Brhino's 300g megatank

[wgoldfarb]

It's something else working on a tank this deep... If I'm trying to place something on the bottom I've literally got my armpit in the water. And I've got pretty long arms!

I see a scuba tank in your future... you could get inside​ your tank for aquascaping and maintenance!

[Knightia]

Great update, and really nice to see the tank in use now - it's been a long time coming! Looks good.

If you're after feedback on the scape - I would loose those stones - they look quite artificial with the sheered off edges (reminiscent of bricks). I'd go for some river stones or at least something that's shape is a bit more random (and thus, natural). Or you could try reordering them / angling them to make a more natural look. Partially burying stones can help. Here are some ideas if it's at all helpful.



You definitely need more wood in your hardscape. I think a nice piece of wood really makes the tank - and is even more important if you don't plan on planting the tank (nothing to hide a bad scape).

I know these are small tanks but it should give you an idea of the seamless transition from rockwork to wood - they work together, i.e. not "a pile of rocks here and a piece of wood just laying there". Try to bring to two together to form a scape. Laying them out on the floor in front of the tank is easiest for deciding your final choice.

[Knightia]

A few more...



Wow



This rockwork is obviously weighting down the wood in this set up but it still looks good. Imagine the rocks nestled at the roots of the wood once waterlogged.

[gronlaura]

Looking good. That's a good looking pleco. Isn't 80 deg a bit too warm for Mr. Pleco and the danios (sounds like a singing group)?

[Brhino]

You definitely need more wood in your hardscape.

One thing I noticed in all of the photos you linked is that there is a single piece of wood that dominates the hardscape of the tank. I agree that it's a good look but the issue for me is that I am limited by the size of the openings in the acrylic top. The two larger pieces I do have are at almost the limit for what would fit. I would like to find something taller for the right corner.

Isn't 80 deg a bit too warm for Mr. Pleco and the danios (sounds like a singing group)?

It's on the warm edge for the pleco, maybe a degree over depending on who you ask. Not too crazy though, and he seems to have done well at that temp in the growout tank. It is a bit too warm for the danios, but they're sort of just temporary residents anyhow, I've been gradually moving them up to the community tank as space permits.

[Knightia]

One thing I noticed in all of the photos you linked is that there is a single piece of wood that dominates the hardscape of the tank. I agree that it's a good look but the issue for me is that I am limited by the size of the openings in the acrylic top. The two larger pieces I do have are at almost the limit for what would fit. I would like to find something taller for the right corner.

You can stack several pieces together and they will look like the same piece of wood. I've done this in my large tank and you'd never know they were separate pieces whilst you're sat in front of it.

It's on the warm edge for the pleco, maybe a degree over depending on who you ask. Not too crazy though, and he seems to have done well at that temp in the growout tank. It is a bit too warm for the danios, but they're sort of just temporary residents anyhow, I've been gradually moving them up to the community tank as space permits.

I was wondering why you chose 80 degrees if it doesn't suit the fish.

[Brhino]

I was wondering why you chose 80 degrees if it doesn't suit the fish.

It's a good compromise temperature for the current and future stock. It's on the high end for the pleco but acceptable, on the middle/low end for the loaches, etc.

[Brhino]

The tank's had fish in it for one week now! A few notes:

The fish seem to be doing pretty well. I was a bit concerned because I was seeing some color changes in the pleco, which people generally refer to as "stress markings" or "stress bands". You can see some lighter colored patches:

But I did some more reading and while it sometimes means the fish is stressed, they also do it as a form of camouflage. He does it whenever he's on the substrate, which is fairly light colored. When he's on the driftwood or one of the sides of the tank, the color vanishes. He can do it really fast, too. I've seen him change from dark to light to dark to light all in the course of a minute as he swam around.

Evaporation is a serious thing with this tank. I'm losing a couple gallons a day, I think. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise, given the total surface area involved and the fact that the trickle filters are basically giant humidifiers.

One of the new clown loaches I have in quarantine wound up dead on the floor. the tank is covered except for a tiny gap where the HoB filter is attached, so I guess he jumped through there. Unfortunate. Apart from that, they seem to be doing well, although I noticed a couple spots on the tail of one of them that could be the beginnings of an ich outbreak. I definitely need to keep an eye on that.

[Plecos]

Good to hear that on Plecos cause my 14 inch one does the same thing when he goes from his white cave top to the driftwood or bottom of the tank.

[Compass]

That is one pretty pleco! Looks awesome! Sorry you lost a clown loach, that sucks. Yeah keep an eye on the others, being scaleless they are rather hard to treat.