New Tank

[William]

I know that some of you will say finally but I am happy to announce that I once again have aquariums after a few years traveling.

I picked up two aquariums this weekend and is planning to ge a third soon.
The first aqurium is a 270 gallon tank and the second is 140 gallons. I thought I would keep you update about my progress setting up and populate these aquariums in this thread. (with pictures of course). I will post one post about each of the aquariums today and will than post new posts as things progress.

I know that some of you might think I am moving these tanks along to quickly and not giving the enough tiem to cycle. This would normally be true if it wasn't for the fact that the tanks has been running for years that I simply moved the tanks, keeping the sand and the filters wet. This jump starts the tanks once they had been moved.

[William]

Aquarium 1: 270 gallons
I started setting up this aquariumsunday morning but unfortunatly I later discovered that the bed on which the tank rests was damaged during transportation an dcouldn't stand the weight og the aquarium when it was filled which forced me to empty it again. I still have some water in it to keep the bacteria in the sand alive. I am planning to fix the bed tomorrow and will hopefully have the aquarium up and running again on thursday.

I am not 1000 sure about what I am going to keep in this aquarium. I am considering south or central american cichlids. Most likely I might end up with a combination of the two. The two plecos (see ๖ater post) I got when with the tanks will live in this tank once it is up and running.

The decoration will be more or less the same as in the pictures once i have fixed it. The piece of wood in the tank is about 6 ft long and a piece of it will stay above the surface. this 1 ft peak will be covered in orchids.

I will post some pictures now and if you want to know anything more about this tank you just need to ask.

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The empty tank in place in my basement. It took 4 people to get it in.

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The tank is being filled the before I discover the problem with the bed.

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Tank from above.

[RobbieG]

Cogratulations William - those sound like beauties!

[crackatinny]

This is going to be one awsome build.

What are the dimensions of the 270G

[William]

Aquarium 2: 142 gallon.
This tank is up and running but the aquarium stand (furniture) is not fully put together yet. I still need to put the top on it and some minor cosmetic touches. It will look quite good when it is finished.

The tank currently house two plecos as i needed to get them out of their boxes. This tank is to small for them long term.

I am currently planning to keep discus (solid diamond blue), dwarf cichlids and perhaps altum angels in this. That might change however if I find something else I really want.

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The empty tank. This was a lot easier than the other to get into the basement.


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The tanks has been rushed to become the temporary home for the plecos below the tank. I will plant this aquarium once the plecos are in their permanent home.

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The plecos right after being moved to the new tank.

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The larger of the two plecos the morning after the move.

[William]

The measurement is inch are roughly 80x30x28
Conversion from metric system done in my head so its not exact ;-)

[William]

Finally I am going to post a few words about the plecos that are going to live in the larger aquarium.

When I bought the tanks two plecos needed a new home. (One lived in each tank before the purchase) and since I am a sucker for plecos I am more than happy to give them a new home even if it means having to rush the setup of the tanks a little.

The smaller pleco is 13 inches and the larger is 17 inches. They have fought a little being together in the smaller tank but nothing seriouse. They seem to have handled the move very very well and at least one of them looks healthier now than he did before the move.

some pictures:

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The larger pleco.


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The smaller pleco

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Plecos from aboce for size comparison.

Sorry for the poor pics in these posts. Photos hasn't been my priority so far.

[jeffs99dime]

they're huge!!
very nice tanks btw William! good stuff.:ezpi_wink1:

[SkarloeysMom]

Wow! Those are some huge Plecos! You have your work cut out for you with all the tanks. I can't wait to seen the finished product. I think orchids on the log sounds really beautiful.

[RobbieG]

Those are some fine fish!

My wife is going to be so jealous when I show her the pics - she is a pleco fanatic!

[Zerileous]

how does one "net" a 17 inch fish?

looks like your tanks will be awesome. I hope that I have the chance to run massive tanks sometime in the future.

[RobbieG]

I chase my larger fish into buckets or a colander (depending on how large)

[William]

Personally I prefer to use my hands to lift large plecos as they easily get hopelessly tangled up in nets (and can hurt themselves) It safer for the plecos.

It is however not safer for me!
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This scratch from the tail fin is about 4 inches long.

[Drumachine09]

Hahaha, ever been finned by a 25 lb catfish? Its not much fun either.

Glad the tanks are going well. Whats the filtration like?

[MeganL3985]

Those tanks are awesome! :D And those are the biggest pleco's i've ever seen (haven't seen too many though). thumbs2: :19:

[William]

Right now the now the filtration is just a small innefilter to keep the water circulating. The final filter setup depends on which fish I end up getting but I got a few external filters with the tanks that hopefully will do the trick, I don't remember their names right now but one was a fluval and the other eheim.

If I go for oscars or something messy like that I might need to get a new filters.

[Kuli_Loach]

Them are very large plecos but I saw a 22" one this weekend. It was sadly in a 55 gallon tank though with a quite large koi. It had it's nose at the top of the water and it's tail was touching the sand but there was about an inch of sand.

[Lady Hobbs]

Gulp! Wow! Eyes popping out. This is totally awesome! You must have got those fish from someone to have them soooo big already. And the one tank even has the rock background on it already.

Man.........you are the lucky, lucky one. Now we'll see more of you talking about your fish, too. I know you are one happy camper after not being able to have fish for awhile. Congratulations!!!!!!

[William]

Thanks.

Yes the plecos came with the tanks. and can (and will) as kuli says grow a fair bit larger ;-)

I will post more pictures as I am able to to setup the aquariums better. Hopefully I will have some pictures of the larger one all done with orchids attached tomorrow or the morning after and a picture of it with plecos in it a day after that.

[Kuli_Loach]

Good luck with it bud, it will be beautiful!!

[Lady Hobbs]

I'm anxious to see the orchids. I assume they will be on the wood that's above the water line.

That big tank would be like having a hot tub it's so large. Are they both glass or acyrlic.

[zackish]

OMFG, I did not even finish reading the posts, all I have to say is I never thought a pleco could get that big. I know they always say they can get that big but that is simply insane. That is scary. If I put that in my 29 all the algae would be gone in 5 minutes, as well as all my plants! :c12:

[William]

Yes. The orchids will go abve the water line.

The smaller tank is glass, the larger is glass and acrylic. (different sides)

[Nick_Pavlovski]

Them's some big plecos!

[jeffs99dime]

personally, i cannot wait to see more pics! i'm speechless.:c3:

[AquaQueen]

WOW!!! Nice tanks William. I am so glad you will finally have a few of your own tanks again. Congrats on the sweet finds! You deserve them!

[William]

I am currently working on changing the bed beneath the larger one. I will post more pictures when I have filled it with water again. And of course in a couple of days when the plecos can move into their new home.

I am also trying to decide on what fish to keep.
Right now i have the following species on my list but I might have to change it get compatible fish. And to have room for them
- freshwater stingrays (big tank)
- Cetopsis coecutiens (big tank)
- Jags (big tank)
- Crenichla strigata "red" (big tank)
- Saw knife fish (small tank)
- altum angelfish (small tank)
- Plecostomus Alligator (big tank)
- German rams (small tank)
- Super blue diamond discus. (small tank) See attached image

thoughts? suggestions?

[Lady Hobbs]

Those that buy a pleco for their 10 gallon are now getting the idea that pleco's are just a tad too large for the tank. LOL

[Incredulous_Ed]

Wow william! glad you finally got tanks! They are incredible!

[William]

Well I ended up having to build a whole new frame to place the larger aquarium on but now it is done and it seems to be well leveled. I will fill it and hopefully add some orchids tomorrow. Will try to post more pictures after I have done that.

[YaYgoldFish]

I love how you call the smaller tank your "small" tank lol..can't wait to see pics of it done tho. :)

[William]

I promised some new pics today. Not that I have made much progress but I made some as the pictures will show.

The bed underneath the larger aquarium has been fixed and the decoration is back. Still need a little more water though.

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The water is still very murky (and cooooold) so it is hard to see the enterior very well.

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Some orchids for the log. Don't know which ones I will end up using. Or if I decide to get completely different orchids. Looking for some other species.

Updates will follow as works progress.

[squirt_12]

hahaha i love it!!!!
I wish that i had a tank that big!!!!

[Drumachine09]

hahaha i love it!!!!
I wish that i had a tank that big!!!!


Dont we all? lol




That driftwood looks great in there. I cant count how many times ive been fishing, and looked around and say a peice of driftwood, and ive thought to myself "that would look pretty cool in an aquarium. Now if i can only get one big enough!"

[Incredulous_Ed]

Awesome man!