My 125 gallon jorney

[agrasyuk]

this will be the journal of my 125 gallon adventure. i was really excited scoring this little monstrer tank on CL beginning this month. tonight i guess is the official start - it is finally full of water .

things yet to be organized below, plus i still need to build doors

lighted by 72"beamswork LED fixture. substrate 50lbs of eco-complete/floramax mix covered by 120 lbs or so of playsand. filtration is aquaclear 125 wet/dry stuffed with bunch of pot cleaners(few are being seeded right now in canister of 55 gallon tank), ebay overflow 1200Gph box CPR knock off, eheim 3000 circulation pump with DIY pvc spraybar situated back to front under left brace. for now untill the dust clears i'm not running the wet/dry, put a old penguin170 on it , not going to hurt. driftwood piece is still soaking, and still needs to go into dishwasher for steam bath.

this will be a peaceful community tank, exact stocking still being determined , i do know i want cardinal tetras, sterbai corys and a pair of bristlenoses.

 

[Autumnsky]

this will be the journal of my 125 gallon adventure. i was really excited scoring this little monstrer tank on CL beginning this month. tonight i guess is the official start - it is finally full of water .

things yet to be organized below, plus i still need to build doors

lighted by 72"beamswork LED fixture. substrate 50lbs of eco-complete/floramax mix covered by 120 lbs or so of playsand. filtration is aquaclear 125 wet/dry stuffed with bunch of pot cleaners(few are being seeded right now in canister of 55 gallon tank), ebay overflow 1200Gph box CPR knock off, eheim 3000 circulation pump with DIY pvc spraybar situated back to front under left brace. for now untill the dust clears i'm not running the wet/dry, put a old penguin170 on it , not going to hurt. driftwood piece is still soaking, and still needs to go into dishwasher for steam bath.

this will be a peaceful community tank, exact stocking still being determined , i do know i want cardinal tetras, sterbai corys and a pair of bristlenoses.

Sounds like fun. Make sure you don't have any Jet dry/rinse aid in the dishwasher.

BN love other BN, so you could have a armload of them in there. I know someone who might be willing to sell you a bunch for a reasonable price (Albino BN home grown). Pm me and I can check for you if you are interested.

Cardinals!!!

Here is one of the persons babies in my tank!

Can't wait to see the tank progress.

 

[agrasyuk]

Actually rinse aid is in there for sure, judging by our normal use I still have a week or bit more to soak the DW before it gets used up. wife knows to not refill it.

I was under impression that bristlenoses are territorial and don't get along with each other to much, that's why I have only one in the 55Gal.
Do you by a chance have the ordinary brown? I'm not really big fan of albinos (nevertheless congrads on your addition ).

 

[Autumnsky]

Actually rinse aid is in there for sure, judging by our normal use I still have a week or bit more to soak the DW before it gets used up. wife knows to not refill it.

I was under impression that bristlenoses are territorial and don't get along with each other to much, that's why I have only one in the 55Gal.
Do you by a chance have the ordinary brown? I'm not really big fan of albinos (nevertheless congrads on your addition ).

For the territorial thing I believe it is when they are breeding the male will protect his cave with the eggs naturally. I have 6 in my 72g. Ithink the breeding pairs are all albino variety. There are some really great red and orange variations. Depending on your preferences, lol. I will check on the browns.

 

[agrasyuk]

Water in the display tank got clear quite fast, I did not like how the AQ125 wet/dry worked. Was able to reduce the overflow drain gurgling but sump capacity was not sufficient to my taste. So the AQ is for sale, I will be using 20 gallon long tank as sump. Trip to IKEA yielded pair of "samla" containers, they stack very nicely and fit inside the tank exactly. (Tank not shown as it was resealed and now stands full of water outside being tested for leaks)

 

[agrasyuk]

Pipe Adhesive and silicone dried (or so i hope) and the new sump is going. Sump itself is much quieter or so it seems, but almost all the sponges ended up getting submerged. And another thing that is somewhat concerning is the amount of water flow. Even though the pump (eheim 3000 compact) is not the most powerful I've seen on 125gal, and there is a check valve that is robbing from the flow there is still enough current to almost uproot the amazon sword planted . I think thats where the DW will go to break the current somewhat.

 

[agrasyuk]

Driftwood is in, still floats so I have a stone on it to keep it down. Somehow I have feeling it will take quite a while to settle. Started strapping plants on the DW however, looks nice.

First occupants are in - 3 bristlenoses. Poor guys already had an adventure, started to worry after not seeing them for some time and found one in overflow box. No idea how he made it past the first foam barrier. 2 more made it all the way down into the drip pipe, spent at least 12 hours there. Lucky enough this structure is not glued so I got them out safely. What a close call, they almost became ammonia . the overflow now has proper mesh to protect from these things in future.

 

[Autumnsky]

Driftwood is in, still floats so I have a stone on it to keep it down. Somehow I have feeling it will take quite a while to settle. Started strapping plants on the DW however, looks nice.

First occupants are in - 3 bristlenoses. Poor guys already had an adventure, started to worry after not seeing them for some time and found one in overflow box. No idea how he made it past the first foam barrier. 2 more made it all the way down into the drip pipe, spent at least 12 hours there. Lucky enough this structure is not glued so I got them out safely. What a close call, they almost became ammonia . the overflow now has proper mesh to protect from these things in future.

Love the DW. I left the rock on mine because the pants started growing roots over it before the wood would stay down, lol.

Once had a BN shimmy somehow, and I still can't understand how it did it, into a HOB filter, it was there for maybe almost a month and got kinda fat living in a 6in x 3in cubby hole. Scared the bleep out of me when I went to clean it, since things, especially kinda big things aren't supposed to be in there. The whole thing was clean as could be though, no sludge at all on the sides or bottom!!!

Glad you found them in time!

 

[agrasyuk]

Well , not completely smooth sailing so far. On the bright side Bristlenoses despite the "whitewater" trip to the sump prefilter acclimated just fine, eating vigorously on glass walls, waffers and zucchini (judging by amount of poo generated). 2 serbai corys (all they had in store, will get more) after evening of shyness are very active, doing their digging thing .

But from the pair of German blue rams I already lost one. Floated the bag for hour or so adding water slowly, Plants to hide already there, Water parameters are good A less then 0.25 , N0, nitrate less then 10, temp at 81F , frozen brine shrimp and flakes were offered and I even seen one of them nibble on them. Still after couple hours one of the GBR darkened, later found him dead in watersprite bush .

Of the 10 cardinals I already found 2 on the grates of the overflow box, and judging by behaviour (swimming separately and rotating on side) I am afraid I will find one more when I get home today...

 

[agrasyuk]

Water is not crystal clear, bunch of particles are flowing around. Perhaps I just should give it more time, but for now as much as I appreciate the clean look of tank's insides without heaters or tubes I'm really tempted to get pair of fluv406 canisters instead of a sump. For now I put old marinrland HOT filter with micron polishing cartridge into the sump, will see how this helps.

 

[Autumnsky]

Sorry to hear about the bumpy road.

You might try keeping the lights off to give them time to calm down and rest. They love blood worms so maybe that will interest them.

 

[agrasyuk]

Lights were off for the most part. Gave plants couple of hours of low light (fixture has two settings). "Target fed" the ram yesterday - stopped the return pump, thawed and pretty much sprinkled little bit of blood worms above him , he twitched a bit as the food landed on and around him, but I didn't see him touch it. Today in the morning he seemed darker... Have a bad feeling about what I'm about to find tonight. On the cardinal side i'm down to 4. Found 2 dead returning from work Yday, another one on bottom hour later and one more this morning. And i don't see them eating either, With now 2 kinds of flakes (some crushed), brine shrimp and worms floating freaking everywhere in the tank they surely have a choice of food.
At least the corys are full and happy.

So far I'm displaying a remarkable ability to kill fish. Quite a humbling experience.

 

[Dwarriors65]

Looking good so far good luck

 

[agrasyuk]

TY

Both rams are gone, 3 cardinals left and everything is stable for a day now, so i would like to think this is the end of this death wave. Sterbais are awesome, swimming happily , socializing with plecos and each other. Wife really loves them, need to find where to get more.
Removed the flower pots that were for Rams hiding spaces, moved the wood and planted some more stuff. Still experimenting with layout. Plant Water from the store is swarming with insects! dunked everything twice to make sure.
Picture for the diary:

 

[agrasyuk]

Important lesson learned - when possible get fish only from other hobbyists and local breeders. On sunday i overcame my doubts and got German blue rams again, this time from "somefin'sfishy" , a local father-and-son garage based operation. Fish looks healthier, ready to eat and already seemed more relaxed and at home the next morning. Matt also has some very nice discus and that's the place where i will be getting mine. So awesome to have them relatively nearby. Now I need to find someone who breeds cardinals and sterbais, hopefully someone at the upcoming Hillside swap meet will have them. Can't wait!

And as added bonus DW piece is almost staying down by itself now will be moss'ing it soon

 

[agrasyuk]

Those rams are absolutely awesome! They always greet anyone who passes by the tank swimming up to the glass, and the moment my hands are in the water they are right there nibbling. Wife is liking them a lot and guests we had over weekend were quite surprised to see this.

But no matter what I just can't clear up the water. Biological cycle is going g strong, no amm nor nitrites, but I can't do anything about particles. Tried cleaning the pad, no change. Water is on harder side here so the pair of 300W heaters make quite a mineral buildup that I can't get rid of in the sump. Cleaning and replacing HOT micron cartridges once a week does not help. I love that equipment is hidden but I'm considering g more and more to abandon the sump and go with pair of canisters water in 55 upstairs is cristal clear and I miss that a lot here.

 

[agrasyuk]

Looks like mobile does not allow to attach pictures after post is created.

Rams:

 

[venymae]

Looking good, bummer about the bumpy start. I cannot wait to see the plants fill in. Gonna be gorgeous! I am jealous about the local fish breeders you found! Wish we had some here. Friendly fish are so nice, and you KNOW they were well loved and taken care of when they just come to the top and nibble your fingers

 

[agrasyuk]

half year passed.
the tank was on low maintenance "autopilot" mode for the summer, now getting back into it.
green algie growth on glass is down to minimum - that frog bit really spreads!
3 angels, school of pencil fish, emerald corys and more sterbai corys moved in. another fiasco with cardinals, added a school of 10, all gone and somehow they managed to take one of the two survives from previous batch with them.

 

[PNWaquarist]

Did the rams survive "autopilot" mode? Sorry to hear about your Cardinals. I've had good luck with them here, but our water is very soft.

Tank looks really nice. Wish I could fit something like that in my house (no basement, unfortunately).