Another new guy

Hi Folks, I've been lurking around for a few weeks and figured I should finally post and say hi.

I've had various freshwater tanks growing up, and will admit it's been a decades since my last tank. But having another tank for the long run has been something that I've always wanted to have again, for myself and my family. I've had family members throughout the years with reef tanks, so I've not been too far away, just not owning one myself. So now I'm back in and jumping in head first...

I'm currently having a 260 gallon starphire tank built. It could be used for saltwater or freshwater, but I'm planning to be using it as a freshwater. I'm also having a sump built as well as a steel stand that will be powder coated. It's been a bit painful waiting for it, but taking this time to get my pumps, plumbing and thinking how I'll be wrapping the steel stand later. Most likely I'm going to go the painted MDO plywood painted with some trim molding to match my décor. I'll use magnets to keep attached.

Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself and share what got going on. Hoping to brush up and contribute where I can.

-Dan

Thanks All. Mustard, I've not completely decided yet but the thought of having a community tank with some schooling cichlids would be nice and my kids would like that. I know ideally I should have a longer tank, but to be honest I'm leaning towards an Australian Aro - Saratoga or Jardini. I really the Arowana's from Asia, but being that they're illegal here, and can pricey, I'll defer that for now

To be safe and as I was paranoid, my brother-in-law and added some additional floor support in the crawl space where the tank would be placed. I'm placing the tank peninsula style and it will be running directly on top of a 4x8 beam (that runs about 20+ across the floor). The tank (and beam) runs perpendicular across 6 I-joists (given the tank is 6'). So we decided to add 2 more 8' 4x8 beams, each running 19" parallel on each side of the existing beam, supported by three 4x4 posts each. When planning, we were going to sister the beams together, but decided that we had plenty of support with the 3 beam underneath. I feel much better now.

Evz jardini said:

Welcome to mfk , look forward to seeing your setup also
You might want to look into jardini aggression before you buy one there the most aggressive aro and unless you get lucky schooling cichlids don't stand much of a chance , tankmates if any need to be hardy fish that can stand up to the aggression

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Hi an thanks Jardini - Actually what I meant was community OR Aro, and not together ;-) . Yes, based on my readings it does seems the Jardini's are relatively more aggressive. If I go with that, then it will have some more bigger/robust tank mates. I'm thinking just a parrot couple or severums? This is a good topic which I'm sure the Aro subforum talks a lot about...I should probably take this conversation there and get some posts credit

72"x30"x28"