Dsoto's Tank Blog

[Dsoto87]

I like reading about other peoples troubles/endeavors/thoughts or whatever it is about fish keeping, so I thought I would start a blog about mine. Hopefully someone will enjoy it. Feel free to comment or ask questions, or even answer some of my questions.

So I guess I should start off by giving you some information about my tanks. As of 2/9/08. Heres how its looking.

55 Gallon
Filtration: 2 Aquaclears 70s
Heater: 1 250w Visitherm Stealth
Lighting: Basic All Glass Strip 48" 40w Strip Light

Livestock (Sizes of them as of 2/9):
2 Jack Dempseys - 1 Male (2") 1 Female (2.25")
1 Oscar - (3")
6 Tiger Barbs - (About 1.5")
1 Siamese Algae Eater - (2.5" Long)
1 Electric Blue Jack Dempsey - (1")



20 Gallon Long
Filtration: 1 Aquaclear 50
Heater: 1 150w Visitherm Stealth
Lighting: Coralife 30" 65w Strip Light

Livestock:
Moderatly Planted
6 Zebra Danios



5.5 Gallon
Filtration: Cascade 100 Powerfilter

Livestock: Small Fancy Goldfish



125 Gallon
(Equipment Being Purchased)
Filtration:
1 Pentair Aquatics Fluidized Bed Filter (300 Model)
2 Fluval 405s
Heater: 2 250w Visitherm Stealths
Lighting: Undecided...Not Looking For Anything Special

Livestock:
All Livestock from my 55 will be transferred over except the EBJD and SAE. Also Im planning on getting a Red Tiger Motaguense






So theres my small list of tanks. Heres some older pictures to go with it too. These really arent that recent.

[Dsoto87]

Oh yea, as for today. I just put in an order for 2 maxijet 1200s, the 2 visitherms for my 125 and the fluidized bed filter also. Total came to around 150 with shipping. Looking foward to getting that in next week.

I have so many ideas for my 125 and I keep switching things around. On one hand I want to hurry up, set it up, and get my fish transferred over, but on the other hand, I dont want to rush it because I want things done right the first time.

The thing that is really slowing me down is the substrate. I love having a black background with black substrate but im not sure how well my filters will do once the cichlids get bigger and start kicking up more of the finer gravel. I can "black beauty" for about $60 for 100lbs but Ive been reading about this 3m Colorquartz (http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=43290) stuff and got really interested in it. Too bad I cant find any. I could go with pool sand, but from what I understand, the fish's colors are kind of washed out against a light substrate. BUT, I can get 100lbs of pool sand for under $20.

The other problem I was having was choosing a filter. I liked the FX5s but I figured I could go with some eheim 2217s. After doing some research I came to the conclusion that I could use a Fluidized Bed Filter (http://www.aquariumguys.com/aquarium-fluidized-bed-filters.html) as my main Bio filter and have a couple supplementary filters for added bio support but for mainly the mechanical part of filtration. So I figured Id use the Fluval 405s due to the facts that I heard the Eheims were a pain in the *** to clean and maintain, and since Im using it for mainly mechanical purposes, I plan on cleaning and changing the sponges quite often.

So now all I have to get left for my 125 is the Fluvals, and substrate, and maybe some driftwood and rocks.




On another note, my 55 has a wierd lip on the support braces. Its really wide on the front and back but not the sides (which is why my filters sit on the side and not the back). My EBJD is way too small to go in with all the other fish so I tried putting up a divider. But ofcourse, due to the lip, the divider doesnt sit properly. Theres a small space on the sides but I thought it wouldnt be a problem. I took a glance over at my tank and see the EBJD swimming up and down near the divider like it wanted to go to the other side. 2 seconds later, I see it make a mad dash through the tiniest little gap. My heart dropped.........At that very same moment I saw my oscars eyes light up. They hadnt ate yet and it was getting close to feeding time. All I could think was "there goes $35 down the drain....Luckily, I opened up the top cover and it quickly got the oscars attention right as he was darting towards the EBJD. It gave me enough time to scoop him out and put him back on the other side of the divider. Needless to say, I havent seen the EBJD even get close to that gap anymore.

[Fishalicious]

Beautiful tanks.... my heart would have stopped also with the EBJD slipping through right into the Oscar's lair - glad you were there to help the situation

Thanks for sharing x

[Dsoto87]

It looks like I decided to go with the FX5 for my 125. I just won one off ebay for 200 with shipping. I guess im pretty happy with that. The Fluidized bed should be able to handle the bio filtration, so the FX5 should be more than enough to supplement it. My previous order is going to arrive on friday. It seems so far away. The FX5 should probably arrive sometime by next week also. It seems like im going to use a Fluval 405 on my 55. Its really not needed since both of my Aquaclear 70s do more than enough filtration, but I like spending money.......even money I dont have :ezpi_wink1: . I didnt give it too much thought about what I was going to use my 55 for afterwards. I was going to just leave the EBJD in there and let it grow out but the other day I was looking at some apistos and they were beautiful. Im usually into larger cichlids just for their personality but these things really caught my eye. I have a feeling I will be venturing into the world of dwarf cichlid within the next few months. Any recommendations?

Heres a newer pic of my male JD. His colors are so deep when I wake up in the mornings to feed them.

http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/323/jd1xr6.th.jpg (http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/323/jd1xr6.jpg)

[jbeining75]

Nice tanks dsoto87!!!!!!

[Dsoto87]

Im so excited....I got pretty much all my equipment in today...


Fluval FX5 (God this thing is huge!)
2 Visitherms Stealths
2 Maxijets
1 Fluidized Bed Filter

I can finally start setting my 125 up

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/7263/shipmentju3.th.jpg (http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/7263/shipmentju3.jpg)

[Tigerbarb]

I can't wait to see how your tank turns out! Be sure to post some pix! thumbs2:

[cocoa_pleco]

same fluidized bed filter as me!

[Dsoto87]

Just put everything in place except the FB Filter....All I have to add is the substrate and some rocks and Im ready to go thumbs2: .... I cant wait to put my JDs and Oscar in...not only that....but I need to. My male JD is too territorial....Or maybe its not territory thats his problem....Hes always nipping at the female and chasing her all around the tank...Poor thing is probably so stressed out....It doesnt really mess with the Oscar though, they kind of just stay out of eachothers way. I guess its kind of like a mutual understanding.

Anyways...heres an update. I call it "Almost There"

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/5752/at1wt0.th.jpg (http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/5752/at1wt0.jpg)
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/5623/at2oj1.th.jpg (http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/5623/at2oj1.jpg)


Oh yea, I thought Id just share...The background isnt actually painted black. I tinted it with some automobile tint. It was a pain in the ***. I never touched that stuff in my life before this. I guess the hard part was that the tank is so long so its hard to work with such a big piece. It came out decent. You cant really see the imperfections unless your really looking for it. Overall im satisifed with it. Im planning on maybe doing the sides also since the tank Is in my living roomish area and it will be recieving sunlight. And I really want to keep algae at a minimum. Whats everyone experience with UVs?

[Dsoto87]

Hey mods.....can you delete this thread since this is completely the wrong place to have it. Sorry and thanks. Just figured out where to go for the blog feature