Hey people!
I thought I'd share my journey with my new 75G Tropheus tank that I set up 6 months ago.
I found a deal on a used Oceanic 75G on the local Kijjii clasifieds so I jumped on it. It was in pretty rough shape when I first got but nothing a good cleaning and some paint couldnt fix. Here's what it looked like after I gave it a couple wash downs with some water/vinegar and a few razor blades.
This is how it looked after I painted the stand and back pane of glass black. I also gave the inside of the stand a couple coats of mildew resistant white paint.
The front glass pane had a few more scratches on it than I originally thought but still the tank is solid and well built. It has a corner overflow and came with return standpipe with locline and a perforated tube with a sponge for the drain. I replaced the drain pipe with a durso since this is going in my living room and it has to be quiet. I also wired up a light and switch for the sump pump.
I picked up an Aqueon ProFlex Model 3 sump with a Quiet One 3000 return pump for filtration. It was a little pricey but I didn't feel like making my own sump so it works perfectly.
For lighting I picked up a pair of TMC AquaRay GroBeam 500's with the control module.
AquaRay lighting controller. It has an on/off timer and dimming feature to simulate sunrise/sunset. I have it set to go from 100% power down to 1% over a 2 hour period starting at 7:00pm. They then stay at 1% overnight to cast an eery moonlight on the tank. Sunrise starts at 6am and full power is achieved at 8am
After adding a Koralia for water movement and a heater I was all set. Did my final aquascaping and then I started cycling with some used media, Seachem Stability and some convicts. Full tank shot..
I've moved the heater into the overflow since this last picture to hide it. All to do now is wait for the stars of the show!
.
.
.
.. and they're here!
25 Tropheus sp. Red "Chimba". These pictures were taken 6 months ago and they were about 1.5" to 2" in size at the time.
I have since added an Eheim 2080 to the tank to get some filtration closer to the bottom of the tank. I really had to shoe-horn it in there!
So thats it! Long term I plan on moving these guys into a 300G along with some other Tanganyika species. So far they have all made it past the 6 month mark except for one that wouldn't eat. The tank has been great and the Trophs are extremely entertaining to watch.. especially around feeding time.
I thought I'd share my journey with my new 75G Tropheus tank that I set up 6 months ago.
I found a deal on a used Oceanic 75G on the local Kijjii clasifieds so I jumped on it. It was in pretty rough shape when I first got but nothing a good cleaning and some paint couldnt fix. Here's what it looked like after I gave it a couple wash downs with some water/vinegar and a few razor blades.
This is how it looked after I painted the stand and back pane of glass black. I also gave the inside of the stand a couple coats of mildew resistant white paint.
The front glass pane had a few more scratches on it than I originally thought but still the tank is solid and well built. It has a corner overflow and came with return standpipe with locline and a perforated tube with a sponge for the drain. I replaced the drain pipe with a durso since this is going in my living room and it has to be quiet. I also wired up a light and switch for the sump pump.
I picked up an Aqueon ProFlex Model 3 sump with a Quiet One 3000 return pump for filtration. It was a little pricey but I didn't feel like making my own sump so it works perfectly.
For lighting I picked up a pair of TMC AquaRay GroBeam 500's with the control module.
AquaRay lighting controller. It has an on/off timer and dimming feature to simulate sunrise/sunset. I have it set to go from 100% power down to 1% over a 2 hour period starting at 7:00pm. They then stay at 1% overnight to cast an eery moonlight on the tank. Sunrise starts at 6am and full power is achieved at 8am
After adding a Koralia for water movement and a heater I was all set. Did my final aquascaping and then I started cycling with some used media, Seachem Stability and some convicts. Full tank shot..
I've moved the heater into the overflow since this last picture to hide it. All to do now is wait for the stars of the show!
.
.
.
.. and they're here!
25 Tropheus sp. Red "Chimba". These pictures were taken 6 months ago and they were about 1.5" to 2" in size at the time.
I have since added an Eheim 2080 to the tank to get some filtration closer to the bottom of the tank. I really had to shoe-horn it in there!
So thats it! Long term I plan on moving these guys into a 300G along with some other Tanganyika species. So far they have all made it past the 6 month mark except for one that wouldn't eat. The tank has been great and the Trophs are extremely entertaining to watch.. especially around feeding time.
