Greetings from Manitoba Canada!
I Managed to score a ~70 G Custom Built European Braced Aquarium For $50.00 CDN off Kijiji.ca. I decided after years of reading about the different aspects of Planted aquariums, paludariums and ripariums to start a project taking all the techniques I admired and incorporating them into my aquarium. This is my largest aquarium to date and I already know I want a bigger one!
The tank itself 48"X18"X18" - Brand new, purchased from a photographer who used it for one photo shoot
Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy) - Will be the apex predator in the tank. I will also be including a few other species of local baitfish varieties (which I will be breeding in separate tanks) Dace species, Shiners, Sculpins and Johnny Darters etc.
Decided on constructing a river Manifold (special thanks to Martin Thoene- article author) for oxygen and waste circulation. as Necturus are ussually a calm water species I may only end up using smaller powerheads.
http://www.loaches.com/articles/rive...anifold-design <-- excellent DIY read
Basic Stand design (I modified the actual stand to suit my needs) special thanks to koipoloi over at Aquarium Central for pointing out how great Google sketch can be for this kind of thing I highly recommend the program for the visual planning stages of any DIY project
The trip to home depot, one of many with A LOT more to go lol
The Build (still in progress)
Semi-complete stand with prototype river manifold squeezed inside.
I will be using a combination of: eggcrate, silicone, expanding foam, rock, branches and roots to create a background.
Filtration - I would like to put together a sump with overflow box to turn the tank over at least 900 GPH (I really want 15-20X/h filtration). I'm trying to optimize a design that would be wet/dry trickle through bio balls that will fit under my stand possibly up to 50% of the size of the main tank. Hopefully with enough room to put a breeding/ fry tank under the stand along with a chiller to keep the water temp below 70 degrees.
Lighting:TBA - more than likely lower output flourescent w/ lunar LED
Will also be incorporating local varieties of lake plants and invertibrates.
Might even start a redworm farm in my closet (should have seen my ladies face when I said that at dinner, sort of like --->
)
I will update asap and if you have any suggestions, insight or comments feel free to chime in! especially with equipment suggestions or links to relevant articles.
PS I am new to MFK so be easy!
Maxx.
I Managed to score a ~70 G Custom Built European Braced Aquarium For $50.00 CDN off Kijiji.ca. I decided after years of reading about the different aspects of Planted aquariums, paludariums and ripariums to start a project taking all the techniques I admired and incorporating them into my aquarium. This is my largest aquarium to date and I already know I want a bigger one!
The tank itself 48"X18"X18" - Brand new, purchased from a photographer who used it for one photo shoot
Necturus maculosus (Mudpuppy) - Will be the apex predator in the tank. I will also be including a few other species of local baitfish varieties (which I will be breeding in separate tanks) Dace species, Shiners, Sculpins and Johnny Darters etc.
Decided on constructing a river Manifold (special thanks to Martin Thoene- article author) for oxygen and waste circulation. as Necturus are ussually a calm water species I may only end up using smaller powerheads.
http://www.loaches.com/articles/rive...anifold-design <-- excellent DIY read
Basic Stand design (I modified the actual stand to suit my needs) special thanks to koipoloi over at Aquarium Central for pointing out how great Google sketch can be for this kind of thing I highly recommend the program for the visual planning stages of any DIY project
The trip to home depot, one of many with A LOT more to go lol
The Build (still in progress)
Semi-complete stand with prototype river manifold squeezed inside.
I will be using a combination of: eggcrate, silicone, expanding foam, rock, branches and roots to create a background.
Filtration - I would like to put together a sump with overflow box to turn the tank over at least 900 GPH (I really want 15-20X/h filtration). I'm trying to optimize a design that would be wet/dry trickle through bio balls that will fit under my stand possibly up to 50% of the size of the main tank. Hopefully with enough room to put a breeding/ fry tank under the stand along with a chiller to keep the water temp below 70 degrees.
Lighting:TBA - more than likely lower output flourescent w/ lunar LED
Will also be incorporating local varieties of lake plants and invertibrates.
Might even start a redworm farm in my closet (should have seen my ladies face when I said that at dinner, sort of like --->
) I will update asap and if you have any suggestions, insight or comments feel free to chime in! especially with equipment suggestions or links to relevant articles.
PS I am new to MFK so be easy!
Maxx.
might take out the middle support next weekend and stick a 50-70 in there. it would almost be a freshwater refugium. the species im looking at breeding would primarily be marmorkreb. I am absolutely fascinated by the fact they are such a hardy and easily cloned specimen. the babies will make an excellent source of food for Necturus or in case I cannot locate any maybe a puffer. I've been trying to hold back purchasing any crays until I can put together an RUGF for my breeder tank. if I start on those crays too soon (notorious producers) i'll have to move them to a larger container, maybe a boiling pot of water if you catch my drift lol