Jaykit

I have a blue rams in my 180g planted tank with rainbows, tetras, plecos, and cories and they do great. They are always swimming around all over the place and are highly visible all the time. They are a nice show piece for a community tank in my opinion.

http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=36368- This was a great build that I've seen in person! Alot of the equipment requirements are going to depend on the size of tank that you want. Also, I wouldn't rule out having a sump, especially if you want this to be a clean display tank. The other alternative is to paint the back of the tank black and then "hide" the tubes and heaters behind rockwork or wood, which is what I currently have done. On my 180g tank (24" x 24" x 72"), I run 2 - fx5 canister filters (up and over the back of the tank) with the common spray bar modification, 2 - 300W heaters, a 10lb Co2 tank with 2 inputs into the tank, and 2 - 4 bulb 36" T5HO light systems end to end. I also have a metal stand with a simple cladding system that uses magnets so that I can easily pull off the front or side panels for maintenance. The 180g is a heavy planted tank with schooling rummynose tetras and cardinal tetras, some congo tetras, rainbows, cories, rams, and of course some plecos. I love this size of tank, because the 24" depth still allows you to get your hand all the way to the bottom of the tank to plant or trim as needed, and the 24" width allows you to play with the aquascape and give the tank some depth and perspective rather that just lining everything up side by side with each other. I loved the 24" depth and 24" width so much, that my next "smaller" 120g tank that I bought also has those same dimensions and just just 24" shorter in length (24" x 24" x 48"). As for the length, you've already mentioned that you're after something with a 72" length and I've found this great for the schooling fish as they are always swimming back and forth from one end of the tank to the other and never running over each other. This style of 180g tank is quite common, so you wouldn't have to pay alot of cash to have it custom built for you either.

For the last few months I have been battling high phosphates in my 120g tank and in-turn a storm of all the various types of algae. This is a non-planted tank with rocks, wood, and playsand substrate as decor. The tank houses my 4 severums and a few other other cichlids and has been running for over a year. In order to try and win the upper hand on reducing the phosphates and killing the algae, I have tried: large water changes, numerous water changes, filter media changes, reducing and modifying the lighting schedule, even changing the lighting system, washing and scrubbing all of the decor many times over, and many other things as well. The first thing that most will probably point to is what kind of water I've been using to fill the tank and how much do I feed the fish. I've tested both the hot and cold tap water that I use for water changes on the tank and the phosphates read 0.00 on the test kit that I am using. I feed flakes and pellets and only what the fish can finish off in less than a couple minutes and only feed them once per day and wouldn't say that the tank is overstocked at all. My question to the group is how do people with plantless tanks keep phosphates and algae under control? What key step am I missing? I see so many cichlid or monster fish aquariums that have no plants in them and look crystal clear.

Really cool! Any pictures of the full tank and the rest of the giants?

Nice transformation! That is a tonne of MTS too!

I am interested in following this discussion. Where is the other thread being discussed?

These videos are awesome! PS - I can't believe how clean the glass on your tank is to get this quality of video.

Great picture.

Very cool! That is alot of cichlids. Is there a seam in the middle of the tank or is it just 1 piece?

Looks great! I've only seen pictures of these puffers before and never videos.

Did a little reading up on the mattenfilter. Looks like I can go with a 20" x 7.5" size mat if I go with a corner style(5" radius). For anyone else looking to try this, I found a really good post on the mattenfilters here: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?79104-Hamburger-Mattenfilter-HMF What are the opinions on powerhead vs airlift? I'm leaning towards the powerhead myself as according to the calculations I need around 450 L/HR turnover to make this thing function properly and I'm not sure the airlift would be able to achieve that or have the force to push the water all the way to the other side of the tank. Based on this, I was thinking about getting a powerhead around 600 L/HR.

I'm going to be setting up my 55 gallon tank as a grow out tank for all the fry that keep showing up in my tanks and I'd like to get some sponge filters. 1. Should I get 1 large one or 2 smaller ones? 2. Where did you get yours from? 3. How long do they take to 'culture' if I dump in some leftovers from my other tank filters?

I've been wanting to do this for a while now, but have never gotten around to it. There is plenty of posts on other forums about the spray bar, and based on what I've seen it looks good. The sponge intake worries me a bit and you might need to use coarser sponges to get enough flow through them.

I've moved my tanks too many times to count and all I use are rubber maid containers/5 gallon pails and a kids beach shovel. It works great.

I run 2 - Fx5s on my 180g tank and it works great.