# 125 Gallon River Tank *updated 8-7-09* Looking for opinions



## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

This is awesome! I am totally enamored with your filtration.


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## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

dude child labor laws  jk

looks like an interesting build. it must be great having a tank that huge!


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Now this is cool! Big tanks are the bomb! I can't wait to see more progress!


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## chonhzilla (Apr 22, 2008)

Neat, I've seen that idea before but I've never seen anyone actually use it.


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

Good choice on bulbs. I think you'll be happy with them.


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## Aquamadman (Aug 10, 2007)

Cool !! My dad had a tank just like this filled with African Cichlids when I was about 6-7 years old. I couldn't keep my eyes of of it  Im definetely subscribing to this one. 

BTW; What brand is that Awesome chopper you got back there? It looks awesome too


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## Coltonorr (Mar 12, 2008)

I can't wait to see this progress...
I am interested in your river idea...pretty cool!


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## bigpow (May 24, 2004)

Subscribed!

I wanted to build a river tank with my 125G - but I chickened out.
Maybe when I get lucky and score a 180G or larger, I will definitely make a river tank.


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

man, that tank is gonna be awesome! the loaches are gonna be hella happy!


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## idontknow (May 9, 2008)

Aquamadman said:


> BTW; What brand is that Awesome chopper you got back there? It looks awesome too


Its a Yamaha Warrior 1700cc, that's my other other baby roud:













Coltonorr said:


> I can't wait to see this progress...
> I am interested in your river idea...pretty cool!


I got the idea from here 

http://www.loaches.com/articles/a-river-runs-through-it

and 

http://www.loaches.com/articles/river-tank-manifold-design


I am hoping to get my lights mounted tomorrow. I ran some chain down from the ceiling. I was hoping I could shove some S hooks into the holes that were drilled to vent the light but they wouldn't reach. I'm going to go to ace hardware tomorrow and see what they have for some metal wire to loop through it.

Thanks for all the comments.


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## Coltonorr (Mar 12, 2008)

This is how I hung my fish need it lights...get stainless so it doesn't rust.


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## idontknow (May 9, 2008)

Did you just take those end caps off and drill through?


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## Coltonorr (Mar 12, 2008)

it's about .5" in there was just enough room to drill through...very carefully. 
I didn't remove anything.


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## idontknow (May 9, 2008)

Oh so there is no nut on the other side securing it in place?


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## Coltonorr (Mar 12, 2008)

Yes there is...I will try to get a pic tomorrow


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## Coltonorr (Mar 12, 2008)

Here are pics


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## seds (Jan 30, 2009)

Hey, this is going to be great, I can tell. I had the idea of a river a year or so ago, but my pump wasn't strong enough and I only had one...

BUT WAIT! Tiger barbs and clown loaches are very similar in color. Are you sure you don't want some of another small species, over tiger barb? There are many. I have got in the past, Rosy barb and Odessa barb. They are great little fishes, with great color. I suppose you could go with another loach instead of no tiger barb, for color contrasting... But if you want both that's fine too.

Well, anyway...GOOD LUCK with this new setup!


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## idontknow (May 9, 2008)

Coltonorr said:


> Here are pics


Thanks, stopped at ace hardware today and picked up the pieces and got it hung. Thanks for the tip.




seds said:


> BUT WAIT! Tiger barbs and clown loaches are very similar in color. Are you sure you don't want some of another small species, over tiger barb? There are many. I have got in the past, Rosy barb and Odessa barb. They are great little fishes, with great color. I suppose you could go with another loach instead of no tiger barb, for color contrasting... But if you want both that's fine too.


The tiger barbs are blast to watch, and because the clowns and the barbs look so similar they actually school with each other which is one of the reasons I went with those 2 in the first place.

I want to add one more species of fish just not sure what I want to add. Been toying with the idea of putting in 3 South American Puffers.


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## idontknow (May 9, 2008)

Updated 1st post with some new pics.


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## ESK07 (Mar 16, 2009)

what brad of PFS is that?It looks great! Loving the natural colors


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## idontknow (May 9, 2008)

ESK07 said:


> what brad of PFS is that?It looks great! Loving the natural colors


The bag says Northern Pool Filter Sand. Got it from a local pool shop. It was 12.99 for a 50 lbs bag. When I had first washed it and dumped it in I didn't have my light yet and it looked kinda poop brown but I wasn't about to complain for the price since it took 5 bags to fill. But after getting the lights up and running I really love the color. Looks nice against the fish and plants.


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## ESK07 (Mar 16, 2009)

idontknow said:


> The bag says Northern Pool Filter Sand. Got it from a local pool shop. It was 12.99 for a 50 lbs bag. When I had first washed it and dumped it in I didn't have my light yet and it looked kinda poop brown but I wasn't about to complain for the price since it took 5 bags to fill. But after getting the lights up and running I really love the color. Looks nice against the fish and plants.


It really does look amazing man, tanks looks to notch, gl with it!


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Sick bike!

That tank is awesome. How are you liking the flow?


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## idontknow (May 9, 2008)

clwatkins10 said:


> Sick bike!
> 
> That tank is awesome. How are you liking the flow?


After adding the plants in, the flow is definitly a bit over kill directly in front of the aquaclear 110. But the fish love it and its definilty circulating nicely through the tank. I added a koralia 2 powerhead between those 2 pumps down a little further to get some better circulation at the bottom.

One thing I am still trying to figure out is how I am gonna hide those monsters.


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## Laure (May 27, 2009)

Looks awesome. Keep us updated!


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## idontknow (May 9, 2008)

Updated my first post with new pics. Looking for some suggestions.

Thanks


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

This is nice. You have set up a great display for fish viewing and you have cool plants too. Is that big plant to the right the _Cryptocoryne usteriana_ that was up for sale in the SNS? What a cool plant.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

Awesome! Do the FNI fixtures have individual reflectors?


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## idontknow (May 9, 2008)

hydrophyte said:


> This is nice. You have set up a great display for fish viewing and you have cool plants too. Is that big plant to the right the _Cryptocoryne usteriana_ that was up for sale in the SNS? What a cool plant.


Yes it is the Crypt that was recently in the Swap n Shop. I knew it was big but I had no idea. Pictures don't do this plant justice. It's just amazing.

I have quite a few hard to find plants in the tank. I need to make a plant list.



clwatkins10 said:


> Awesome! Do the FNI fixtures have individual reflectors?


No the FNI fixtures do not have individual reflectors but its WAY more light than I need.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

What a wild plant. I wonder if it will off-set for you.


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## idontknow (May 9, 2008)

hydrophyte said:


> What a wild plant. I wonder if it will off-set for you.


What do you mean by off-set?


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Actually I'm not totally sure if that's the right term(?). Offsets might be what bulb plants, such as tulips, produce. What I mean are the little plantlets that arise from the crypt rhizome around the base of the mature plant.


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## idontknow (May 9, 2008)

hydrophyte said:


> Actually I'm not totally sure if that's the right term(?). Offsets might be what bulb plants, such as tulips, produce. What I mean are the little plantlets that arise from the crypt rhizome around the base of the mature plant.


Gotcha......the plant she sold me was actually 2 plants, it did what I think your talking about cuz I split it because the root was to big to plant. Root was the size of a baseball.


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## pinkertd (Jun 17, 2007)

The tank and plant look awesome! Perfect placement for it. Let it grow and fan out over the top from the corner. It will put new shoots up and probably quicker in your tank than in mine where space was limited. I grew that with standard hood lighting, 10,000k. And just flourish once in a while. Anyone who says you can't grow gorgeous plants in a very low light, low tech setting hasn't seen my crypts! I do change out about 80% of the water weekly in all my tanks. The tank this plant was in has my sidthimunki herd (42 of them) and some ember tetras and cories. The embers love to hang out under the draping leaves and the sids don't like a bright tank so the shade is good for them too. Enjoy that plant! If you ever need any sterbai cories or L144 long finned blue eyed bristlenose plecos.....that's what I'm currently raising. You can check them out over on aquariacentral.com, same user name.


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