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Boom's 180 Gallon Tank Project


Boom
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Thanks everyone for the nice comments.

I'm really happy with how it all turned out.

The-influence, I got the rocks from Canar, I still have a really big one, and several smaller ones that I didn't use and am willing to part with for cheap. PM me if your interested.

Also PM me if your serious about a stand.

Boom

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I haven't had an update in a while.

The tank is running well and I'm quite happy with everything.

There are still some solid cherry trim pieces that I have to make and add. They keep getting put on the back burner as I start work on other projects.

Since I stocked the tank, I have lost approx 10 - 15 various fish. Hard to say for sure.

I've decided that the huge mix of mbuna and other fish in there is leading to this. I lost almost all of the salousi's, my really nice male OB peacock, and a few other mbuna. Some of the fish that are still there (still about 30 fish) have some damage that likely will lead to death if the setup is not changed. Others however are doing fantastic and I still have many beautiful fish in there.

And so, I've decided to change what this tank is stocked with. As a result, almost everything currently in the tank is up for sale. Please see my post HERE

What am I going to do with 180 gallons of free space?

Frontosa's of coarse!

I tossed around the idea of doing a tropheus tank, but ultimately decided that I want some bigger, slower, less aggressive fish. And as cool as the tropheus are, nice ones are hard to find and expensive. And you really can't beat the majesty of frontosa's. Besides, the wife likes fronts better, so who am I to argue?

I'm hoping to get about 12 to 14 fronts to start with and once I can start sexing them, maybe weed a few males out.

I'm still deciding on two different setups though.

1: Frontosa only, no other fish, with focus on breeding them.

2: Frontosa / tanganyikan community tank, with black calvus, goldhead compreciseps, firecracker leleupi's, some julidichromis, and synodontis petricolas.

Both options seem great to me, but each has their own risks and rewards.

So that's where I'm at right now with this tank. Selling everyting off and basically "starting fresh". So help me out and buy some fish so I can get my fronts, ok? :)

Boom :boom:

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On another note, I'm really thinking about getting rid of the overflow box in this tank.

That would of coarse leave the drain and return line plumbing exposed and visible, but it would free up some tank space. I've got to take some measurements and do some calculations to figure out exactly how much, and see if it's worth it.

I figure I could swap the plumbing out with black abs, so it's less visible. Also, with the durso standpipe, I figure I avoid the problems of too much water draining into the sump in the event of a power outage or pump failure. What I would beed to do do is add some type of screen device over the actual intake. I was actually thinking of the intake basket from an FX5. That might work.

Thoughts on this?

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Too bad about the losses, Boom. Just a small aside, since you mentioned breeding--what about helping Patrick out with his efforts to get more Victorians available locally? They're such beautiful fish too, I'm sure your wife would love them as well. : ) But your choice, of course.

Looking forward to more updates!

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On saturday I picked up my frontosa's and leleupi's from Harold.

The fish look fantastic!

I spent a couple hours on Friday moving fish around. I took the Calvus and Julidichromis out of the 55 gallon. Then I took all the remaining fish except for the Comprecisseps and Petricolas out of the 180 gallon and put them in the 55. Check my 55 gallon thread to see the updates to that tank.

So the current stock of the 180 is this:

11 F1 Cyphotilapia gibberosa (Mpimbwe)

12 Neolamprologus leleupi (firecracker)

4 Julidichromis regani (Karilani Is.)

2 F1 Altolamprologus calvus (congo)

1 W/C Altolamprologus compressiceps (Gold Head)

6 Synodontis petricola

Here are some pictures, The first ones are with the actinic light only:

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Boom :boom:

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