Re-doing the 100 gallon
It's been a month since my African Lungfish died 
. I had him for 25 years.
So I'm thinking of re-doing the tank. I'm thinking I'll go bare bottom and just use the Basalt rocks to hide the 3 foot return PVC pipe. I reckon I'll use it for the 2" grow out for Peacock Cichlids.
I think I'll get Marineland LED lights. I don't need nothing fancy.
Then again I could sell the tank and put a loading/cleaning bench there. Either case for the time being I'm pulling the gravel. I wonder if those orange Home Depot buckets come with lids? I reckon I'll find out after work.
. I had him for 25 years.So I'm thinking of re-doing the tank. I'm thinking I'll go bare bottom and just use the Basalt rocks to hide the 3 foot return PVC pipe. I reckon I'll use it for the 2" grow out for Peacock Cichlids.
I think I'll get Marineland LED lights. I don't need nothing fancy.
Then again I could sell the tank and put a loading/cleaning bench there. Either case for the time being I'm pulling the gravel. I wonder if those orange Home Depot buckets come with lids? I reckon I'll find out after work.
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the buckets do not come with a lid but they have them for a couple bucks that fit ,
sorry for the loss or you fish .
when my wife and I first married we had a aquarium nothing fancy but were about to go to a salt water set up a lot more colorful and exotic fish
but decided to not continue on with any of the fish . we had fish , lizards , spider , turtle 's early on then the kids came along to fill our time .
what ever you go with fish or reloading set up let us know
I go to a pain doctor(s) in there office they have a decent size fish tank as many doctors waiting rooms I have been in do . I never really paid much attention to this one then one day while waiting (as normal) I got to looking it has one large "fake " and smaller plastic ? fish in the water and I am sure all the plants are plastic also .. now that's low maintenance :shock: :shock:0 -
Used to do the aquarium thing and had a large one, but as I aged it became a real PITA every time it needed cleaning. 0 -
While I hate wally world, they have the buckets cheaper, the lids are a buck and they are blue not orange. 0 -
If you're looking for buckets with lids, stop by any bakery. I get all I'll ever need at Sam's Club for free at their bakery. 0 -
Looks like you've got the think'n covered, post a picture when you get to the do'n part.yoshmyster wrote:It's been a month since my African Lungfish died. I had him for 25 years.
So I'm thinking of re-doing the tank. I'm thinking I'll go bare bottom and just use the Basalt rocks to hide the 3 foot return PVC pipe. I reckon I'll use it for the 2" grow out for Peacock Cichlids.
I think I'll get Marineland LED lights. I don't need nothing fancy.
Then again I could sell the tank and put a loading/cleaning bench there. Either case for the time being I'm pulling the gravel. I wonder if those orange Home Depot buckets come with lids? I reckon I'll find out after work.0 -
Like keeping a pool or a hot tube. Lots of work...
But worth it all.0 -
My wife and I used to have fresh and salt water tanks along with Koi ponds back in the old days before I had to start traveling a lot on my job.
Fresh water tanks once they got run-in and stable they pretty much took care of themselves for long periods of time. Salt water tanks on the other hand were more work. More work than we want to do now that we're retired. But they sure were beautiful.
I even had a small salt water tank set up in my office at work. Lots of times someone would come in to discuss a problem about something and the next thing you know they'd be setting and staring at the tank and talking about the fish instead of the problem they came in to discuss.
Back when we started messing with them there wasn't a lot of information on keeping fish, especially salt water fish, and there was no Internet to turn to so I managed to kill just about every species of salt water fish there is learning how to take care of them. And they weren't cheap. The equipment wasn't that plentiful either. Today I see all kinds of newfangled stuff on the Internet for fish keeping that I would have loved to try back then.0 -
Did tropicals for over 50 years. Now just have one turtle in a 70 gallon tank. Got him 30 years ago and he was adult then. Aquariums are a lot of work, but well worth it to me. I would have one now but that does not work so well with house sitters, who have no experience with them. 0 -
Things changed a lot in the back patio over 25 years. The ghost plants (Graptopetalum paraguayense) went buck wild and let themselves go. I'll need to shift that and other crap that's taking up space. That's gonna be heavy with all the recent rains. I went through my cacti and succulent phase and ghost plants are real easy to propagate. Break a leaf off, stick it on top of bit of moist dirt and there's a new plant. Then there are the smokers/kettle grills back there. Maybe I'll need to plot an attack on this before the 100 gallon tear down. Just need to keep the PBR out of my mitts and I reckon I'll get something done today .
Ditch-Runner - I did check Home Depot's web site before going there and they did indicate lids were in stock. The buckets were easy to find since they got them everywhere so folks could use them like a shopping basket. Now the lid I wasn't going to hunt for them. Asked one of those people near the return counter and went as directed. For a change it was where I was told they would be. two buckets and lids for $10 not bad since I was able to pull apart the buckets with ease. I did notice the buckets and lids were "thin". Since they never held anything they didn't make them to be sturdy like my other buckets.
A tank of Rapala that's funny.
chiefr - Tanks are easy to maintain. At least mine are. Syphon the gravel every now and then. Syphon out the crap that collects in the sump, hose out the foam that collects the fine fish poop and done.
He Dog - Didn't even think about them. Them orange buckets basically brain washed me in to thinking Home Depot is where buckets come from.
droptop - I ain't even gonna try uploading pics. Only Jappo you know who wasn't born with a camera in hand.
wpageabc - Saw someone on youtube who built a pond to house African cichlids. I think it was somewhere warm like Florida. That was cool. If I ever won the lotto I'll build a glass atrium and have breeding program in troughs. Also the idea of them fish pecking dead skin off my feet seems like fun. Everytime I'm cleaning the algae off the glass they come and nibble my hand and arm.
Smitty500mag - Tanks after being established will run themselves. With the 125 I just add water that evaporates in between water changes.
Yeah these days one can keep a marine nano-tank like folks used to keep Betta in a bowl.
I better go and start clearing out the space on patio. Lawd I hope it's raining so I "can't" work. Looked out the window and it's cloudy. I suppose I could install power strips in the stand for the soon to be up grade on lights and remote on/off for the water pump. When the Lungfish was in there I didn't have to turn the water pump off to feed. That Christmas tree/outdoor decoration on/off switch were a great find. I found one that had one remote with three channels so now 125/100/40 can be turned off when I feed. But I think if the stand were free to move would make the power strip install easier. Since Yosh don't bend like he used to without making bear noises.0 -
yoshmyster wrote:
Smitty500mag - Tanks after being established will run themselves. With the 125 I just add water that evaporates in between water changes.
Yep that's what I said about freshwater tanks.
Not so with salt water (marine) tanks. Just the slight spray from the filter will screw up furniture and rust any HVAC exhaust vents that happen to be close to where you set up the tank.0 -
I broke my 38 gallon tank a few weeks back due to my negligence. I acquired a 55 gallon tank and stand and I'm currently as I speak setting that one up to put my larger fish in. Yesterday I picked up my 38 gallon replacement tank and I'll be resetting that one up in about a week. That one will be used for smaller fish and some rarer Plecos. It will be fully planted and using CO2. The 55 gallon in the basement will house Fred & Wilma, my Black Ghost Knife, the 3 Clown Loaches and most of their friends. That tank will be about half planted with the hide out pirate ship in the middle. 0 -
I have had many large tanks in the past. 55-150 gal. Used to be big in to Salt water set ups. Worked for a Company in the way past, (first job,) specialized in coming in and setting up/maintaining deluxe Salt Water set ups in High $$ homes in Miami back in the early 70's.
Have had Sharks up to 2' in some of my tanks. Moray/Leopard Eels, and other types, etc.
Have also had very nice fresh water set ups. Huge Oscars, from teeny tiny, to huge. 1' 1/2 long Tiger Shovel nosed Cats. Etc.
I have been thinking, that I need to get another large set up.
Salt Water set ups, are no joke. If you do not know what you are doing, you can lose your A$$ in very short order. A whole different ballgame.
We used to Scuba down in the Keys, with a large Syringe type set up. Suck em up, and bag em' ready for the tank.0 -
Smitty500mag wrote:yoshmyster wrote:
Smitty500mag - Tanks after being established will run themselves. With the 125 I just add water that evaporates in between water changes.
Yep that's what I said about freshwater tanks.
Not so with salt water (marine) tanks. Just the slight spray from the filter will screw up furniture and rust any HVAC exhaust vents that happen to be close to where you set up the tank.
When the 125 was a marine tank after it was up it ran just fine. I went with Jaubert method ('90s style). Tons of live rock and a deep aragonite substraight covering a plenum (I used under gravel plates stacked on one another) and a Turboflotor 1000 protein skimmer. All I did was top off the evap water with R/O water (dechlorinated tap if I was lazy) and dosed with iodine and other liquid secret sauce. Just a few steps than how I'm running the 125.
Hell I still got what were the "live rocks" (well they're dead from no longer being in salt water) sold the better looking and bits (while live) I didn't need in my tank to the point that what I had in my tank was free. So when I killed it, it was no big thing. Also I wasn't about to buy rocks to replace what basically is lime stone. Hell I can still sell off what's in the tank as "base rock" being Fiji, branch and Tonga plate I'll make more money on them since they got strict on stripping out the reefs for a fast buck. I wonder if the old timers who used to ship live rock direct are still in business?0 -
Man that was a chore. Got old and the tank got heavier? If that's possible . I am thankful the tank is acrylic, though. No way I could've done it by myself if it were glass. I know the planters with the ghost plants got heavier. I should've been playing "Lethal Weapon" so I could've been saying "I'm too old for this shi*" along with Danny .
Moved the stand about a foot towards the wall so I got a bit more in and out access through the glass sliding door. So now I got a 12"X24" clean/new looking patch of carpet that hasn't seen the light of day in 25+ years.
armilite - Where did the tank break? I once broke a 55 on the bottom glass about mid-way from front to back. I slapped on a 3/8"? sheet of acrylic/plexi slightly smaller than the sheet glass of the bottom glass with a tubegun of silicone and used it like that for years. Never leaked. I know I should've taken the frame off and replaced the glass then did the job right but I was lazy.
If I had a basement I'd do it up like that Canadian dude on youtube (DIYKing?) but not to his insane-o level. More manageable by one person who's gotten old.0 -
Well I was resetting some of the plants that the fish ripped out. I was replanting some Ancharis I wanted to put it close to Wilma (Columbia Driftwood Catfish)where she was sitting. She likes to lay in that stuff. I didn't want to disturb her and in doing so I leaned into the tank further then normal. My arm caught the center support and it snapped. It was so loud I thought it was the glass that broke. Immediately the tank bowed a good 1/4 inch. A friend of mine gave me a 55 gallon aquarium which I set up yesterday. I'm just waiting for the water to clear up a bit and I'll probably move the larger fish into later today or tomorrow. I have a replacement for the one I broke but I'm waiting for some Flourite and Eco Complete which won't show up for another week. The broken tank is only 3/4 full and after the larger fish are moved out I'll drop it to half. The new upstairs tank will be heavily planted along with CO2 but with smaller fish. I've got some rarer Plecos and my Cory Cats will stay in there all the rest will go down stairs in the 55. 0 -
I bet that made your butt hole pucker . And you still got water in the tank? You my friend are braver and dumber than me . Screw the Flourite and Eco Complete. Dechlor the water, move the fish and empty the questionable tank. Figuring the plastic was brittle enough to break the silicon being stressed like that it's empty the tank on your own terms and not by the tank.
That's an easy fix and you can run a bead of silicon over all of the seams or razor off the old silicon without sectioning apart the tank and run a bead of fresh silicon. Go get a strip of acrylic/plexi wider than the stock holder and the ID of the width of the tank and silicone it in. I'd also run a bead of silicon under the broken strip to help hold the acrylic/plexi strip in place. Wrap some tape to the plastic and acrylic/plexi to hold it in place. You could go with glass but I don't know too much about glass and you have to be spot on with the measurement. With acrylic/plexi and you can sand it to fit if the piece is slightly larger.0 -
Sorry for your loss.
Don't get me started on fish tanks, LOL. You should do marine tank or do a a tank with bonzai and frogs and ponds/waterfalls etc.
Get a couple hundred gallon tank and really landscape it. With 3d printers you could really get detailed recreations etc.
This was my first man made live rock with my maroon clowns, Ricky and Lucy. I made hundreds of pounds of rock in all sorts of shapes and sizes.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXB5xhOPJoM[/media]0 -
yoshmyster wrote:I bet that made your butt hole pucker. And you still got water in the tank? You my friend are braver and dumber than me . Screw the Flourite and Eco Complete. Dechlor the water, move the fish and empty the questionable tank. Figuring the plastic was brittle enough to break the silicon being stressed like that it's empty the tank on your own terms and not by the tank.
That's an easy fix and you can run a bead of silicon over all of the seams or razor off the old silicon without sectioning apart the tank and run a bead of fresh silicon. Go get a strip of acrylic/plexi wider than the stock holder and the ID of the width of the tank and silicone it in. I'd also run a bead of silicon under the broken strip to help hold the acrylic/plexi strip in place. Wrap some tape to the plastic and acrylic/plexi to hold it in place. You could go with glass but I don't know too much about glass and you have to be spot on with the measurement. With acrylic/plexi and you can sand it to fit if the piece is slightly larger.
The 55 is up and running with the bigger fish. The broken 38 is out of the house and the new one is in place just waiting for the substrate to come in. Mean while I have 3 Plecos and 7 Corys in a 2 gallon tank just hanging around until their new home is ready.0 -
mag00 - Marine/reef tank, been there done that and I don't wanna spend stupid money on lights.
armilite - 3 Plecos and 7 Corys in a 2 gallon tank? Packed like sardines. So what are you gonna do with the tank? Fix it or sell/give it away as a leaker?
So been looking at Hydor Koralia third gen water circulator. Seen them a few years back and I thought they were neat being able to pretty much direct where the water will flow. It also takes up less space in the tank and the price seemed to have dropped from what I remembered.
Kind a boring looking at fishless tank. Sure even when the Lungfish was alive dude didn't move much. Maybe I'll tie some Rapalas to some line and sinker.0 -
Yosh, my first tank was a 29 gallon I bought for $8. I went across the street and picked up some sand/dirt from a wash, mixed some salt with a measuring cup and bought one live rock.
Not long after that I bought a tiny Velvet Damsel. I wasn't too much into the corals, they are expensive. I had natural light. Most everybody at aquarium boards laughed and looked down their nose at my setup.
Over the next years I learned alot. I stayed with fish up until the day the stupid cow started feeding the tank with table scraps and wiped my 225 out completely killing my first fish.
Sold everything and moved out.
I was pioneering in LED lighting at the time, and now the LED lights are dirt cheap, work better, cheaper to run and don't heat the water so much. Yesterday I was going through some stuff I still have and was looking at the free led lights from Harbor Freight, wondering if I could pull them apart and make one hood for the tank. Maybe 3d print a frame to hold them.
I had a mangrove growing on a grow panel led. Ran the turf scrubber off of LED also. LED has come a long way since then. I have t5 ho fixtures that are basically worthless today.
And here is the thing, if you decide to farm your fish, fresh or salt, you can get federal grant money for it. Don't have to pay it back.
You may have noted when the "green" or environmental arguments arise, I am on the side of protecting the planet. The Biosphere 2 has an ocean environment, and it crashed. It is sad. It is overgrown with ugly brown algae. The mangrove section is dying off and these university brainiacs think that adding 10,000 crabs is the solution. They think the theory is the crabs will eat the algae and problem solved. Friggin morons. And they get degrees and advise the president on environmental issues.
I'm sure you have noticed that in an enclosed environment, you have to pay attention to all the factors that effect the environment. Temp, light, food, water quality etc. When you are the guardian of that small ecosystem and something goes wrong, you don't get to blame anybody else.
A big terrarium with integrated ponds and falls would be great. Dang, did I tell you I really like the Biosphere 2? That is one big terrarium.0 -
mag00 - A cup of salt? Morton's or Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt ? I still got 2/3 of a bucket of Reef Crystals I'll trip over every now and again. I should throw some in to the tank as African Cichlid buffer.
Low tech works and for fish only that'll do.
Table scraps? That's crazy. You should've left the tank and took all the hoses. Bailing 225 gallons with pots and pans. I would pay to see someone do that .
If I had the space, farming sounds cool. I'll get some state permit to protect my fish from predictors. I wonder if I can get a can (in California?).
They'd do better with 10,000 oysters filtering the water than 10,0000 crabs. Then again they might look in to what's the base cause. Maybe there's a sewage or street drain outlet near them.0 -
yoshmyster wrote:mag00 - Marine/reef tank, been there done that and I don't wanna spend stupid money on lights.
armilite - 3 Plecos and 7 Corys in a 2 gallon tank? Packed like sardines. So what are you gonna do with the tank? Fix it or sell/give it away as a leaker?
So been looking at Hydor Koralia third gen water circulator. Seen them a few years back and I thought they were neat being able to pretty much direct where the water will flow. It also takes up less space in the tank and the price seemed to have dropped from what I remembered.
Kind a boring looking at fishless tank. Sure even when the Lungfish was alive dude didn't move much. Maybe I'll tie some Rapalas to some line and sinker.
The 3 plecos are all small and the Corys are small as well. Their just kinda hanging around the bottom. The broken 38 is out sitting in the yard and I'll probably just toss it. I sure as hell don't have any room in the house. I had a ton of Ancharis from my old tank that I put in the new one and 90% of it is gone. Don't know what happened to it. It grew like weeks in the smaller tank. All I have left is about 4 - 6 inch. strands left. Then every night something is digging up the Wysteria and I find it floating at the top every morning. Today I found out that the Flourite will be delayed another 4 days, because the fish dealer couldn't make the $700 minimum order.0 -
yoshmyster wrote:mag00 - A cup of salt? Morton's or Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt? I still got 2/3 of a bucket of Reef Crystals I'll trip over every now and again. I should throw some in to the tank as African Cichlid buffer.
Low tech works and for fish only that'll do.
Table scraps? That's crazy. You should've left the tank and took all the hoses. Bailing 225 gallons with pots and pans. I would pay to see someone do that .
If I had the space, farming sounds cool. I'll get some state permit to protect my fish from predictors. I wonder if I can get a can (in California?).
They'd do better with 10,000 oysters filtering the water than 10,0000 crabs. Then again they might look in to what's the base cause. Maybe there's a sewage or street drain outlet near them.
That 225 was a curse from day one. I picked it up for near nothing, moved it into the house by myself and built a nice 4x4 frame stand for it. Then I had to dismantle the tank and reseal the whole thing.
I drilled it and had a 55 gallon refugium with agae turf scrubber and skimmer.
I had some angels, and the clowns and the damsels in it, and had another 55 that I had upgraded from still setup.
Then one morning early I hear a crash, and get up to see water pouring out the front of the tank. Somehow a cat knocked a broom and the metal handle hit in the perfect spot and cracked the tank front and the pressure blew it out the rest of the way.
I scrambled and picked up the flopping fish and tossed them into the 55 as I opened the front door to let the flood escape. I was able to contain the flood to one room, and saved all the livestock. Eventually got all the water squeegeed out and went off to work. AAAARGH, I was beat.
I repaired that tank and built a separator on one end for strength and to make a beach environment with tides etc so I could imitate a beach and maybe have clams too. It never established enough before it was overfed with table scraps and crashed. I had enough heartbreak and started to downsize.
I recently picked up some salt from the 99? store, that says it is pure from the ocean, not mortons, LOL. I wonder if this stuff would work for fishtank and it is considerably cheaper than Reef Crystals.
As far as farming, some are using the fish water to grow herbs etc in big greenhouses, with the fish on level one/basement and using the fish emulsion as fertilizer. Can't do it with marine, but fresh water perch, tilapia, Koi.
As far as the Biosphere Ocean, they are doing alot wrong. I could get it fixed in a couple years. Not going to happen with crabs, LOL. Nudibranches maybe, I would need to see the water specs to devise a plan for them.
I was making MMLR (man made live rock), and experienced alot of issues with it. That ocean was made of concrete too, but the original people/designers got it working. It was very expensive. A freshwater pond would have been far more practical for human living.
I like the marine environment. It can host much more diversified life and eco system. Although I do like the idea of a freshwater Vivarium/Riparium.0 -
armilite - Sounds like you got a makings of a small outdoor pond. You'll be able to grow mosquito larva for your fish to feed on. Also Ancharis should grow great in that. So you can restock what your fish ate.
mag00 - I don't do glass after they hit 55 gallons. Too much worry. Besides they get "greener" as the glass gets thicker. I had a 100 gallon glass and a co-worker liked it and I was swapping it out for the 125 acrylic. I sold it and I even helped move it in to dude's house to make that sale. You lugged that 225 by your lonesome? You must've did lots of roids . That reminds me my bro in Tehas had a 135 glass he moved with water and maybe with gravel once with few of his knuckle head friends. The bottom must've separated since that sprung a magical leak.
Yeah I don't know about the "sea salt". Maybe the Korean stuff that comes in a plastic bag that's a little moist but definitely not the super dry in card board. You can always try it out with a few mollies. I had folks tripping out with my reef tank with mollies swimming about.
Maybe Biosphere Ocean folks are in al gore's pocket to sell "global warming". I suppose Nudibranches would work if they multiplied like crazy but one single critter ain't gonna be the "magic bullet".0
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