SiNiStEr NaTiOn
Member
k here's the link to my newest video of my tank. Aftrer watching it, I'll be redoing it with in the next 3 or 4 days or probably sooner.
YouTube - My Cichlid Tank
YouTube - My Cichlid Tank
Sinister 55g FW build
- Thread starter SiNiStEr NaTiOn
- Start date
SiNiStEr NaTiOn
Member
well it's not 3 or 4 days later. I had redone the slate formation again today. Everything is looking good, except for one small area on the left side that makes me nervbous a little bit, because it's not very stable like the rest of the slate formation.
I'll be monitoring the structer for the next week or so and not do anything to it.
YouTube - 55 gallon cichlid tank Thought i give you guys and gals a link to the newqest of the newest video that was done like 4 hours after the slate restructuring was done.
I'll be monitoring the structer for the next week or so and not do anything to it.
YouTube - 55 gallon cichlid tank Thought i give you guys and gals a link to the newqest of the newest video that was done like 4 hours after the slate restructuring was done.
SiNiStEr NaTiOn
Member
Thanxs Uslanja.
Here's a FTS of my tank,
Here's a FTS of my tank,
GrendelPrime
Well-Known Member
sweet looking tank and is that a grounding probe on the back glass?
SiNiStEr NaTiOn
Member
Thanxs, I had yet redone the slate structure yesterday once again, But this time I used silicone to create 3 different structures and is waiting for the silicone to cure before they go back into the tank. Of course while working on the 3rd structure I ran out of silicone, my friend told me he still have the tube of silicone i gave him a few months ago for his tank that he thought was leaking, but turned out the hob filter was leaking, so he will be bringing that to me so i can try and finish the 3rd structure.
Once all 3 structure is completed I'll take another FTS shot with the new slate structures in place.
no, I still need to get one. It's a digital thermometer probe. My plans is when I get a sump built for this tank, I'm planning on moving the probe and heater down into the sump, and have a small FW refugium in the sump and have my live plants in there.
PEMfish
Well-Known Member
I see no need for a grounding probe. If something is faulty then just replace it. A probe may make a problem worse by drawing the current across the tank to the probe, assuming there is a current, which there should not be.
SiNiStEr NaTiOn
Member
I'm just thinking about it, I know I never had a need for one back in the 90's.
I did took my red point cichlid, neon blue jewel, and 2 jack dempsey to the pet store today and got 2 new cichlids. So my fish count is 2 fire mouths & 2 savini.
Some cichlids I'm thinking about for the near future purchase is any of the following. Green Terror, Green Severum, Gold Severum, Texas, or Blood Parrot. I figure have one more cichlid species then figure how many to have of each type. I buy mostly juveniles that is around 2" - 3" or tad bit smaller, so that way they will grow.
I do know I need to get a trickle filter built, the cascade 300 I have on the tank, I place a small amount of floss in it, and I have to change it out like every 2 days because it get so dirty that the carbon cartridge and sponge miss and the floss catches. I have the floss in a empty space between the sponge and the water outlet.
I figure with a trickle sump I could eliminate the air pumps or move the air down to the sump, to help eliminate as much from the DT that I can and have in the sump.
I did took my red point cichlid, neon blue jewel, and 2 jack dempsey to the pet store today and got 2 new cichlids. So my fish count is 2 fire mouths & 2 savini.
Some cichlids I'm thinking about for the near future purchase is any of the following. Green Terror, Green Severum, Gold Severum, Texas, or Blood Parrot. I figure have one more cichlid species then figure how many to have of each type. I buy mostly juveniles that is around 2" - 3" or tad bit smaller, so that way they will grow.
I do know I need to get a trickle filter built, the cascade 300 I have on the tank, I place a small amount of floss in it, and I have to change it out like every 2 days because it get so dirty that the carbon cartridge and sponge miss and the floss catches. I have the floss in a empty space between the sponge and the water outlet.
I figure with a trickle sump I could eliminate the air pumps or move the air down to the sump, to help eliminate as much from the DT that I can and have in the sump.
SiNiStEr NaTiOn
Member
Like to get some opinions,
1> thinking about using sand so what sand would be good to use.
2> I know there are number of reason to not use lava rocks in a reef tanks, but what about freshwater tanks that will be used for central american cichlids?
I'm changing the slate structure every day, and still can't get to how I like to have in the tank. Yeah I know a 55 I'm limited on the small width of the tank like 12".
I do like the use of powerheads, so what powerhead I could use so that there's no electical cord has to go into the tank, would that be the Koriela's?
I have another subject i want to touch on. I know protein skimmer is useless on FW tank. But with my MJ1200 having the airline hook up and because I have it set near the top of the tank and the output angle about a 30 or 45 degree angle to the surface, when I have a line hook on the output for air after a full day running like that, I do see skimmate foam on the top of my aquarium and I have to fish it out with a net until there's no more on top of the water. So I'm wondering could it be plausible to use a PS on a FW tank.
1> thinking about using sand so what sand would be good to use.
2> I know there are number of reason to not use lava rocks in a reef tanks, but what about freshwater tanks that will be used for central american cichlids?
I'm changing the slate structure every day, and still can't get to how I like to have in the tank. Yeah I know a 55 I'm limited on the small width of the tank like 12".
I do like the use of powerheads, so what powerhead I could use so that there's no electical cord has to go into the tank, would that be the Koriela's?
I have another subject i want to touch on. I know protein skimmer is useless on FW tank. But with my MJ1200 having the airline hook up and because I have it set near the top of the tank and the output angle about a 30 or 45 degree angle to the surface, when I have a line hook on the output for air after a full day running like that, I do see skimmate foam on the top of my aquarium and I have to fish it out with a net until there's no more on top of the water. So I'm wondering could it be plausible to use a PS on a FW tank.
PEMfish
Well-Known Member
No. Protein skimmers do not work well in FW. If you have so much crap built up in the system that a skimmer could pull it out then you are doing something very wrong.
Any of the fish on that list are going to get to big for a 55g. I would rethink all of your choices and options.
Any of the fish on that list are going to get to big for a 55g. I would rethink all of your choices and options.
SiNiStEr NaTiOn
Member
it was just that one time, but it don't do it anymore if i run a airline into the PJ Nozzle, so I'm not worry about that, I thought it was kinda weird.
I'm aware of the size of these cichlids. My current count is 2 fire mouths, 1 savini, and 1 gold severum.
I'm aware of the size of these cichlids. My current count is 2 fire mouths, 1 savini, and 1 gold severum.
SiNiStEr NaTiOn
Member
well my tank don't look anything like the pocs i posted earlier in this thread. How this tank looks now and what resides in it is under wraps for now. I can say it's no longer a cichlid tank. lol
bbe22
Member
SO what happened? Did it all crash and burn? Did you change your mind? If I recall, I thought originally you wanted this to be an Asian tank, then a cichlid tank, then a central american cichlid tank, then...
You have the right equipment, pick a bio-tope and run with it. You'd be surprised how easy it is. As a side note, my brother thought it would be a good idea to keep Oscars with Pacus. I warned him. He didn't listen. He just couldn't understand why his Pacus were eating the Oscars even though the Oscars were bigger. Everything in his tanks ended up either being killed or dying. Same rules apply for central american cichlids. They are aggressive.
You have the right equipment, pick a bio-tope and run with it. You'd be surprised how easy it is. As a side note, my brother thought it would be a good idea to keep Oscars with Pacus. I warned him. He didn't listen. He just couldn't understand why his Pacus were eating the Oscars even though the Oscars were bigger. Everything in his tanks ended up either being killed or dying. Same rules apply for central american cichlids. They are aggressive.
bbe22
Member
Just noticed your queries about a skimmer. They don't work in freshwater, period. I also noticed you didn't have any protection for the intake of those two powerheads in your freshwater set up. I'm going to guess what happened to some of your livestock. I also noticed you gave up on saltwater. Now you are pretty much giving up on freshwater. At this point I'd recommend a single goldfish. Feed him once a day. Change his water once a week to the tune of 20%. Just my .02
SiNiStEr NaTiOn
Member
well at least the pacu's had good source of food. lol
to answer all your questions in one simple answer...... I wasn't happy with the slate formations, keep changing it every other day, trying to maintain a 3" clearance from the front and back glass only gave me 6" to work with. Before I continue on about this 55 let me say teh following about the saltwater future first.
I had decided a few days ago, I'm not gonna mess with saltwater at this time. I will build a SW tank in the future, at this time I'm planning on moving around the end of january 2011. The 75 I have, it will be turn into a FW tank and it might be my cichlid tank, so the future of what the 75 will be is still up in the air until the time comes to set it up.
Now back to the 55, I decided to build a planted tank. This will take time to buy the plants to put into the tank. I still got some substrate building to do on this tank with what live plants i have in it. Like buying flourite. I was wondering if this would be good to use for now and then down the road DIY or buy a CO2 system. Hagen Plant Grow Natural System with CO2 ?
Here's a link to the video of my 55 now.
YouTube - partial planted 55
While i'm thinking of it, I've been thinking adding 1 or 2 moss ball into this tank, but I'm not sure about it. I'm wonder could it over take a tank in due time or what?
to answer all your questions in one simple answer...... I wasn't happy with the slate formations, keep changing it every other day, trying to maintain a 3" clearance from the front and back glass only gave me 6" to work with. Before I continue on about this 55 let me say teh following about the saltwater future first.
I had decided a few days ago, I'm not gonna mess with saltwater at this time. I will build a SW tank in the future, at this time I'm planning on moving around the end of january 2011. The 75 I have, it will be turn into a FW tank and it might be my cichlid tank, so the future of what the 75 will be is still up in the air until the time comes to set it up.
Now back to the 55, I decided to build a planted tank. This will take time to buy the plants to put into the tank. I still got some substrate building to do on this tank with what live plants i have in it. Like buying flourite. I was wondering if this would be good to use for now and then down the road DIY or buy a CO2 system. Hagen Plant Grow Natural System with CO2 ?
Here's a link to the video of my 55 now.
YouTube - partial planted 55
While i'm thinking of it, I've been thinking adding 1 or 2 moss ball into this tank, but I'm not sure about it. I'm wonder could it over take a tank in due time or what?
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bbe22
Member
Sin, this is like the fifth incarnation of this tank. If you recall, I suggested you make this a planted tank back when you were talking about making it an asian bio-tope. Yes, if you have the money flourite is a good start, you'll need about three inches of substrate give or take in a 55. It does not all have to be flourite, just don't use aragonite or lava rubble. Pea size gravel from a hard ware store will work fine. That's all I have in my planted 55, no flourite. Click on my link in my sig to see pics of it. I don't vacuum my substrate, never have in this tank. The detritus that sinks into the substrate forms a "dirt" that makes the plants flourish. I almost never fertilize this tank, I just let nature take its course. I do have a (fw) cuc of 5 large sized cory cats and 3 otocinclus, and way too many snails of two species to count. The snails breed at the same rate as they diminish. In my planted 55 I basically feed the fish and change 20% of the water every other month. The plants do most of the filtration, although it has a very large trickle filter underneath it. I run 175 watts of high output compact fluorescent t5's on top 14 hours a day. As far as co2, I have a well-built diy, but I'd much rather have something like PEM has. The diy requires constant tinkering and upkeep, even though it is designed and built as best as possible without having a co2 tank. This is by far the easiest tank I have ever had to maintain. The only thing I would believe you to have a problem with going with a set up like this is keeping your hands out of the tank. The less you mess with a tank the better off it is. Every time you move a plant it will break roots and disturb/harm the plant. It's best to put the plant where it needs to go and looks the best the first time around.
Good luck Sin, let me know if you need any pointers on the fw planted set up, I have years of experience with it.
bbe22
Member
I just looked up the Hagen thingie. Unfortunately, I know exactly what that is. Don't waste your time Sin. It's an over-priced do it yourself system. They even have the audacity to sell "replenishment packs". Basically, they have two packets you combine in a "reaction chamber". The two packets contain sugar in one, and yeast in the other one, but aren't labeled as such. That's all a diy co2 system is, get a bottle and mix some sugar, water, and yeast, top it off with some airline and a means to diffuse it. In the case of the Hagen, their means of diffusion is that staircase thingie. The idea behind it is that the slower a bubble rises, the more it diffuses. Now, while that is true, there is no diffusion in this system, just a full size bubble slowly climbing in an enclosed system without being exposed to much water. True co2 systems use a micro bubble diffuser or a needle, much like a skimmer in saltwater. The micro bubbles get diffused on the way to the surface, if they make it that far. This is not the case with the hagen, which is simply a fancy air pump that doesn't require electric. Don't waste your money.
SiNiStEr NaTiOn
Member
Yeah i know BBE, but this time it's solid, I need to hold off from buying to much more plants until I get the substrate taken care of first. I can say my hands been staying out of the tank unless I bought a new plant or two to place in the tank. I been sticking to my routine 5% wc every saturday I might start scaling it back. I never clean the gravel just a wc on the tank.
I did had a handful of duck weed in the tank but removed like 99% of them because I had set my MJ1200 on the other side of the tank up near the top to push the water right to left and the duck weed get thrown around down into the tank from the cascade 300 output and the intake was catching allot of it and clogging the intake up.
The only thing I can say about that Hagen is I'm not gonna waste my money on it. I will do a DIY CO2 until I can slowly get a pressurize CO2 system for the tank. I figure as far as diffusing goes I can set the output of the diy to be caught by the intake of the MJ1200 or something like that. I been wondering instead of a 2 liter bottle, if a 3 litter bottle would be even better. making a fresh batch every week or every 2 weeks whatever the case is, would be fine for now and it would be in the weekly or the every two week maintenance for the tank.
I'm planning on getting a T5 for the tank, at which a 2x54 will give me around 1.99 watts per gallon.
If I ever get my stand done for my 75 ( a tank that has never been touch by water and that's been collecting dust slowly since day 1 of purchase. ), and I might transfer things from the 55 to it and make it my planted tank. The 75 is the one tank that is stil up in the air until I'm able to finish the stand on it.
I know I would like to add 1 or 2 pieces of driftwood into the tank, but not sure which route to take on that. Go with the LFS I goto the most and pay a set price for Mopani or goto Feeder Supply and pay $2.99 per pound. I think I might goto the LFS and pick a nice piece of Mopani and have it weigh and do the math to see which route is cheaper.
I know buying plants at the LFS, that I goto can be tough to find a nice plant, because the planted tank display at the LFS the worker that is responsible for it take the nice looking plants and add them to the display tank. I wanted some micro swords for my tank and they had but when i got the money to buy some he done swipe all of them and put them into the LFS planted tank. I was lucky one day last week to get a nice piece of java fern, they had 2 that someone had bought in. well let say if i didn't both of them would been in their display tank. If you had check the video out above I placed it in the center of my 55.
I did had a handful of duck weed in the tank but removed like 99% of them because I had set my MJ1200 on the other side of the tank up near the top to push the water right to left and the duck weed get thrown around down into the tank from the cascade 300 output and the intake was catching allot of it and clogging the intake up.
The only thing I can say about that Hagen is I'm not gonna waste my money on it. I will do a DIY CO2 until I can slowly get a pressurize CO2 system for the tank. I figure as far as diffusing goes I can set the output of the diy to be caught by the intake of the MJ1200 or something like that. I been wondering instead of a 2 liter bottle, if a 3 litter bottle would be even better. making a fresh batch every week or every 2 weeks whatever the case is, would be fine for now and it would be in the weekly or the every two week maintenance for the tank.
I'm planning on getting a T5 for the tank, at which a 2x54 will give me around 1.99 watts per gallon.
If I ever get my stand done for my 75 ( a tank that has never been touch by water and that's been collecting dust slowly since day 1 of purchase. ), and I might transfer things from the 55 to it and make it my planted tank. The 75 is the one tank that is stil up in the air until I'm able to finish the stand on it.
I know I would like to add 1 or 2 pieces of driftwood into the tank, but not sure which route to take on that. Go with the LFS I goto the most and pay a set price for Mopani or goto Feeder Supply and pay $2.99 per pound. I think I might goto the LFS and pick a nice piece of Mopani and have it weigh and do the math to see which route is cheaper.
I know buying plants at the LFS, that I goto can be tough to find a nice plant, because the planted tank display at the LFS the worker that is responsible for it take the nice looking plants and add them to the display tank. I wanted some micro swords for my tank and they had but when i got the money to buy some he done swipe all of them and put them into the LFS planted tank. I was lucky one day last week to get a nice piece of java fern, they had 2 that someone had bought in. well let say if i didn't both of them would been in their display tank. If you had check the video out above I placed it in the center of my 55.
bbe22
Member
If you want to pay the shipping I can send you a bunch of plants for free. I'm getting ready to thin out my planted tank. PM me if you are interested. As far as a diy co2 the size of the bottle (within reason) doesn't matter. I'd use a large gatoraide bottle because the plastic is much thicker than a 2 or 3 liter. Be sure to get a solid seal by using teflon tape. Also, don't use standard air line tubing, go to the hardware store and get some of the yellow gas tubing, it's cheap. I didn't buy any of my driftwood. I picked it all by hand out of rivers in Washington state and gathered a lot on the beach here in South Carolina. I could probably help with that as well if you want to pay the shipping. Keep in mind at a fish store when buying wood, you are paying mostly for water weight. Dried out driftwood is very light.