# 8 foot 600 gallon low tech planted tank



## Jack Gilvey

Wow! Nice!


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## RubenG3

Looks awesome


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## shift

Very impressive!

Do you have pics of the filtration system you built? I'm curious to see it too


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## Razorworm

Awesome! More pics please


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## Hoppy

It looks great now! I wouldn't add the vals, or any background plants.


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## JerSaint

Unbelievable! Great looking tank. I think it has a great feel and love the depth. I would limit the vals to just the back edges of the scape. Excellent progress and more pics please including the filter setup.


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## anastasisariel

300 Cardinal Tetras OH MY! heheheh, looks awesome! I love freshwater tanks that put to shame reef tanks. I would personally eventually look at giving more depth by sloping the sand levels upward to the back maybe even adding a large bushy piece of manzanita, but by all means, the tank looks fantastic.


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## jmf3460

please tell me you are planning discus or something bigger??


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## Siddhartha Saive

Thank you all for your kind words 

I will post pics of the build soon. Took about 3 months to get to this point.
This tank is in the living room and people are more interested in the tank than the tv
The cardinals look amazing. All of them moving across the length of the tank and turning around the driftwood looks awesome Can't see them in my mobile cam pics

I had discus in the tank a few weeks ago. They did look great but I wanted to go for big schools of smaller fish.. lots of activity. So removed them after adding the cardinals. They did make the cardinals school amazingly tight though.

Thinking about what fish to add next. 
Another big school? 
About 30 or 40 P.denisonii?
Or upto 200 rummynose tetra or other small schooling fish
A few freshwater crayfish? Compatible? 

I was looking for peaceful big fish like discus or angels but can't risk them eating my cardinals

I originally planned to keep geophagus b4 I turned to planted. Will Geophagus uproot the plants now? Any compatible species? 
Yea no biotope restrictions 

My tank pH is 7


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## THE V

Your floor doesn't look like it can support that tank. I'm afraid you'll have to drain it and give it too me.

:flick:


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## mountaindew

Big boy system, very nice!
You'll get real good at using long tools for trimming, planting and cleaning in that deep monster. And your 14 clowns loaches "my all time favorite fish, I have a couple over 10 years old." will enjoy I bet most every day in that water column. 
Enjoy and please keep us updated with lots of pictures.
mD


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## mfield16

Denisonii are my personal favorite freshwater fish, so my vote goes there.

With that said, rummynose are my second favorite lol. They would also school a bit lower in the tank ime


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## jmf3460

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Thinking about what fish to add next.
> Another big school?
> About 30 or 40 P.denisonii?
> Or upto 200 rummynose tetra or other small schooling fish
> A few freshwater crayfish? Compatible?
> 
> I was looking for peaceful big fish like discus or angels but can't risk them eating my cardinals
> 
> I originally planned to keep geophagus b4 I turned to planted. Will Geophagus uproot the plants now? Any compatible species?
> Yea no biotope restrictions
> 
> My tank pH is 7


I definitely think you need a large centerpiece fish. Discus would be my first suggestion but you have ruled them out. You mentioned geophagus, which can get really big, have you looked into gymnophagus. They are just like the geophagus but smaller. there are several species of gymnophagus that I think would look great in there. or there is the eliotti cichlid. thorichthys ellioti is the real name I think. they might look great. I have festivum as a centerpiece but they would eat your plants so negative for the festivum. just some ideas.


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## A.D.D.i.c.t.

Amazing Tank!! It will be awesome to see it fill in.


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## OishiiTank

300 cardinal tetras! Do you breed them?


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## Fish from Philly

This tank is begging for a school of rummys!!' They are very close school and will follow eachother the whole 8 foot. Perfect. Love this tank 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free


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## Siddhartha Saive

jmf3460 said:


> I definitely think you need a large centerpiece fish. Discus would be my first suggestion but you have ruled them out. You mentioned geophagus, which can get really big, have you looked into gymnophagus. They are just like the geophagus but smaller. there are several species of gymnophagus that I think would look great in there. or there is the eliotti cichlid. thorichthys ellioti is the real name I think. they might look great. I have festivum as a centerpiece but they would eat your plants so negative for the festivum. just some ideas.



Exactly what I was looking for :thumbup:
A center piece
Thank you 
The elliotti looks promising 
Compatible with plants and cardinal tetras
Will try to get my hands on them

Other geos and gymnogeos may uproot plants or eat cardinals


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## Siddhartha Saive

Thank you all 
No I don't breed fish
I got them from a wholesale dealer


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## roadmaster

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Exactly what I was looking for :thumbup:
> A center piece
> Thank you
> The elliotti looks promising
> Compatible with plants and cardinal tetras
> Will try to get my hands on them
> 
> Other geos and gymnogeos may uproot plants or eat cardinals


 
Mot much that swim's better at uprooting plant's than the clown loaches you have once they get around five inches.
The only plant's these loaches don't root up are those attached to wood,rock,like anubia's.IME


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## manzpants92

amazing


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## sanj

Its nice to see some Indians have big ones. 

I would not go with a curtain of vallis personally, I think it will take away from the scape.

Denisonis are a great idea, but I like the idea of Rummys aswell... they kind of accent the denisoni barbs.

I used to keep a shoal of Rummys with Densionis in my rainbowfish tank... it is large, but your tank makes it a baby brother (8'x3'x2.33').


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## adive

Pearl gourami s? They wont harm your plants.


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## jeepguy

I can only imagine how big of a QT tank you have if you r thinking of adding 200 rummy nose or other school fish. I know with that many fish there is no way in h*ll I would add fish without a lengthy length QT period.


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## EndlerGame

adive said:


> Pearl gourami s? They wont harm your plants.


^this

Pearls don't get huge, but they are a bit larger, around 4 inches. A group of 1 or 2 dozen in this tank would look beautiful. Also, the pearl gourami has a more dun and subtle, yet still beautiful coloration, shimmering with pastel blues and oranges over a tan/white body. Their more subtle coloration would nicely compliment the vibrant reds and blues of the cardinals. I personally have a tank(though a much smaller 55 gal) with this combination of fish and I think it makes a beautiful display. Gouramis also spend more of their time near the surface while cardinals tend to school around the mid-bottom range, which provides a nice balance in use of the water column.

Firemouth cichlids would be another good option, as would angelfish, which would take advantage of the height of your tank and I'm sure would thrive in this system.

Also, I'm super jealous of all the cats and loaches you've got. I wish I could have a tank large enough to keep a collection like that!


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## adive

Maybe mix various gourami types as in the blues, opal, golden, and pearls? you have all kinds of options open with this size tank. 

It would be interesting to know how such a tank kept at home gets maintained...


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## Siddhartha Saive

Hey guyz
Added 8 pearl gourami a few days ago.
And 4 red tail black sharks, 2 bosemani (have 12 rainbows in total now) and one 2" red freshwater crayfish

















Tank could use a few more fish I guess It still looks empty.








Will be adding many denisonii barbs in a day or too

Also...
My salvinia jungle 








Covers 4x3 feet in the tank and 2x2 feet in the refugium. Will thin it down a lot so light can reach the other plants


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## adive

how do you maintain such a tank?


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## Tankedagain

I would love to see how you set up your overflow. How do you draw water from lower than the surface without flooding your sump in a power loss? And one hell of a flood it would be. 

Awesome tank, I'm jealous


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## EndlerGame

What's the m/f ratio of the gouramis you've got? The males can sometimes get aggressive if their aren't enough girls to go around..but they might be fine in such a large tank, too.

Also, you could add more of the different types of gouramis to fill out the tank. Or a few discus if you have the water for them..


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## Siddhartha Saive

adive said:


> how do you maintain such a tank?


I did spend considerable time on my tank to date but I always wanted to have low maintenance.
Same reason I'm opting for no CO2. No frequent pruning needed.
We had to climb into the tank to do most of the work initially and to scape etc. Most of that work is done and now I won't have much to do.

I'll never need to clean the bottom  
No waste will settle at the bottom. All of it will get sucked into my filtration immediately or eventually when the fish dig up. 

And I have enough loaches to get into and clear the caves and crevices 
They keep digging up the sand a bit too. Had a problem with them digging up some of my crypts in the first 3 days but nothing after that 

My maintenance right now

Switching the lights 
Feeding the fish twice a day
Refilling about 20-40 liters RO water every week. Lost in evaporation. 
Cleaning sponges in my overflow once every 1-2 weeks. 
About 50% water change once a month
Picking up floating leaves etc occasionally

Any work that needs me getting into the tank can be done during the monthly water change


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## jmf3460

Siddhartha Saive said:


> I'll never need to clean the bottom
> No waste will settle at the bottom. All of it will get sucked into my filtration immediately or eventually when the fish dig up.


I will be amazed if you can actually pull this off without having to "ever" vacuum the gravel/stir the substrate or at least something.


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## UDGags

jmf3460 said:


> I will be amazed if you can actually pull this off without having to "ever" vacuum the gravel/stir the substrate or at least something.


I never vacuum the substrate in my 125g....most people don't.


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## Siddhartha Saive

UDGags said:


> I never vacuum the substrate in my 125g....most people don't.


Yea
That's the advantage of having sand as a substrate.
If it was gravel waste wudda get into the gaps and wud get very messy in time. With sand it can only be on the surface and will eventually wash away. Can get stuck around rocks, wood or plants though. Having bottom feeders and loaches will help with this


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## adive

Thanks for the update.



> I'll never need to clean the bottom
> No waste will settle at the bottom. All of it will get sucked into my filtration immediately or eventually when the fish dig up.


this is because the water current is so much that it pulls the waste?


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## Siddhartha Saive

Posting a few pics of my overflow design. 

View from the left of the tank









Pics not clear. 
The overflow chamber is on the left corner. Around 13"×13"×42"
With 2 holes at the bottom. 2" for the drain (enough for up to 4x turnover- 2400 gallons/hr)
And a 1.5" for the return. 
The drain hole has only a bulkhead attachment and a pipe below into the sump but not above. Its covered by big holed mesh and bioballs over it and layers of sponges over it for mechanical filtration. Wanted to use such a big chamber for filtration too. Most of the solid waste gets filtered in the chamber itself and I clean the sponges in this once in 2 weeks. 
The return pipe runs through this chamber straight up and then into the tank. I've moved the sponges a little to show the white pipe in the pic. The part of the return pipe in the tank is painted black. 
Yes this is silent. No sounds. 
Water in the overflow doesn't splash. Just goes through the sponges spreads all over the surface and not just the corners. 
The return pipe is placed inside the tank to create flow and to be silent. A no-return valve in it prevents water to be suctioned back into the sump in case of a power outage.
And now the modification-









There's a baffle around this overflow box. About half inch wide. Bottom 3 inches of this outer baffle is open and covered with teethed mesh to prevent fish from getting in.

View from the front


























At the top , at the water surface the outer baffle is about 1 cm higher than the inner overflow chamber wall. 
I did this so most of the water >80% gets sucked in from the bottom of the chamber (the outer baffle wall is open at the bottom 3 ")
And less overflow from the top but enough for surface skimming. 
The resting water level will b at the level of the lower wall. But when the powerhead os running the water level rises over the outer wall and overflows.

It even works if both the walls are at the same level. But with more overflow then.

This also creates a slow current at the bottom and sucks in all the waste and leftover food. The wavemakers help in pushing the waste too.

The one disadvantage is if the powerhead is too powerful it can even suck in the very fine sand that I have. Have no problem with my 7500 lit/hr powerhead sucking water for 3.5' high. U may need to use coarse sand with heavier grains if u want heavy flow and have shallow tanks. Or cover the area around the base of the chamber with gravel

My tank has been setup since more than 4 months and the bottom of the tank is always clean. Nothing settles on the sand.


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## Method

With a tank as magnificent as this one, people (e.g. me) are going to want regular updates!


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## Siddhartha Saive

Method said:


> With a tank as magnificent as this one, people (e.g. me) are going to want regular updates!


Will do 

Caught some native indian fish at a lake nearby. 
























I wanted to quarantine them first and maybe setup a new small tank but was busy so added them to the tank bout 2 days ago. GlassFish Parambassis lala and another GlassFish sp.
Waiting for them to colour up


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## ikuzo

this is crazy, i agree so many fish but the tank still feels empty. filling 8 feet tank takes a lot.

maybe you should add some more bigger fish in there like congo tetras or boesemani rainbows


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## Siddhartha Saive

ikuzo said:


> this is crazy, i agree so many fish but the tank still feels empty. filling 8 feet tank takes a lot.


Yeah
I'm planning to add 10 or 12 altum angel juveniles soon


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## PlantNewbster

That is one sexy tank my friend


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## harilp

what sand is that,are you using any base soil??

PROUD TO BE AN INDIAN

Sent from my GT-S7500 using Tapatalk 2


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## 6 man reef

Accessing such a large tank for maintenance was what drove me to down size and switch from saltwater reef to planted nano.


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## DogFish

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Yeah
> I'm planning to add 10 or 12 altum angel juveniles soon


When I saw the pic of the tank & stand the 1st thing I thought was ...Altums.


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## Aqualady

Such a really nice tank!


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## Siddhartha Saive

Aqualady said:


> Such a really nice tank!





PlantNewbster said:


> That is one sexy tank my friend



Thank you guys 




DogFish said:


> When I saw the pic of the tank & stand the 1st thing I thought was ...Altums.


I always wanted to keep altums but was afraid I'll loose my cardinals. Right now the cardinals hv doubled in size in just a month and I'm thinking I'll try keeping juvenile altums and raise them and hope they don't them


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## Siddhartha Saive

Got my sump cleaned (for the first time in 4 months) and 50% water change done yesterday










Crayfish removed. It's been munching on the plants


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## Chiller619

Soooo...outdoor pond too small...no problem...I'll get an indoor lake.


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## Down_Shift

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Got my sump cleaned (for the first time in 4 months) and 50% water change done yesterday
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crayfish removed. It's been munching on the plants



how are you sitting up there? Is there space up there built to support a person up there scaping and doing regular maintenance? That looks so bad ass.


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## Siddhartha Saive

Down_Shift said:


> how are you sitting up there? Is there space up there built to support a person up there scaping and doing regular maintenance? That looks so bad ass.



those boys are from a lfs here who do my monthly maintenance. He's sitting on an iron frame beam on top of tank. 5" iron frame built all around tank for extra bracing. Covered by the wood furnishing. The glass beams of the tank on top can support a man's weight too 






Chiller619 said:


> Soooo...outdoor pond too small...no problem...I'll get an indoor lake.


Lol


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## ikuzo

i would still be nervous if i'm the one up there, but that guy looks like a pro


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## Siddhartha Saive

ikuzo said:


> i would still be nervous if i'm the one up there, but that guy looks like a pro


Haha  The view is great from up there. 

Started adding micro and macro fertilizers a week ago. Bought from a guy who prepares the dry ferts. A solution of them was made. No idea on the exact concentrations of the ingredients. His recommended dosing was 1 ml to 40 litres of water per week(about 60 ml for my tank) with weekly water changes. Micro and macro to be added on different days. Similar to EI I guess. I'll prepare my own dry ferts after this.

But my tank is not heavily planted and low tech with monthly water changes. So I'll be adding about 1/3rd dosage (20ml each) per week. 

Since a week there has beem some noticeable change in the plants. The plants appear greener and brighter i think.


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## cmathews95

you need to get closer pictures of the tank so we can get a better look at the plants and scape.


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## Siddhartha Saive

Some random pics from my cam
I'm new to photography 

View from the front. Can't get a good shot









View from the side









One of my fav spots









My l200 green phantom pleco









Native Indian shrimp I caught. Seems to be doing fine in the tank with loaches since 2 weeks. ID anyone? 









Cardinal jungle









More cardinals









Even more cardinals


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## ua hua

Very nice.


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## Siddhartha Saive

xmas_one said:


> Looking good!





ua hua said:


> Very nice.


Thank you


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## DTDPlanted

How baller do you have to be to maintain this sort of setup? LOL, can we get a figure for total cost of this tank so far in US$??? That last "view from the side" pic was simply amazing, I want to live next to that tank, IT'S SO PRETTY!!!


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## Siddhartha Saive

....


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## ShannanD

The shrimp looks a lot like "whisker" shrimp I bought from a lfs. They turned out to be carnivores and hunted in packs , closing in on any fish swimming near the bottom. They took out a bunch of mollies before I realized they were not the peaceful "ghost" shrimp I had already had. They also ate the ghost shrimp. I thought I was losing my mind because fish disappeared with no trace. I finally sat one day and watched....and caught the little vampires at work. They went to a local school where they got there own tank and a goldfish to chase....

Beautiful tank. But beware the peaceful looking shrimp....


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## Siddhartha Saive

ShannanD said:


> The shrimp looks a lot like "whisker" shrimp I bought from a lfs. They turned out to be carnivores and hunted in packs , closing in on any fish swimming near the bottom. They took out a bunch of mollies before I realized they were not the peaceful "ghost" shrimp I had already had. They also ate the ghost shrimp. I thought I was losing my mind because fish disappeared with no trace. I finally sat one day and watched....and caught the little vampires at work. They went to a local school where they got there own tank and a goldfish to chase....
> 
> Beautiful tank. But beware the peaceful looking shrimp....


Thank you


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## Siddhartha Saive

Any suggestions on the scaping guyz?

Is the background ok? Or I redo it? The plants at the back still need to grow taller to be seen clearly. There's lots of free space which is black.

There are 20 lagenandra meeboldi green which are doing very good at the left half.
20 Amazon swords and 5 ozelot swords in the mid and right which aren't doing so good. And a single rubin sword at the right corner. 


Do I add plants to cover up the back fully? Like giant vallisneria? 
Or add a big mesh at the back and add moss on it? Or ferns etc?
Or more wood with plants? There's one foot space at the back behind the woods.

Won't be doing it right now for a month or two. 
Looking for a low maintenance option which looks good.


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## oscarsx

The possibilities!! 

- oz


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## Siddhartha Saive

Had added many pistia to the tank. 
They looked grt but started noticing potassium deficiency in just 3 days in Lagenandra meeboldi and my favourite Cryptocorne blassii  
(Multiple pin hole lesions on the leaves)
Very efficient nutrient hogs 

So removed all of the floating plants.
Hope the plants will turn out fine.


















Will replace the swords at the back with giant vals


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## DogFish

Siddhartha Saive said:


>


This is the picture that really puts perspective to impact this tank has. I'm very impressed with school of Cardinals. They don't have the greatest reputation as being healthy aquarium fish. Your LFS team is doing a great job. Be sure to praise them when speaking with the owner of the LFS.


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## horsedude

Looks awsome!!!! 300 tetras should be awsome!
Good luck...


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## Siddhartha Saive

DogFish said:


> This is the picture that really puts perspective to impact this tank has. I'm very impressed with school of Cardinals. They don't have the greatest reputation as being healthy aquarium fish. You LFS team is doing a great job. Be sure to praise them when speaking with the owner of the LFS.


Yeah the team is amazing Climbing into the tank for work is not easy.






horsedude said:


> Looks awsome!!!! 300 tetras should be awsome!
> Good luck...


Thank you


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## Siddhartha Saive

Posting some pics of the build

The living room before the tank. 









The 335kg iron stand.

















Glass lifted into place









The tank and sump









Metal stand and bracing around the tank.









Test filling. The lfs boy sitting on the metal frame. 









How the RO water is pumped into the tank









Black background sticker attached.









Woodwork almost done and sand added









Water filled









My sump refugium was set up









Initial hardscape.

















First plants added










That's more than 300 cardinal tetra









More ferns added









Plants in the substrate

















Recent pic









Adding a few more plants/moss soon. 
Removed swords at the back


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## thelub

Thanks for the build pics! That really set it off. Love the setup. Thanks for sharing!


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## partobe

amazingly beautiful


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## hedge_fund

Very beautiful setup.


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## The Trigger

Woah nice setup. Tank is huge haha


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## Siddhartha Saive

Thank you guys


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## Siddhartha Saive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLkTavtm94M&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Added 10 elephant nose 2 days ago.
4-5 inch
Very shy with the lights on and hide most of the time right now. They have plenty of caves and plants to hide in and difficult to spot :roll:
Move very actively when the lights are off. 
Successfully fed them with frozen brine shrimp in the dark Not sure if they are eating tetra bits.

After many attempts to feed them finally one method worked.
I turned off the lights and placed a cube of frozen brine shrimp in a small fishing net (so the ever hungry loaches don't gobble them up immediately) and placed at a corner where I can observe.

Anyone have experience keeping them?
If they do good in the tank I might add more after 2 weeks


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## Siddhartha Saive




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## Fishnshrimp2

Tank and fish are looking amazing! Those elephant nose look nice with all that lush green.


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## Mirkinator

Wow very nice! SO big its hard to see the fish! lol.


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## hortus

This is nearing one end of the spectrum- how big can you go? Most of us can only dream.I like the restraint in fish choice and size. Keeping small fish and careful choices of plants and decoration makes the scale of the tank seem even bigger. As someone who spends time underwater, I'm always drawn to that feel of being free to swim in.


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## Siddhartha Saive

Fishnshrimp2 said:


> Tank and fish are looking amazing! Those elephant nose look nice with all that lush green.





Mirkinator said:


> Wow very nice! SO big its hard to see the fish! lol.





hortus said:


> This is nearing one end of the spectrum- how big can you go? Most of us can only dream.I like the restraint in fish choice and size. Keeping small fish and careful choices of plants and decoration makes the scale of the tank seem even bigger. As someone who spends time underwater, I'm always drawn to that feel of being free to swim in.


thank you 
Yes the plant selection was intentional. Wanted to keep mostly small or narrow leaved plants to make the tank appear bigger


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## twillis

I am beyond jealous. I love seeing huge planted tanks with only small shoaling fish. It really creates the feel of a large landscape. Awesome tank.


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## FIUPanther305

That's a beautiful tank, congratulations. 

Do you have a recent video?


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## AussieDIYFK

really really nice tank there mate, something to be proud of and keep for a long time
thanks for sharing ;-)


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## Siddhartha Saive

Thank you guyz 

I'm thinking of adding discus again to my tank. Thanks to pressure from my family. They loved the discus in the tank earlier and my tank desperately needs big centerpiece fishes.

Thinking to add 10-15 discus of a single color strain. Blue diamonds mostly. They won't pepper and will look good in my tank under the 12000K lights.
Any other suggestions:?

Will add discus smaller than 4 inch size as I don't want to risk the big ones eating my cardinals. 

Thought to add altums earlier but very few and expensive sources available right now. Maybe in the future.

Just thinking if the tank can handle more bioload in the future.

Current stock
~ 280 cardinal tetra
20 clown loaches( lost a few of the new poor stock)
10 elephant nose
8 pearl gourami
8 rainbows
40 ?Indian garra (Crossocheilus?)
12 rummynose tetra
10 albino corydora
15 yo yo and other loaches and plecos

Will remove the rainbows soon and may remove the pearl gourami and the yo yo loaches if they are a problem for the discus. There is plenty of open space still. My tank still looks empty even with all the small fish

If I add 15 discus now. Can I add more fish in the future? Angel fish probably


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## jmf3460

I AGREE DISCUS ARE AWESOME!! I think going a single color with variating strains would look cool. Like blue diamonds, blue scorpions and blue turquoise all in one school, same color different color schemes. also I say go big or go home, don't get the small ones they very high maintenance in my opinion.


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## lksdrinker

Wow. Looks like I'm late to the party; but what a setup! Cant wait to see some more updates!


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## SweetNotice

Nice tank! In the USA, we always say "Go Big or Go Home!"

Dang it, I'm going home..


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## Sparklescale

Love, Love, Love the tank! I think the blue discus will be really cool, too! How about a school of these as well...
http://www.mellowaquatics.com/SAF-3873-HD-OrangeKoi_p_4257.html


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## Siddhartha Saive

Thank you guys for liking the tank.
Yeah if I can't find altums soon its gonna be discus.

Another update
All the elephant nose are healthy and moving about freely even with the lights turned on now 
After 20 days.. finally..










This is how I feed them. I feed tetra bits first which fills up most of the fish except the piggy loaches 
Then the food in the net for the elephant noses.
They eating dried blood worms n da pic


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## annyann

Wow!!! Nice!!!


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## Saxtonhill

Awesome setup!


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## Siddhartha Saive

annyann said:


> Wow!!! Nice!!!





Saxtonhill said:


> Awesome setup!


Thank you 









Pic of my tank during the monthly water change


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## Planted-tnk-guy

*incredible*

This is incredible!! super job I love huge tanks so much easier to maintain a pond than an tank LOL. I like your idea of starting with small discus they will likely pair off that way as well and in that tank you are more than likely to have a few babies live as well. No matter Great Job its wonderful.


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## Laryl

I have to say 'wow' along with everyone else.. so very beautiful! I just joined here because I'm trying to put plants in a tank for the first time. Your beautiful setup is very inspiring!


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## chayos00

Beautiful tank!! Your aquascaping has given me some ideas on how to setup my 125g when I get it up and running.


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## Anfer

Nice tank. 
I think it is not necessary to water change monthly. 
It is a very large tank with good filtration and best of all this with natural plants.


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## Whiskey

Very nice tank!!!

I'm not sure about your bioload, but I second the comment about getting bigger Discus, something larger than 4" is the general rule. When these guys are small they need constant feeding to ensure they don't get stunted, this is usually done in a BB tank with daily water changes. As they get larger they are fine with daily feeding and they are more appropriate for a display like this one - if you start with discus at 6" I think it will work out better for you in the end.

Whiskey


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## SajidS

Siddharth, I was wondering if i could get any contact info of the dealer you buy your fish from .... was looking for my options at getting some fish at a decent price ..

And awesomely inspiring tank btw the elephant nose look really good
And any updates on discus or other species?


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## sanj

It is coming on really nice. Is it still no CO2?


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## Siddhartha Saive

Thank you guys 

Here's a mobile cam video of the tank at feeding time. The fish just finished eating
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPq_Qepc0Zc&feature=youtube_gdata_player


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## Siddhartha Saive

SajidS said:


> Siddharth, I was wondering if i could get any contact info of the dealer you buy your fish from .... was looking for my options at getting some fish at a decent price ..


Thank you. You can find many wholesale dealers on Facebook. From Calcutta, Mumbai, etc. They can courier fish to you. 

No discus or altums yet. A few whiptail catfish and spotted veil tail plecos added








sanj said:


> It is coming on really nice. Is it still no CO2?


Yeah its no CO2. I prefer it this way. Low maintenance work and costs.


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## chayos00

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Thank you guys
> 
> Here's a mobile cam video of the tank at feeding time. The fish just finished eating
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPq_Qepc0Zc&feature=youtube_gdata_player


The video says it's set to private.


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## Siddhartha Saive

chayos00 said:


> The video says it's set to private.


Fixed it. Thanks


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## Siddhartha Saive

New pics


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## Siddhartha Saive

FTS


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## thebuddha

wow. this tank must be awesome to watch in person. beautiful


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## yeswaitnosorry

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Thank you
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> Pic of my tank during the monthly water change


I want to play in this aquatic garden. It's awesome. :icon_bigg


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## somewhatshocked

Oh my gosh. This tank.

I THINK I'M IN LOVE.


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## pgtanks

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Posting some pics of the build
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Sent from my GT-S5690M using Tapatalk 2


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## Siddhartha Saive

Added discus to the tank today [emoji1]
21 blue diamonds. Around 2.5 inch big. 
May reduce the number once they grow 
Watch "Adding discus to the tank" on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_nrt_g1_Vk&feature=youtube_gdata_player


Have removed 40 Garra, 6 zebra loaches and 3 rainbows from the tank. 
May remove more rainbows and loaches if I manage to catch them [emoji55]


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## chayos00

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Added discus to the tank today [emoji1]
> 21 blue diamonds. Around 2.5 inch big.
> May reduce the number once they grow


Now with having Discus in your community tank, I thought they needed warmer temps (84℉ ) to be able to survive? Which would bake most other tropical community fish. Which is why I was thinking adding them to my future setup would not work.


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## jmf3460

these discus will do fine at 79


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## chayos00

jmf3460 said:


> these discus will do fine at 79


Is that discus in general or this particular species of discus?


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## jmf3460

you will hear quite a bit of debate after I post this, that is because most discus keepers who keep discus only tanks, keep their temps up over 82 for growing out/breeding/making of supreme judge worthy discus. but for a community tank, 79-80 will do fine. even if you bump it to 81 or 82, most community fish will handle that just fine also. Discus are smart enough to go toward the top where the light hits the water and the temp might be a slight 1 or 2 degree higher and the fish in there that like lower temps will stay at the bottom where the temps are cooler.


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## chayos00

jmf3460 said:


> you will hear quite a bit of debate after I post this, that is because most discus keepers who keep discus only tanks, keep their temps up over 82 for growing out/breeding/making of supreme judge worthy discus. but for a community tank, 79-80 will do fine. even if you bump it to 81 or 82, most community fish will handle that just fine also. Discus are smart enough to go toward the top where the light hits the water and the temp might be a slight 1 or 2 degree higher and the fish in there that like lower temps will stay at the bottom where the temps are cooler.


Yeah when researching using them I did see tons of debating about it! However wasn't sure about the community fish handling a touch higher temps, just would have to be a gradual change to make them okay with it would be my guess before adding any discus. But also getting 1 discus for under $60 is a bit rich for my fish blood!


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## jmf3460

there is so much debate about discus, the thing is in the wild the discus deal with whatever temperature the weather dictates so really they can handle quite a large margin of temperatures, I think the 84 range is just the "ideal" range. that being said, the best sandwich I have ever ate in my life was not made with a single "ideal" ingredient. know what I mean??


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## Siddhartha Saive

Yea plenty of debate on the topic. Discus do prefer the temperature a little on the higher side but the commercial bred discus coming out these days are pretty hardy, unlike the wild ones. 

I do not have any heaters in my tank btw. It's pretty warm here in India and with such a large volume of water the temperature doesn't vary too much I guess. Small tanks need heaters over here too though. The lowest temperature in my tank was 82 F and the highest was about 88 F till now


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## JellyJam

Wow! I just read through this whole thread and I am blown away. Your task is massive and naturally beautiful. I love all the fish especially the huge school of cardinals.


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## Siddhartha Saive

JellyJam said:


> Wow! I just read through this whole thread and I am blown away. Your task is massive and naturally beautiful. I love all the fish especially the huge school of cardinals.


Thank you [emoji1]


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## Siddhartha Saive

Sneak peek [emoji16]









They are about 2.5 inches now. All readily eating food since the first day. Tetra bits and frozen brine shrimp.


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## perlguy

Another Hyderabadi? I was going to ask where you were getting the water for your huge tank, and then I saw the photo with gallon bottles. Lovely tank and great job!


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## cowmilkcandy

more pictures please!


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## jbeech

I was inspired to switch from a marine tank to a planted tank by thoughts of a large school of cardinals and thus, seeing your tank is wonderful. Very nice!

Mine is 150g and I was thinking of 30 cardinals versus your ~300, but with time, maybe I can have a few more, perhaps 50. This is because I very much want the beautiful schooling action of many small fish.

One question, did you cycle the tank before adding fish? I have one convict in my tank whose job is the cycle it. Otherwise, there's nothing but sand at present though I hope to go shopping for other hardscape materials soon (hardscape - I love this term) before turning my attention to the plants. Speaking of plants, how are they doing? I wonder because I too want to dispense with CO2 and the attendant maintenance due to plant high growth. 

Finally, allow me to echo the many who appreciate your beautiful accomplishment. I, personally, especially appreciated the photos of the iron base, and the area of your home in which you placed the tank because it give me a feel for the overall beauty. Well done!


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## Siddhartha Saive

jbeech said:


> I was inspired to switch from a marine tank to a planted tank by thoughts of a large school of cardinals and thus, seeing your tank is wonderful. Very nice!
> 
> Mine is 150g and I was thinking of 30 cardinals versus your ~300, but with time, maybe I can have a few more, perhaps 50. This is because I very much want the beautiful schooling action of many small fish.
> 
> One question, did you cycle the tank before adding fish? I have one convict in my tank whose job is the cycle it. Otherwise, there's nothing but sand at present though I hope to go shopping for other hardscape materials soon (hardscape - I love this term) before turning my attention to the plants. Speaking of plants, how are they doing? I wonder because I too want to dispense with CO2 and the attendant maintenance due to plant high growth.
> 
> Finally, allow me to echo the many who appreciate your beautiful accomplishment. I, personally, especially appreciated the photos of the iron base, and the area of your home in which you placed the tank because it give me a feel for the overall beauty. Well done!


Thx for the compliment [emoji4]

I had some 40 fish in the tank for 2 months before adding the cardinals. 

You don't need CO2. You have many plants to choose from which don't need CO2. Just add macro and micro ferts and the plants will do good. Get DYI dry ferts and make a solution out of them. Cheapest and best. 

Anubias and ferns do great in my tank. Crypts and vals do good but grow slower. The plant mass has more than doubled since 6 months. 

Adding CO2 increases maintenance a lot too [emoji1] not just the cost. 

Just be careful with the algae issues because of lighting. Less is always better than more.


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## perlguy

Where do you get your fish from? I used to have an aquarium back in the early 90s, and the only fish shop was in Barkatpura. All they had was mollies, goldfish and angelfish. For fish food they only had shrimp pellets and tubifex.

I'm also guessing you don't need dechlorinators or anything like Prime to remove harmful metals with the water you get in Hyd? I never heard of those until I moved to the US.


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## Siddhartha Saive

perlguy said:


> Where do you get your fish from? I used to have an aquarium back in the early 90s, and the only fish shop was in Barkatpura. All they had was mollies, goldfish and angelfish. For fish food they only had shrimp pellets and tubifex.
> 
> I'm also guessing you don't need dechlorinators or anything like Prime to remove harmful metals with the water you get in Hyd? I never heard of those until I moved to the US.


Hey
The hobby has picked up a lot in India in the past few years. You can get anything you want these days. Any fish or dry goods. 
I get fish mostly from whole sale dealers in kolkata or Mumbai. 

The water supply does have chlorine in it. So people do use dechlorinator. 
I use only RO water in my tank though. So no worries for me


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## perlguy

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Hey
> The hobby has picked up a lot in India in the past few years. You can get anything you want these days. Any fish or dry goods.
> I get fish mostly from whole sale dealers in kolkata or Mumbai.
> 
> The water supply does have chlorine in it. So people do use dechlorinator.
> I use only RO water in my tank though. So no worries for me


That's really nice. Deccan Chronicle should do an interview on your tank. It's too good to pass.


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## Siddhartha Saive

perlguy said:


> That's really nice. Deccan Chronicle should do an interview on your tank. It's too good to pass.


Haha [emoji1]
Thx for your kind words


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## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy

You should get an arapaima.


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## Siddhartha Saive

GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy said:


> You should get an arapaima.


Why get bored looking at a single fish when you can look at 400? [emoji6]


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## SlammedDC2

Awesome tank, I can't wait to have a big ass custom tank built.


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## lauraleellbp

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Why get bored looking at a single fish when you can look at 400? [emoji6]


A response right after my own heart! :icon_smil

Can't wait to see!


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## adive

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Thx for the compliment [emoji4]
> 
> You don't need CO2. You have many plants to choose from which don't need CO2. Just add macro and micro ferts and the plants will do good. Get DYI dry ferts and make a solution out of them. Cheapest and best.


Where do you get the DIY dry ferts? Thx.


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## Siddhartha Saive

My tank has been blogged [emoji16]
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/going-back-to-my-roots-planted-discus-aquariums

Sent from my Micromax A110 using Tapatalk


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## DefStatic

Good gosh I need to get a bigger tank.

Really nice .I am curious though. How the heck do you do maintenance on a tank like that???


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## stan71

That tank is simply amazing


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## chayos00

Sid - Love this tank a ton! So did you remove any fish when you added your discus?


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## Siddhartha Saive

DefStatic said:


> Good gosh I need to get a bigger tank.
> 
> Really nice .I am curious though. How the heck do you do maintenance on a tank like that???


Thx 
[emoji4]

I pay the lfs guys for 50% water change (RO water) and any necessary maintenance once a month . One guy has to climb inside the tank to clean the glass and any adjustments inside the tank. Part of the filter sponges are cleaned. 
The daily maintenance needed is very minimal. That's how I wanted it when I planned for this tank. 
It should be easy for my parents to take care of it even if I'm away from home





stan71 said:


> That tank is simply amazing



Thank you [emoji4]






chayos00 said:


> Sid - Love this tank a ton! So did you remove any fish when you added your discus?


Thanks [emoji4]
Removed 50 fish. Mostly garra rufa. A few loaches and rainbows


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## Siddhartha Saive

Today's mobile pics


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## thelub

Fantastic


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## philipraposo1982

This is quite impressive, I like your scape.

do your run a QT? seems like you don't. I wonder if you don't how do you feel when adding new fish, obviously you spent a lot of $$$ and would hate to see an outbreak in your tank. 

Surprised no one has asked this.


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## redant

Are u facing algae problems yet ? And what flora do you have ?? Any fertilizers being added??


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## redant

Also please share the cost of buliding this tank and monthly maintenance costs (INR). Thanks.


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## jmf3460

jmf3460 said:


> please tell me you are planning discus or something bigger??


good job on the discus, I have been rooting for discus since day one of this post. those blues will be stunning if you can keep from stunting them in a planted tank while growing out.


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## Siddhartha Saive

thelub said:


> Fantastic


Thanks 


philipraposo1982 said:


> This is quite impressive, I like your scape.
> 
> do your run a QT? seems like you don't. I wonder if you don't how do you feel when adding new fish, obviously you spent a lot of $$$ and would hate to see an outbreak in your tank.
> 
> Surprised no one has asked this.


Thank you 
I do have a spare old 50 gallon tank that I thought to use for quarantine, but I was busy or just lazy.
I'm a doctor and I don't believe in unnecessary or over medication. I try to provide good conditions for the fish.. And most of the fish will survive.. Atleast the strongest ones with good immunity which will be carried on to fight the same in the future. 

There was an ich infection once in some tetra which resolved spontaneously in a few days. Lost only a few, like 3 or 4 tetra then. Out of 300. So no worries.




redant said:


> Are u facing algae problems yet ? And what flora do you have ?? Any fertilizers being added??


I have a good plant mass to utilize most of the light and nutrients. There is only Brown algae/diatoms in my tank. It appears if I leave the lights on for too long for a few days and recedes readily when I reduce the photoperiod in 2 or 3 days. Having many algae eaters helps too. 
But the most important thing is high plant mass and just enough light. Less light is always better than more.. unless you pump in CO2 so the plants can utilize more. 






jmf3460 said:


> good job on the discus, I have been rooting for discus since day one of this post. those blues will be stunning if you can keep from stunting them in a planted tank while growing out.


Haha thanks  you too helped in choosing them I suppose. 
I'm hoping they'll turn out good. There's plenty of space to move around and lots of food. They are growing pretty fast 

There's no CO 2 and my fert dosing is very less. So not many things to stress them.


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## Grah the great

jmf3460 said:


> good job on the discus, I have been rooting for discus since day one of this post. those blues will be stunning if you can keep from stunting them in a planted tank while growing out.


It's possible to stunt discus in a 600 gallon tank?


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## HybridHerp

DUDE, I LOVE THIS TANK, ALL OF IT!!!

I gotta appreciate any setup that is densely planted, has a verity of any assortment of fish, and also has a nice number of "oddballs" like those elephant nose....I can't wait to see this tank once those and the discus (and the angel-angels?) are grown out.

Super impressive.


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## PinkRasbora

Wow, 600 gallons, thats crazy! I hope you have a water hose to fill that! hehe


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## Siddhartha Saive

Got a big surprise yesterday.
My Discus have laid eggs 









The eggs were in the back corner. This blurry mobile pic was the best I could do. You can see the eggs on the glass just below the discus. Hundreds of them.
The bigger ones among my discus are around 4".
Dint know they'll lay eggs when they're so young.
Sadly they'll all be eaten by the other fish in my tank even in the future.


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## chan011

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Posting some pics of the build
> 
> The living room before the tank.


that staircase


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## Siddhartha Saive

chan011 said:


> that staircase




Hot summer over here. Tank temperature rose to more than 33C. Cardinals and pearl gourami were very stressed. Lost a few cardinals over the past few days

Clown loaches went crazy running up and down the tank.
Discus and elephant nose seem happy as ever.
I got a portable high speed table fan today and set it up above the water surface. Temperature has reduced to 30 C now. Fish are more active now


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## chayos00

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Hot summer over here. Tank temperature rose to more than 33C. Cardinals and pearl gourami were very stressed. Lost a few cardinals over the past few days
> 
> Clown loaches went crazy running up and down the tank.
> Discus and elephant nose seem happy as ever.
> I got a portable high speed table fan today and set it up above the water surface. Temperature has reduced to 30 C now. Fish are more active now


Yeah fans should help out with evaporative cooling. Do you have air conditioning at your house?


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## dbw27

That is a beautiful tank. When I get my own home and no longer have a landlord I dream of getting a huge tank. For now I enjoy looking at others and gratefully practice on my little tank.

Gorgeous! Congrats!


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## jmf3460

Siddhartha Saive said:


> I pay the lfs guys for 50% water change (RO water) and any necessary maintenance once a month . One guy has to climb inside the tank to clean the glass and any adjustments inside the tank.


gotta say it, while I think your tank is a beauty and it far super cedes any of the tanks I have, I lost a little respect for it once reading this.


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## Siddhartha Saive

jmf3460 said:


> gotta say it, while I think your tank is a beauty and it far super cedes any of the tanks I have, I lost a little respect for it once reading this.


Hmmm. If you meant that it is cumbersome, it is. And coincidentally maintenance was done today.
Small things like removing any dead leaves etc and cleaning the glass is done everytime by getting into the tank and it is pretty easy to get into and out. This usually takes around 10 mins. 

The entire process of draining the tank, cleaning and washing the sponges in my overflow and refilling etc takes a minimum of 3 hours. Sometimes more. Far too much work for me alone. 2 boys do the work and i help them out and direct them what to do. And i won't be home always, as I'm a doctor. So it helps out a lot
I'm probably goin to be away from home for 1 or 2 years after a few months. So it won't be a burden on my family to maintain it if i train the lfs guys to do it.
That's one of the reasons i planned for the entire setup to be as low maintenance as possible. It can be run without me at home. 

Daily work is turning the lights on and off and feeding 3 times a day And topping off water when needed


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## HybridHerp

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Hmmm. If you meant that it is cumbersome, it is. And coincidentally maintenance was done today.
> Small things like removing any dead leaves etc and cleaning the glass is done everytime by getting into the tank and it is pretty easy to get into and out. This usually takes around 10 mins.
> 
> The entire process of draining the tank, cleaning and washing the sponges in my overflow and refilling etc takes a minimum of 3 hours. Sometimes more. Far too much work for me alone. 2 boys do the work and i help them out and direct them what to do. And i won't be home always, as I'm a doctor. So it helps out a lot
> I'm probably goin to be away from home for 1 or 2 years after a few months. So it won't be a burden on my family to maintain it if i train the lfs guys to do it.



I think the post you responded to was just saying that respect was lost due to maintain ended not being done by yourself (or I missed something).

Most big tanks and big name aqua scapes aren't regularly maintained by the person who made it. Personally, my parents do maintain while I'm not around (although they aren't the best at it). I think most people just prefer it all being done by a single person.


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## jmf3460

jmf3460 said:


> gotta say it, while I think your tank is a beauty and it far super cedes any of the tanks I have, I lost a little respect for it once reading this.


 all I meant by this, and I almost didn't say it but finally decided to, was that originally I thought the OP must be some type of insane mad scientist with awesomeness literally dripping from his skin when he sweats. Now I view this tank much differently, kind of the same way I view all the contracted fish tanks I see at restaurants and dentist offices. Not trying to offend you OP, just saying that I view the tank differently now knowing that you pay other people to do the dirty work. Kind of makes me wonder what else you paid other people to do.


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## Siddhartha Saive

jmf3460 said:


> all I meant by this, and I almost didn't say it but finally decided to, was that originally I thought the OP must be some type of insane mad scientist with awesomeness literally dripping from his skin when he sweats. Now I view this tank much differently, kind of the same way I view all the contracted fish tanks I see at restaurants and dentist offices. Not trying to offend you OP, just saying that I view the tank differently now knowing that you pay other people to do the dirty work. Kind of makes me wonder what else you paid other people to do.


Ah i get what you mean now
Yea i pay for the labor work necessary. The lfs guys have very little knowledge on the setup and stuff. Whatever you see in the tank is by my choice and knowledge after countless hours of online research. I got every raw material and the people involved together and i supervised them to do it how i wanted it. 

Surely you don't expect me to build the tank myself or do the maintenance work alone  if it was me alone at it it would take me nearly double the time


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## chayos00

jmf3460 said:


> all I meant by this, and I almost didn't say it but finally decided to, was that originally I thought the OP must be some type of insane mad scientist with awesomeness literally dripping from his skin when he sweats. Now I view this tank much differently, kind of the same way I view all the contracted fish tanks I see at restaurants and dentist offices. Not trying to offend you OP, just saying that I view the tank differently now knowing that you pay other people to do the dirty work. Kind of makes me wonder what else you paid other people to do.


If you didn't notice it, he has the LFS guys helping out as it's a lot of work to do all by yourself. Plus the man is a doctor. So if he's not around a lot he is training the kids at the LFS to be able to keep his tank the way he likes it. I sure don't blame him for that! Plus he never once said I had them also design my layout, now I'm 99% sure after reading the entire thread that it was all him. 

That last sentence of your post makes it sound like you wondered if he has other people killed by paying someone off....

OP the tank still rocks! I don't care how it's maintained! It's still my inspiration tank setup of how I'm gonna do my tank layout.


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## lauraleellbp

I honestly can't decide if I had a tank this big if I would rather pay a guy to snorkel in it to scrape the algae, or snorkel in it myself. LOL!

I bet after a time or two, it would get old and I'd happily pay someone else.

Now lugging this much RO water around for water changes- no temptation at all to do that part myself.

The tank looks gorgeous! Congrats on the discus spawn. Did any of the eggs survive that you know of?


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## chayos00

lauraleellbp said:


> I honestly can't decide if I had a tank this big if I would rather pay a guy to snorkel in it to scrape the algae, or snorkel in it myself. LOL!
> 
> I bet after a time or two, it would get old and I'd happily pay someone else.
> 
> Now lugging this much RO water around for water changes- no temptation at all to do that part myself.
> 
> The tank looks gorgeous! Congrats on the discus spawn. Did any of the eggs survive that you know of?


Snorkeling in my tank sounds fun! May have to do this when I finally get my stand done for my 125g tank! As far as that much RO water, I think I would try and setup some sort of automated water change system and obviously setup my own RO filter system. Or have some 55g drums to store the water in for a large one time water change.


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## jmf3460

chayos00 said:


> That last sentence of your post makes it sound like you wondered if he has other people killed by paying someone off....


 definitely didn't mean this. more along the lines of design, sump design and scape layout but OP has proven me wrong that all the ideas were his. Congrats on a great tank and good job in teaching LFS employees a thing or two.


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## jasa73

Amazing! how many neons or cardinals are there?


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## Siddhartha Saive

lauraleellbp said:


> I honestly can't decide if I had a tank this big if I would rather pay a guy to snorkel in it to scrape the algae, or snorkel in it myself. LOL!
> 
> I bet after a time or two, it would get old and I'd happily pay someone else.
> 
> Now lugging this much RO water around for water changes- no temptation at all to do that part myself.
> 
> The tank looks gorgeous! Congrats on the discus spawn. Did any of the eggs survive that you know of?


Haha I do have a snorkel mask at hand but we don't need to get completely wet. Its only knee deep after removing 50 to 70% of the water. So its pretty easy.

There are pics of how the water change is done. Takes time 

Thanks for the compliments  the eggs dint hatch. Maybe unfertilized. My discus are still far too young i guess.


----------



## Betta132

YOu said a while back that you might remove more rainbows/loaches if you can catch them. Have you tried a bottle trap made out of a soda bottle? I bet it would work on the loaches and some of the smaller rainbows.


----------



## AGUILAR3

chayos00 said:


> Snorkeling in my tank sounds fun! May have to do this when I finally get my stand done for my 125g tank!


Snorkeling in a 125? What are you..2 feet tall?


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

chayos00 said:


> OP the tank still rocks! I don't care how it's maintained! It's still my inspiration tank setup of how I'm gonna do my tank layout.


Thank you. that is very humbling






jmf3460 said:


> definitely didn't mean this. more along the lines of design, sump design and scape layout but OP has proven me wrong that all the ideas were his. Congrats on a great tank and good job in teaching LFS employees a thing or two.


Thank you. And no worries. I understand what u were getting at and no offence taken






jasa73 said:


> Amazing! how many neons or cardinals are there?


Right now about 220 cardinals i guess. Lost a few due to the heat recently.








Betta132 said:


> YOu said a while back that you might remove more rainbows/loaches if you can catch them. Have you tried a bottle trap made out of a soda bottle? I bet it would work on the loaches and some of the smaller rainbows.


I did use a bottle trap to catch and remove the 50 fish earlier  or else it would be nearly impossible. I have to use the same method again to remove more if necessary


----------



## chayos00

AGUILAR3 said:


> Snorkeling in a 125? What are you..2 feet tall?


Well no... 5'10". But I'm gonna put my snorkel mask on and take a pic of me being in there just to say I did! Lol all in the name of silliness! Haha


----------



## chayos00

jmf3460 said:


> definitely didn't mean this. more along the lines of design, sump design and scape layout but OP has proven me wrong that all the ideas were his. Congrats on a great tank and good job in teaching LFS employees a thing or two.


Sorry didn't mean to sound like an A$$ if I did.... But it was the only thing coming to my mind at the time. 😁


----------



## AGUILAR3

chayos00 said:


> Well no... 5'10". But I'm gonna put my snorkel mask on and take a pic of me being in there just to say I did! Lol all in the name of silliness! Haha


haha!


----------



## Mxx

Originally Posted by AGUILAR3 View Post
Snorkeling in a 125? What are you..2 feet tall?
chayos00;6052410 said:


> Well no... 5'10". But I'm gonna put my snorkel mask on and take a pic of me being in there just to say I did! Lol all in the name of silliness! Haha


I think somebody misread something, it's not a 125 gallon tank, according to the dimensions it seems to multiply out to about 628 gallons, which is a lot bigger than your bath! (Maybe just the sump is a 125!)


----------



## chayos00

Mxx said:


> I think somebody misread something, it's not a 125 gallon tank, according to the dimensions it seems to multiply out to about 628 gallons, which is a lot bigger than your bath! (Maybe just the sump is a 125!)


The 125g tank reference was a response I posted about it would be cool to do that to the tank I am building a stand for. look back a few posts. Yes the OP's tank is around 600G.


----------



## 4WheelVFR

How are your elephant nose getting along with each other and their tank mates? I have a roughly 1000g tank that I am getting ready to set up as a community similar to yours….although my plant selection will be much more modest to start with.


----------



## ucrdave

still a beautiful tank, glad you were able to fill it out


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

4WheelVFR said:


> How are your elephant nose getting along with each other and their tank mates? I have a roughly 1000g tank that I am getting ready to set up as a community similar to yours….although my plant selection will be much more modest to start with.


the elephant noses are my favorite. they are very peaceful. don't bother anyone else. 
I suggest you get a big school of them. 10 or more. they are very social and very active. I might be adding more of them in the future. 


ucrdave said:


> still a beautiful tank, glad you were able to fill it out


thank you


----------



## 4WheelVFR

Siddhartha Saive said:


> the elephant noses are my favorite. they are very peaceful. don't bother anyone else.
> I suggest you get a big school of them. 10 or more. they are very social and very active. I might be adding more of them in the future.


Great. Thanks for the input. Also, how are your Roseline Sharks doing in the warmer temps? I'm going to start out with a group of 50 or so, and I'll also be keeping them in warmer water….although not quite as warm as your tank.


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

4WheelVFR said:


> Great. Thanks for the input. Also, how are your Roseline Sharks doing in the warmer temps? I'm going to start out with a group of 50 or so, and I'll also be keeping them in warmer water….although not quite as warm as your tank.


the rose lines are very hardy. they'll do fine in higher temps. they'll do great in planted tanks


----------



## 4WheelVFR

Siddhartha Saive said:


> the rose lines are very hardy. they'll do fine in higher temps. they'll do great in planted tanks


Great. I appreciate the advice, and keep the tank updates coming. You've got a beautiful setup for sure.


----------



## IiScaPeJuNkiEiI

*Totally Jealous!*

That's an awesome tank man. I absolutely love big tanks! Keep up with the pics. 8' long is great. For me I'd trade all that height for length. Like a 12 or 14 feet long by 2feet deep and around 20-ish inches tall. Just my take on it.roud:


----------



## chayos00

Hey Sid! Just wondering if you had any updates with your tank?


----------



## philipraposo1982

Can you tell me about your ferts and how much your dosing of each one?


----------



## brooksie321

Welp, late for work now that I had to read this whole thread, took longer than usual having to wipe the drool off my screen a few times fine job doc!! Discus and a massive school of cardinals is my happy place! 
One thought, forgive me if it's been mentioned, a makeshift chiller with a wine fridge, sub. Pump and copper coil - garden hose?? $200 and a couple hours for a cooler tank..


----------



## D.Rodgers

very nice love the shoaling fish !


----------



## PickieBee

This tank is bananas!

I adore tiny fish in huge shoals.


----------



## zuc

Never thought low-tech could be so beautiful. Please tell me you have made a video for this?


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

philipraposo1982 said:


> Can you tell me about your ferts and how much your dosing of each one?


Dry dyi macro and micro ferts made into solutions that I got from a hobbyist. Dosing about 1/5th EI if I remember to


brooksie321 said:


> Welp, late for work now that I had to read this whole thread, took longer than usual having to wipe the drool off my screen a few times fine job doc!! Discus and a massive school of cardinals is my happy place!
> One thought, forgive me if it's been mentioned, a makeshift chiller with a wine fridge, sub. Pump and copper coil - garden hose?? $200 and a couple hours for a cooler tank..





D.Rodgers said:


> very nice love the shoaling fish !





PickieBee said:


> This tank is bananas!
> 
> I adore tiny fish in huge shoals.





zuc said:


> Never thought low-tech could be so beautiful. Please tell me you have made a video for this?


There are a few videos that I uploaded on YouTube. You can check the previous pages for links. 

Thank you everyone for your kind words.


I'm very sad to say that my tank has crashed[emoji17] There was a columnaris outbreak in my tank when I added new catfish around 2-3 months ago.
Most of the fish are dead/ given away.
I have been treating my tank with nitrofurantoin and frequent water changes. The 30 or so fish I have left [emoji53] seem to be healthy and active since more than a month.

The plants are doing good again... recovered after a hot summer. I used a portable high speed fan at the surface which did the trick. temp dropped by 4 to 5° 

I'll be rescaping in a week or two... adding 2 or 3 flat big woods at the background and adding more plants.

Planning to add fish after a month.
I've been contemplating changing the fish stock this time(monsters? Planted arowana tank?).. but after looking at so many other tanks I realised nothing can beat the look of a huge school of cardinals. So cardinals again soon..


----------



## perlguy

Oh man, so sorry to hear about this!

I was going to ask you what you were going to let your monster aquarium handle the Hyderabadi summer heat.


----------



## flight50

I am new to this thread and I was enjoying everything you accomplished. I really hate to have gotten your latest news of a tank crash though. I am sure you will bring her back stronger than ever. I love the look of a swarm of cardinals myself.


----------



## chayos00

Sorry to hear about the crash of your tank! I'm guessing you don't run a quarantine tank? From the number of fish you lost and stock, I sure would run one!


----------



## fish_fasinated

Its sad to such news of a tank crash in this magnificent tank. Having been there recently and in the past myself, I feel your pain. Don't get discouraged, i know how easy that can happen at this point. You can rebuild and change the things you had wished you could change before all of this happened. I wish you the best of luck in the future.


----------



## jhmanning

You are my hero awesome tank that's too bad about the crash but at least you get to play around with the setup some more


----------



## BigJay180

I considered a planted Arowana tank, but some of them don't care for hands in their tank when they get big. A planted tank is often very hands-on unfortunately.

Sorry to hear about your crash, but it sounds like you'll bounce back even better this time!


----------



## sanj

> I've been contemplating changing the fish stock this time(monsters? Planted arowana tank?)..


Nooo! that is the predictable approach; big tank = big fish. It is the kind of comment I get sometimes; "if I had a tank that big I would be putting monster x in." So in the end its just like putting a goldfish in an inappropriately size bowl. 

You are in a lucky position, but it is so much better all round to do what you were doing; just quarantine next time


----------



## BigJay180

sanj said:


> Nooo! that is the predictable approach; big tank = big fish. It is the kind of comment I get sometimes; "if I had a tank that big I would be putting monster x in." So in the end its just like putting a goldfish in an inappropriately size bowl.
> 
> You are in a lucky position, but it is so much better all round to do what you were doing; just quarantine next time


I agree with Sanj 100%. Plus, there's nothing more fun than putting a small fish that's used to a tiny box at the fish store or quarantine tank into a heavily planted 6X2X2 river. It's really cool to see fast swimmers like danios really stretch their fins a little.


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Thank you guys for ur kind words.
I'll be rescaping my tank this weekend and new fish will be in it soon. Will post pics soon.


----------



## burr740

Good luck with the re-vamp. I really enjoyed watching this tank come together.


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Hey guys
Thinking of upgrading my lights to LED. Currently have T5HO setup 54W x 4 and 39W x 4 totalling to around 34000 lumens.
Planning to get it custom made to around the same lumen output (with LED at 70%) with cool whites, and red+blue+green. With dimmers and programmed effects on timers. Colour led will bring out the different colours..

The upgrade is mainly for a better display. The current lights are good enough for the low tech plants I have.

So do you think the LED are worth it? Will the display look better? I mean all fish/plant colours brighter and the shimmer effect..


----------



## fish_fasinated

While you may not be concerned so much about your energy bill, it will improve greatly. But just the simple ability to add so many abilities and lighting options to the tank will be amazing. I am excited to see this in action once its stocked again!


----------



## chayos00

With the look of the display it all depends upon what color temperature you have going for those white LED's.


----------



## Kalyke

Lots of loaches! I love loaches! They will get bigger so there is no need to get big fish! Wont the clowns tear up the landscaping? I would put in a small clean up crew of Siamese algea eaters. Apparently the do a better job than plecos. I think they get about 4 inches long.


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Kalyke said:


> Lots of loaches! I love loaches! They will get bigger so there is no need to get big fish! Wont the clowns tear up the landscaping? I would put in a small clean up crew of Siamese algea eaters. Apparently the do a better job than plecos. I think they get about 4 inches long.


Clown loaches are amazing. Very active and school great. They don't disturb the landscape. Siamese algae eaters may get aggressive as they mature. So not a good option for my tank


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

fish_fasinated said:


> While you may not be concerned so much about your energy bill, it will improve greatly. But just the simple ability to add so many abilities and lighting options to the tank will be amazing. I am excited to see this in action once its stocked again!





chayos00 said:


> With the look of the display it all depends upon what color temperature you have going for those white LED's.


Yes. Having so many options will be great. I'm not sure of what colour led I should use along with cool whites. Only red blue green or more..

For example Buildmyled sell a module with
6500K Cool White x 8
625nm Red x 2
470nm Blue x 1
505nm Cyan x 1
525nm Green x 1
615nm Orange/Red x 1
660nm Deep Red x 1

Can anyone advice me on a led setup for the best display?


----------



## sanj

Siddhartha,

I have C.siamensis and C.reticulatus some of which are now over 6 years old in my 400 gallon. I find them peaceful, they should really be kept in groups, i have not had any trouble. They are also in with a couple of RTBs one of which has also been in the aquarium for 6 years or so. The Red tail sharks do get a little irritated if a crossocheilus comes within a few inches, but the chase is half hearted and short lived.

Clown loach are lovely fish if kept in groups, but if you want a planted tank they are eventually no good. Once they get in the 8"-12" range they will be uprooting plants and often start punching holes in leaves earlier than that. They are usually ok to start with, but it is when they get older and bigger.

Bump:


Siddhartha Saive said:


> So do you think the LED are worth it? Will the display look better? I mean all fish/plant colours brighter and the shimmer effect..


LEDs are great from a power saving perspective and if you want flexibility over dimming and colour changing.

The light has a different effect to T5s being point source it doesnt flood the tank like T5s do. I have leds on all my tanks, but electricity cost is a long term concern for me; in europe we will be seeing increased costs over the next decade or so.

If you are not injecting CO2 you do not want overly power light because then that raised the requirements for other inputs; co2 and macro/micros...all the more reason why dimmable is a good way to go or at the very least have the option to raise and lower the lights.


----------



## grushing85

Very nice tank! love the aqua-scaping.


----------



## Saxtonhill

So sorry and sad to hear about the tank crash. Looking forward to seeing photos of your new aquascape


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

sanj said:


> Siddhartha,
> 
> I have C.siamensis and C.reticulatus some of which are now over 6 years old in my 400 gallon. I find them peaceful, they should really be kept in groups, i have not had any trouble. They are also in with a couple of RTBs one of which has also been in the aquarium for 6 years or so. The Red tail sharks do get a little irritated if a crossocheilus comes within a few inches, but the chase is half hearted and short lived.
> 
> Clown loach are lovely fish if kept in groups, but if you want a planted tank they are eventually no good. Once they get in the 8"-12" range they will be uprooting plants and often start punching holes in leaves earlier than that. They are usually ok to start with, but it is when they get older and bigger.
> 
> Bump:
> 
> LEDs are great from a power saving perspective and if you want flexibility over dimming and colour changing.
> 
> The light has a different effect to T5s being point source it doesnt flood the tank like T5s do. I have leds on all my tanks, but electricity cost is a long term concern for me; in europe we will be seeing increased costs over the next decade or so.
> 
> If you are not injecting CO2 you do not want overly power light because then that raised the requirements for other inputs; co2 and macro/micros...all the more reason why dimmable is a good way to go or at the very least have the option to raise and lower the lights.


Thanks  
I have around 10 native garra in there which are amazing algae eaters. I might add other native indian algae eaters later. Maybe sicyopterus griseus and psylorinchus sp.

The led upgrade is purely for a better display if possible. Not for the plants.

So looking for opinions here... Should I go for it. 
What colour combo do you suggest?


grushing85 said:


> Very nice tank! love the aqua-scaping.


Thank you  
Have rescaped the tank a week ago with 4 new big woods. 40 more anubias, Christmas moss and a little mini fissidens. 

Was a lot of work. Just dumped in the woods for now with weights on them. Will rescape in a month.


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Saxtonhill said:


> So sorry and sad to hear about the tank crash. Looking forward to seeing photos of your new aquascape


Thank you. 
Temporary scape. Will be changed soon.

Wanted to add more driftwood because earlier the top half of the tank looked empty. Now the tank looks full


----------



## fish_fasinated

Wow, didn't think you could improve anymore on this but there it is. Stunning, simply stunning


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

fish_fasinated said:


> Wow, didn't think you could improve anymore on this but there it is. Stunning, simply stunning


Thank you


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Watch "600 gallon tank. Rescape. New woods added" on YouTube - 600 gallon tank. Rescape. New woods added: http://youtu.be/Td-xZm7CpfM


New fish in 
10 x Geophagus winemilleri added a few days ago


----------



## fish_fasinated

Siddhartha, this will be amazing! I am a huge fan of all eartheaters and with all your plants being wood mounted this will be an amazing display when your Geos grow out. Again, amazing, simply amazing.


----------



## Izzy-

Oh man, that is my dream tank right there


----------



## Saxtonhill

Amazing! Thank you for posting the photographs  I really like the driftwood in combination with the anubias


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

fish_fasinated said:


> Siddhartha, this will be amazing! I am a huge fan of all eartheaters and with all your plants being wood mounted this will be an amazing display when your Geos grow out. Again, amazing, simply amazing.


Thank you 


Izzy- said:


> Oh man, that is my dream tank right there


Thank you 


Saxtonhill said:


> Amazing! Thank you for posting the photographs  I really like the driftwood in combination with the anubias


Thank you. Will update soon


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Rescaped my tank. Wanted to create more open space for the geos. There are a few rocks and red bricks on the recently added woods to weigh them down; will remove them in a month and finalise the scape

Rescaped http://youtu.be/2At084TKPyU


----------



## crazy4fids

It looks amazing!


----------



## shift

beautiful tank


----------



## fish_fasinated

Its looking great! Looks like the geos have grown a bit. Looking forward to future updates!


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

crazy4fids said:


> It looks amazing!





shift said:


> beautiful tank





fish_fasinated said:


> Its looking great! Looks like the geos have grown a bit. Looking forward to future updates!


Thank you guys


----------



## Jcstank

The water alone weighs 5,000 pounds, which is as much as a large SUV. That tank looks fantastic and I wouldn't change a thing.


----------



## crazy4fids

I love the geos! They are one of my favorites. I wish they didn't get so big. If this were my tank, I'd go with the rummy nose tetras over the cardinals. The red would look awesome with the blue discus you had. Sorry you lost all of them 
I would also do a shoal of cory cats (my favorite are the pandas) as well as a bunch of glass catfish. Can I come over and go snorkeling? If I had a tank as big as yours, I wouldn't go anywhere! I'd be parked in a recliner in front of the tank 24/7.


----------



## strat_guy

Awesome looking tank! I thought planting mine was tough at 6', but your sump is as big as my aquarium lol! Looking great!


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Jcstank said:


> The water alone weighs 5,000 pounds, which is as much as a large SUV. That tank looks fantastic and I wouldn't change a thing.


Thank you 
You are right. The entire setup weighs about 4 tons



crazy4fids said:


> I love the geos! They are one of my favorites. I wish they didn't get so big. If this were my tank, I'd go with the rummy nose tetras over the cardinals. The red would look awesome with the blue discus you had. Sorry you lost all of them
> I would also do a shoal of cory cats (my favorite are the pandas) as well as a bunch of glass catfish. Can I come over and go snorkeling? If I had a tank as big as yours, I wouldn't go anywhere! I'd be parked in a recliner in front of the tank 24/7.


Thanks You are welcome to snorkel anytime 
Ever since i setup the tank, people dont want to watch tv. They just stare at the tank 
I will be keeping the stocking low this time. No new fish for now.




strat_guy said:


> Awesome looking tank! I thought planting mine was tough at 6', but your sump is as big as my aquarium lol! Looking great!


Thank you


----------



## mighties_keeper

Very unique setup, with the aquascape moving up and across the tank. You did a great job building this setup.


----------



## Smudger

Hi, New to this thread and new to TPT.

I'd compliment everything but it's all been said already. I must admit as soon as I read less than half of the 1st page I hit 'subscribe'  

I've read the whole log, I'm in awe. Puts my future project of 5'x1.5'x1.5' to shame! 

Gutted to hear about what happened, but you've walked through the valley .... And come out and made it better with big plans back in action.

Keep up the good work, I look forward to following this thread.

Richard - Happy Fish Keeping


----------



## TheGreenWizard

Hey there. New to the forums, and registered to specifically reply to this thread.

Your tank. It's... it's... gorgeous and tear-inducing. A work of art, really, and I am envious that you have it! 

Just means I have to save a lot of money for my future house and future tanks...


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

mighties_keeper said:


> Very unique setup, with the aquascape moving up and across the tank. You did a great job building this setup.


Thank you  



Smudger said:


> Hi, New to this thread and new to TPT.
> 
> I'd compliment everything but it's all been said already. I must admit as soon as I read less than half of the 1st page I hit 'subscribe'
> 
> I've read the whole log, I'm in awe. Puts my future project of 5'x1.5'x1.5' to shame!
> 
> Gutted to hear about what happened, but you've walked through the valley .... And come out and made it better with big plans back in action.
> 
> Keep up the good work, I look forward to following this thread.
> 
> Richard - Happy Fish Keeping


Thanks Richard Really appreciate it



TheGreenWizard said:


> Hey there. New to the forums, and registered to specifically reply to this thread.
> 
> Your tank. It's... it's... gorgeous and tear-inducing. A work of art, really, and I am envious that you have it!
> 
> Just means I have to save a lot of money for my future house and future tanks...


Thank you

Your comments made my day


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Update
My tank has gone Hi Tech  
Setup CO2 yesterday


Don't really need co2 for the low tech plants that I have, but it'll help my plants and moss grow much better. 

Cylinder capacity is 15 kg (33 lb) measuring 30" long and 8" wide. 
There's a solenoid valve and a precision valve connected. The co2 line is connected to a 13" CO2 reactor placed in the sump. A separate small pump pumps water through the reactor and back into the sump. 

I don't know at what bps its running at exactly but might probably around 6 to 10 bps . Running 24/7
Have a CO2 indicator in the display tank which reads green. Fish seem as active as ever.


----------



## Kathyy

Your plants will love the added carbon for sure. Bet you could inject 3-10x that amount without bothering the fish though. Do you see any change in the pH of the water?

I had always read that it is essential for the CO2 tank to be upright so liquid CO2 doesn't blow out the regulator. A quick google shows that simply putting a tube that can lift the regulator over the tank when horizontal so only CO2 gas gets to the regulator allows the tank to be horizontal. Is that right? 

My regulator actually also has an extension like that and I wondered why it was like that. I just now acquired a CO2 tank that is too tall to fit in my stand. I'd have to rehouse all the other gear in the stand though!


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Kathyy said:


> Your plants will love the added carbon for sure. Bet you could inject 3-10x that amount without bothering the fish though. Do you see any change in the pH of the water?
> 
> I had always read that it is essential for the CO2 tank to be upright so liquid CO2 doesn't blow out the regulator. A quick google shows that simply putting a tube that can lift the regulator over the tank when horizontal so only CO2 gas gets to the regulator allows the tank to be horizontal. Is that right?
> 
> My regulator actually also has an extension like that and I wondered why it was like that. I just now acquired a CO2 tank that is too tall to fit in my stand. I'd have to rehouse all the other gear in the stand though!



I'm trying to be cautious with the amount of CO2 I put into the tank. I guess it was the minimum amount that changed the colour of the CO2 indicator to green. I might not increase the CO2 level for a few weeks. No change in the pH till now.

You are right Kathy. The cylinders are ideally supposed to be kept standing vertically. I've seen a friend keeping his horizontally since a few years. So I'm hoping it'd be fine.


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Hey guys

I'm planning to shift from RO water to tap water for my tank gradually. Probably 10-20% water changes with tap water every one or 2 weeks

I have been using all RO water in my tank since the start. I thought the soft water would help if I wanted to keep fish like discus and altum angels.
I know all RO water is not good for fish and plants and a mix of RO and tap water is ideal. 
But I'm thinking of using the regular tap water. The reasons are maintenance costs and time.

I'm planning to get new pipeline installed directly to the tank. One pipe to drain water out and one pipe to fill the water in. 

RO water - TDS 20 pH 6.5
My tank - TDS 40 to 70 between water changes pH 6.5
Bore water - TDS 560 pH 7.5
Muncipal drinking water - TDS 310 pH 7.5

Planning to use the Muncipal water.. which might have chlorine. 
Many of my friends locally use the same water for their tanks. If I do 20% water changes weekly with this water, I'm hoping things will be fine. 

Any suggestions or opinions?


----------



## fish_fasinated

A declorinating chemical is never a bad idea. It doesn't hurt to use truethfully. The issues with manicipal tap water os the chlorine levels can fluctuate depending on rainfall amd other factors. 

Mixing tap water and ro water is a good balance as there are minerals that are required for proper growth of both fish and plants.


----------



## chayos00

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Hey guys
> 
> I'm planning to shift from RO water to tap water for my tank gradually. Probably 10-20% water changes with tap water every one or 2 weeks
> 
> I have been using all RO water in my tank since the start. I thought the soft water would help if I wanted to keep fish like discus and altum angels.
> I know all RO water is not good for fish and plants and a mix of RO and tap water is ideal.
> But I'm thinking of using the regular tap water. The reasons are maintenance costs and time.
> 
> I'm planning to get new pipeline installed directly to the tank. One pipe to drain water out and one pipe to fill the water in.
> 
> RO water - TDS 20 pH 6.5
> My tank - TDS 40 to 70 between water changes pH 6.5
> Bore water - TDS 560 pH 7.5
> Muncipal drinking water - TDS 310 pH 7.5
> 
> Planning to use the Muncipal water.. which might have chlorine.
> Many of my friends locally use the same water for their tanks. If I do 20% water changes weekly with this water, I'm hoping things will be fine.
> 
> Any suggestions or opinions?


Hey Sid! Still loving your setup! I was thinking for the water with possible chlorine in it, you could run the water through a solid carbon block filter setup that should remove the chlorine from the water, if in doubt run it through 2 filters in series. That's the setup that I was thinking of doing for my tank whenever I finally finish my stand for the tank.


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Lots of changes in the tank recently

Got permanent plumbing installed to and from the tank. Using all tap water now. 
















The submersed portion of the pipes were painted black using waterproof rubber paint. The straight pipe on the left is for the outlet which has an inline pump and drains into the garden downstairs. The pipe on the right is for the inlet coming from an overhead tank
Started dosing dry ferts at around 1/3rd EI dosing since a week.








Added a 12" fire eel. Very shy for now








Finalised the scape and tied all the extra anubias and ferns I had. Added pond water lillies. One of the lillies is doing great with 5 new leaves at the surface in just 2 weeks. The other lilies are just about to breach the water surface









Sorry for the bad pic quality. I'm just learning to use my dslr  will post more pics soon


----------



## BruceF

Looking great.

This little dent in the foreground is very effective!


----------



## fish_fasinated

Looks amazing sid, keep it up!


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

BruceF said:


> Looking great.
> 
> This little dent in the foreground is very effective!


Thank you. That dent is created by the wavemaker. The water flow usually flattens out the sand eventually. 



fish_fasinated said:


> Looks amazing sid, keep it up!


Thank you 

A few more mobile pics


----------



## HybridHerp

That is one very classy setup.


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

HybridHerp said:


> That is one very classy setup.


Thank you


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Finally added discus to my tank..again. 30 juveniles around 2.5". Got them from a breeder and were sold as "Royal Blue". May cull and keep 20 once they grow up. 
I had setup a new 50 gallon tank and planned to quarantine the fish for 3 weeks and medicate before adding them to my tank. But disaster struck on the 2nd night. The tank started leaking Luckily I noticed it early and... had to put the discus in the big tank.

Currently doing 25%(150 gallons) water change twice a week. I'm thinking if I should cut down on the fert dosing and co2 for a month or two. Are my WC enough or should I do more.. like daily 25%.. will it make a difference. 

Opinions/suggestions are welcome
(Some error with the pic upload )


----------



## mot

This tank is amazing. Really well done. I cant even imagine working on something this large. Your water changes alone are triple my entire tank volume. You did a great job with the aquascape and the fish are just wonderful.


----------



## IDR

This tank is GORGEOUS!


----------



## philipraposo1982

First off, very nice tank.

I am not sure how familiar you are with discus but I am guessing that you don't have much experience with them. I say this because generally you would never grow out discus in such a heavily populated tank with such a low amount of water changes. Most hardcore discus people will use a bare bottom tank with premium feed and daily or every other day water changes of 50% or more.

You can expect to see a fair bit of peppering of your fish and potential stunting. For a planted tank like yours I would of expected 3-4" fish at least. Smaller fish require more pristine conditioning. 

Good luck with them, hope they do well. Your much better off doing one 50% water change compared to that of 2x 25%. they are 2 very different things, depending on the amount of waste ( i expect now your bio load is much greater) over time will build up more and faster.


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

mot said:


> This tank is amazing. Really well done. I cant even imagine working on something this large. Your water changes alone are triple my entire tank volume. You did a great job with the aquascape and the fish are just wonderful.


Thank you 


IDR said:


> This tank is GORGEOUS!


Thank you 


philipraposo1982 said:


> First off, very nice tank.
> 
> I am not sure how familiar you are with discus but I am guessing that you don't have much experience with them. I say this because generally you would never grow out discus in such a heavily populated tank with such a low amount of water changes. Most hardcore discus people will use a bare bottom tank with premium feed and daily or every other day water changes of 50% or more.
> 
> You can expect to see a fair bit of peppering of your fish and potential stunting. For a planted tank like yours I would of expected 3-4" fish at least. Smaller fish require more pristine conditioning.
> 
> Good luck with them, hope they do well. Your much better off doing one 50% water change compared to that of 2x 25%. they are 2 very different things, depending on the amount of waste ( i expect now your bio load is much greater) over time will build up more and faster.


Thank you 
Yes I know my tank is not an ideal setup to growout the discus. I did read a lot on simplydiscus.com 

I had 20 blue diamonds in the tank a year ago. Most of them reached to 4.5" in 6-8 months with monthly 80% water changes with all RO. Around 4 of them turned out to be runts/stunted. Sadly I had a columnaris outbreak in my tank then and lost most of the fish and I gave away the discus that were left. 

Part of the reason I chose these strains are they don't usually pepper. 

Earlier I wasn't able to do more than monthly WC. Now I can so I guess I'll follow the advice and do 25% water changes daily. It is a lot of water. Hopefully with some luck they will turn out good. I'll keep about 15 -20 of the good ones and give away the rest


----------



## philipraposo1982

Glad your willing to do your best for the fish.

I hope they do well for you and hopefully no outbreaks of any kinds. That's one thing that terrifies me, I have a 1 year old tank and don't want to add any more stock at the risk of bringing in something. 

I am subbed and will follow the progression excitedly.


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Mobile video shot today

600 Gallon Planted Discus Tank Update: http://youtu.be/qQcMHPcAv6s

Most of the discus are around 3.5 to 4" now( after 8 weeks from 2"). About 5 runts I guess. I'm hoping atleast 15 of the 30 will grow out good.

The G. winemilleri have grown up quite a bit...around 6" now and show a lot more colour now. They have just started to grow their beautiful trailing fins. Still need time to mature I guess.
The G. heckelii males look stunning in person. About 5"

The fire eel still lives  

Have been dosing a lot less ferts... for the young discus.
Tank temperature is around 32 °C since the past week. Plants aren't doing good. Waiting for Earth to tilt


----------



## Coralbandit

Great stocking!
Great video!
Great looking tank!
How many clown loaches do you have?
VERY NICE!:hihi:
Thanks for sharing!roud:


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Coralbandit said:


> Great stocking!
> Great video!
> Great looking tank!
> How many clown loaches do you have?
> VERY NICE!:hihi:
> Thanks for sharing!roud:


Thank you 
Got 5 clown loaches in there


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

A better video


----------



## harilp

Awesome bro


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Mobile pics of my discus. Most are around 4" now


----------



## Siddhartha Saive




----------



## brooksie321

Pretty freakin cool seeing them like that!


----------



## JEden8

Job well done! Beautiful tank!


----------



## rballi

Awesome geos!


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

#Discus update

Its been 4 months since I added the discus. They are probably 7 months old now. Still growing good

Only 3 to 5 of them look unsatisfactory in size or shape (runts/stunted)
The rest (about 25) seem to be doing good
About 8 to 10 look great.. look like jumbos compared to the rest. Probably males???

A few started colouring up recently

























One of the 14 barred oddballs (others 9 barred). Got 5 of them in the group. I like them though


----------



## Coralbandit

Love dropping in and seeing how well you are doing!
Thanks for sharing!


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

My heckelii alpha glowing


----------



## mr.BIG

Get a fresh water sting ray


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

A few updates

The return pump failed after 2 years of use and I switched to a bigger version. From 7500 to 9000 lit/hr.
There is a significant change in water clarity now. Almost crystal clear

A video taken this morning just after the lights were turned on.
https://youtu.be/f6ZfaBckCns

Removed the refugium section from the sump. Removed the baffles substrate and plants I had in there.. to make a big chamber(twice as big) for the return pump. Now i don't need to top off water between water changes. Less maintenance. 

I had the tank temperature at above 30°C for nearly 8 months.. because of the hot summer and then continued intentionally for the young discus. So the plants took a big hit. No new growth during this period and the moss is almost gone. Plants are really thinned out.
Now the tank temperature is at 28 to 29°C since a week and finally new growth has started.

My fire eel is finally getting bolder after nearly 7 months in the tank. Roams out in the open when I feed blood worms. Earlier I only saw it once a month if I was lucky. It grew about 1 to 2" longer



https://youtu.be/b02pNMCnPlM


----------



## Maverick2015

That is simply awesome. Great video to show it off.


----------



## AutumnSky

That is a beautiful Eel.


----------



## philipraposo1982

This tank is nice, but seems like its overstocked. How are the water parameters?


----------



## roadmaster

I'm likin it!


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

philipraposo1982 said:


> This tank is nice, but seems like its overstocked. How are the water parameters?


I perform 25 to 50% water changes thrice a week.
The tds hardly rises between water changes. 
My tank can handle more  I won't be adding anymore though.


----------



## philipraposo1982

Sounds good, just wandering.


----------



## Coralbandit

Video is excellent as usual.
And the Geos look great!!!!


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

The Discus are growing very well and i'm genuinely surprised by how well they are turning out  all of the 30 discus seem to be doing good. 
Got a chance to measure one of the discus recently when it jumped into a net that i use to feed.. measured 4.75" . Most of the discus are at about this size. 4 of them though... are huuge.. probably 6". Need to catch em and measure to be sure. and the runts are still runts ) about 4 are smaller than the rest.
Its been 6 months since i added the discus at about 1.5" to 2" size. they are probably 9 months old now. Hopefully they will grow to their full potential for another year  

New underwater video. Watch in HD. Enjoy  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Duf25Ggpvog
This is my first video of the tank shot with my new Gopro. Will post better videos soon  

I wanted to grow my discus good this time ( my previous attempt ended with a columnaris outbreak). Wanted to do things right. Feeding about 4 to 8 times a day with water changes thrice a week(25 to 50%) and i kinda ignored the plants.. no regular dosing, less CO2 and tank temp around 30C. So the plants are doing horribly. just started decreasing the temperature and new growth has appeared. 
The geophagus grew huge. the biggest is around 8"
The fire eel has grown in length and girth. Hand feeding it now  
Bonus Video  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVlXgUvxNDY


----------



## philipraposo1982

Awesome happy healthy looking fish! All the hard work is paying off.


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Found this tiny bugger in my sump.
The bristle nose plecos in my tank are breeding

Moved it to another tank.

Can't believe it escaped the big fish in the tank and passed through all the filter media in the overflow, sump and survived


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

One of the bigger discus in my tank. Measures a lil over 5.5"

About 9 months old now.

The biggest one in the tank is probably around 5.75 to 6"


----------



## philipraposo1982

Super cute, he/she is a fighter!!


----------



## TheAnswerIs42

WOW! Really enjoying following your thread. The discus look amazing and I love your fire eel's personality  Great work


----------



## tuffgong

I'm blown away by your tank. This thread is a great read. The fish look great in your current setup. I'm really looking forward to seeing it grow out now that you have lowered the temp! I also appreciate your commitment to this thread. Thanks for the updates!!!


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Thank you guys  

A recent video
https://youtu.be/wRR52jL-qqw


----------



## sohankpatel

Excuse me for a moment while I get a towel to wipe up my drool after reading this. This is an amazing tank! I cringe at the amount of money you must spend for livestock and filtration. Where did you even get a tank this large?


----------



## wantsome

Man I bet that takes some dedication to keep running. I hate doing water changes and maintenance on my 40 gallon. Cool tank though love the fish.


----------



## fietsenrex

nice tank, it's about 3x the maximum size my wife allows me to have.. 
great fish the G. winemillerri 

great inspiration for my next tank which will be a room divider 

do you still use the baffle on the inlet of your pump to clean out the bottom from fish/food waste?


----------



## SpensirH

That is unbelievably beautiful. Congrats 

Bump: That is unbelievably beautiful. Congrats


----------



## shrimpNewbie

Siddhartha Saive said:


> I perform 25 to 50% water changes thrice a week.
> The tds hardly rises between water changes.
> My tank can handle more  I won't be adding anymore though.


That is a lot of water waste ever considered not changing the water?

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk


----------



## mootay

dats crazy. I hope this tank is worth the effort. I bet the wee ones are endlessly amused by it.


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

sohankpatel said:


> Excuse me for a moment while I get a towel to wipe up my drool after reading this. This is an amazing tank! I cringe at the amount of money you must spend for livestock and filtration. Where did you even get a tank this large?


Thank you 
The filtration is a big sump. Much more cheaper and effective than canisters etc. Almost every fish in the tank were purchased at 2" size or less and grown out. So their price was cheaper than if they were adults.
The tank and stand were built inside the house.


wantsome said:


> Man I bet that takes some dedication to keep running. I hate doing water changes and maintenance on my 40 gallon. Cool tank though love the fish.


Water changes are very easy. There is plumbing installed to and from the tank. Turn a switch on and water drains, turn a tap on and refills. Takes about half hour for a water change 



fietsenrex said:


> nice tank, it's about 3x the maximum size my wife allows me to have..
> great fish the G. winemillerri
> 
> great inspiration for my next tank which will be a room divider
> 
> do you still use the baffle on the inlet of your pump to clean out the bottom from fish/food waste?


Thank you  
I never touch the sand at the bottom. Any detritus gets pushed towards the overflow and is cleared. The baffle is a permanent part of the overflow. Allows water to be sucked in from the bottom and also overflow from the top


SpensirH said:


> That is unbelievably beautiful. Congrats
> 
> Bump: That is unbelievably beautiful. Congrats


 


shrimpNewbie said:


> That is a lot of water waste ever considered not changing the water?
> 
> Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk


With growing discus in the tank, it is a must 


mootay said:


> dats crazy. I hope this tank is worth the effort. I bet the wee ones are endlessly amused by it.


Thank you  it is


----------



## sohankpatel

Did you build this tank or did you hire someone? If you did it yourself, how did you do it?


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

sohankpatel said:


> Did you build this tank or did you hire someone? If you did it yourself, how did you do it?


Got the tank built by a lfs


----------



## fietsenrex

thanks for the feedback.

I'm considering such a baffle as well for my next tank since I hate getting my arms wet during maintenance 
but my geophagus winemilleri do a hell of a cleaning job with thier digging..

don't you have any issues with the slow eating of the discus and the raping eating of the geophagus winemilleri?


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

fietsenrex said:


> thanks for the feedback.
> but my geophagus winemilleri do a hell of a cleaning job with thier digging..
> 
> don't you have any issues with the slow eating of the discus and the raping eating of the geophagus winemilleri?


Yea the geophagus do a great job digging up the substrate and breaking down the detritus. 

I feed quite heavily multiple times a day. The discus are as pushy as the geophagus during feeding  they keep eating no matter how often I feed  
I turn the wavemakers off during feeding. The discus mostly eat at the top half of the tank and the geos... are everywhere


----------



## Nick00Merlin

This is an Awesome tank! I have read and reread through your journal a few times and learned a lot! I have a question though. I was wondering where your return from your sump was in the tank? I can see (and am thinking of copying) your surface and substrate skimmer but can't really tell where the return is located?


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Nick00Merlin said:


> This is an Awesome tank! I have read and reread through your journal a few times and learned a lot! I have a question though. I was wondering where your return from your sump was in the tank? I can see (and am thinking of copying) your surface and substrate skimmer but can't really tell where the return is located?


Thank you  

The return is at the left end of the tank. At the top. I painted it black. So it's hidden well. You might be able to see it in one of the videos I posted


----------



## Nick00Merlin

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Thank you
> 
> The return is at the left end of the tank. At the top. I painted it black. So it's hidden well. You might be able to see it in one of the videos I posted


Ok, I think I see it now, I had thought that it was another wave maker at first... So at the top in front of the surface skimmer portion. and then a wave maker on the back left side and another on the right near the top pointing down. That would make a nice current/vortex to move the water/debris for the skimmers to pick up.

I guess I had seen it all a long, but whenever I would go to look I always end up forgeting what it is I was looking for whenever I see the fish!!! Again this is awesome, and I love watching the fish with the underwater camera!!!


----------



## Nick00Merlin

So I Reread again your post on page 3 of this journal and see you had stated that the return was painted black (must have been trying to hard to look for it and somehow missed this) Sorry!! 

But, now I have another question. Do you know/remember the width of the gaps for the surface/substrate skimmer teeth? And you stated that the botom 3" are a teethed mesh, did you add any extra screening to them? and how often do you have to clean large plant/waist materials off of the teeth?

Sorry for all the questions, I really like this baffle/overflow box setup!


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Nick00Merlin said:


> Do you know/remember the width of the gaps for the surface/substrate skimmer teeth? And you stated that the botom 3" are a teethed mesh, did you add any extra screening to them? and how often do you have to clean large plant/waist materials off of the teeth?


The width of the teeth gaps is around 6mm I think. No extra screening anywhere. This is narrow enough to prevent small tetra from getting into the overflow.

When I had more plants and mosses earlier, I needed to clean out the debris around the teeth about once a week. Now about once a month or two


----------



## Termato

Beautiful discus! Great to see what they look like once they are fully grown. I just got myself a nice little school to fill my 150 with. Great inspiration here. Thanks!


----------



## aceranch

Awesome setup you have! I wish I could check it out in person. The pics are great but I'm sure it's truly beautiful up close.


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

New video 😊

https://youtu.be/HWBQ0h40ynA

Sent from my SM-N920G using Tapatalk


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## Nordic

chayos00 said:


> Snorkeling in my tank sounds fun!


FUN? ? ? 
It is bucket list stuff mate!


----------



## AutumnSky

Video looks like all is active but peaceful seems relaxing, and very beautiful.


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## roadmaster

Lovin it!


----------



## Freemananana

I had to watch it twice. I spent the first time watching the loaches. What are the gray fish on the bottom? Sort of look like rainbow sharks.


----------



## myswtsins

Amazing! This is the kinda tank that is just as enjoyable if you are sitting across the room (or house for that matter!) or with your face pressed up against the glass finding all the hidden gems! Love those earth eaters!


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Thank you guys  








Some changes to the tank... Finally started planting the tank again as the discus are grown out to a decent size.
Added some needle ferns to the tank and some new fish too  

2 X L177 gold nugget pleco 
1 X L240 vampire pleco
2 X red hi fin pleco
20 golden panchax















Removing the 6 X Geophagus heckelii this week. Might remove 5 to 10 discus and add more plecos gradually


----------



## sohankpatel

@Siddhartha Saive
What are some good geophagus for a 180 or 210 gallon aquarium? My local store can order Red head tapajos and surinamensis. I was planning to do a non-planted setup with driftwood and rocks, and a substrate of white pool filter sand. They probably will be with a group of 6-8 angelfish. Most of the other fish will probably be too small to bother the geos.


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Freemananana said:


> I had to watch it twice. I spent the first time watching the loaches. What are the gray fish on the bottom? Sort of look like rainbow sharks.


Hey. They are Garra ?gotyla. The best algae eaters I've seen. Have 6 of them. They clean every single inch of three glass wood and rocks in my tank... but they are very territorial and need space.


sohankpatel said:


> @Siddhartha Saive
> What are some good geophagus for a 180 or 210 gallon aquarium? My local store can order Red head tapajos and surinamensis. I was planning to do a non-planted setup with driftwood and rocks, and a substrate of white pool filter sand. They probably will be with a group of 6-8 angelfish. Most of the other fish will probably be too small to bother the geos.


Hey sohankpatel. Both the geos would be great. Depends on which one you like better and how much bioload you want to add with other fish. You need to keep a group of them... preferably 6 or more. They are very interesting fish. 
The red head tapajos stay smaller around 6" and will grow faster mature faster and breed faster. The surinamensis can grow to 10 to 12" but will grow slower.

These geos are very peaceful and you can keep them with the smallest tetra or even big monster fish


----------



## philipraposo1982

I vote tapajos but I have 6 and love them! So maybe a bit biased


----------



## sohankpatel

philipraposo1982 said:


> I vote tapajos but I have 6 and love them! So maybe a bit biased


I am leaning toward the surinamensis right now. I saw a couple of tapajos at my local store, they were about 2.5" long but had no trace of adult color. They were gray and the fins has just a hint of the striping they would soon have. The heads also showed none of the "Red head" that they are named for. I was also there and they had surinamensis, but they were 3.5-4" long and had some nice coloring developing already. They had the bright blue stripes developing along their body, and they had some redness and blueness to their tails. How long does it take for tapajos to develop their stunning color? Do they really reach 6", or are they just slow growers that really reach 8"? My only issue is the size of the fish. In a 180 gallon tank with a bunch of angels and 8 tapajos, will they look nice? I want a large fish that immediately draws your eyes. Kind of like discus do. The surninamensis get large, but I could only keep 6, they also look better when they are smaller. If I kept tapajos I would keep more like 8 or 9 of them.


----------



## philipraposo1982

Well no offense to the pet store but as always it's tough to see the true color of fish that are underfed poorly maintained and lack proper conditions for a natural habitat.

Here are my tapajos from a few weeks ago. They are even more colorful today and much larger already too.

I am power feeding with heavy water changes and high quality food. Tons of lemon tetras to add to the biotope.
https://youtu.be/hQgd9sgie4s


----------



## sohankpatel

philipraposo1982 said:


> Well no offense to the pet store but as always it's tough to see the true color of fish that are underfed poorly maintained and lack proper conditions for a natural habitat.
> 
> Here are my tapajos from a few weeks ago. They are even more colorful today and much larger already too.
> 
> I am power feeding with heavy water changes and high quality food. Tons of lemon tetras to add to the biotope.
> https://youtu.be/hQgd9sgie4s


Of course, none of the fish I have bought from stores show true color until a week after. How large are the tapajos? What size did you buy them at, what did they look like at that size, and how long did it take to get them to look like that? Also, what substrate do you use?


----------



## philipraposo1982

Pool filter sand. I gave had them for 3 months ish. They showed good color after the first month. Largest ones are around 4 inches. Smallest ones are now around 3.


----------



## II Knucklez II

awesome set up!!!!


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

I was away for a 2 week vacation and got home to this 😊








My discus laid eggs It's been 14 months since I got them and they are still growing.

2 weeks of no feeding and no water changes and they decide to get busy now...

Eggs were eaten by the next morning as expected.


----------



## Freemananana

Siddhartha Saive said:


> 2 weeks of no feeding and no water changes and they decide to get busy now...


That's not uncommon. When there's nothing else to do, ya know? :grin2:


Congrats though!


----------



## AutumnSky

Are you considering trying for babies the next time they lay eggs?


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

AutumnSky said:


> Are you considering trying for babies the next time they lay eggs?


Na.. too much work for me 😁


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Hey guys. I'm planning to replace the Congo tetra in my tank... 100 to 200 tetra depending on their size.

I've removed the 6 Geophagus heckelii from the tank already. Planning to remove 10 discus ( have 30 right now) too. The 10 Geophagus winemilleri will stay.

Looking for good/tight schooling and good looking fish which would do well with my discus, earth eaters and golden panchax.
Very small tetra like neons might be eaten?

My options for now-
Cardinal tetra
Rummy nose 
Hockey stick tetra
Serpae tetra
Tiger barbs
Green tiger barbs

Help me choose? Which school would look the best?


----------



## Nordic

Best mates for discus I would say is cardinals.


----------



## AutumnSky

My favorite is Cardinals. They liven up / electrify a tank and make it beautiful. Good tankmate for Discus as well. Though Rummynose are tight schoolers.


----------



## abrooks12376

Rn tetras

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk


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## fietsenrex

Kardinals will be eaten by the geophagus, beleive me a full groen kardinal is just a small snack for the geophagus..
Everything that fits in thier mouth will eventually go there


----------



## roadmaster

Rummy nose or cardinal's with Discus would be my choice, with consideration's made for predation by Adult Discus.
Hard to find healthy Cardinal's or Rummy nose in my area anymore.
May I ask why you no longer wish to house them with Congo's?


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Thank you guys for the suggestions 😊


fietsenrex said:


> Kardinals will be eaten by the geophagus, beleive me a full groen kardinal is just a small snack for the geophagus..
> Everything that fits in thier mouth will eventually go there


The G.winemilleri I have are very peaceful and never ate any small tetra till now
Hope they will do fine. Will find out in time ☺


roadmaster said:


> Rummy nose or cardinal's with Discus would be my choice, with consideration's made for predation by Adult Discus.
> Hard to find healthy Cardinal's or Rummy nose in my area anymore.
> May I ask why you no longer wish to house them with Congo's?



Rummynose school good but stick to the lower half of the tank which is already crowded in my tank.
The Congo tetra are good and spawn very frequently in my tank.. but they are very shy.. even around discus and stay at the back of the tank. And most of what I have are the drab looking females
So.. I've decided to add 300 cardinal tetra to the tank


----------



## roadmaster

Great! please post photo's once fish are settled?


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

roadmaster said:


> Great! please post photo's once fish are settled?


Will do☺ Might add them this weekend


----------



## Siddhartha Saive

Hey guys
Finally added new fish to the tank yesterday 
200 harlequin rasbora and 100 rummy nose tetra
https://youtu.be/WrL2DckikT8

Video taken a few hours later 
https://youtu.be/kIETgd5tJCI

Can't wait for them to colour up.

Removed the golden panchax as soon as i noticed them trying to eat the harlequins.

The discus and the big Geophagus winemilleri show no interest in the small fish so far.

Removed 7 of the smaller discus from the tank ( It was all that we could catch after an hour inside the tank Wanted to remove 10 of the 30 discus I have) And also removed 25 female Congo tetras I had.
So I finally got a chance to measure the discus. The two smallest runts I had were around 4". The other 5 that I removed were 5" to 5.5". Most of the other discus are around 6.5". The largest one in the tank is 7"  

Will post pics soon


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## philipraposo1982

Very cool, loving how active they are.

Do your Geo's get aggressive with each other over spots to hangout?

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk


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## DW Sites

Very nice.
Looks like a natural river or stream bed.


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## Leeatl

That looks great , but how do you take inventory...lol


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## AWolf

Thank you for this beauty! When I sleep, I dream of fish swimming thru the air around me. With a tank this size, it would be like a dream while awake.


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## Siddhartha Saive

Thank you guys 😁



philipraposo1982 said:


> Do your Geo's get aggressive with each other over spots to hangout?


The geos are very peaceful.. surprisingly for their size.
They all move around freely unless breeding. A pair formed recently and they dig a pit in the sand once in a few days and put up quite a courting display. They are territorial around this pit but never fight.. just push other fish away. 


Leeatl said:


> That looks great , but how do you take inventory...lol


There's no need to as it looks like I have too many of the small fish lol. The only way to count is to click a pic of the tank and count in that


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## Willcooper

Just read the whole thread. Awesome! I miss the densely planted tank though. Can't wait till it grows back in. What temp are you keeping now?


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## Siddhartha Saive

Willcooper said:


> Just read the whole thread. Awesome! I miss the densely planted tank though. Can't wait till it grows back in. What temp are you keeping now?


Thank you [emoji4] 
I miss it too. The last summer was extremely hot(worse than the previous year) I tried my best to keep the tank temperature under 30°C by installing two big wall mounted fans over the tank and also sealing the windows and sunroofs of the house.
The temperature has come down since a week. Will maintain it around 28°. Hopefully the plants will do better now[emoji28]


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## Willcooper

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Willcooper said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just read the whole thread. Awesome! I miss the densely planted tank though. Can't wait till it grows back in. What temp are you keeping now?
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you [emoji4]
> I miss it too. The last summer was extremely hot(worse than the previous year) I tried my best to keep the tank temperature under 30°C by installing two big wall mounted fans over the tank and also sealing the windows and sunroofs of the house.
> The temperature has come down since a week. Will maintain it around 28°. Hopefully the plants will do better now[emoji28]
Click to expand...

I think someone else asked and I didn't see if you answered it but, does your home have air conditioning? My thought was for you to get an aquarium chiller and then I looked up how much they cost; holy moly they are expensive


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## Siddhartha Saive

Willcooper said:


> I think someone else asked and I didn't see if you answered it but, does your home have air conditioning? My thought was for you to get an aquarium chiller and then I looked up how much they cost; holy moly they are expensive


No air conditioning in this room. Planning to make a diy chiller for this tank for the next summer. Will cost just 1/5th of a retail chiller


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## Ishar

I would kill to see a video of like a minute or so in length. Stationary camera, and full tank view. Would be amazing.


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## Willcooper

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Willcooper said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think someone else asked and I didn't see if you answered it but, does your home have air conditioning? My thought was for you to get an aquarium chiller and then I looked up how much they cost; holy moly they are expensive
> 
> 
> 
> No air conditioning in this room. Planning to make a diy chiller for this tank for the next summer. Will cost just 1/5th of a retail chiller
Click to expand...

Ok cool. Post it as you do


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## Niyona

I just want to come sit in front of this tank and stare at it for a few hours. Fabulous work!


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## Siddhartha Saive

Ishar said:


> I would kill to see a video of like a minute or so in length. Stationary camera, and full tank view. Would be amazing.


Sure. Will post one soon 😊


Niyona said:


> I just want to come sit in front of this tank and stare at it for a few hours. Fabulous work!


Thank you 😊
Would love to have you here lol. Since we got the aquarium we have stopped watching TV in the living room [emoji1] we just sit and stare at the tank. Never gets boring


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## Siddhartha Saive

https://youtu.be/x95Ha0V10qo

Video shot last night just before lights out. The fish are sleepy. Most of the discus and geos retiring to their sleeping spots


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## Willcooper

Siddhartha Saive said:


> https://youtu.be/x95Ha0V10qo
> 
> Video shot last night just before lights out. The fish are sleepy. Most of the discus and geos retiring to their sleeping spots


Once again, amazing!


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## Ishar

Oh my goodness..... exactly what I hoped it would be. That is absolutely stunning. So many rasboras!! So beautiful. Well done!


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## AbbeysDad

Your tank is truly an inspiration. I wish I had the space and the money for such a show piece.
Do you sell tickets? lol

Tank on,
-Mike


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## Siddhartha Saive

Willcooper said:


> Once again, amazing!


Thank you [emoji4] 


Ishar said:


> Oh my goodness..... exactly what I hoped it would be. That is absolutely stunning. So many rasboras!! So beautiful. Well done!


Thank you [emoji4] 


AbbeysDad said:


> Your tank is truly an inspiration. I wish I had the space and the money for such a show piece.
> Do you sell tickets? lol
> 
> Tank on,
> -Mike


Thank you [emoji4]

You wont need tickets. I would love to show off my tank lol [emoji1]


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## SwissCheeseHead

Really amazing! I would love to have something like that to stare at all day....:drool:


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## HaeSuse

I'm a little late to the party, but holy cow. That tank is amazing. I'd consider giving up a finger or toe to have it in my house. No joke.

I can't get to youtube right now to see the recent videos, but the initial photos are beautiful. I know exactly what I'd do with it. Everyone keeps mentioning a centerpiece fish. But you showed from the beginning that you loved cardinals. How about 1500 cardinals? In my mind, it would be absolutely stunning. The sheer amount of red/blue moving throughout the beautiful plants would be mesmerizing. 

Anyway, I'm jealous.


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## BettaBettas

HOLY CRAB APPLES UR TANK IS AMAZING, like shinning stars the tetras are (that rhyme)


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## Siddhartha Saive

Thank you so much guys 

Finally caught my discus laying eggs!
https://youtu.be/xLnOMnuK3dk
This is one of the three pairs which started spawning about 3 months ago.


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## Girl in Idahome

What do you do with the fish when you remove them?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk


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## Greggz

How did I miss this thread? I've been subscribed to your youtube channel, but didn't know you had a journal here.

As everyone has said, the tank is really, really spectacular. You need to set up a live feed, and I'm sure people would watch it for hours. And needless to say, I'll be reading this entire thread to learn more about it. 

Once again, truly outstanding.


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## Siddhartha Saive

Girl in Idahome said:


> What do you do with the fish when you remove them?


I sell them or give them away to friends  




Greggz said:


> How did I miss this thread? I've been subscribed to your youtube channel, but didn't know you had a journal here.
> 
> As everyone has said, the tank is really, really spectacular. You need to set up a live feed, and I'm sure people would watch it for hours. And needless to say, I'll be reading this entire thread to learn more about it.
> 
> Once again, truly outstanding.


Thank you   

Changing the scape a bit.. coz I found a 5 foot long driftwood on a trip recently and had to put it in the tank  
Will post updates soon


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## fietsenrex

Greggz said:


> How did I miss this thread? I've been subscribed to your youtube channel, but didn't know you had a journal here.
> 
> As everyone has said, the tank is really, really spectacular. You need to set up a live feed, and I'm sure people would watch it for hours. And needless to say, I'll be reading this entire thread to learn more about it.
> 
> Once again, truly outstanding.


You are not alone...
Had some people on dutch message boards and Facebook groups with screenshots of the YouTube video's asking questions about the tank and the hardware


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## andyl9063

1.	How are your geos with plants?
2.	Reasoning for growing plants in your sump?


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## Siddhartha Saive

fietsenrex said:


> You are not alone...
> Had some people on dutch message boards and Facebook groups with screenshots of the YouTube video's asking questions about the tank and the hardware


I'm really happy to hear that😊 it seems like I should be more active to post updates regularly lol. Got busy with work since a year.

Kindly share the link to the thread if you can. I'll do my best to answer them


andyl9063 said:


> 1.How are your geos with plants?
> 2.Reasoning for growing plants in your sump?


The geos are perfectly fine with plants on the woods. They aren't interested in them. 

If you have any plants in the substrate it'll be fine for a while with young geos.. but once they mature they'll start digging up pits around the tank.. a new spot every week or so

Plants in sump because I could 😁. It does help with algae control though. I had lights running 27x7 in there. Any algae possible would grow in the sump but never in the main tank.
If the sump light fails.. which happens once a few months when I need to change bulbs.. green spot algae starts appearing on the main tank glass. Once the sump lights are on again and the glass is cleaned, no more algae in the tank


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## fietsenrex

For sure I direct them to your thread 

But for the plants, my experience is that when they have sufficiënt roots they remain in the substrate.
But I also use some kingsize eggcrate to install the plants to give them a chance of developing roots


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## Siddhartha Saive

fietsenrex said:


> For sure I direct them to your thread
> 
> But for the plants, my experience is that when they have sufficiënt roots they remain in the substrate.
> But I also use some kingsize eggcrate to install the plants to give them a chance of developing roots


Depends on the size of the fish I guess. In my tank the winemilleri group of 10 has 2 mating pairs and they started digging around once they reached 18 months age.. about 2 months ago. ( I added them to my tank when they were about 2" in size and I've raised them to 12" or more lol. Have to catch and measure with a tape. A few of my friends who got the winemilleri along with me then too. Theirs are only about 8 to 9". They look tiny compared to mine  )

They dig deep and huge pits! 4 to 6" to the bottom glass lol  and more than a foot wide!

Some sand washes away into the overflow everytime they dig a new pit


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## fietsenrex

winemlilleri "only" grows to about 8"..
source

if they are really 12" you probably have the surinamensis
source


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## Siddhartha Saive

fietsenrex said:


> winemlilleri "only" grows to about 8"..
> source
> 
> if they are really 12" you probably have the surinamensis
> source


Na they are winemilleri for sure. Online info says they grow to 10". But fish sometimes are known to grow bigger in captivity. 
With heavy feedings 4 to 6 times a day and water changes daily for a few months and thrice or twice a week now helped I guess

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk


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## BettaBettas

picture update? :3


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## zackariah

Love your tank just read the whole thread. I just stumbled upon a 210. Pre-drilled with a sump. I now have an idea how to use it. Thanks for being so through in all your post. I too will stay with small and numerous in my tank I feel watching all the action is far more fun. 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk


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## Boostr

HOLY CARP! :| 

I thought you wanted a big tank? :wink2: 
Awesome tank. roud:


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## Siddhartha Saive

zackariah said:


> Love your tank just read the whole thread. I just stumbled upon a 210. Pre-drilled with a sump. I now have an idea how to use it. Thanks for being so through in all your post. I too will stay with small and numerous in my tank I feel watching all the action is far more fun.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk


Thank you  having many small fish is definitely more interesting! Small tetra look amazing in big numbers in a big tank. You'll never get bored with so msny fish in the tank


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## Siddhartha Saive

fietsenrex said:


> winemlilleri "only" grows to about 8"..
> source
> 
> if they are really 12" you probably have the surinamensis
> source


I did read up on the Geophagus sunrinamensis complex to make sure I IDed the fish correctly  
Found an article that makes ID ing very simple https://www.researchgate.net/public...es_Cichlidae_Three_New_Species_From_Venezuela
You can download the pdf and have a look. Very interesting  
The thing is most of the fish available to us are wrongly identified as they all look very similar and they are usually IDed according to the location. G sunrinamensis is supposed to be the rarest among all the sp available to hobbyists.








My fish have the same peri opercular markings.. which are absent in G sunrinamensis


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## fietsenrex

Ah I see.
It is indeed hard to tell, specially when you have to look at the grey stripes which are almost always absent..


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## Siddhartha Saive

A short video update 

https://youtu.be/rXDu64LDT2U


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## 88blkiroc

This tank is an inspiration, what an awesome setup! Keep up the good work (and the updates  )


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## cininohio

Amazing to watch.


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## Brian Rodgers

Holy smokes! Incredible tank, superior construction, and beautiful aquascape. Thank you for sharing.


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## norm53

Nice tank


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## BettaBettas

Siddhartha Saive said:


> Posting some pics of the build
> 
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> Removed swords at the back





Siddhartha Saive said:


> FTS


 Words cannot describe this tank


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## AutumnSky

Really it is a joy to see in pics, the build pics are just amazing. Can't imagine to have that in person. Wonderful tank and Cardinal Tetra a favorite fish and such a lovely display and scape all together.


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## Freemananana

I really like how small the tetras look in such a large tank. That's really ideal to me.


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## Giant Val

Hi Siddhartha, Great tank. How does your Geos go with the rummynoses? I'm looking at putting some Geos in my 340 gal tank, that already has about 50 rummynoses and 50 cardinals.


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## The Dude1

That is incredible. No issues with Discus wanting a higher temp?? I will be having a large tank constructed in my new home in a couple months and I would love to do Discus and several groups / pairs of Apisto's along with a massive group of tetras. I didnt notice if you inject C02? It just looks awesome...
I'm going to have the builders run piping to / from the tank for a constant drip water change system. I hadn't thought about 600 gallons as reasonable, but you have changed my mind sir!! I'm sure my wife would like to thank you in person!


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## Siddhartha Saive

The Dude1 said:


> That is incredible. No issues with Discus wanting a higher temp?? I will be having a large tank constructed in my new home in a couple months and I would love to do Discus and several groups / pairs of Apisto's along with a massive group of tetras. I didnt notice if you inject C02? It just looks awesome...
> I'm going to have the builders run piping to / from the tank for a constant drip water change system. I hadn't thought about 600 gallons as reasonable, but you have changed my mind sir!! I'm sure my wife would like to thank you in person!


Sorry for being away from thr forum. Hope you have installed your big tank!


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## Siddhartha Saive

Just posting old pics. The first is day 1 with me sitting inside the tank. I'm 6' 1" btw 
The fts pic from a few months ago.
My discus spawn regularly!

I've rescaped the tank recently.
Will update soon!


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## chayos00

Can't wait to see! I was just thinking the other day about wonder what's going on with your setup.


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## fietsenrex

Finaly some sort of update


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## laxxrick

My God I wanna scuba dive in that.


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## Greggz

Seriously that is one unbelievable tank.

That must be a lot of dedication to give it what it needs.

I am really looking forward to updates.

Makes much of what I am doing look like child's play.


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## Capt Nemo

Truly a tank to dream about. I always like the idea of schools of fish with lots of room to move. I'm wondering if aquarium keeping is popular in Hyderabad -where do you get supplies, fish, etc?


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## utilities21

thats an amazing tank!....did you say 'Low tech'?....what lights are you using ?..they have to be good powerful lights to hit the bottom....how come you have no Algae there?...without Co2?....I'M REALLY CURIOUS.....that tank is a true inspiration for low tech tank keepers!


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## AbbeysDad

Kudos


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## Pearl_Gourami

Capt Nemo said:


> Truly a tank to dream about. I always like the idea of schools of fish with lots of room to move. I'm wondering if aquarium keeping is popular in Hyderabad -where do you get supplies, fish, etc?


Hi Capt Nemo

Aquarium keeping is reasonably popular in Hyderabad, at least how it was when I lived there. But i think most of the fish comes from Kolkata and Chennai, even though the Hyderabad weather is quite conducive for breeding most tropical fish species.

cheers


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## Siddhartha Saive

Hey guys! So I did a major rescape on the tank last month (after about 4 years). Removed a few woods to create more open space
https://youtu.be/iPfT0sjEdc4

And the new update video 🙂
https://youtu.be/VZ4q5f5Zj48


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## StraightAddicted

The tank looks amazing, great balance with the different species. Keep up the hard work

Bump: The tank looks amazing, great balance with the different species. Keep up the hard work


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## Siddhartha Saive

StraightAddicted said:


> The tank looks amazing, great balance with the different species. Keep up the hard work
> 
> Bump: The tank looks amazing, great balance with the different species. Keep up the hard work


Thank you 

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk


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