Used 125 gal

[dr exum]

congrats!

i take for granted going down to petco for the $1 per gallon sale or ordering bio rings from amazon....

this guy moved a tank in a boat over the open ocean....

 

[duanes]

After yesterdays snuggle up between panes test, today seemed a good day (we are on lockdown) to attempt connecting the two tanks.
The Porrett foam was cut, and jammed in (could still use a bit more shaved off) and the pump placed behind .


The sumps (2) were scavenged for a half dozen bags of ceramic rings, and a porous lava block to provide instant cycle.

At first the PVC was just friction fit, but after an initial pumpage test, glued and cranked the pump to its max, (about 1500 GPH).
Head pressure is only about 2 ft, so it may be close, pumped from the 125 (behind to foam) to the 180 gal tank.

It then returns to the opposite end of the 125 by gravity, from two, one inch holes drilled on the back of the 180.


The top piece cut from the foam helps to separate the biomedia from jamming up the pump intake .

And just to be my normal anal self, ammonia, pH and nitrate test were done, and will be done daily to watch for any anomalies.


Being the dry season here, the tanks pH, over whelmed the normal pH test (above) , so I had to revert to the high range test, below

and below the ammonia test.

 

[Ogertron3000]

This is a cool thread, like a cross between a DIY you tube channel and some kind of survivor type TV show. Makes you appreciate the 15min drive to the LFS even though the island lifestyle looks very pleasant.
Have you considered building a pond? I imagine if you are catching all the fish locally it should be pretty easy on the upkeep?

 

[duanes]

Have you considered building a pond? I imagine if you are catching all the fish locally it should be pretty easy on the upkeep?

I always had ponds in the states, but below the first 3 or 4 inches of soil, it is solid rock here, making digging a daunting exercise.
All of nature is very close anyway (except those of my cichlid obsession)
There are so many toxic and biting critters on the island, that could be drawn to a pond, i hesitate. (not to mentions insects like scorpions)
The yard is already full of cane toads, crabs, lizards , and even some snakes who like to enter the house, and although I do have a thing for jungle like conditions.
(I'm a sucker for many of the rainforest plants the locals bring over for me, every other day) part of the yard below.


Geting pond materials to the island is also a slight difficult and expensive challenge.
The first place I rented had a pool, and each morning cleaning out the bat feces became a boring chore, because at dust the bats all came to drink, and use the pool as a toilet.

Some friends have a small pool and beside the bats, the cane toads use it as a love nest, to breed in.

The toad eggs are toxic.


I may break down and get a 300 gal rubbermaid trough, at some point if some large cichlid comes along.

 

[duanes]

Although the boa above is not venomous, and relatively common here, there are a number of less common but smaller venomous varieties like the coral snakes, and eyelash vipers.

 

[KATALEKEEPER]

my mom is brazilian and they had a big snake problem. Mostly corals and water snakes. The gardener would behead them with a shovel and preserve them! My uncle did eventually get bitten by a poisonous snake and was rushed to the hospital. The doctor just told my grandma that the snake venom glands where to far back to have injected my uncle. He was fine

 

[Ogertron3000]

View attachment 1444189
View attachment 1444190
Although the boa above is not venomous, and relatively common here, there are a number of less common but smaller venomous varieties like the coral snakes, and eyelash vipers.

I really like the tropical jungle garden vibe, looks like a nice place to relax, maybe dodging poisonous snakes around a pond would kill the vibe a bit......
Is there many wild cichlids on the island or will you have to go to actual Panama to catch more variety? How legal is it to bring them from the mainland to your island paradise?

 

[duanes]

Is there many wild cichlids on the island or will you have to go to actual Panama to catch more variety? How legal is it to bring them from the mainland to your island paradise?

There aren't any cichlids on the island, in fact, no endemic freshwater fish at all.
A friend did catch a goby for me here, but we suspect it escaped from the bilge of a freighter, being brackish tolerant it ended up in one of the islands small streams.

To get cichlids, trips to the mainland need to be worked out, and since the year of Covid lockdowns, nearly impossible.
The species I'm really looking for, mostly occur in the remote area of the Darian in the far eastern region of Panama, and only occur in the rivers that drain Lake Bayano. (Isthmoheros tuyrernse only occurs in tributaries of the Rio Tuira and the lake itself, and Darienheros calobrense is also restricted to a similar area)
I guess radiation was halted when certain rivers were separated by tectonic changes in geography.
The Geophagus crassilabrus seems to have radiated before certain geography changed and has a wider range.
But it has yet to appear in areas I've been (a mostly S American genus) .
The cichlids I have now (Andinoacara originally another predominantly South American genus) seem to have colonized most of Panama, north into Costa Rica, and A coerleopunctatus is one of the most common cichlids found in Panama.

Male above, female below.

There are another couple species of interest for me from the waters near Bocas Del Toro, ( Tomocichla asfraci and Amatitlania altoflava) which is about a 6-8 hour drive across a mountain range to the north western part of the country.
They only occur in the Rio Guaramo drainage on the northwestern side the countries mountain spine
Its interesting to me that such a small country would have such restricted areas.
I kept T asfraci twice when in the US, the first time they spawned but the male killed the female and ate the eggs.
The 2nd time, the juvies I received ended up "all" being deformed, so allowing a spawning wouldn't have been ethical to me.
I kept one, the least deformed of the bunch, and gave it to a friend when moving to Panama, he had also acquired a group that turned out deformed.

It is illegal to sell native Panamanian fish in LFSs, but fishing for and keeping a limited number seems to be OK.

 

[duanes]

The water Lily wouldn't stay down in sand alone yesterday , so it was placed in a coconut shell, with a couple small stones to hold in down, and has remained now for 24 hours. I like to plant long before fish are added, to give them a chance to establish (especially fish of any significant size)

 

[duanes]

Its been about 3 months since the two sumps were taken out of service, and the matten/porret foam replaced them covering about 10 inches on the end of the newly set up 125 gal.

above the 125 at 1 month after Porret added (dark area on left end)
After 3 months the nitrate has remained the same at 5 ppm or less with daily 25% water changes.
No detectable ammonia or nitrite
The pH at about 8.

The 125 get quite a bit of direct sunlight, but the plants (Hydrilla, Vallisneria, and Papyrus) are spreading and seem to be making use of using it and any nitrate well.

Beside the normal water change schedule, I've been rinsing the Porret about once per month, by hosing it out in the garden.
When pulling it out, a lot of particulate gets shed in the process, and clouds up the attached 180 for a about a day and a half.
I rinsed it this morning, here's the 180 a few moments after pulling the foam.

In about 24 it will again look like this.

The only fish at the moment in the 125, is a male Andinoacara, and a couple Andinoacara fry that overflowed into it from the 180..