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125.....what to do...

Discussion in 'Freshwater Aquariums & Fish Photos' started by phishin, Jul 27, 2009.

  1. phishin

    phishin Thread Starter New Member

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    Well, the deal on the used 220 gallon tank i was going to get fell apart, but i guess it happened for a reason..... ended up finding a brand new (dated 05/09) 125 gallon AGA still wrapped for a much better price than i was going to get the 220 for!!!

    I have been setting it up, and i still don't know how i want to have the end setup loooking like. I have kenyi's, socolofi's, a few compresiceps, maingano's, and the blood red jewels, and im torn about the black gravel, and the cichlid substrate... so i have left it half and half for now until i decide what the end product will be... i want both, but am having a hard time making the setup complete. I have about 120 lbs of rock waiting to go in, so any ideas would be helpful :)

    heres what she looks like as of tonight...

    [​IMG]
     
    phishin, Jul 27, 2009
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  2. phishin

    phishin Thread Starter New Member

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    For now I am running two eheim 2215 classics, one on each side, and an emperor 400 in the middle. I want to get the 2262 eventually down the road.
     
    phishin, Jul 27, 2009
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  3. MOD_Dawn

    MOD_Dawn Active Member

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    FILTRATION:
    Do the rena Filstar xp4 (had a eheim 2080 and that thing was heck of a heavy to move when full) and no one in the area would service them.

    I've even seen them (xp4) on ebay for $155.00 which includes shipping and is brand new.

    HEAT:
    Get the smartheater and affix it to the intake, or better yet the hydor inline heater (I have one in the trading post) and put it inline (less stuff in the tank is always better)! With that size tank don't be amazed if you need 2 heaters dependant on your house temp throughout the year.

    SUBSTRATE:
    >Cichlid substrate by CaribSea if I recall has buffering
    >plain pool filter sand or CaribSea Tah. Moon doesn't have buffering so it won't muck with your water chemistry.
    >Seachem even has a newer line of substrates (black sand and what not).
    >for gravel PeaGravel will be cheap and the variation of colors in the stones often look nice (think river bottom). I try to avoid the gravel...I find it harder and more time consuming when it comes to "cleaning"
    *all depends on what you want to spend when it comes to substrate imo, although covering that size of a tank can get pretty expensive*

    ROCKWORK:
    Get yourself aquarium safe epoxy and start working on some cavework :)
     
    MOD_Dawn, Jul 27, 2009
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  4. LemonDiscus

    LemonDiscus Active Member

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    You know, one of the hardest things to do is to aquascape a tank of that length. The problem is if you follow the rule of thirds too close you wind up with a tank that looks like 2 different environments and nothing to tie the 2 parts together.

    Start with doing rockwork 1/3 of the way from 1 side of the tank and build out from there. DO NOT put it together from the middle or from the sides... It WONT come together! I tried myself and failed :)

    The 1/3 rule is the ticket to success!

    Nice tank BTW!!! I would love to have another one myself! (actually my wife found a 75 gallon for 150 with a canister filter although I dont know what kind stand and hood.... she wants it! :) )
     
    LemonDiscus, Jul 27, 2009
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  5. phishin

    phishin Thread Starter New Member

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    I've had nothing but awesome success with the eheims, so i think i will stay that route. I don't mind moving a couple filters around here and there if i have to. I have an eheim service guy about 20 minutes away incase of emergency. :)
    I have 2 large heaters that have worked their magic pretty darn good so far.. i'll check out your post though.

    There's about 100 lbs of ecco complete cichclid substrate in there. Along with another 100 lbs or so of small black gravel. I just need to fuse the 2 together somehow.

    ROCKWORK:
    Get yourself aquarium safe epoxy and start working on some cavework :)[/quote][/quote]
    :cool:
     
    phishin, Jul 27, 2009
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  6. phishin

    phishin Thread Starter New Member

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    My problem is i want to use both the cichlid substrate and the small black gravel... my brain isnt artsy enough try to even think of tying the 2 together..... one small idea i had is to make one central location nearish tot he middle for caves and rockwork... with the black gravel being the floor for all the rockwork, and putting the cichlid sand around the rest of the tank... i can picture it, but can't explain it.
     
    phishin, Jul 27, 2009
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  7. LemonDiscus

    LemonDiscus Active Member

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    Correct! Nearish to the middle should be 1/3 from one of the sides... DONT CENTER it... It wont balance right... Click the link in my signature and you will see on the last page the BIG hunk of driftwood and 1 sword kind of offset... that is about the location you want to centerpiece at, either to the left or right (I like it to the right on my tank how its set... but the side is irrelevant)..

    If you look at all of my photos of the tank you will see I ALWAYS centerpiece in about that same location no matter what I am centering (I used the driftwood crawling from that location, HUGE piece of driftwood there and I even used a negative centerpiece there (a negative would be a blank area in place of an object in that location))
     
    LemonDiscus, Jul 27, 2009
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  8. phishin

    phishin Thread Starter New Member

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    The offset looks remarkable in your tank, i'll see what i can configure.
     
    phishin, Jul 27, 2009
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  9. LemonDiscus

    LemonDiscus Active Member

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    I did HOURS worth of research and it is proven that is the place to put it (again it DOES NOT have to be offset to that side... just one of the 2 sides)

    Another thing that a large number of aquascapers do is Triangles... Try to keep the designs triangular...

    Outside of that your imagination is the only limit!

    BTW - Thanks! ;)
     
    LemonDiscus, Jul 27, 2009
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