Any Aquarium owners out there

[Mocktopus]

The only aquarium in my house is set up as a terrarium and has a 4' ball python in it. I uses to keep a painted turtle when I was younger though.

[Largemouth21]

4 hours ago, Mocktopus said:

The only aquarium in my house is set up as a terrarium and has a 4' ball python in it. I uses to keep a painted turtle when I was younger though.

Snakes and turtles are cool too!

On March 23, 2017 at 10:02 AM, A-Jay said:

Does this count ?

A-Jay

 

yes!! nice!

On March 23, 2017 at 10:39 AM, Finesse Wayfarer said:

I have had many tanks over the years. Mainly Cichlid tanks South American variety and then Africans.

 

My favorite fish to keep were Oscar's. They are intelligent, as far as fish go. Mine recognized their owner and did a dance when they knew they were getting fed. Anyone else besides me entered the room and they barely got a second glance. Oscars get quite big though and the most I had room for is a breeding pair.

 

I also liked the African Cichlids as they are very colorful. The Zebra Cichlid is a mouth brooder, very cool to breed them. The female scoops up the fertilized eggs in her mouth. When they hatch the fry come out but will quickly retreat back to the mothers mouth for safety.

 

Now all I have is a small aquarium with a Betta fish.

I had some Oscars, very neat fish

[crankbait2009]

I currently have a 130g saltwater tank, with a 40g sump underneath

 

Here is a overall shot.  It has more coral and fish in it now, but still has the same set up.

 

2016-12-20_09-31-18 by Shawn D, on Flickr

2017-03-18_08-02-33 by Shawn D, on Flickr

 

[Angry John]

49 minutes ago, crankbait2009 said:

I currently have a 130g saltwater tank, with a 40g sump underneath

 

Here is a overall shot.  It has more coral and fish in it now, but still has the same set up.

 

2016-12-20_09-31-18 by Shawn D, on Flickr

2017-03-18_08-02-33 by Shawn D, on Flickr

 

Stop it your going to make me miss it and I can't afford more than 3 addictions at once.

[crankbait2009]

I have had freshwater pretty much my whole life, but I got really bored over the years with it and decided to step up to the salt water world.  I am so glad I did.  So much more rewarding.  I literally watch the tank for a couple hours every night.  SO many new things are happening within the tank, that leave you scratching your head, saying, I didn't put those in there I don't understand :).

 

I have had this tank running for a year and 4 months, and I have yet to lose interest.  I enjoy it a lot.

I have clown fish, fire fish, tomini tang, chalk bass, blennies, gobys, serpent sea star, wrasse, and your every day clean up crew.  I still have more fish I need to add.  I have quite a few coral, at least a dozen different kinds.  All frags at this point.

 

I hope I have convinced you to ditch one of the existing hobbies, to get back in to salt water  

[J Francho]

@crankbait2009 NIce plumbing work - gate valves, true unions...pricey, but the right stuff.

[crankbait2009]

Thank you....

 

Any time I've ever had a freshwater tank, or anything for that matter, I have always tried to half ass it, trying to not spend the needed money to make it right. This time around, I wanted to cut no corners. If I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it right. Right off the bat, I was told unions and gate valves were me friends. So I kept that in mind. I have unions at each bulkhead going into the tank as well as what you see in the photo. I am all covered for dismantling, if the need arises. So far, no reason. 

 

Let me rephrase. I did have to remove the one piece from the return pump to the first union, last week. Replaced the tubing to a softer hose, easier to work with. Plus my maintenance on the return pump. The union definitely made it easy!

 

I tried to keep it as clean and organized as possible. Clean does not exactly work in this hobby. So I'm learning to accept that.

Just gotta fine an air line bracket to mount my dosing lines so they aren't just hanging. I just installed them a week ago as you see above. That's new to me, so still working on the appearance of it. I'm having a hard time finding an air line bracket that doesn't have the shut off valves built in to it. I just want the bracket that will hold the air lines in place. I did find d a bracket like I want, but for this small piece of plastic, they are asking anywhere from $10-$20 for it. That absurd. This bracket is only 2" in size, or so. 

[J Francho]

Gate valves have so much better control than ball valves.  In fact, ball valves should NOT be use to adjust flow.  They are for binary, on/off only.  Unions are really your friend.  I can't tell you how many customer installs (not mine, mind you) where I've had to cut a line to fix a problem.  That always resulted in a union instead of a coupler, along with a higher cost. If I had to cut it once, I'll have to cut it again!

[bigfruits]

On 3/24/2017 at 9:05 PM, Redlinerobert said:

I've always wanted to have a big tank but time and other hobbies never allowed for it. 

 

for a fish only tank, even marine, if you dump a bit of money into it you can get by with an hr of maintenance a month if you do not overfeed and not overstock the aquarium and only use the lights for viewing. you may need to wipe the glass down every week or so with a long handled brush or magnetic scraper depending on how much light it gets.

 

adding coral to marine and plants to fresh water is where you have to start paying more attention and spending more time and money.

 

auto top off systems will keep evaporation in check with a reservoir. salt doesnt evaporate so you only need to mix when doing a water change - siphon X% of tank water, replace with clean water from a reservoir (takes up room) that has been mixed with salt several hrs before. you can keep it bucketless by using a "water python" hose that uses a running sink create the siphon. this wastes a bit of water and puts salt water in your house's pipes. i run fresh water after im done for a few mins and pray it doesnt corrode anything ;). i pump the newly mixed salt water from a brute trash can into the aquarium with a $50 pump/powerhead.

 

for marine tanks the bacteria on "live" rock, a good skimmer and water changes will do the filtration. a bit of patience and using quality dry rock will keep it pest free and way less expensive. let me know if you ever decide to put something together.

[Redlinerobert]

Thanks!

[frosty]

Man you guys are killing me with those marine tanks. I've got a 30 running right now with a clown loach in it, he's about 4" long right now and has the tank to himself. I had a 90 gallon tank I was going to make into a reef tank, I custom made a stand and hood. Unfortunately I just lost interest and funds got limited so I sold it. Someday with more time and money maybe I can build one, but I can't afford to keep fish and fishing for them!

[WVU-SCPA]

Bring back an old thread rather then starting a new one.

 

Fast started a 55 gallon tank back when everything started shutting down.

 

Nothing crazy, will be setting up a 120 to move these guys into once a new house is selected.

 

The 2 clowns battled at first as the black ocellaris had a 6 week head start on the clarkii.  Now the two of them and the blenny travel as a pack around the tank.

 

Gone through some struggles as it wasn't an ideal setup.