600 gallon tank finally here!!!

[kallmond]

So, can you foresee the next tank yet? I know when I got my first little 1 gallon acrylic I immediately thought "I should have gotten the 10"

Its been like that for every tank i've ever upgraded to as well. "I should have saved for a few more weeks and gotten the XXX gallon"

 

[Wet Whiskers]

So, can you foresee the next tank yet? I know when I got my first little 1 gallon acrylic I immediately thought "I should have gotten the 10"

Its been like that for every tank i've ever upgraded to as well. "I should have saved for a few more weeks and gotten the XXX gallon"

We hope to get 1.5 or more years out of this tank for the catfish, but we'll just have to see how the growth rate. We have some ideas, but since we are not living in a permanent home, there is no way for us to start making any specific plans on the design of a future tank. However, I'm already studying up on making things increasingly efficient for this tank, and I should be able to apply this information to larger tanks with modifications. I'm going to enjoy this tank for a while and think about the next one in a few months.

 

[kallmond]

Thats great news for me.. Maybe by the time I get to a 600 the "Must..get...bigger...tank" will be slowed down <grin>

Really is a beautiful setup.

 

[tamzor]

I felt like i just read a book, amazing how everything went through.

 

[Wet Whiskers]

We're prepping to move the two largest catfish. I have two very large nets, but cannot use either of them to move these guys given how the 180 gallon tanks in nested in the shelves. They'd barely fit in these nets anyways without potentially hurting them. I have a fairly soft towel in the washing machine with dye free/fragrance free detergent. I'm just going to have to tackle these guys with it. I plan to add extra prime to both tanks to help with slime coat, drain the water very low in the 180, throw the towel in till its totally wet, and then cover the fish with it so it cannot see. Hopefully, I can grab him, hang onto and pull him out of the water without causing so much chaos that everyone doesn't crash around too much. Eric will not be videoing this himself this time, as we will need both of us to manage the towel and fish. I'm going to try to have the camera in such a place that we can have it rolling the whole time. Wish us luck, and hopefully I come back with a great video of an easily moved monster.

 

[bomber]

Why not drug them with clove oil? Knock them out then move those monsters.

 

[tcarswell]

Why not drug them with clove oil? Knock them out then move those monsters.

Tricaine!

 

[Wet Whiskers]

Anesthesia is tricky. There is a fine line that if you cross it you can kill them or cause liver, heart, brain, kidney (etc) damage. If you supress your fish's heart beat and respiration too low and have no means of true CPR they will not recover. I've spent years performing anesthesia on animals so I know the risks. I also know that I have no idea how to do this with fish, so I'm not going to risk it. If it looks like it is unavoidable, I will contact a local vet who works with koi.

 

[Wet Whiskers]

They are in... All of them. I realized that it was total chaos and stress for them, so just moving them all, potentially doing a many large water changes, and having a bunch of ammonia chips on hand was the best way to do this. I added wood and pipes from the 180/100 to the 600 sump to make use of the biofiltration these have on them. The first two to go were the RTCxTSN and big TSN. We opted to use the nets since they were just going to knock around like crazy. The first net sucked. They got banged up a little bit. The second net worked so much better, and by this time we knew what we need to do. I feel bad the first two have some ouchies, but I think they will heal up just fine. Just in case we doused the tank with Melafix and Pima fix. Yep, 300ml of each and $25 worth of that stuff later, I hope it helps. I guess even if it just makes me feel better that I did something for them.

We couldn't get video of us moving them, as it was way too chaotic. I did get videos of them before and after, though. I also got videos of how our water change system works. I'll get more videos tomorrow of the filtration. Hopefully, they tank will start clearing up again, and I might get some good shots of the tank. They have been stirring up the sand like crazy. The dust is getting into the water, but the sand itself is sinking nicely. Pool filter sand was worth the extra money over play sand by far.

Before
You can see how cramped these poor guys are. I've been trying to get this tank here, up, and running for the last 3 months, during which time they have been growing rapidly as these catfish are known to do. I was slightly worried that by the time we got the tank up, we weren't going to be able to get these guys out of the tank. They were in a 180 gallon 6'x2'x2', and the RTCxTSN was as long as the tank is wide and the big TSN is longer. The other big cats are not too far behind. I was desperate to get these guys into their new home.
[YT]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/h3JJhHqeH2w&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/h3JJhHqeH2w&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YT]

Water Change System 1
[YT]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y8A3RA-kRKQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y8A3RA-kRKQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YT]

Water Change System 2
[YT]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4UktqxdyBTU&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4UktqxdyBTU&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YT]

Water Change System 3
[YT]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qY-pECNJeOs&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qY-pECNJeOs&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YT]

Water Change System 4
I say in the video that "one aspect we had to add..." It sounds like it was something we didn't do at first, but this was all part of Eric's plan, and was built in from the beginning. I believe this would have for sure been a problem if we hadn't as the system is water tight.
[YT]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YhFDg7L0bYE&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YhFDg7L0bYE&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YT]

In their new home....
[YT]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oLQ_oCxd1bg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oLQ_oCxd1bg&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YT]

[YT]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/S5IkOk4MKu4&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/S5IkOk4MKu4&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YT]

[YT]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/I5FbD43LPgQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/I5FbD43LPgQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YT]

 

[jlnguyen74]

They are in... All of them. I realized that it was total chaos and stress for them, so just moving them all, potentially doing a many large water changes, and having a bunch of ammonia chips on hand was the best way to do this. I added wood and pipes from the 180/100 to the 600 sump to make use of the biofiltration these have on them. The first two to go were the RTCxTSN and big TSN. We opted to use the nets since they were just going to knock around like crazy. The first net sucked. They got banged up a little bit. The second net worked so much better, and by this time we knew what we need to do. I feel bad the first two have some ouchies, but I think they will heal up just fine. Just in case we doused the tank with Melafix and Pima fix. Yep, 300ml of each and $25 worth of that stuff later, I hope it helps. I guess even if it just makes me feel better that I did something for them.

We couldn't get video of us moving them, as it was way too chaotic. I did get videos of them before and after, though. I also got videos of how our water change system works. I'll get more videos tomorrow of the filtration. Hopefully, they tank will start clearing up again, and I might get some good shots of the tank. They have been stirring up the sand like crazy. The dust is getting into the water, but the sand itself is sinking nicely. Pool filter sand was worth the extra money over play sand by far.

Before
You can see how cramped these poor guys are. I've been trying to get this tank here, up, and running for the last 3 months, during which time they have been growing rapidly as these catfish are known to do. I was slightly worried that by the time we got the tank up, we weren't going to be able to get these guys out of the tank. They were in a 180 gallon 6'x2'x2', and the RTCxTSN was as long as the tank is wide and the big TSN is longer. The other big cats are not too far behind. I was desperate to get these guys into their new home.

Awesome Jen! I can't wait to get home to watch those youtube links you posted! You should be fine! May be water change more often the first couple of weeks until the bacteria catches up with the fish load. Those ammo chips could be a pain! They may exhaust before you know it!