My project 180 gallon Aggressive CA tank

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Very nie info there, can you tell me more about the drip plate? I want to make a sump soon and I'm trying to figure out a good starting point for number of holes and size per flow rate so i can get a pooling like you have but not over flow.

I can do trail and error but would be nice to have a starting point.
 
Thanks for the compliments all.

Epond -

The drip plate has 120 holes (12 rows @ 10 per row). The holes started at 1/8" diameter...now 20 holes have been drilled to 3/16. I'm finding that I am outpumping the drip plate, or at least the drip plate's ability to flow. Over a period of about 4 days, my water level on the drip plate rises by 1/2".

After some testing, I have come to the conclusion that the drip plate seals so tightly that I'm getting a slight positive pressure in the media chamber under the drip plate, which is causing the water to build up. When the pumps are running, my water level in the media chamber is lower than the water level in the pump chamber. When the pumps are shut off, bubbles start to come up from the drip plate. I'm working on a solution.

On the positive side, I have lots of nitrite in the tank, and ammonia is reading zero after 24 hours. Hoping to be fully cycled in 10 days or so.
 
*update*

The tank is doing great. I'm still working on the algae scrubber, but I have already bought some parts for the CO2 reg.

Here are some recent pics of the 180, and what is quickly becoming basement fishroom #2. I have a 55 setup for my SOB male festae, and a 20 gallon long full of juvie Rotkeils. I'm setting up the spare 75 I have, and am hoping to buy a handful of black bar SDs from Rapps.

I also have modified my water change setup; I now use RO water for the tanks. The first barrel acts as a RO collection barrel, and the second is the mix barrel. I upgraded the main pump to a Mag 9.5, which does a pretty good job pumping water up from the basement.

I am still playing around with the ideal water parameters...I'm trying to find the perfect salt buffer mix for the RO system. If anyone has a good RO buffer mix for SA cichlids, drop me a PM please!

Current stocking on the tank is:

(1) female Festae ~7"
Trio Convicts
Trio Firemouths
(1) Bristlenose

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kmill;4530365; said:
Sweet tank we need an update on the festae please.
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I have firmly decided that daddy festae is not going to be placed in the 180 gallon. I measured him 8 days ago and he is 8 1/8" inches long (he has grown 1/4" in less than 2 weeks!). He continues to become more aggressive by himself; I got my hand too close to him in his very own 75 gallon while doing a water change and was hit *hard*. He didn't actually bite me, but attempted to and performed a incredibly hard 'head butt'. Additionally, he is able to move about 60 pounds of sand in less than two hours, and can push a 30" long piece of waterlogged driftwood around the tank with ease. I am convinced that he would destroy all things (living and not) in the 180 gallon within hours, if not less. He is very ill tempered, very strong, and moves at speeds to attack food that both surprises me and gives me a shower of tank water.

The female however has healed up well; her scar is very visible, but her colors are stunning. She puts on a show nightly; her colors change from blue, to green, to vibrant yellow/orange/red, to deep maroon, and even to almost black when she is stressed. Her colors can change almost instantly; all attempts to photograph her have failed as my digital camera is too slow to catch her colors before she changes. She is very tolerant of the other fish in the tank and shows little aggression towards the other tankmates.

I am still going to attempt to breed the pair, however I am afraid to place both fish in the 75 gallon at the same time, even though the female is approx 7.5" and the male is over 8". I have no room for a larger tank but am considering a kiddie pool or something else temp in the basement. I want fry to raise a more mellow male, and there are people lining up to get some fry for themselves.
 
Awesome setup. Throw up a black background on it, and it will look perfect.
 
Nemesis;4530553; said:
Awesome setup. Throw up a black background on it, and it will look perfect.
Click to expand...

I'm going to try black fabric rather than an aquarium specific background. It is much cheaper per foot and won't be reflective like the vinyl backgrounds.

I just received the reg for my CO2 setup for the 180 today. It's an all brass High Purity VWR dual stage reg. It's gonna be a test for a while to see if I will need the algae scrubber, if I need to add ferts, how inadequate is my lighting...etc.

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