Woot, the 220 Has Landed

[toddnbecka]

I picked up a monster of a used tank last night, 7'x2' and one heavy bugger to handle. Very solidly built stand and canopy, glass tops, 3' and 4' light strips, and an FX5 filter. All that cost me $550, with another $150 for gas and help moving it. I'm going to take down a 55 that's currently braced with a bar clamp since the center brace gave out and the 40 "tall" beside it to make room for the big one.
Then I just have to figure out what to put into it. Move the 4 severums, 5 silver dollars, and assorted other fish from the 125 over? Either way I have a nice-size tank open for new critters.

 

[mrhelton]

That's pretty exciting. I would love to have a tank that big, but I fear it will never happen.

 

[GhillieSniper115]

I picked up a monster of a used tank last night, 7'x2' and one heavy bugger to handle. Very solidly built stand and canopy, glass tops, 3' and 4' light strips, and an FX5 filter. All that cost me $550, with another $150 for gas and help moving it. I'm going to take down a 55 that's currently braced with a bar clamp since the center brace gave out and the 40 "tall" beside it to make room for the big one.
Then I just have to figure out what to put into it. Move the 4 severums, 5 silver dollars, and assorted other fish from the 125 over? Either way I have a nice-size tank open for new critters.

Can I has ur tank?

 

[abrahamavelar]

u should plant it and put rainbow fish they look cool or you could plant it and put discus or angels or a big planted community tank!!!!

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Exciting! What are you thinking of stocking it with? I would put some peacock bass in there and an arowana. Or the arowana and some green terrors! Haha... The possibilities are (almost) limitless! Don't mind us dreamers..

 

[toddnbecka]

Too many other tanks to maintain and not enough inclination to do CO2 and all that for a proper planted tank. I stick with fast-growing floaters like Najas, hornwort, Salvinia, and of course the duckweed that's almost impossible to eliminate.
I'm thinking O. ventralis (Tanganykian featherfins) and M. parva rainbows for a start.

 

[GhillieSniper115]

I picked up a monster of a used tank last night, 7'x2' and one heavy bugger to handle. Very solidly built stand and canopy, glass tops, 3' and 4' light strips, and an FX5 filter. All that cost me $550, with another $150 for gas and help moving it. I'm going to take down a 55 that's currently braced with a bar clamp since the center brace gave out and the 40 "tall" beside it to make room for the big one.
Then I just have to figure out what to put into it. Move the 4 severums, 5 silver dollars, and assorted other fish from the 125 over? Either way I have a nice-size tank open for new critters.

Actualy with a tank that size u can house a Pleco without any problems. I would get eather get a lot of small-medium size fish or a couple big ones. And don't get chilchids unless u know wat ur doin

 

[toddnbecka]

Picked up 100 lbs of fine-grade gravel (similar to pool filter sand) and 60 lbs of black sand to darken it a bit. Since the gravel will drop out of the siphon faster than the sand I'm thinking the sand will stay on or near the surface of the substrate layer. Since it would be a royal pain to take the sand back out I figured t'would be best to check for leaks before it goes in. We were careful in moving the tank, and I put styrofoam sheets between the stand and tank before we set it into place. My basement floor is terribly uneven, so I wanted a cushion to distribute the weight even though the stand is very solidly built. If no leaks turn up I'll start rinsing the gravel tomorrow and see how far it goes, have to cover 14 square feet.

 

[TheEllz]

I'd love to have a tank like that. Bass, bluegill, catfish, maybe a sturgeon or paddlefish, maybe gar, crappie, and a school of shad. Bass Pro Shops in my living room. Lol.

 

[adeebm]

Wow, that's awesome! I think we need some pics of the behemoth.

--Adeeb

 

[HN1]

Very nice pick up! You could go all tang and swap cyps for the bows. Either sounds cool. Total envy here....

 

[toddnbecka]

Ya, haven't heard anything on the bows lately, so I'm going with speckleback Cyp's. I moved the pics into a new folder on photobucket, here's a repost of those and a few new ones of the scrawny little spiney eel I picked up along with 2 multi's Sunday.
I've added more rocks and cichlid stones since the pics were taken, and will be adding more fish and rescaping to suit over the next couple weeks. Will update with fresh pics after the Cyp's arrive.

Standard 4' shop light above the right side:

Dozen O. ventralis orange caps:

Back of the glass is painted black, and the substrate is mostly coal slag:

Val nana, need a bit more:

 

[toddnbecka]

I've seen bigger earthworms, but she does have a nice leopard-spotted pattern:

Ignore the reflection, the actual ruler shows the size:

Current stock also includes a handful of nearly adult BN as well as a half-dozen or more fry that hitchiked inside the resin tree root ornament. Moved 8 juvie Synodontis lucipinnis from another tank, and there's also a plagiostoma spiney eel. She's not too much longer than the squirt, but 2-3x as bulky in diameter.
Cyp's should arrive this week, and I'm planning to pick up another pair, 5-6 1" buescheri and a single blue-spot goby cichlid at the CCA meeting on the 12th.

 

[toddnbecka]

Update time, tank is pretty well stocked now, though I'm hoping to find some more Pavo Cyp's somewhere along the way.
Current stocklist:
12 O. ventralis orange cap
9 speckleback Cyp's
9 multi's
8 M. parva rainbows (1 looks a bit rough and is hiding, not sure that one will make it long-term.)
8 Synodontis lucipinnis
5 buescheri Zaire gold
2 (pair) Pavo Cyp's
1 Eret cyan goby
1 plagiostoma spiny eel
1 tanganicae spiny eel
Unknown number of BN pleco's, likely more than 12 though.
Recent full tank shot, won't look so empty when they grow out more:

Left end:

Middle:

Right end:

This one is looking much plumper these days:

Might be the bloodworms, but I'm pretty sure they eat the NLS Grow pellets along with the other fish too: