125 planning time

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TheAdmira1

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Dec 18, 2011
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I have finally beaten Colimnaris in my community tank... I think. I havent lost a single fish in over a week. I know youre probably saying "Youre not supposed to have fish die iin your tank, what you want a cookie?" But that is down from 5 fish in 5 days when the Colimnaris hit origainally. Everyone is settled and there arent any signs of the disease that I can tell.

Yesterday I found 125 gallon tank on CL for........ $60!!!!! Needless to say, I bought the hell out of it!!! haha Ive been wanting to upgrade for a while and have been looking to get a 100-125 gal for $150-$300 since the beginning of Feb. It will be my community tank's upgrade, and my 60 gallon tank is set to become a paludarium upgrade for my 29L asain tank. Finally the 29L will house my pair of angels, a pair of ram that have been living in my QT, and not sure what else I will add to it.

The stock going into the 125 from the 60 will be:

4 GBRs
12 Serpae tetras
6 kuhli loaches
3 clown loaches
1 Sailfin Pleco
6 ADFs
3 Chinese algae eaters (totally got screwed into buying these haha)

I might add more later, but not until everyones established and I see how I like the current stock in a bigger home. The big question now is, design and equip! I know I want it to be heavily planted, with tons of light, and pressurized co2, but do I go all out walstad, or flourite/gravel/sand substrate and EI a bunch. Im not really sure what I want to do with it, or what equip to go with for this big of a tank. I want to go either very large canister or dual smaller filters, and ~3+WPG. I want to build some type of background whether foam/dryloc DIY or build something natural like cork/coco skin? Luckily this tank is empty, and for the first time I don't necessarily have an immediate need to fill it, so I finally get to plan and prepare the layout and setup without having to deal with fish needing to live in it asap. The plan is to setup this tank over the next month, getting what I need and building as I go. Then getting the plants up and going, cycle it using some substrate and media, and finally move my fish over.

Sorry for the long rant/thought gathering, but any suggestions with design, equip, sotck, or really anything are always appreciated. TIA
 

garyfla

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Apr 23, 2010
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Hi
Suppose you've already chosen a location and tested the tank for leaks cleaned it if necessary.?? 6 foot tanks can be a bear to locate in high traffic rooms. They are wonderful as built in's solves all the problems just be sure you have good access.
I'd decide on the planting method, substrate .decorations filters and let that run for a month before adding any stock
Particularly if an elaborate planting scheme. This will give time for plants to establish and find problems with circulation how well the lights work. and last but not least devise a water change method .
Sounds like you have the basic stock though I think I'd eliminate the Chinese algae eaters. Can't imagine how large they will get or how hard they will be to capture lol. IME the bigger they get the less akgae they eat and will be a problem for the rams particularly if they breed.
Think I'd add some clown loaches you'll get to see their schooling behavior as well as get gigantic. One of the few fish that's just as pretty large as small.
good luck gary
 

TheAdmira1

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Dec 18, 2011
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^Thanks :D Tested the tank for leaks and Im putting it in the same spot that my 60 and QT are ATM I think. Theyre in my living room against the far wall. Indeed a high traffic area, but I plan on re-organizing the room around the tank, my GF loves the idea... :rolleyes: haha And I definitely plan on giving this tank time to grow in and settle. When I upgraded to my 60 it was kind of an ASAP kind of thing. I had to use my old substrate, media, plants, and driftwood to try to get it to cycle as fast as possible so I didnt get a chance to really think it all the way through. Thats coming back to bite me in the circulation dept. The 60 has decent flow but only because I force it with bouncing airflow and a powerhead. The CAE will be replaced with SAE asap. More clown loaches would be awesome! Those guys are great and theyve already gotten BIG compared to the .75 they were when I got them, I cant wait til theyre full grown! Thanks for the advice!!
 
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