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Any Extreme members have a reef fishtank setup? [Fresh water also discussed]

CHUBAKAH

By CHUBAKAH
in The Tailgate

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stevenaa

stevenaa

Posted
Posted

Hey Grumpy,

Do the critters eat all the nasties on the bottom? Are ther fresh water tank critters to do this? I have a 5 gallon tank with a couple Tetras and a small "catfish" of some kind. The bottom has gravel on it. When I change 20% of the water, I have to use a syphon to clean the bottom. That's the only thing I don't like. I don't mind changing the water.

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Sarge

Sarge

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Do NOT get a Moorish Idol till you have a significant amount of experience and some spare money. They are extremely difficult, in fact one of the most difficult fish to keep. Do as much reading as you can about them before you purchase one.

Thanks for the advice. I'd heard/read the same thing

Maybe next summer

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Grumpy Vet

Grumpy Vet

Posted
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Hey Grumpy,

Do the critters eat all the nasties on the bottom? Are ther fresh water tank critters to do this? I have a 5 gallon tank with a couple Tetras and a small "catfish" of some kind. The bottom has gravel on it. When I change 20% of the water, I have to use a syphon to clean the bottom. That's the only thing I don't like. I don't mind changing the water.

Sal****er critters do eat alot of the crap that falls to the bottom....the snails, crabs, worms and other things eat the little pieces of food and some of the fish "leavings".....

A deep live sand bed actually breaks down all this stuff in a salt tank. This is one of the benefits of sal****er ecosystems....I probably "clean" my 90G tank less than someone cleans their 20G freshwater tank. This is b/c all of the living things in there work together.

On a fresh water system - you will have to syphon the gravel.....you could look into a fish that is more of a grazer.....sifts through the gravel....you will recognize this fish because it's mouth will be on the bottom of its head...or it will have a pointy snout to sift through the gravel.

I don't know too much about freshwater - but I'll see if I can find one of those kinds of fish.

I think if you increased the size of your tank - you would be cleaning a lot less...5 gallons gets dirty quickly...and leaves little room for error.

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cgray88

cgray88

Posted
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BUMP

When I started this thread I was living in CA, but am now back east.

I'm looking for a few shops in the NOVA/West VA area that deals in marine fish and supplies.

In the NOVA side, there are a couple good stores.

Marine Scene in Herndon is one of my favorites. They are a little pricey, but have good selection and healthy livestock.

I just found Fins and Feathers in Ashburn, recently... they don't have too much, but what they do have is excellent quality and good prices... I've gotten lots of really nice zoo's there recently.

Blue Ribbon Koi, I've heard nothing but good things about, but I haven't been there, yet.

I think Grumpy Vet mentioned Roozens. This place is great, but you better have a really good quaratine system if you try buying stuff from there.

And I guess like a year and a half ago you asked about TB Sal****er... Better late than never :cool: . Its a great place to buy mail-order liverock... you basically order by the "package." Give them your tank size and they'll send everything you need... rock, livesand, critters, etc. I would say the rock pieces I have from there have more interesting coralline growth than the rest of my rocks. They also sprouted a kenya tree and some nice peach briarium, which was cool. When I get around to setting up my next aquariums, (30g & 12g nano's coming soon!) I'm mailordering all the base from TBS...

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  • 4 months later...
Raub

Raub

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Yeah, I'm seriously thinking of getting a sal****er tank. I need something new. The African tank is cool, but I need something different. I did South American cichlids for years, I think I need to venture out of freshwater.

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  • 1 month later...
CHUBAKAH

CHUBAKAH

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Keeping in line with the thread, HSF and I are finally in the new house, and project "Reef Tank" has started.

So far I have cut a hole in the basement wall, and built a stand to hold the aquarium. I am closing in the back side of the basement so that this tank has it's own room. The room size is approx 12 feet long by about 7 feet deep.

The plan is to go with a refugium for filtration, metal halide for lighting, and about 150lbs of live rock to get started.

I'll get some pics up as things start to come together.

I do have some fresh water items to get rid of if anyone needs them.

I have two penguin 330 bio wheels.

A few misc air pumps.

Magnum 550 canister filter.

Couple other misc items.

PM me if there is any interest.

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  • 3 months later...
CHUBAKAH

CHUBAKAH

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Well it's been three months since my last post in this thread, but project Reef Tank is up and running.

I finished the plumbing about two weeks ago, and the electrical last weekend, which is also when I added the first 75 lbs of live rock. After a trip down to Salisbury last weekend for another 75 lbs of rock the tank is in the process of cycling.

The original plan was to have a refugium, and I still plan to add one, but I decided to go with a 100 gallon sump increasing the size of the entire system to 225 gallons.

I'll get some pictures up at some point if there seems to be any interest.

It's been quite the learning experience, but it's finally coming together.

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HOF44

HOF44

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I'll get some pictures up at some point if there seems to be any interest.

It's been quite the learning experience, but it's finally coming together.

Bring the pics on! I use to keep Discus and they were a little touchy sometimes, but nothing in comparison to a nice sal****er tank. I appreciate the degree of difficulty. :applause:

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CHUBAKAH

CHUBAKAH

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Bring the pics on! I use to keep Discus and they were a little touchy sometimes, but nothing in comparison to a nice sal****er tank. I appreciate the degree of difficulty. :applause:

Right now this is the only picture worthy of showing which captures the plumbing with the rear of the tank and the sump showing. I'll get something from the front up as soon as there is something to see.

tank2004xb7.jpg

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HOF44

HOF44

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Right now this is the only picture worthy of showing which captures the plumbing with the rear of the tank and the sump showing. I'll get something from the front up as soon as there is something to see.

Thats gonna be a nice set-up. Really cool having that whole back room to access, maintain, and store everything.

Might be worth adding some metal brackets to some of those joints. Thats gonna be a ton of weight.

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CHUBAKAH

CHUBAKAH

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Thats gonna be a nice set-up. Really cool having that whole back room to access, maintain, and store everything.

Might be worth adding some metal brackets to some of those joints. Thats gonna be a ton of weight.

It always cracks me up how people over build tank stands.

I bet you didn't know this, but a 2X4 on end 48" tall, if you could balance a 500 gallon tank full, wouldn't bend it at all, in fact it would be at 1/3 it's total capacity?

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BigMike619

BigMike619

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I have a 100 gallon fresh water tank in my living room. It has one giant white and orange oscar, several smaller african cichlids, a frontosa, a clown knife and my prize piece. a 2 foot tire tracc eel. it will eat out of my hand.

in my bedroom i have a 40 gallon fresh water tank with a electric yellow, a clown loach, a jewel cichlid and a feeder fish that had cool markings that I saved from the front tank and certain death from the oscar..

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Raub

Raub

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I still have my African setup, but have really been thinking of selling it and going with something different. I've done just about everything but sal****er, might have to give it a go. Looks like a sweet setup Chewy. And you're right about tank stands, they don't have to be engineering wonders. A couple of 2x4s across some cinder blocks will work in a pinch.

I've also considered building my own acrylic tank, but have no experience doing it, and don't know anyone who's done it. Anyone built one from scratch before?

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CHUBAKAH

CHUBAKAH

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I've also considered building my own acrylic tank, but have no experience doing it, and don't know anyone who's done it. Anyone built one from scratch before?

There is a guy on one of the reef forums I belong to who builds them, and from what I hear is very reasonable. Here is a link to one of the many threads on his builds.

http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=20431

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  • 3 weeks later...
CHUBAKAH

CHUBAKAH

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Well I purchased the first 75lbs of live rock already cured/cycled, so I am sure that helped, but about three weeks total. It's been running a total of 6 weeks as of yesterday.

How long did it take to cycle the tank?

Cool pics BTW. I can't wait to see it in a couple months. You better post pics!

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