500 Gallon Journal Input Accepted

[Ryan_R]

Love it!

I'm a big fan of Chocolates and flagtails. If it were me, I'd do the Amazon biotype thing... so characins over barbs, and corys over loaches. Only problem long term is that all tetras fit inside the mouth of full grown chocolates. I have some of the smaller growing silver dollars that fill the dither role quite well.

Nice thing about getting fish that are "small" relative to the tank is that you'll see more natural behavior.

-Ryan

 

[NYCheken]

So contractor will be starting work on the new house soon and I was thinking about asking him to work on the custom stand. Question is for this same 500 gallon glass tank, would it be safe to add 1/2 inch all sides to the stand to fit the tank on top of it based on the tank measurement or should I give more room than 1/2 inch due to bracing etc. Any inputs for stand builders?

 

[Paulbearer]

So contractor will be starting work on the new house soon and I was thinking about asking him to work on the custom stand. Question is for this same 500 gallon glass tank, would it be safe to add 1/2 inch all sides to the stand to fit the tank on top of it based on the tank measurement or should I give more room than 1/2 inch due to bracing etc. Any inputs for stand builders?

I would contact them and mike is pretty fast getting back to you...but .5 should be ok.

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[Paulbearer]

Chocolate Cichlid
Roseline Barb x30
Flagtail
Odessa Barb x30
Cory x30
Loach x15
Pleco x5 (probably bristle)

Maybe:
Peasei
Lemon Tetra
Buenos Aires Tetra



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[Paulbearer]

Still debating on another can or not....was thinking of another with UV however I don't know if I'll need it.

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[Ryan_R]

Still debating on another can or not....was thinking of another with UV however I don't know if I'll need it.

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For my money, I'd buy a separate UV so you can set the flow low enough to kill parasites.

-Ryan

 

[Paulbearer]

For my money, I'd buy a separate UV so you can set the flow low enough to kill parasites.

-Ryan

Yea I'm really thinking of getting two TMC Vecton-6 and running them on some canisters or T'ing them off my 2262 or fx6.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/tmcuvsterilizer.html#cart

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[Ryan_R]

Stay away from that clown at American Aquarium. He's a real "know-it-all".... sharing rumors instead of facts. He sold me two bulbs for my two 18W Turbo Twists that both died in within a month. Within a week of each other. The filaments were vaporized and stuck to the glass. I contacted American Aquarium. After the first one died, he told me that Turbo Twists had known problems with ballasts and that I'd be better served by replacing both units with one of his products. I pointed out that the units worked fine when I put the original bulbs back in, and those bulbs looked to be in better shape after a year of running than his bulbs did in only three weeks. He said that was normal: old bulbs light up easier. OK. So I took the still working bulb he sold me (which was fairly blackened already) out of the other Turbo Twist, and swapped that in place of the now dead bulb. Worked fine. I pointed this out to him, and he gave me some other story. Within a couple days, the second bulb croaked. Wonderful. Neither bulb was mishandled, and I know not to touch glass with my hands.

So, I simply got two new bulbs off eBay. That was four years ago. Those same Turbo Twists have been running fine (nonstop, except for weekly water changes) for four years since. These days I'm back to using Coral life bulbs.... replacing periodically.

-Ryan

 

[Ryan_R]

Chocolate Cichlid
Roseline Barb x30
Flagtail
Odessa Barb x30
Cory x30
Loach x15
Pleco x5 (probably bristle)

Maybe:
Peasei
Lemon Tetra
Buenos Aires Tetra

How big is your chocolate? My big male (~10" or so) just demolishes schools of small fish. I'm sure the two 8" females weren't helping either. I had 30 lemon tetras last fall. Loved them!.... but my chocolates decimated them over night. I've even seen full size platys get sucked into their mouths. It wasn't until my silver dollars got a little meat on them that they stopped showing up in pieces.

-Ryan

 

[Paulbearer]

How big is your chocolate? My big male (~10" or so) just demolishes schools of small fish. I'm sure the two 8" females weren't helping either. I had 30 lemon tetras last fall. Loved them!.... but my chocolates decimated them over night. I've even seen full size platys get sucked into their mouths. It wasn't until my silver dollars got a little meat on them that they stopped showing up in pieces.

-Ryan

I know each are different and Ive had them in at least one tank for the last 10+ years. My thoughts was with the footprint that they would be ok....especially the red line barbs.

You think (2) 12x 36 watt turbotwist are better?

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