Cichla + Potamotrygon Tank : I need your help in conception

[ettfettbranamn]

Amazing tank! I could mention the condition of the tank, the size and growth (especially the panaque), the colours of the cichla, the great green wall or just the size of it! I could go on for hours but i will just sum it up by saying this is one of the most thought through and best tanks i've ever seen!

You may not have a platinum something or a super red that but this is way better! Great build!

 

[bonesb66]

It definately is one of the best tanks i've seen too.
Shame that you can't capture the arowana hunting, do they still do it at their current size? the comment that you mentioned it on they were small at the time.
I do understand what you mean about safety box, even with a back up tank if it blows and you are sleeping what good is back up tank? Your's is a sacrfice for safety, which is important!
The underfloor heating looks a fantastic idea, if i can learn how to understand what i need and how to do it, i would use that rather than electrical heaters.
I think with my design if i have 2' of wall before the glass by the time i'm sitting on a chair i'll be able to see ahead through the glass but diagonelly down also so maybe not so bad.

 

[ElTofi]

here was the wall's building with the "wooden frame" set up



and then when finished, with liquid concrete inside it :

 

[ElTofi]

for the final result, 7 weeks later (drying time) :

 

[ElTofi]

I can't remember if I wrote here the explanations on Heating System...

anyway...

it comes from an extension of the house boiler system (which is like a fuel oil one but with wood pellets as fuel), heating by exchange of hot water into the floor. You can see the white piping which was drowned into the basement of the tank. This tank circuit is regulated by a solenoid valve coupled with a temperature sensor. When water comes below the set temperature, the solenoid valve opens the hot water circuit into the basement and 40°Celsius water runs through it, delivering an efficient heat exchange. Exactly the same system as for the house, except that it heats tank water instead of rooms air.

the whole system is driven by this equipment :

 

[ElTofi]

It definately is one of the best tanks i've seen too.
Shame that you can't capture the arowana hunting, do they still do it at their current size? the comment that you mentioned it on they were small at the time.
I do understand what you mean about safety box, even with a back up tank if it blows and you are sleeping what good is back up tank? Your's is a sacrfice for safety, which is important!
The underfloor heating looks a fantastic idea, if i can learn how to understand what i need and how to do it, i would use that rather than electrical heaters.
I think with my design if i have 2' of wall before the glass by the time i'm sitting on a chair i'll be able to see ahead through the glass but diagonelly down also so maybe not so bad.

considering Arowanas, they do still hunt... depending on what I find to feed them with "living food"... in spring and fall, I can easily find batracians (mainly green or red frogs) and it's another type of hunt (without jumping), but very more wild... with BIG splashes all around the tank...

finally, don't underestimate the refraction due to water and glass... it's quite important... In my case, it's a 1/3 vs 2/3 story... but I guess it could be less, if I had not 125 cm of water level.

 

[ElTofi]

Amazing tank! I could mention the condition of the tank, the size and growth (especially the panaque), the colours of the cichla, the great green wall or just the size of it! I could go on for hours but i will just sum it up by saying this is one of the most thought through and best tanks i've ever seen!

You may not have a platinum something or a super red that but this is way better! Great build!

thanks a lot, but even if relatively well "thought", it still has a few pen in the ass subjects :

- filtration a bit too low (which costs an arm, see next point)
- electricity supply (around 850 W running 24/7)
- plexiglas doors (dirty with hard tap water projection)
- almost impossible to take back a fish when it's inside it
- impossible to segragate a wounded fish from the others

the rest is quite fine indeed...

 

[spiff44]

Do you ever find fish on your floor?

 

[ElTofi]

I did, indeed... back in 2012, one of my Arowana (probably a 2nd male) was beginning to get bothered quite roughly by the dominant male... I already had the plexiglas panels to close the green wall part above, but I had to leave a 15x15 cm square for the pipes of the external pool sand filter... and then, one morning, I found this :





never had a problem from that time (1 left male for 2 females), but trust me when I say I ALWAYS take a specific look at all the suspended doors when I leave the fish room...

and sometimes, especially in summer when insects can come into the fish room by the windows, I can hear some very loud and deep noise of jumps, splash and BONG on the plexiglas doors... My fish DO jump... Arowanas & Cichlas too...

 

[spiff44]

Major bummer! What did you do with them? Turn them into fish food for the rest?