My 500 Gallon 8' x 4' x 25"

[Madding]

Thanks all, yes the footprint is crazy, I got into the tank yesterday and it was nutty crawling around in there.

As to the stocklist, yes I have everything on that list, but it won't all be going into the tank at once.

There is now a 23" tropical gar as well as the 18" one, meaning the smaller gars are going to stay in the 150 until they grow a bit (high risk of cannibalism between gar species of vastly different sizes). The perch are also too valuable to risk with the huge gar until they put on some size.

So pictures of the initial set up will include: 2x Tropical gar, 1x Black arowana, 1x African arowana, 1x Australian lungfish, 1x Fly river turtle, 1x Marbled pim, 1x Marbled/tsn pim, and possibly my four polypterus (2x delhezi, 1x ornate, 1x endli).

It's pretty much up to me whether to put rays in the 500 or the turtle and polypterus instead. The latter group likes to bite the former.

 

[Madding]

Plumbing the sump tomorrow morning and starting a slow fill process.

Two 48" aquarium light fixtures (nothing too fancy) will be arriving soon.

Hoping to start moving fish by next week.

 

[Poekin]

Someone already asked the question, but you didnt answer:

What brand sump is that? It doesn't look DIY. Thanks and awesome tank

 

[thefishmaster1]

MFK

 

[Madding]

Sorry about not answering the sump question earlier, it slipped my mind-

It's a WDCD 300 Bio-Media Stack Filter, running with a 2400 GPH pump.

I have a buddy who runs a private aquascaping business (mostly for setting up large display tanks for businesses and corporations) and he hooked me up with the filtration and the two 250 watt heaters.

 

[CA-Delta]

Looks good.
Ain't nothiin' like a big ole pile of new parts.
It makes my wallet quiver.

 

[bjbass]

Awesome setup! I can't wait to see the end result. What kind of substrate is that?

 

[Chromobotia]

Awesome tank. 4ft wide is very impressive. I hope that the chip doesn't set you back.

Two things I've noticed in your thread that based on my experience you may want to look at (I could be wrong). 1st is I don't think 500 watts worth of heaters is going to get the job done. Do you have more that you will be using but just didn't list? Maybe I missed it. I think you will need around 1250 watts at a minimum to maintain tropical temps in the winter. 2nd, depending on how deep you want the substarte to be, 200 pounds might not provide enough coverage. This one I'm not sure about but thought I would bring it up.

Good luck with the set up and filling of this beast.

 

[TheCanuck]

 

[Madding]

The substrate is Caribsea Sunset Gold mixed with Caribsea Black Moon.

Two hundred pounds seems low I know, but I'm looking for barely an inch of coverage. Just something for the bottom, i don't mind if it gets swiped around and bare spots show every so often. I have two extra bags of sunset gold to clear in any spots that desperately need more.

As for the heating situation, I agree that two 250 watts will likely not be enough but it's what came with my package deal which is why I've mentioned it. My basement stays pretty warm because of all the tanks and the water is generally above room temperature. I'll give it a few days and see how much extra heat I think I'll need. I have a lot of extra heaters laying around.

Thanks for the input!

Michael