# PhysicsDude's 7 Foot River Tank Journal UPDATE 1-4-2016 New Sump!



## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

Awesome dude...
The stand is hard to see clearly in your picture. I looks like there is no support at the outside edges of the tank. The 2x4 that goes from the bottom to the top looks as if it's inside of the 2x4 which is running along the edge instead of under it. This gives the impression that only screws are holding up this tank at the outside edges. Can you clarify ?
But I love the back wall and how you incorporated the wood into the back.
It might be a useful thing to have a few corkscrew vals somewhere in there in a small clump that would bend even if ever so slightly with the current.


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

great, now i want a river tank too...
tiger barb is a good choice, they're so active and fun to watch. just keep the numbers thereor nipping will happen.

anyway, how deep is your substrate?
looks pretty thin for those plants


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

Sub'ed. Awesome build!


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## scapegoat (Jun 3, 2010)

Raymond S. said:


> looks like there is no support at the outside edges of the tank. The 2x4 that goes from the bottom to the top looks as if it's inside of the 2x4 which is running along the edge instead of under it. This gives the impression that only screws are holding up this tank at the outside edges.


this is going to be brought up often, and correctly so.

However, since the tank is acrylic and doesn't have a rim I'm not sure if it's as big a deal since the weight should be distributed throughout the entire bottom of the tank.

Though, to be more on point; the reason that this is usually such a concern is that the weight ends up being supported only by the screws. And the sheer rating of the screws ends up being less than the compression rating of the vertical 2x4. However... in this case, with the full bottom being on the plywood some of the weight is going to be distributed to the 2x4's.

I'd think it was fine in this case, but it's still not something a lot of folks would do. You typically want a 2x4 at each corner to appropriately take the weight.

the tank itself is wonderful. you did an excellent job.


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

Raymond S. said:


> Awesome dude...
> The stand is hard to see clearly in your picture. I looks like there is no support at the outside edges of the tank. The 2x4 that goes from the bottom to the top looks as if it's inside of the 2x4 which is running along the edge instead of under it. This gives the impression that only screws are holding up this tank at the outside edges. Can you clarify ?
> But I love the back wall and how you incorporated the wood into the back.
> It might be a useful thing to have a few corkscrew vals somewhere in there in a small clump that would bend even if ever so slightly with the current.





scapegoat said:


> However, since the tank is acrylic and doesn't have a rim I'm not sure if it's as big a deal since the weight should be distributed throughout the entire bottom of the tank.
> 
> Though, to be more on point; the reason that this is usually such a concern is that the weight ends up being supported only by the screws. And the sheer rating of the screws ends up being less than the compression rating of the vertical 2x4. However... in this case, with the full bottom being on the plywood some of the weight is going to be distributed to the 2x4's.
> 
> I'd think it was fine in this case, but it's still not something a lot of folks would do. You typically want a 2x4 at each corner to appropriately take the weight.



Thanks.

The stand is built a little strangely. None of the upright 2x4s are flush with the front, because you need ~3/4" or so of empty space to make the framless cabinets work. Actually the middle 2 braces are mounted to the bottom of the long 2x4 span, and there are cross braces in those places as well that you can't see.

The corner supports are just screwed, glued, and nailed in from the side like you observed, but they're also flush with the top (the OSB sits on the vertical 2x4 as well as the horizontal 2x4s). The key point is the glue and the nails. I used heavy gauge 3" nails, which have a high sheer strength. Building it this way was the most realistic way to leave the space for the cabinets. In a taller and heavier tank, I don't know that I would have done that, but its perfectly fine for my application. Since the tank is not very deep, its not very heavy per sq. inch; Each vertical 2X4 only holds around 100 lbs, which is not even near the capacity of this type of joint, just ask any construction carpenter or deck builder.

Yes I do have some corkscrew vals and regular giant vals in the tank, but due to my laziness with the lights, they haven't grown in well. In a month or 2 I'll have more plant fill and it will make the tank look a lot better and bend slightly with the flow :icon_smil




ikuzo said:


> great, now i want a river tank too...
> tiger barb is a good choice, they're so active and fun to watch. just keep the numbers thereor nipping will happen.
> 
> anyway, how deep is your substrate?
> looks pretty thin for those plants


Good question, the substrate isn't as deep as I initially wanted. Because the tank isn't too deep on its own, I didn't like the look of deeper substrate. Its deeper than it looks in the pictures, as it slopes rearward, and all the plants that need deep roots are near the back with probably 1.5" of substrate. I have lots more soil left over from my 50g, I might add some more.

You're so right about the Tiger Barbs! They were kind of an impulse buy since they were $1 each. I had thought about them, but didn't really want them since they're so common, but they're definitely my favorite to watch. Its a shame that people stick them in 10 gallon tanks by themselves so often, they really need some open water and a group of at least 7. They school really tightly all the time, and explore everywhere and play in the current. They're terrific fish, and very hardy and cheap!


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## vanish (Apr 21, 2014)

You forgot your 'y' in the thread title. 

I'm right there with you! These big tanks are a lot more work than expected. I started my 150G back at the end of March and even though I abandoned the foam background, its just now about ready to move inside.

Your tank is looking great. Excellent job on the background.

Bump:


PhysicsDude55 said:


> (the OSB sits on the vertical 2x4 as well as the horizontal 2x4s).


OSB? Eek! That stuff does NOT hold up to water well. Hope you put a heavy sealer on it!


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

UPDATE:

TEASER on the arudino controlled lights and a short video!

Excuse the sad state of the plants.... I just now got the lights working properly.. they'll start to fill in this week :icon_smil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAi6r27C_M0&feature=youtu.be


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## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

Why not use a sump? It's much simpler than using a closed-loop to have ATO/WC's?


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

Raul-7 said:


> Why not use a sump? It's much simpler than using a closed-loop to have ATO/WC's?


Yeah I kind of regret not going for the sump... but I already had the filters, and I've never used a sump before... so I just re-used my filters. Also, the tank is only 100 gallons, its really not that big. If it was 180+ gallons or something I definitely would have gone sump.

water changes and ATO is easy with the setup I built, and I don't have to worry about overflows and such, which would have just been one more headache for me.


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## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

PhysicsDude55 said:


> Yeah I kind of regret not going for the sump... but I already had the filters, and I've never used a sump before... so I just re-used my filters. Also, the tank is only 100 gallons, its really not that big. If it was 180+ gallons or something I definitely would have gone sump.
> 
> water changes and ATO is easy with the setup I built, and I don't have to worry about overflows and such, which would have just been one more headache for me.


You can use sumps on any size aquarium. Plenty of reef people use sumps on 10-30 gallon aquariums. After I tried a sump on my 80G; I'll never go back to using a canister. A sump is much more convenient and easier to maintain than a canister.


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## someoldguy (Feb 26, 2014)

What a great job on the back ! Far too often foam and concrete backgrounds just don't work , but your's does , with the your combination of tree trunks and the muted colors of the concrete . With a bit more planting and some 'breaking in' it'll only get better .


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## scapegoat (Jun 3, 2010)

PhysicsDude55 said:


> Yeah I kind of regret not going for the sump... but I already had the filters, and I've never used a sump before... so I just re-used my filters. Also, the tank is only 100 gallons, its really not that big. If it was 180+ gallons or something I definitely would have gone sump.
> 
> water changes and ATO is easy with the setup I built, and I don't have to worry about overflows and such, which would have just been one more headache for me.


I've a 125 with a 40g sump on it. The benefits of a sump on a "smaller" tank is many, not least of which is the added water volume. You certainly don't need a sump, but since you've 3 canisters filters I think it would've been a lot simpler.


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## knm<>< (Mar 18, 2010)

You nailed the background, it would be perfect for some actual lake fish. Bluegill or large mouth bass. That would be sick!


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

That is a great river hardscape! I'll be following this journal for sure.

I have an unused 8' wall in my basement that's been begging for something like this.


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## knm<>< (Mar 18, 2010)

AnotherHobby said:


> That is a great river hardscape! I'll be following this journal for sure.
> 
> I have an unused 8' wall in my basement that's been begging for something like this.


I don't know where you would find the time, but I sure would like to see what you could do with that much real estate.


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## AnotherHobby (Mar 5, 2012)

knm<>< said:


> I don't know where you would find the time, but I sure would like to see what you could do with that much real estate.


I'm 37 and we don't have kids. :hihi:


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

knm<>< said:


> You nailed the background, it would be perfect for some actual lake fish. Bluegill or large mouth bass. That would be sick!


That would be cool. I guess I'm aiming for more of an Amazon biotope. Some hillstream loaches would be cool, but I'm not sure that they would do that well in my tank.


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## 75ona76 (May 20, 2014)

Nice job! Between all the ideas that everybody has floating around this forum I am never going to finish tinkering on my setup. Lol.


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Love the tree trunks! That's a lot of trouble you went through and it shows roud:

The system and built in is craziness, I'd never be able to build something like that, usually just end up hacking together pieces of existing furniture and adding an extra canister filter. Wow.


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## Cochepaille (May 3, 2012)

If I had that much time, I would do almost exactly the same background setup... very impressive!


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## flight50 (Apr 17, 2012)

I wouldn't be surprised if that tank you got is one I saw earlier this year, lol. I like browsing CL here and there for tanks. Anywho, great job on the background. It does show that you put some time and effort into it. Big projects can pay off if one sticks to it. I have been working on mine for more than 2 years and still not done, lol.

Only concerns I'd have for your project is the build of the stand. I am an advocate to overbuilding/designing an aquarium stand. I like to build my stands to the point that I would feel comfortable resting a ton or more on it. If the stand is rock solid without lateral support, then you know it will hold. I have seen some stands that looks like if an average person dives on it, it will collapse. Your design for the cabinet is quite cool though. It has that entertainment cent look. I'd love to see the finish product. A good design can compliment a room.


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## ChemGuyEthan (Apr 13, 2014)

Wow, pretty awesome background! Looking forward to seeing the progress here!

P.S. I just noticed our forum nicknames are quite similar, haha.


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## robsworld78 (Aug 14, 2014)

Amazing workmanship! If I was a fish I would want to be in your tank. :hihi:


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## kman (Dec 11, 2013)

Very cool! I look forward to seeing all the bits and pieces come together.


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## NotCousteau (Sep 25, 2014)

Great work! Love the background and driftwood.

I'd vote for a bigger school of tiger barbs.


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## lee739 (Oct 12, 2014)

Well done on a great tank.... +1 on more Tigers.....


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## Powerclown (Aug 17, 2014)

Nicely done,especially on the background,cool...


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

flight50 said:


> I wouldn't be surprised if that tank you got is one I saw earlier this year, lol.


The tank was on craigslist for awhile, you probably did see it. It was in pretty rough shape, one side of the tank was scratched to hell, but was perfect for my setup!



flight50 said:


> Only concerns I'd have for your project is the build of the stand. I am an advocate to overbuilding/designing an aquarium stand.


I have absolutely no worries about the stand. The tank is only 17" tall, and acrylic, so it doesn't weigh as much as you would think. A standard 125G weighs around 220 lbs more than my tank, and most 125G stands I've seen only have 3 upright 2X4 or 4X4 "columns". Using heavy nails and woodglue are overkill strong enough for this application.




NotCousteau said:


> Great work! Love the background and driftwood.
> 
> I'd vote for a bigger school of tiger barbs.





lee739 said:


> Well done on a great tank.... +1 on more Tigers.....



Thanks! I do think I agree about the tiger barbs. I had the hood open for a few hours the other day and one tiger barb did a "free willy" and fell to his death, and I put 2 more in for a school of 11. I think I might go to 14 or 15 though. I didn't want a huge school of them when designing the tank, because I wanted to Denison Barbs to be the "showpiece" fish, but I like the tiger barbs enough that I'll probably give them a bigger school.




ChemGuyEthan said:


> Wow, pretty awesome background! Looking forward to seeing the progress here!
> 
> P.S. I just noticed our forum nicknames are quite similar, haha.


Thanks! Science FTW :icon_smil Although I have a lot of education in Physics, a more apt username for me would probably be "EngineerDude".


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

No good pictures yet, but tank is making good progress.

The lights (including moon lights) are up and working 100% and all my scheduling features for them are working great. Unforunately I'm having issues with my RTC, so I need to fix that, otherwise the clock gets off by about an hour a day, which is annoying.

I have my autofeeder system mostly working. I fried one of my feeders accidentally, but I was out of town for a week, and when I got back my fish weren't hungry, so the arduino is successfully controlling them on their schedule.

The auto top off system is working great.

I finished the "bookshelves" on the sides, and mounted them, but the only downside is that the stain on them didn't turn out as well as I thought. I stained both sides of the bookshelves in the same day with the same bucket of stain, but one of them I stained in the evening, when it was cooler out (about 50 degrees) and the other I stained during the day about noon (about 80 degrees). The one I did in the evening didn't really soak into the wood, it more put a flat coat of paint on the shelf, presumably because it was too cold. It doesn't look /bad/ but the fact that the bookshelves look different on both sides looks really bad. I tried sanding it without much luck, I'll just live with it for now, and rebuild the shelf when I move next.

I should have a lot of time to work on the tank setup thanksgiving weekend, so hopefully it will be mostly finished by then. I should have the final trim pieces installed, finish staining the stand, and have my filler pieces installed. I have the ultrasonic sensor, temp sensor, fans, and pressure sensor to hook up fully and then all my wiring should be done, and I can close up the bottom of the stand which is a rats nest of wires right now. The end is near which is giving me more motivation to get this done!


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

If you can get them, get a 1M:3F group of orangespotted sunfish. Very pretty, fairly small mouths, interesting, and hardy. Also, they're under 6" long.


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

UPDATE:

I was only home for 18 hours (including sleeping) this week before I had to leave for work again.

I did buy 6 more tiger barbs, which I think brings the school to 16. They were camera shy when I was filming, but overall they've been very active and school very well. Their increased activity seems to have made the cardinals school tighter also. Not sure if I want more fish or just let these grow to full size. Tank looks a little empty now, but I'm thinking once the fish reach full size, they'll fill in the tank pretty well. I'm not a big fan of heavily stocked tanks, I think medium or lightly stocked looks more natural.

I managed to get some good shots (well, as good as an iPhone can take).

Came home to a pretty bad leak from a bad irrigation fitting... my fault to using an irrigation fitting. One of the top braces came loose.... going to buy some more acrylic and maybe do some Euro bracing or something... still figuring that out. For right now I'm rocking the good ol' C-Clamp bracing.

Current pic:

Whole tank:









A shot of some of the fish:









When I built the tank I added 3 of each 3W 405nm LEDs (hyper violet), 495nm (turquoise), and 685nm (deep red), both to try to "fill in" the gaps that conventional white LEDs have in their color spectrum, and the red and violet should help plant growth. When just this array is on, to the human eye it looks mostly turquoise, since the red and violet are on the edge of the human eye's range, but on camera you can see the reds a lot better, it makes the tank look like a disco club!










It really brings out both the blue and red on the Cardinals. When the other white lights are on, its not very noticeable if these "accent lights" as I call them, are on.

The plants are doing pretty well, but not growing as fast as I expected. I think my mistake was using brand new substrate and not dosing enough fertilizers. I extended the lights to give almost 12 hours of good light per day, and put in twice the fertz I was earlier, with a 50% water change weekly, so hopefully they'll start growing in a little better. I'm still very satisfied with the tank. I never expected it to look like a lush forest, mostly looking for a more natural feel. My last tank was very similar, basically same lighting and substrate, similar plants, and low tech also, and it turned out very green after about a year, so I just need to be patient. I also had thicker mature substrate on the old tank, so I will definitely be adding another 1/2" or so of substrate on this tank. The good news is I have not had hardly any algae.

A pic of my old setup for reference:


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## Miasmictruth (Jan 31, 2012)

This project is awesome! Similar to what I am trying to build right now (not the water change project you commented on), your way ahead of me however I probably have months before I am anywhere near finished. I may pick your brain after I am able to read through the whole thread.


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

Small update. I added 2 bags of aquasoil to cover the substrate. I should have spent more money on better subsrate while setting up the tank, or I should have transfered all my old substrate. Oh well. Live and learn.

Capping the substrate and putting brand new filter elements really helped clear the water up. It also looks like all the tannins from the driftwood have leached out also, so the water is really really clear.

I spent some more money on getting Flourish fertilizers, and started dosing them every week, and it has really made my plants grow, along with the added substrate. I should have been doing this all along, but I'm still learning how to grow plants well. Its still going to be several months before the plants really spread out and grow in.

Unfortunately I lost all my cardinal tetras to an Ich outbreak while I was out of town. I replaced them with a school of Turqoise Rainbowfish, which was really for the better. The Cardinals didn't like the strong water currents, and the rainbowfish LOVE strong currents, and are just more active overall. I like the look of the tank better with the rainbowfish.

The tiger barbs have grown a lot, and the tank finally is starting to look fully stocked.

I made a lot of progress on the Arduino controller. It now monitors and stores temperature data, so I can see how well the heater is regulating the temperature. I added features which calculate the real moon phase and sunrise/sunset times for the lights, along with some other misc. fixes and updates that I had been lazy about.

Still need to finish some of the wood working... Haven't done a whole lot since its been cold and wet. I have to cut my wood outside, since my garage has a disassembled car engine in it. January is pretty slow for work, so hopefully I'll be able to get a lot of work done in the next few weeks.

Updated picture:


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## knm<>< (Mar 18, 2010)

New pics/update?


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## dru (Mar 9, 2013)

Cool setup!


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

Update:

I am basically finished! There's still a few things I want to do to it, a few pieces of trim that I'd like to put on, and some more arduino stuff I want to add... but all the big stuff is complete. Very satisfied to have this tank finally be presentable. It makes a very nice centerpiece for my dining room.

The stain didn't really turn out how I expected, but I don't think I applied it correctly. Oh well, it still looks nice.

The arduino is working well. Currently it controls the lights, feeders, and filters. Auto top off is working. Right now I can leave this tank alone for over a month and it will be just fine, which was my original goal.

Here's a cool side by side picture I did with my original sketchup. I made the sketchup drawing on May 20th, 2014. I finished the tank March 1st, 2015. It took a long time and a lot of hard work, but its neat to see my original design jump to life. Only thing I really changed was how the bookshelf connects to the hood at the top. I kept the bookshelf as a separate piece to make the setup more modular.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

The stand makes the tank look small to me, but I know it isn't! I think it turned out nice. Definitely cool with all the automation that you have put in place.


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

Great job - very impressive. When the plants grow in this tank will look amazing for sure


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

Freemananana said:


> The stand makes the tank look small to me, but I know it isn't! I think it turned out nice. Definitely cool with all the automation that you have put in place.


Yeah I know what you mean, the pictures are almost underwhelming to what it looks like in person. From left to right the entire setup is 12 feet wide. It takes up the entire wall of one side of my dining room.

Here's a picture from the side, makes the tank look much bigger. The tank/stand also protrudes about 6" past the bookshelves.


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## NotCousteau (Sep 25, 2014)

Awesome job! Lots of talent and dedication there.


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

Perspective is being restored little by little. The tank looks great already, but I'm sure it will continue to look better as it matures.

Off topic: A turbo 4-cylinder? What make? Reminds me of the box my Prosport gauges came in.


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

Freemananana said:


> Perspective is being restored little by little. The tank looks great already, but I'm sure it will continue to look better as it matures.
> 
> Off topic: A turbo 4-cylinder? What make? Reminds me of the box my Prosport gauges came in.


The parts are for a turbo C5 Corvette. Its the main reason this aquarium project took so long :hihi:


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## Freemananana (Jan 2, 2015)

Dang! I was thinking that could have just been one head. I actually started my aquarium project because I couldn't get in the garage to finish my turbo project! Haha. I find fish much more relaxing to sit back and watch.


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

Freemananana said:


> Dang! I was thinking that could have just been one head. I actually started my aquarium project because I couldn't get in the garage to finish my turbo project! Haha. I find fish much more relaxing to sit back and watch.


Automotive work is definitely a lot more frustrating that aquarium stuff.... I like working on cars/boats/motorcycles/engines, but after a few hours I usually have to stop and do something else for awhile and "cool down". I do better working on the corvette, because believe it or not they're very easy to work on, and generally more fun than mundane maintenance or issues with daily commute vehicles.

Kind of sad, but kind of funny, I think one of my tiger barbs ate himself to death? I bought quite a few new fish in the past few days, and have been overfeeding to observe the eating habbits of the new fish (what foods they like, etc.), and I just got my arduino controlled autofeeders working, so in testing them I probably fed too much also.

This guy was my biggest Tiger barb (out of ~15), and he seemed to be at the top of the pecking order, and has always looked very bloated. This morning I woke up to him like this:










After a ~75% waterchange last week, all of my turquoise rainbowfish died. It looked like the incoming water was very very hard? I don't know, none of the other fish were affected.

A fish store near me had 10 "Apollo sharks". I've never heard of them, but they're super cool looking, and extremely active. They look like small barracudas, and have large mouth and streamlined bodies. I also got a pictus cat, and a "dinosaur" bichir. Very happy with the stocking now. Tank looks pretty full, and a lot more active than in the past.

I've noticed quite a bit more algae in the past few weeks, not sure what to make of that. I've been trying to find a true siamese algae eater, but of course they're difficult to find. My BN Plecos don't seem to be doing their job. I think part of the issue is that I've been overfeeding.


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## lee739 (Oct 12, 2014)

Tigers are pigs.... I've had a few gorge themself to the point of being unable to swim horizontally in the past. I give mine multiple tiny feeds through the day when I can.....


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## blt (Apr 1, 2012)

Great setup, well thought out and clean looking. I'm jealous of your extra foot of tank length, time for an 8' long.:hihi:


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

blt said:


> Great setup, well thought out and clean looking. I'm jealous of your extra foot of tank length, time for an 8' long.:hihi:


Thanks! I initially wanted a 180g tank (8'X2'X2'), but there weren't any on craigslist when I was looking for them. I was about to get a standard 125g when this interesting 7' acrylic popped up for cheap. I really love the extra width, it worked perfectly for my situation.


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

UPDATE 3-30-2015

I got a bunch more plants this week. Mostly Jungle Vals and microswords. I'd like more variety in the plants... but I'm pretty terrible with plants, so I've always had the best luck sticking with a only a few different plants which grow well.

The fish are doing really well. They're still not as active as I would like, so I'm still working on getting that sorted out.

Updated full tank shot, its finally near its final form. I don't intend of changing much of the setup from here on out.










I really love the Apollo Sharks that I got about a month ago. They're very interesting fish. Extremely fast, extremely active, extremely tight schooling fish, big mouths, and also completely non-aggressive. I bought a school of blood fin tetras that are about 1.25" long. The 5" Apollo Sharks don't even seem to notice them. They haven't touched the Amano Shrimp either, but they'll eat shrimp pellets whole and eat .75" freeze dried shrimp whole. Apparently in the wild they skim the water surface eating insects, and rarely eat fish. They are a great aquarium fish, although pretty rare.

This is the best shot I could get of one, they usually stay in the top 2" of the water.










I've done some work on the Arduino stuff, but mostly just bug fixes and some minor changes in how the lights dim. Still a couple more features I want to add, but nothing major. I'm considering this project done, and moving onto some unfinished projects in my garage that I've been neglecting.

I'll try to update the journal about once a month. Probably get a couple videos of the tank once the fish are grown in a bit more.


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## NotCousteau (Sep 25, 2014)

Great job! I saw apollo sharks for the first time last week and was wondering what they're like. Thanks for sharing your experience. They look like they'd be amazing in a large school.

I like the look of your plants. I always prefer a few types rather than a huge mix of different types. It just looks more natural when the plant types are limited.


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## Bob B (Jul 17, 2014)

Wow simply Wow


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## trailsnale (Dec 2, 2009)

great looking tank. thanks!


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## nayr (Jan 18, 2014)

simply awesome, good job.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Nice Tank! Where did you find the tree roots?


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

mistergreen said:


> Nice Tank! Where did you find the tree roots?


Thanks!

I got them from a lake bed in Kansas last summer. The water level was pretty low and there was a lot of previously submerged wood. I brought a sawzall and a tape measure and got some good pieces.

The middle 2 pieces are actually the same trunk/root piece that's cut in half down the center.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Dang, I need to get a cordless saw.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

Figured I'd give this a small update.

Everything is going really well with the tank. Haven't done anything special besides monthly water changes/filter cleaning and feeding the fish. The plants are at "equilibrium". They are doing well, but no major new growth. I'm quite happy with the tank, and get lots of positive comments from guests. The tank looks extremely natural, which is what I was going for.

Here's a full tank shot I took today. I couldn't get my cell phone to take a very good picture. One of these days I should invest in a real camera.


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## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

Great looking tank. Impressed with your ability to automate things the controller.


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

great tank! love the natural look


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

Been almost 2 months since last update. Tank is doing better than ever. I added a new air pump which pumps air into a diffuser and into the output of my filters. It works excellently, the fish "breath" very slowly indicating a lot of 02, and the plants seem to be growing a lot better and look greener, so I'm thinking there's more C02 dissolving in the water also.

I bought some more plants last week and did a major trim, trying to bring some more diversity. Hopefully they continue to thrive.

The automation features are still working great. I left the tank by itself for 22 days with no one touching it, and the fish and plants were doing great.

Full tank shot:










My favorite livestock addition, albino Senegalus Bichir (dinosaur bichir). He's doing great, I was afraid he'd have a hard time eating with so many other fast fish in the tank, but he's nice and plump, and about 6" long. He's eventually going to eat the corries, but I'm OK with that.


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## andrewss (Oct 17, 2012)

such a lovely tank, lookin good as always


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

*Update 1-4-2016*

UPDATE 1-4-2016:

I have done lots of work lately to the tank! First and foremost, I switched the tank over from a closed loop canister filter system to a sump! I was tired of maintaining the canister filters, and after 5 years of nonstop work, the Magnum 350 filters just weren't cutting it anymore. I was also having issues of the water not being oxygenated because of low filter flow.

More on that later!

*Livestock Update:*

I also put some new livestock in lately. I got 2 bichirs a few months ago, and I bought a school of tiger stripe silver dollars, which are awesome fish! Unfortunately I bought the silver dollars right before a 7 day business trip, and when I came back, half my livestock was dead from an Ich infestation that was brought in from the new silver dollars! I know I should have quarentined them, but I don't have a quarantine tank. Live and learn!

Right now in the tank I currently have:

*0 Denison barbs* all dead :-(
*0 Clown Loaches* all dead :-(
*2 bristlenose plecos*
*8 tiger barbs*
*5 Apollo Sharks*
*6 corydora catfish* probably bichir food in a few months
*1 albino sengalus bichir* My favorite!
*1 delhezi bichir *
*1 Tiger Stripe Silver Dollar* Lone survivor


In a few weeks after the infection is 100% gone and I'm home for at least a week I'm going to restock on Denison barbs, silver dollars, and clown loaches.

The albino bichir is my favorite! I've had him about 6 months, he's a full 8" and pretty thick. Like most bichirs, he was pretty shy when first added to the tank, but he's become quite adventurous now! Very cute and photogenic if you ask me . The Delhezi bichir is newer, and still pretty shy. He's going to be a beast when he grows a bit more, and will hopefully get a bit more active when he gets bigger.

Delhezi Bichir:


Albino Bichir:


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## SNAXX (Dec 30, 2015)

That tank is amazing bro. The amount of forethought and work you put into that is truly awe inspiring. That's unfortunate about your livestock, ich is a plague on us all! Cool Bichirs, the one looks just like a snake.


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

*New Sump!*

I finally joined the dark side and switched to a sump. I should have designed the setup initially to use a sump, but I was too lazy.

After 5 years of continuous work, my canister filters were pretty worn out. I tried replacing a few parts on them, but it didn't seem to help much. I'm glad I switched to a sump, its really the best option for any serious larger aquarium.

The biggest sump I could fit under my stand was a 20 gallon long. I found one on craigslist that already had baffles installed. I used (4) 4"x9" filter socks. I'm hoping they can last 30 days between replacements, but lately I've been changing them weekly to keep the water pristine.

I also bought a Jabeo DC-8000 sump pump. I'm very happy with it so far, its pretty quiet, features 10 speeds, and slow start. I only use speed 3 out of 10, and its plenty of flow for the tank. Best part is it cost less than $100!

I learned a lot about sumps. When I first installed it, I didn't properly plan my drains. I didn't understand that you want the main drain to have a full siphon. I then redid some of the plumbing. I'm not going to go into all the details, and I had to plumb things in a weird way due to how I built the setup initially. I ended up drilling another hole near the top of the tank, which was not very easy to do with fish in the tank! After my 2nd re-do, everything is working pretty well. With a properly designed overflow I could have more reliable flow and quieter operation, but the setup is working fine for what I had to work with.

The sump was really hard to fit under the tank. I didn't design the tank with a sump in mind, so I had to remove one of the supports (while the tank was 1/2 full of water) to get everything to slide in. I spent about 15 hours straight installing the sump and figuring out all the problems.

I put some K3 media in the sump to create somewhat of a fluidized bed filter. I'm not sure if I'll keep it. My tank has plenty of beneficial bacteria in the tank due to the background and driftwood, and the media bouncing around the sump is noisier than I expected. It does look really cool when its in action though!

sump won't fit:


Moved support so that it will fit:


Installed and running!


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

*Full Tank Shots!*

Some shots of the full tank, and a quick video! I re-did the filter outputs when I installed the sump, and it creates a much better "river flow" effect that you can see in the video, also a quick shot of the K3 media in action at the end. Too bad there's not more livestock in the video. Maybe next time!

Video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2mXEOvK9B8

Full tank shot:









Right third of the tank:


Middle third:









Left third:


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## SNAXX (Dec 30, 2015)

Flagtail Porthole Catfish would look great in that tank!


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## PhysicsDude55 (Oct 24, 2011)

SNAXX said:


> Flagtail Porthole Catfish would look great in that tank!


I had a pictus cat in the tank (it too died in the ich outbreak). Pictus cats are typically really active, but he hid all day, I rarely saw him. Also my tiger barbs are extremely lethargic and hang out under the wood a lot. I think all the cover and hidden spots in the tank make a lot of the livestock hide more than usual.

That's one reason I decided to add silver dollars, they rarely hide.

Flagtail catfish are really cool, but they would just hide all day. I've been trying to research a catfish that would stay under 10" and be active during the day, but I haven't been able to find a commercially available catfish that fits the bill.


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