125 gallon catastrophe...

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I'm glad I didn't start till I was off work 0.0. I did start setting water aside. I should have enough for a water change in an hour. If the chlorine is out, that will be done for the day.

The bed filters are under gravel filters and are fed by air pumps. I used two air pumps and have six uplift tubes. When the fish leave them alone, they work great. I have to reset them about once a week though. I use a powerhead in another tank because the wet/dry filters always loose suction and stop flow when the power goes out. The two filters on this tank are heavy duty and suck air when the power comes back on. I used pvc pipe to loop the water from one side of the aquarium to the other. The inlet tubes are close enough to the surface to skim ammonia. One of them is broken on the elbow because the fish hit it or something.

I don't remember this kit working much better for me when I had first got into fish. The readings were different with no changes in the aquarium. If that's what you recommend, that is what I'm getting. With any luck, I'll have that working correctly.

I was re-reading the replies and noticed something about heaters being out of water. I haven't let that happen. I do think that maybe the fish could have been hitting/biting it. This being the second heater among 8 to be in the tank to break, I am not sure that fish haven't been breaking these too along with the uplift tubes and filter tubes. Does anyone have these problems with cichlids and gouramis? If it is a big problem, I'm going to have to build an enclosure around these or get some 4" pvc inline with the filters or something. That should solve all broken heater problems on account of the fish. Let me know anyone.

Time to check the water progress and get started on changing water. Wish me luck and pray that I get better at this. I'll be checking my other aquariums for problems with nitrates and hardness although they are planted and seem to stay cleaner.
 
Pacu = heater buster.

If A, then B.

I have had big cichlids do it to me too.

Best $4 solution ever.....
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Make a "sock" for your heaters out of this stuff and tie it shut with electrical zip ties.
 
you need a bigger tank
 
I will have to shield the heaters and other pipes then. That is obviously a problem now that you've said that. I've learned some lessons on this one. With any luck at all, this won't happen again.
 
uncwnells;3794046; said:
you need a bigger tank

Why would I need a bigger tank? I know pacus get over 2 feet and gouramis somewhere in there but a 125 gallon tank shouldn't fall under the fish bowl theory should it? I'm not sure why I would buy a bigger tank than 125 gallons for these kinds of fish. I will be trying to maintain this tank better though. Some shielding and some better water testing should go a long ways.
 
I will help with the size question. I know NOTHING about the gourami and will focus on the pacu.

A 125 is only 18" front to back, a 2' long pacu wouldn't be able to turn around and it WOULD be able to swim strong enough into the glass to break the end out!

I have a pair in a 210 and am starting construction on a bigger tank. Basic rules for tank size: tank should be 4x as long as your fish and at least 1.5 times as wide as your fish is long. Based on that math a 2' long pacu needs a tank that is at least 8 x 3 in foot print. My 210 is only 7 x 2 and your 125 is only 6 x 1.5. And all of that is depending on the pacu not growing more than 2' long. Add to it the height of a grown pacu is WELL over a foot, the 125 is only 18" deep. You couldn't change out more than a few inches of water with out "beaching" the fish.

My new tank will be 9 x 3 x 2.5. (About 500 gallons)
 
kdrun76;3795825; said:
I will help with the size question. I know NOTHING about the gourami and will focus on the pacu.

A 125 is only 18" front to back, a 2' long pacu wouldn't be able to turn around and it WOULD be able to swim strong enough into the glass to break the end out!

I have a pair in a 210 and am starting construction on a bigger tank. Basic rules for tank size: tank should be 4x as long as your fish and at least 1.5 times as wide as your fish is long. Based on that math a 2' long pacu needs a tank that is at least 8 x 3 in foot print. My 210 is only 7 x 2 and your 125 is only 6 x 1.5. And all of that is depending on the pacu not growing more than 2' long. Add to it the height of a grown pacu is WELL over a foot, the 125 is only 18" deep. You couldn't change out more than a few inches of water with out "beaching" the fish.

My new tank will be 9 x 3 x 2.5. (About 500 gallons)

I haven't had a problem with fish outgrowing tank size. Even aparaimas gigas and koi don't grow beyond tank size unless you overfeed them. I would have had to move the pacu to a pond or lake if I couldn't come up with one myself after awhile but the current 1 ft pacu had seemed fine until these problems surfaced. Was it already time to move him? Is that why the heaters and tubes were broken? I was going to shield these but if it is already time to move him, I'm going to have to post an ad locally or let petco have him.
 
I was re-reading the replies again. I saw that you mentioned something about a bioload? Is a 125 gallon tank only big enough for one or two fish this size? I'll have to look up bioloads. Nitrates came down a little before and after the water change. I did a little less than 15 out and about 17 in. Gh and Kh came down as well. Should the nitrites still be at 0 if there were dead fish recently? I usually have a flux when one of the feeders for my toadfish or one of the neon tetras dies. Let me know if big tanks handle deaths better or anything about these results. Thanks.
 
Fish growing to the size of an aquarium is a myth. Here's my old 22" pacu in a 120 gallon long, same dimensions as a 125 just not as tall.

37.jpg
 
vaine111;3796761; said:
Fish growing to the size of an aquarium is a myth. Here's my old 22" pacu in a 120 gallon long, same dimensions as a 125 just not as tall.

Nice fish. I had hoped that would be mine. So far he is pulling along. He's fightin and I'm praying I don't screw this up any worse. If he doesn't make it, it'll be awhile before I try again.

What size tank did you switch him to or did you?
 
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