I am also worried about the wolf tossing up sand. There is another member on here that runs a ultima 1000 with sand and has not had problems. They have a fly river turtle that stirs up the sand. That should make me feel more comfortable but I have seen some crazy aimara feeding videos and know there will be some sand clouds.
To Background or Not to Background :)
- Thread starter nzafi
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I am also worried about the wolf tossing up sand. There is another member on here that runs a ultima 1000 with sand and has not had problems. They have a fly river turtle that stirs up the sand. That should make me feel more comfortable but I have seen some crazy aimara feeding videos and know there will be some sand clouds.
Stand pipes and drip make all the difference, I read the post wrong, thinking flow thru bottom drains, sucking right off the bottom area of the tank.
I use stand pipes on some tanks, and also sand, and never had problems with it getting blown over stand pipes being near the surface, and into filtration (which can be hidden in those type back grounds).
But just in case of overflow of grit or other refuse, I planned dips, and clean outs at the bottom of vertical plumbing to catch (by gravity) heavier chunks, and sand, easy to collect and dispose of, and so they had less chance getting in the impeller/volute of pumps
I have used Back to Nature type backgrounds, but in my small (average 150 gal) tanks the backgrounds took up too much space. The one below was called "Malawi rocks" I believe.
I do prefer black backgrounds for those tanks, because I do a lot of fish photography, black helps with my photo skill level, as does sand, especially if the bottom gets included in the photo giving (for me) a more natural appearance.
In a 500gal + tank, you have plenty of leeway to use the 3 dimensional back ground without squandering space.
I use stand pipes on some tanks, and also sand, and never had problems with it getting blown over stand pipes being near the surface, and into filtration (which can be hidden in those type back grounds).
But just in case of overflow of grit or other refuse, I planned dips, and clean outs at the bottom of vertical plumbing to catch (by gravity) heavier chunks, and sand, easy to collect and dispose of, and so they had less chance getting in the impeller/volute of pumps
I have used Back to Nature type backgrounds, but in my small (average 150 gal) tanks the backgrounds took up too much space. The one below was called "Malawi rocks" I believe.
I do prefer black backgrounds for those tanks, because I do a lot of fish photography, black helps with my photo skill level, as does sand, especially if the bottom gets included in the photo giving (for me) a more natural appearance.
In a 500gal + tank, you have plenty of leeway to use the 3 dimensional back ground without squandering space.
duanes
you read the original post correctly. I will have two filters. HMF corner filters. Output will be probably be close to the top. The drain for auto-drip will be all they way at the top but will be hidden behind the HMF. The ultimat drains will be bottom drains. Returns will be coming from behind the HMF filters at the top. There should be lots of surface agitation. Just don't think I will meet your requirement of surface skimming which is hard to do without a overflow box.
The aimara 14in now. In a year he will be close to 24in and after that he will get over 30in.
Once he gets to about 24in I plan to introduce a school of small fish like cardinal tetras in hopes he ignores them.
To each his own. There something impressive in keeping monsters.
I am used to keeping a black piranha which I kept for 17 years and had to be solitary. The awesome thing with a solitary fish is that there are no worries of aggression, managing feedings, worrying about skipping a feeding, and it is easier to maintain good husbandry on the tank.
