Loaches Online Forum

okay, so I am surprised at how totally excited I am about this. The stand fit PERFECTLY in the tile tray and will look BEAUTiFUL (already does, IMO).
I do not care that I am having to redo the floor....this will look AWESOME!
The fish will just thrive in this new environment!(let your imagination go WILD.....125 gallons of great potential space for my loaches!!)
I am holding for a few days....not doing anything but watching and making sure everything holds (Iknow, Iknow ... I really should get my medications adjusted....)
trying to let it sink in (and not leak). I am now thinking about the equipment I have. I do not think I am experienced enough to do the river tank manifold thing, but I think I can get some good flow with an additional powerhead, or two. ( I hope I gain the confidence and experience, but my free time is limited).

anyway this is what I have: you can see by the photos that I have chosen a wet-dry system. It is a proclear 200 wet-dry with prefilter. I have two return pumps ( a two overflow system) : two rio 1700's. I also have an extra powerhead which is not in the tank yet.
I am doing low tech but a PLANTED tank.... two T5HO fixtures, each with two 39 W 10K bulbs (that is a whole other conversation).
The heater is in the sump.
of course, you need to know my plans for fish, plants, etc to decide if this will work. I have 2 wonderful clowns ( have I mentioned Larry ? ) plus his almost equally sized companion Beau. Both are about 4 inches now...and three more in the Qtank ( if they pass the gauntlet). I think for dithers I will use some roseline barbs ( maybe eight) and I just love the cory cats ( a medium sized school of emeralds). I have plans for java fern, java moss, anubias and maybe some swords. I think these are the usual suspects for a low tech planted tank. I know that the loaches will eventually tear this up a bit, but they are relatively little now and that is okay.
Do you think I have enough of a clean up crew in the proposed tank????
Thanks for the suggestions!!
Here is the new tank!



look at that fit!





Sadie likes it!!!!


I have a little work to do under here, but this is my filter

YEAH!!!!!


@WOOOOOHOOOO!!!!!!

Loachy party time coming soon!!!!!


(says while knocking wood and crossing fingers and mumbling prayers)

Perfect fit is right. It's like that area was specifically tiled for a fish tank of that size. What a great idea to protect the floors.

Update?

WOW!!! Lovely tank!!! Lucky loaches!!!!!

Val

well, things are moving along nicely!
I am supposed to go get the plants I ordered in Raleigh Today, but the big snow and ice storm may delay that.
I have started the fishless cycle and may just have to be satisfied with putting the rocks in place. I have some aquarium silicone to make the caves more secure.
The bottom is all black fluorite, which looks beautiful, but I have been thinking..... is this too sharp for loachie barbels? Should I try to find some black smooth gravel to cover it over, or will they dig down into the fluorite anyway. I am not looking forward to trying to get the gravel, but NOW would be the time to do it, rather than after everything is in place.
The fish list for this tank so far is as follows:
my five clown loaches
my seven rainbows (3 bosemani, 4 turquoise)
6 to 8 roseline sharks
some rummy nose tetras (would like a good little school)
I will still need to get algae eaters in there eventuallly

Just using the inch per gallon rule says this would be be okay I think, esp since it will be planted.
Right now, I will be happy to just get a PLANT in there!!!!

way better than a tv!
looks great

1" per gallon rule goes out the window when your fish are over 2" long, so forget it.

Rummynose are so small they might get eaten. I thing Rainbow Fish and Roseline Barbs are plenty. (I have my Roselines in a cooler tank, though... are they OK in a warmer tank?)

I would add a Bristlenose Pleco for the flatter, stuck on sorts of algae.

That looks great!
I found that planting seems to(note seems to) make all the levels better now than in my old set up. But i do have smaller fish now- but i have more -so???
Good luck and i can't wait to see it all going.
Oh yea you said Raleigh I am in Greensboro.

thanks for all the thoughts and advice!
I will research a little more about the roselines. If they cannot take the warmer temp I will do something else sinc the loaches really NEED the bigger space.
The tank is cycling along niely. eating up the ammonia and nitrates are showing up. I think the nitrites are too high (>10!!!) so I'll do a water change to see if that can help. Added in some more bacteria Today and am going to move a nice, juicy piece of driftwood from one of the established tanks to help get it going a bit.
Hey 55gal...from the big city of Greensboro, eh? Well us small town Sanford people keep a good fish tank too!!

Have you gotten the plants yet?

Looking forward to photos!

yes, I have plants and photos!!!!
photos are on my post called tank update.
I apologize for my lack of tech savvy. It was not until I restarted my aquarium interest that I have ever been on a forum, posted online pics, etc (being one of the bridge generation between floppy drives and the current tech communication revolution). I am amazed at how easily people just make things happen on the internet with photos, videos, etc.
My main interests are my fish, gardens, birds and finding out about all these fascinating stories with others' work with their loaches and aqauriums!
I have not quite figured out how to make the same post come up, but with updates on the forum. Don't worry, I am persistent...you just have to put up with my blunders while I figure out how to communicate more effectively in this venue!!

Ah, yes, saw the photos. Very nice! Larry will be so happy! And what are his friends; names?

I love to garden too, and birdwatch. But up here, this is dream-gardening season, as all the seed catalogs pile up and we can read the descriptions and pretend we can grow okra and watermelon....