Phil's 75gal Tropheus tank thread

iamzrad

iamzrad

Members
So.
Hi everyone. What's up?

I've finally taken the plunge and committed on doing a Tropheus tank. After years of deciding, it's now happening. Now, I have ventured into the Dark Side before, so I know the excitement up ahead ;)

Klaus might have done something to make me go 100% :)

Now, this is a Work In Progress thread as I will be updating my build weekly. My goal is to have everything up and running by the end of July.

As of June 17, I am still undecided which kind of Tropheus I want to do. I love the red and purple rainbows, we'll see.

I picked up a clean(ish) 75gal tank with stand, extra goodies here and there for a nice price off of a member on here.

So far my plans are,
75gal
Aragonite crushed (fine) coral and sand as substrate.
I will have 2 AC100's and a canister (bio) as my filtration.
Rock work will be large smooth (ball-shape) rocks.
I will start out with maybe 20-25 Tropheus and 5 (or less, not sure yet) on a Petro. (undecided which kind).
Lights, T5 10k and Actinic bulbs.


June 17, 2010
The stand is in good shape.
The bottom part (shelf) had some large salt deposits and needed to be cleaned,
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Tank needed a scrub down.
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A wha-lah, everything is set up. (no water)
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I love this background (thanks Jose!)
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Coming up, substrate, maybe rocks and some feeders that will cycle the tank.
 
cmcpart0422

cmcpart0422

Members
Looks awesome your going to have a real nice tank. The only concern I have is housing petrochromis in a 75 gallon tank along with 20-25 tropheus. Now im no petro expert but from what I have read they can get quite large and need a good amount of space. In a 75 gallon I would say that your best bet are gobies or synos as tank mates. Just my opinion but im sure someone else will chime in on this. Sounds like you are good to go with filtration though. Keep us posted.
 
Reel Addiction

Reel Addiction

Members
Nice start Phil, that back ground is great. When you get the learning curve down I know who to ask for advise! If your doing round rock ( which I call river rock) let me know I can get it for you.
 
DiscusnAfricans

DiscusnAfricans

Past President
Way to go Phil. Just take all the attention away from my tropheus tank thread. That ok, mine are going into a 90:p.

Just joshing ya, definitely glad to see you starting the tank. Look forward to see what type to go with. For any troph advice, sarah are Klaus are excellent resources. I talked to Sarah for weeks before I got my fish. If you want to jumpstart your cycle on your tank, you're welcome to stop by and swap me a AC110 sponge. I have an AC110 double sponged and a Magnum 350 PRO that filter the 90 that will eventually be my troph's tank.

I also have a good spot where you can pick up some similar rocks in the pic you posted for free. I grabbed a dozen and there is plenty left. I have a few leftover from scaping my tank. I'm hoping to have the 90 finished by the end of the weekend, I'll post pictures when I can.

Good luck with the tank and keep the pictures coming.
 
iamzrad

iamzrad

Members
F8LBITE said:
Phil, MADDOG mike has a bunch of those rocks.
Click to expand...

Cartel said:
Yup +1 on maddog all my rocks are from him and I love them.
Click to expand...

Gotcha, thanks.

DiscusnAfricans said:
Way to go Phil. Just take all the attention away from my tropheus tank thread. That ok, mine are going into a 90:p.

I also have a good spot where you can pick up some similar rocks in the pic you posted for free. I grabbed a dozen and there is plenty left. I have a few leftover from scaping my tank. I'm hoping to have the 90 finished by the end of the weekend, I'll post pictures when I can.

Good luck with the tank and keep the pictures coming.
Click to expand...

Haha!

Where is this spot? p/m me.
I never feel right buying rocks since I can just go and borrow them from a local stream/river :p
 
Jumbie

Jumbie

Members
I never feel right buying rocks since I can just go and borrow them from a local stream/river :p[/QUOTE]

LMAO!!!! Thats exactly what I do hey man its free.:D By the way awesome background Phil!
 
iamzrad

iamzrad

Members
Jumbie said:
iamzrad said:
I never feel right buying rocks since I can just go and borrow them from a local stream/river :p
Click to expand...

LMAO!!!! Thats exactly what I do hey man its free.:D By the way awesome background Phil!
Click to expand...


Ha, right on. Thanks!


June 22, 2010 progress:
Glass tops have been retrofitted to fit tank.
I bought brand new AGA 75gal glass tops at a steal and it turns out they do not fit Perfecto tanks. Their width is just too small and they will fall into the tank.
So I just bought an extra 3' long plastic fitter (the thing you put on the glass top at the back of the tank for filters, etc) and just cut-to-size and put them on the sizes of the glass. Works fine now.

Pics will follow tonight.
 
longstocking

longstocking

Members
Petros in a 75.... while it can be done, I would never suggest it. If you want to get young ones and grow them out in a 75, that would be ok. But, they get too large and to mean to house them long term in a 75.

5 foot min for the smallers ones.... 6 foot for the large guys.
 
longstocking

longstocking

Members
One more thing.... I will say if you decide to jump into Petros you won't regret it. IMO they are one of the smartest fish I have ever kept and some of the most personal. For me, they are the wet pet of the african lakes.
 
iamzrad

iamzrad

Members
Thanks, Sarah!
This is probably a silly question, are there perhaps any kind of dwarf petros?


June 22, 2010
Glass tops are in.
$5 fix instead of buying new tops. :)
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longstocking

longstocking

Members
The smaller ones I mentioned do exist but the aggession levels are too high once they are about 5 inches for a 75 gallon. 5 foot min, for example, the ones I got from Dave are one of the smaller ones and one of hte better looking ones. I'm growing them out in a 4 footer but they will eventually get a 6 foot tank.
 
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