180 gallon L-shaped

[plebian]

This was my first (and last) aquarium build. The only reason I built it myself is because I couldn't find anyone else who would. I live in a rural location in a third world country, so even getting something as basic as properly cut glass was difficult.

I built both the aquarium and the stand. The stand is wood veneer over plywood over a metal frame. The acrylic panels are magnetically attached for easy removal. Behind the panels are two canister filters, a Sunsun 703 and 704. The aquarium is 180 gallons total volume, 155 gallons net substrate and driftwood. It's been in operation for 2 years. It provides 9 feet of linear swimming space and currently houses the following species:

5 Discus: 3 cobalt and 2 snakeskin varieties
9 Cardinal tetras
4 Emerald corydoras
1 Red lizard catfish
1 Bristlenose catfish
1 Dwarf white spotted catfish

 

[Fishmanic]

That's is very unique and meticulously produced tank. You MUST enter that tank in our August Tank of the Month contest which is for tanks sized at 31 US gallons and larger.

Can you post a couple of more pics from the side and from the top looking down.

 

[Colin_T]

The tank looks good, well done

We never made L or T shaped tanks at the shop. We had customers ask us but we told them no. They are just too hard to move and usually have issues after moving.

You need some plants in the tank for the discus and cardinal tetras. The following link has info on discus that might interest you.

the discus fish Symphysodon - SciELO - M.MOAM.INFO

Dec 22, 2008 - of the lake hosting more than a thousand discus. Only 16 of the 41 ..... ing free-swimming B. cichlae wit...

moam.info

 

[JuiceBox52]

I love this

 

[plebian]

The tank looks good, well done

We never made L or T shaped tanks at the shop. We had customers ask us but we told them no. They are just too hard to move and usually have issues after moving.

You need some plants in the tank for the discus and cardinal tetras. The following link has info on discus that might interest you.

the discus fish Symphysodon - SciELO - M.MOAM.INFO

Dec 22, 2008 - of the lake hosting more than a thousand discus. Only 16 of the 41 ..... ing free-swimming B. cichlae wit...

moam.info

Yes, moving an L-shaped tank is something that must be done VERY carefully. I avoided that by building in place.

The only time discus see any plants is when then move into the flood plains, and those plants are submerged terrestrial plants, not aquatic plants. Also, cardinal tetras can be found in a number of environments, some of which are plant free. I have tried adding plants just for aesthetic reasons, but in my experience plants are nothing but algae magnets.

The discus link you provided is almost unreadable. A better source for the same study can be found here:

https://www.scielo.br/j/ni/a/qSgYmZ78qn9yntP9szDDbWC/?lang=en#

 

[seangee]

I'm not going to comment on discus because I have never kept them, but did interpret your citation differently iro vegetation.

I do however keep cadinals and currently have around 60 in a 200l tank. These are definitely forest fish and actively avoid light and open water. I used to have 50% of the tank in my signature covered in frogbit. The cardinals chose to spend 100% of their time in the shaded part, it is for this reason that I have allowed the entire surface to cover over now. They also exhibited completely different behaviour (I believe more natural) once the group size exceeded 20. My own observations on corydoras are similar in terms of group size, I have 30-40 in the same tank, mostly paleatus but there are also some sterbai.

Please note I am not criticising or disagreeing, just sharing my obseravtions. Tank looks great and as its been running for two years its doing well - many people can't even keep cardinals that long.

FWIW my tank gets minimal maintenance (barring regular substantial water changes) and has almost no algae - I never have to clean or remove algae.

 

[The603]

Nice work building the tank!

 

[plebian]

FWIW my tank gets minimal maintenance (barring regular substantial water changes) and has almost no algae - I never have to clean or remove algae.

In the beginning I had a major infestation of brown algae. I tried fighting it initially because it was much worse than I had previously experienced with other aquariums but I just gave up. Eventually it disappeared completely on its own, except for the plants. I tried several varieties of anubias and amazon swords. Most of them did very well, except for the algae. I kept thinking the algae would eventually go into submission. It no longer covered the substrate or the glass, but it continued colonizing on the plants.

As the brown algae disappeared, green algae began forming on the glass. It spread very slowly, so no big deal. I cleaned the glass with my water changes roughly every 7-10 days. Then a few months ago I had an outbreak of black algae. I think it rode in on an Amazon Sword. It soon started taking over the aquarium, covering everything except the glass. It was at this point I got rid of the plants.

I've been fighting the black algae ever since. If it wasn't for the algae, I'd be doing water changes every other week instead of weekly. The aquarium is lightly stocked, so water quality isn't an issue. I only have to clean my canister filters once every 6 months.

 

[Rocky998]

Wow! What a unique aquarium!! Definitely try to enter into our contest here!!

And if you can't or don't feel comfortable doing live plants, you could try high quality silk plants for aquariums!

 

[seangee]

Hmmm

• Brown algae (diatoms) is normal in new tanks and typically clears by itself in time. Some say it is attracted by (feeds off???) fresh silicone, so not something to worry about.
• Algae is caused by an imbalance between light and nutrients. In your case you have light and nutrients and nothing to "use" them so algae is inevitible. Nothing wrong with what you are doing, and the substrate is impressively clean but the only way to get rid of algae is to remove the imbalance
• Anubias and swords are slow growers so don't do much to reduce nutrients. They also like low light and do have a tendency to attract algae because of the slow growth. Swords are heavy root feeders so need supplementary fertilisation and don't draw many nutrients from the water column
• I favour fast growing easy plants - if they work they stay, if they don't they go in the bin or compost heap
• I only ever buy tissue cultured plants, that way I am guaranteed to avoid hitchikers and receive quality plants
• Floating plants are fast growing and very effective at removing nutrients, my personal favourites are amazon frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum) and water sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides). These can be relocated to a bucket for tank cleaning, can be scooped up and chucked without the need for rearranging the tank if they don't work and won't mess with the theme of your tank - which is really cool.

Again its just a collection of personal observations. If it was my tank and I wanted to try floating plants I would corral off the short leg of the L and throw in a handful of floaters - then give it a couple of months to see what impact it has on the algae, as well as observe where the fish hang out.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Need more photos please!

 

[plebian]

More photos, as requested...

 

[SRG66]

Wow! Great job!

 

[Nuttawet]

Nice! this is original.