflora. I got three for my 10 gall., which is now my only "planted" tank. Parviflora is one of the smallest sword plants and I was kinda surprised to see it in the LFS.

Yeah, that's an interesting new variety, I saw it for the first time at the GWAPA auction last Saturday.

 

[dSerk]

Update

I just filled the tank. I'm still diddling with the hardscape. After filling the first time all my driftwood floated :angry3: so I rediddled a bit and have some pieces held down with wood. I'm going to add some more large rocks for weight and visual balance before I try to fill the tank completely. I'm going to add some plants soon, too. We'll just see how that goes

Since my last post I've been reconsidering my choices for fish. What would look good in there? BTW, the water is being stained to a nice reddish tea color.

 

[chris_todd]

Very cool layout, Dan! Ooooh, that just screams Discus to me! Maybe put a decent sized sword in each back corner and leave the midground and foreground open. Then get 6-12 cories, some otocinclus, and/or BN plecos and about a half dozen Discus, and that would be mega-sweet! Then again, that's basically what I have in my 90g, so I'm a bit biased, LOL.

 

[Avatar]

Get captive bred discus -

– I got 6 half dollar sized ones 6-8 months ago and they're the size of teacups (opening) and starting to color up really nice. They live in 76 degree water at 7.0 pH and are thriving.

I was intimidated by all the talk about how fragile they are but mine aren't getting any special treatment, eat anything and doing fine. Go for it.

 

[YSS]

– I got 6 half dollar sized ones 6-8 months ago and they're the size of teacups (opening) and starting to color up really nice. They live in 76 degree water at 7.0 pH and are thriving.

I was intimidated by all the talk about how fragile they are but mine aren't getting any special treatment, eat anything and doing fine. Go for it.

You have discus in 76F? Interesting .... Why?

 

[dSerk]

Discus Maybe

YSS, where did you get the discus in your avatar/pic? I might goferit if I could find a few "wild" looking ones like that....

 

[YSS]

YSS, where did you get the discus in your avatar/pic? I might goferit if I could find a few "wild" looking ones like that....

I got that guy from frybaby.com in PA. She doesn't have them anymore. I got him over three years ago, but lost him about 6 months ago. He was huge. Yes, discus are expensive but I love them. Discus Hans in Baltimore has tons of wild and domestic discus. You can check out my tank. I recently got three large wilds from him. My previous videos of the same tank has shots of the guy in my avatar. If you are up for it, I recommend trying discus. But I don't recommend keeping discus in cold water. Good luck.

[YT]LkSe14waWCs[/YT][/QUOTE]

 

[Billy Rocket]

I was at Hans the other day. He had huge wilds for $85 each. Good looking discus.

 

[mab]

Why not collect your own discus this summer on the Nanay!!

 

[Avatar]

Keeps my Corys happy. They have priority around here.

You have discus in 76F? Interesting .... Why?

However I just put some sterbais in with them whom I understand do well with higher temps. If I can catch all the CW017s and move them I'll probably ratchet it up to 80 degrees.

 

[YSS]

Why not collect your own discus this summer on the Nanay!!

Trust me. When I saw the post for the trip, I was like "Oh man, I really wish I can go." But unfortunately, can't do it.