Starting a 500 gallon build
- Thread starter jtalley
- Start date
Picked up a MagFloat Pro due to the thickness of the acrylic, and it works very well to remove the algae. It looked like there very only a few places near the substrate, but it cleaned a film over the entire tank so everything looks even better.
No more losses in the tank after the Ahli due to rearranging the tank. In fact, I see 2 females that appear to be holding eggs! I'm very happy that they like the new tank/environment so soon. All fish are quite active except the catfish which tend to stay inside the larger piece of driftwood. The two smaller cats (~4") come out to eat and swim at night, but the larger (~7") upside down, still does not come out and the only sign they are alive is they like to stick their tail out a knot hole in the drift wood.
I will be out of town for about 2 weeks during the holiday, but once I return I plan to sharply increase the stocking (25 now ultimately to around 100 pieces) as well as complete the stand skinning and canopy. It has been too cold here with the wind for me to paint outside and wife would not like it if I did it inside!
Also glad to say the Auto Top Off is working great. Last week it replaced approximately 5 gallons of evaporation and kept everything silent in the overflow.
No more losses in the tank after the Ahli due to rearranging the tank. In fact, I see 2 females that appear to be holding eggs! I'm very happy that they like the new tank/environment so soon. All fish are quite active except the catfish which tend to stay inside the larger piece of driftwood. The two smaller cats (~4") come out to eat and swim at night, but the larger (~7") upside down, still does not come out and the only sign they are alive is they like to stick their tail out a knot hole in the drift wood.
I will be out of town for about 2 weeks during the holiday, but once I return I plan to sharply increase the stocking (25 now ultimately to around 100 pieces) as well as complete the stand skinning and canopy. It has been too cold here with the wind for me to paint outside and wife would not like it if I did it inside!
Also glad to say the Auto Top Off is working great. Last week it replaced approximately 5 gallons of evaporation and kept everything silent in the overflow.
Picked up some 1x2's today to put a canopy together before I leave for the holiday. I plan to get the frame built tomorrow, then skin it out on Wednesday or Thursday. The canopy is designed such that the lights and power strips will be on a level ~8" above the water over acrylic sheets. In between the water and lights there will be 3 hinged doors for access to the water surface.
Unfortunately today I found that one of the pregnant females was picked up by a larger Peacock and they no longer looks to be holding and is in a very beat up condition. Hopefully she will survive and the aggression will go down a lot when there are more than 25 in the tank.
Unfortunately today I found that one of the pregnant females was picked up by a larger Peacock and they no longer looks to be holding and is in a very beat up condition. Hopefully she will survive and the aggression will go down a lot when there are more than 25 in the tank.
Finished putting the frame for the canopy together today. Hopefully I will have time to go pick up some ply sheet tomorrow and get it skinned so I can put it in place. Painting, doors and hardware will have to wait.
The beat up fish is still alive, so hopefully they will make it. If I get the canopy skinned, I'll post pictures tomorrow.
The beat up fish is still alive, so hopefully they will make it. If I get the canopy skinned, I'll post pictures tomorrow.
Been a while since my last post, but things are starting to move forward again.
The beat up fish I mentioned in the last post is still alive and the other pregnant fish is still holding so should have some fry soon, probably to be eaten however since I'm not separating them as that would be impossible.
The tank parameters have been holding steady and currently:
76.4 F, pH 7.9, ammonia - 0, nitrate < 5
I have an order arriving tomorrow from LiveFishDirect, 100 pieces, so I'm excited to have a well stocked active tank. Of course due to the sharp bioload increase I will be keeping a close eye on water parameters.
The beat up fish I mentioned in the last post is still alive and the other pregnant fish is still holding so should have some fry soon, probably to be eaten however since I'm not separating them as that would be impossible.
The tank parameters have been holding steady and currently:
76.4 F, pH 7.9, ammonia - 0, nitrate < 5
I have an order arriving tomorrow from LiveFishDirect, 100 pieces, so I'm excited to have a well stocked active tank. Of course due to the sharp bioload increase I will be keeping a close eye on water parameters.
My dad is a civil engineer so I know this stand, which we recently made, will work great. It currently supports our 535 gallon tank (8'Lx4'Dx30"H). The advantage is that it provides plenty of room under the stand for a large amount of water treatment equipment. Disadvantage, weight.file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Douglas%20Wick/Desktop/U535%20Aquarium%20stand%20Layout1%20(1).pdffile:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Douglas%20Wick/Desktop
/plan%20view%20stand%20Layout1%20(1).pdf
/plan%20view%20stand%20Layout1%20(1).pdf
The tags in the last post are to your local computer...
The fish arrived this morning, well packaged and heated from what my wife said. They also shipped about 120 fish, all of which arrived alive, and seem to be doing ok in the tank. Unfortunately I have to be at work and can't get anything better than camera pics until I go home...
I was planning on treating with prime and slowly reduce dose as the bacteria catches up, since I usually don't trust the additive bacteria...
The fish arrived this morning, well packaged and heated from what my wife said. They also shipped about 120 fish, all of which arrived alive, and seem to be doing ok in the tank. Unfortunately I have to be at work and can't get anything better than camera pics until I go home...
I was planning on treating with prime and slowly reduce dose as the bacteria catches up, since I usually don't trust the additive bacteria...
So turns out they shipped about 110, so with the previous residents, that total number of fish is approximately 135 right now. All of them seem to be exploring and alright. Hard to get a good picture because they are moving quite fast. Good mix of color and none too small to fit in with the existing crew. Enjoy.
