Boom

That is not lock jaw. Sorta common among calvus and compreciseps, I've seen it before, but that ain't it! Looks like a scale turned up? Or maybe some wierd deformity?

I was thinking of documenting my work / progress with setting up my 180, sump, plumbing, building the stand, cabinets, hood, overflow, durso standpipe etc etc. Is there any interest in people wanting to see it as I go in a photo thread? If there's enough people interested I'll do it. Hopefully it'll help others and I know I'll need help from you all too along the way!

So I picked up my 180 last night, and a sump as well. Now to drill the tank. I went to Princess auto today and couldn't find any bulkheads, nor any glass drilling bits! So instead of trying to screw around and do it myself, I'd rather pay someone who's done many before, to do it for me. Arnold at Aquagiant said he'd do it for 50 bucks, but I still have to find my own bulkheads first. I'm gonna give Aquarium illusions a call. Anyone else maybe help me out with drilling it? I'll need holes for a 2" (drain) and a 1" (return) bulkhead.

Thanks everyone. Garden hose is safe, I'll stay away from the white RV hose. And yes I have a floor drain and one of those big laundry sinks very nearby. I should be able to just suck to start the syfon, and use the tank end of the hose to suck up poo. Sounds good. Thanks again.

But with the pump method you can't clean the sand, can you? Will it suck up the poop?

I don't use a large plastic end, just the tube (or hose) same diameter the whole length so I don't think that'll work for me.

Can u just attach a picture here?

Thanks guys. Another question, to get the sifon started on the hose, do you just use your mouth and suck? Or I was thinking of setting up a plunger type thing to get it going. Maybe use a rubber stopper the same size as the inside of the hose, attach it to a stick, shove it into the hose before the other end is in the tank, then put the other end in the tank, pull out the stopper quickly, and that should start a sifon, right?

Is that clear tubing cheap? I have lots of extra garden hose, that's why I'm asking. If it's safe maybe I'll try it for a while first and if I have problems I can always go get the clear tubing later and just swap ou the fitting.

There is no easy answer to what your asking. There is no magic number for how much water to change and how often, due to all the factors puman mentioned, and more. You have to test your water for nitrates. Test it, if it's above an acceptable level (decide whats acceptable to you, usually 30 - 40 ppm max.) then do a 50% water change. Test again a few hours after the water change. If it's down to where you want it (around 10ppm) then that amount of water change was good. Then test you water every day for a week and see how long it takes to get back up to where you need to change it again. Keep doing this for a while and it won't take long to figure out how much water to change and how often. Don't forget it will change slightly if you add more fish or increase feedings.

Can I use regular garden hose for draining and filling a tank at water changes? I'll be setting up a 180 gallon tank soon and it'll be about 15 feet away from a sink and floor drain. I was thinking of doing my water changes with a garden hose, just put one end in the tank, go to the other end, start the siphon and let it drain into the floor drain. I could vaccuum the sand with it too. Then I could fill the tank back up by connecting the hose to the faucet on the sink. Is garden hose safe? I also have one of those white houses from my camping trailer that's supposed to resist mold and mildew, would that be better? PS. I don't want to use a python because I think it wastes alot of water.

Not sure if you read the articles in the link I gave, but this article discusses mixing them. Mixing Tropheus

Very nice tank and tropheus! I love it. The only tropheus I ever owned was a Kiriza, more commonly called a "Kaiser II". Kaiser II

I'd imagine that 20 would be o.k to start with, but it also depends on how many you want to end up with. The larger the colony in the end the better (within reason obviously). So if 20 was what you wanted to end up with (I personally wouldn't want less), you may want to start with 25 or 30. Here is a bunch of very helpful articles on Tropheus. Tropheus Corner

I agree with what has been said so far. i have not kept tropheus yet myself but was seriously considering a colony of them in my 55 and did a bunch of research on them. That research seemed to indicate that a 90 would be perfect, get more than you need / want because some will likely die off anyway, and adding more later is much more difficult. (The group likely won't accept them in). And as African Fever suggested, limit the hiding places, a few large rocks just to break up the swim lines seems to be the perfect/recommended decor. They eat algae so if you have lots of green stuff growing, that would be ok. Real plants won't last. If you go on Spencer Jack's website, he has an awesome picture of a tropheus tank that seems to be a real good setup (in the gallery section). Good luck.

If/when your saulosi's breed, they will be very agressive towards the other two groups.

Wow. Your a pretty good photographer! Maybe I should get you to bring your camera to take some pics of my fish when you come get your stand tomorrow!

Looks good, try taking the video at night with no room lights or ambient light on, just the tank lights. You'll get less glare. I like the fish and the decor. Is that a big piece of lava rock near the left side?

Looks really great! Good job. What do you have stocked in it now? I love the aquascaping. Well done and congrats on the successful completion.

Thanks Lana. Your right, not complaining although I understand how it could have been taken like that. I'll be setting up a 180 (not plywood) soon and was thinking of doing a walkthrough of all the work. Including building my own acrylic sump, overflow, durso standpipe, drilling the tank, stand, cabinetry, canopy, plumbing etc etc. If there is any interest? Still lokking forward to more updates on this project.

Wow, I posted this thread a month ago and had no responses so I forgot about it. Good thing I got the e-mail notification. Anyway, things have changed a bit since then. My wife has given the go ahead for a big tank. So I will be getting a 180 gallon tank. My plan is to move all my lake Malawi fish into that tank, so it'll be 180 gallons of peacocks, haps and the odd mbuna (all males). My 55 gallon will be a Tangynikan setup. I will keep my pair of black calvus in there, I have one Neolamprologus tretocephalus (5 bar cichlid) and love it so I plan on getting another 5 or 6 of them. I have 4 Julidichromis Regani as well which will stay. Then I may add a few more of a different Neolamp. Maybe brichardi's or pulchers (daffodils). I'm gonna scrap the Tropheus colony idea for now. How does that sound for a Tang. setup? Thanks for all the input so far guys (and gals).

The verticle compression strength of plywood is very high. Especially good quality ply which has less air pockets (called voids) in it, and more plys (layers). The weekness comes from it's side to side stabilty. If that stand were not braced at the back, if it were bumped from the side, it would surely topple. But Nick braced it diagonally at the back which eliminates that worry. For something even stronger, take several long strips of plywood cut to 4" wide, laminate them together with glue, and that new "board" would be about 10 times stronger than a 2x4. This is what I'll be doing under my 180 gallon tank. It will allow me to have a horizontal span of over 3 feet under the tank with no vertical support. I could probably even do the full 6 foot length with no worries using that method.

That's exactly what I meant by letting the wood support the weight. Well done Nick. I just built a double tank stand for sloughshark (90 gal on top and 55 on the bottom) and it's structured the same way.

The idea looks good to me. Yes, 2 2x4's glued and screwed together is stronger than a single 4x4. You could certainly build that with just 2x4's and 3/4" plywood. To hold the weight it'll need to be assembled correctly. The best tips I can give you is: Let the wood support the weight, not the screws. And make sure everything is LEVEL. Let us know if you have specific questions.

Ha ha. I must be tired. First off, I'm not complaining. Second, I'll admit my mistake when I'm wrong. I do now notice the size of the screw is 6x2. The 6 refers to the gauge, or thickness of the screw (it's girth) and the 2 is the length. 2". I also now notice that they're drywall screws, which should be fine in this application, as they have wider "teeth" (the spiral part) and will grab well. Especially using Titebond 3, that glue is great. The term "waterproof is somewhat misleading though as it's more water resistant than proof. Sorry if it seemed like I was complaining or being negative about your project. It does look great and seems like it's being very well done. I'm just very anal about working with wood and making things like this as strong as possible, when necessary. I'll offer my experience when asked so if you need any suggestions or have any questions, let me know. Keep up the good work and keep us updated! :thumbs: