Well its totally worth it though... 
Sometimes i feel so lazy to clean my 112 gallon 5foot long tank at times...
Sometimes i feel so lazy to clean my 112 gallon 5foot long tank at times...
David R's 2000L tank build
- Thread starter David R
- Start date
Just a quick update, nothing much new to report but the set up passed another "test" over xmas; being left unattended for two weeks with no water changes and a friend feeding the fish twice a week. The day before we left I cleaned out the first two sheets of Poret foam and changed ~20% of the water, parameters were:
pH: 6.6
TDS: 38
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
Got home late yesterday and fed them heavily, tested before the water change today and:
pH: 6.8
TDS: 63ppm
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm
Better than expected! I think the pothos do a great job of keeping the nitrates down with the light feeding, and I have no hesitation leaving the set up for four weeks when we head to the US later this year, though I will get the friend looking after them to do a small water change after two weeks. The Poret hadn't clogged, I think it could have probably gone another week with the reduced feeding, perhaps slightly longer, but I decided to clean it today as I'll be feeding them well this week to make up for the past two weeks. Which is slightly ironic as I'll be feeding myself far less to make up for the past two weeks of too much good food and beer!!
pH: 6.6
TDS: 38
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
Got home late yesterday and fed them heavily, tested before the water change today and:
pH: 6.8
TDS: 63ppm
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm
Better than expected! I think the pothos do a great job of keeping the nitrates down with the light feeding, and I have no hesitation leaving the set up for four weeks when we head to the US later this year, though I will get the friend looking after them to do a small water change after two weeks. The Poret hadn't clogged, I think it could have probably gone another week with the reduced feeding, perhaps slightly longer, but I decided to clean it today as I'll be feeding them well this week to make up for the past two weeks. Which is slightly ironic as I'll be feeding myself far less to make up for the past two weeks of too much good food and beer!!
I've been pretty slack with updating this thread, and TBH there hasn't been much going on at all with the tank. Water quality still really good despite changing only 10-25% weekly and feeding fairly heavily. Fish have been growing really well, with the biggest surprise being the Panaques. I constantly hear they're incredibly slow growing, but with plenty of space and lots of good food (NLS) these guys are bulking up fast. Anyway, here's some pics!
Blacky is probably around 2' now, fins still ragged but eating like a pig and otherwise healthy.
Largest L190
Starting to get some serious whiskers now.
The Panaques are still making a huge mess, but readily come out with the lights on to feed, usually stirring up large amounts of sawdust with their squabbling.
L190 'Thin Stripe'
Another L190
Pterophyllum scalare 'Peru Altum'. I'd love to get another dozen or so of these.
XL Royal Whiptail
Baryancistrus L81
Two of the L14
Closer, zoomed in through ~70cm of water!
With one of the L190s for size comparison, the L14 haven't grown as fast as I expected. They're still a little reclusive but do come out and feed during the day.
Feeding time.
And of course, the full tank shot.
Despite throwing in copious amounts of food I couldn't tempt the L128's out, which is a shame as they look great at their adult size. I didn't get any good shots of the Geophagus either, but they're just same old really. I'm sure I must have six males as there has been no sign of breeding whatsoever.
So where to now? Of course I can't just sit back and leave it alone, I haven't bought a new fish in nearly two years and it is driving me crazy! I'm contemplating selling the arowana to give me more flexibility with the stocking. As much as I love him I think another dozen angels plus a school of a few hundred cardinal tetras, a big group of corydoras, and a whole bunch of other little fish will make the tank more interesting. We'll see....
Blacky is probably around 2' now, fins still ragged but eating like a pig and otherwise healthy.
Largest L190
Starting to get some serious whiskers now.
The Panaques are still making a huge mess, but readily come out with the lights on to feed, usually stirring up large amounts of sawdust with their squabbling.
L190 'Thin Stripe'
Another L190
Pterophyllum scalare 'Peru Altum'. I'd love to get another dozen or so of these.
XL Royal Whiptail
Baryancistrus L81
Two of the L14
Closer, zoomed in through ~70cm of water!
With one of the L190s for size comparison, the L14 haven't grown as fast as I expected. They're still a little reclusive but do come out and feed during the day.
Feeding time.
And of course, the full tank shot.
Despite throwing in copious amounts of food I couldn't tempt the L128's out, which is a shame as they look great at their adult size. I didn't get any good shots of the Geophagus either, but they're just same old really. I'm sure I must have six males as there has been no sign of breeding whatsoever.
So where to now? Of course I can't just sit back and leave it alone, I haven't bought a new fish in nearly two years and it is driving me crazy! I'm contemplating selling the arowana to give me more flexibility with the stocking. As much as I love him I think another dozen angels plus a school of a few hundred cardinal tetras, a big group of corydoras, and a whole bunch of other little fish will make the tank more interesting. We'll see....
So blacky has gone, bring on the corydoras army and a big school of tetras! Also hoping to add a large group of angels if/when I can find some nice wild-type ones.
