what would you do?

[cogburn]

so whilst im anxiously awaiting breaking ground on my new house and realizing that when its done i can FINALLY get my 150 gal. tank and get it going... my question is... what would you do?... i already know what im going to do... but i wanna see what you guys would do... 150 gallon to do with it whatever you wanted... what..... would..... you...... do....?

-Larry

 

[mom2reds]

definately planted high light tank

 

[Purrbox]

Medium Light Planted Aquarium stocked with large schools of Dwarf Cories, Micro Rasboras, small Rainbows, and lots and lots of Cherry Red Shrimp.

 

[MisticX]

defo a pool

ye, high volume filtration with nice cozy umbrellas ... and eventually with one of those floating devices... and a open bar.

ye thaz what i'd do with a 150 gals tank.


oh wait u ment fishis ?
donno ... i think i'd have a cihilid tank, with many schooling species, and ofc a couple of plants

 

[marchmaxima]

Assuming I had an unlimited budget?

Salt water.

 

[cogburn]

yeah sure... unlimited budget... but what kind of saltwater? fowlr? reef?... elaborate... this is turning out to be fun...

 

[marchmaxima]

Mmmmmm unlimited budget.

I would build an environment that could support seahorses because they are my all-time favourite aquatic animal. Hopefully that will be a reef-like set up with frags and corals. It would have metal halide lighting and moonlights. Oh, and one of those neat looking red/white shrimps that have feelers as long as my arm.

That's all I have, cos that's about as far as my SW knowledge goes. For all I know, the shrimp would eat the sea horses, LOL

 

[cogburn]

well here's what IM doing with my 150 gal... larger substrate... pebbles not gravel... driftwood for hiding places only... no plants (live OR fake) one tiger oscar... one albino oscar... one banded leoparinus... 6 tin foil barbs... and a pleco... and i CANT FRIGGIN WAIT...

 

[fijiwigi]

Definately a Saltwater reef tank. LOL But with that large of a tank I would do an aggressive Saltwater tank with a Dogface Puffer fish and a Snowflake eel or Maybe even a lionfish. Just imagine a 18" eel swimming around

 

[cogburn]

that would be awesome too fiji... i just dont really want the costs of saltwater and the maintenance... im just gonna stay freshy til i hit he lottery hahaha

 

[fijiwigi]

that would be awesome too fiji... i just dont really want the costs of saltwater and the maintenance... im just gonna stay freshy til i hit he lottery hahaha

You know with a FOWLR aggressive tank you don't need intense lighting. The only really budget hitter would be the LiveRock and Salt expense maybe a refractometer, protein skimmer and RO/DI unit you could probably make everything happen For under $1000 bucks, The maintenance once the tank is established is not that much more than a fresh water tank really I do a PWC and empty my skimmer cup once a week sometimes I wait 2 weeks it takes me about 20min each time Thats it

 

[cogburn]

yeah....... but........ i really really like oscars... and i just dont think im ready for sw yet... maybe in a few years when im old and dont have a social life hahaha

 

[haykay]

with a tank that large you can deff. get your oscars, adn I liked your stocking list only thing I might do is make sure the tin foils and maybe even pleco are quite a bit bigger than the Oscars and I hear Oscars grow much fater than the other named species! will you have pictures?

 

[cogburn]

i plan on keeping everything around the same size... and yes there will be pics... ive done my homework thats for sure... hours and hours of researching every species i plan on having, hours searching for the best parts i can get... even driving 2.5 hours to a huge awesome fish store and pricing everything out so i know exactly what i need before i go... this plan has been in the works for months... i cant friggin wait... should be breaking ground on the new house in 2-3 weeks... so its only a matter of a few months til my plan becomes a reality... then hopefully a few short weeks of fishless cycling and the swimmers will be in their new home and ill weep for joy

 

[haykay]

whoo hoo for you Im excited that you will have a new tnak soon! and way to go on all the research!

 

[Sum22]

I'd go with some green tiger barbs, gold barbs, black neon tetras, x-ray pristella tetras, maybe a pleco. Mostly fish that stay relatively small so I can have a ton of them.

 

[cogburn]

i thought about going with the ton of small fish direction sum22... but i just really like big fish... im sure ill have this tank for a very long time and at some point may go in a different direction... after all the fish wont live forever... maybe thatll be what i do next time...

 

[kimo]

well here's what IM doing with my 150 gal... larger substrate... pebbles not gravel... driftwood for hiding places only... no plants (live OR fake) one tiger oscar... one albino oscar... one banded leoparinus... 6 tin foil barbs... and a pleco... and i CANT FRIGGIN WAIT...

Be very careful of using larger pebbles instead of gravel... especially with dirty fish. Your nitrates will skyrocket once the tank has cycled.
btw: plan on taking 6-8 months to cycle that 150g with a few fish in it (natural cycle).

From another 150g tank owner.

 

[cogburn]

no way am i cycling it with fish in it... fishless cycle all the way... would you like being locked in a room with horrible air quality for 6-8 months til the air cleared up i think not... fishless cycling is the only way to go

 

[kimo]

no way am i cycling it with fish in it... fishless cycle all the way... would you like being locked in a room with horrible air quality for 6-8 months til the air cleared up i think not... fishless cycling is the only way to go

Bet you don't own a quaranteen tank. Will also bet that you "fishless"cycled your tank then went out to the nearest LFS and didn't pay too much attention to the health of the fish that were there. Just brought them home and dumped 'em in. Obvious that you don't have the long term experience
of the hows, whys, the signs, what not to do, during any cycles.

If you think "fishless cycle" is the only way to go, better think again. I can garantee you that somewhere, sometime down the line you are going to have an emergency in one of your tanks. You are not going to be given the time to afford a "fishless" cycle. Learn now how to do the cycle WITH fish now or pay the price later.

I'm not trying flame your methods in any way.... do whatever.
I just have the experience of 40+ years and am a retired LFS owner. I've seen, heard just about every horror story about a tank and know that the ones who are set in their ways end up having the most trouble.

btw: I am "locked in a room (State) with horrible air quality".... Live in Arlington, TX and see what I mean. West wind blows all the pollution east from Ft Worth... East wind blows all the pollution from Dallas. Arlington happens to be stuck in the middle.