250Gal for first tank....

[Squishiebabe]

Here's a few sites I learned from...

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profile.html#profile

This one has alot of reading, you might find it more useful than i did.

Here is some diseases listings, and why quaratining is good once your tank gets going...

http/www.aquariumfish.net/index.htm An okay site, i found it useful as well

http/www.aqualandpetsplus.com/index.htm very good site, with lots of good pictures

Thats all I have bookmarked lol, hope its useful

 

[RedShark]

250 g tank that is amazing. Thats my dream tank, good eyes man a tank that big could always come in handy. So since you've officially been enlightened by the great people here at the fresh fish forum im sure you'll find all the resources you'll need to fix that indecisiveness right up. The first thing i thought about when i saw the size of tank i thought SHEESH, what kind of stand would that have to have? A really long and expensive one is what i assume. Which i think can run pretty pricey, especially if your a broke teenager (welcome to the club). Im only assuming but if what you want are really cool big fish and a great looking tank the best thing would be patience. Hold off assembling the tank for now until you positively have enough for all the tools and have made up your mind completely. I'd draw up some sketches of the decoration settings, maybe some mounds of gravel in some places and even check out cool pics from all over the web of fresh water tanks. Since the tank is so big, its probably going to be one of the big attractions in your home, not to make your house sound like a theme park, but the tank ought to definately create a mood in whatever room its established in. In my opinion I would make it a heated tank and put some great looking peices of drift wood, plenty of plants and hiding places then put 4 Rainbow Sharks in . If thats not your thing, i'd also recommend some fresh water sting rays, very cool species. Yeah though good luck never the less, can't wait to see the pics, and if your not gonna be able to keep it than please give me a hollar!

 

[RedShark]

Or A black Shark, another one of my favorites with some african cichlids. Soo Cool.

 

[logan89]

Thanks for the links Squishiebabe, and thanks for the info RedShark.

I think I may be going to pick it up tomorrow

I'll keep this thread updated with pics and questions.

Guys, please feel free to keep adding to the info....

Thanks for everything so far,

-Logan

 

[Snailguy101]

Bala sharks thats what I would do

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

A 250gallon tank is going to weigh a heck of a lot, are you sure your floor is going to be able to hold it? Standard wooden floorboards won't be able to hold a tank that heavy you will have to take them out and concrete in the hole for the tank to go on.

 

[logan89]

Yah, my house dosen't have a basement, it a rancher that sits directly on a concrete slab foundation. Actually nevermind, it does have a small crawlspace....do you think I could just have a stack of 2x4s in the crawlspace directly under the fishtank for support? Or maybe a few bags of cement stacked to meet the floor under the fishtank?

Oh and what are the chances of the tank busting? Duece Bigalow male gigalow comes to mind...

....and I will probably throw some bala sharks in the mix too.

 

[tenxiong]

you can get a whold bunch of white clouds... j/k hmm... you should try gettting an arowana, or a vampire characins (payara), or a peacock bass. Since you have a huge tank, why not get a huge fish. If you have no idea how these fish look like, just goggle it, you'll be impressed.

 

[tdiii]

I like the idea of having a lot of little fish. I currently have a 33 gallon and get a little frustrated with the lack of room I have to build a really good sized school of 3 or 4 varieties of fish. With 250 gallons you could have 3-4 schools with 20 fish and then a few centerpiece fish. Big fish are nice but to have a ton of room for little fish to swim around sounds great to me.

As far a the weight goes, I'm interning as a structural engineer. There are many factors that go into what your floor will hold so I'll just give you a few things to consider and you can ask more questions if you need. Under your floorboards there are 2x6 or 2x8 floor joists that carry the weight of everything that is on the floor. When you place your tank you need to place it in a manner that it rest across as many different floor joists as possible. Generally it is better to place your tank next to a load bearing wall. Also check the distance between your floor joists, if it is more than 16 inches you might want to beef up you joists by fastening an additional 2x4 or 2x6 along each floor joist.

Hope this helps, even as an engineer it is tough to know if your floor has the capacity to hold a tank that big. Hope everything works out.

 

[tdiii]

Oh yeah, as far as the tank bursting, when ever you have a large containers of water there is always the chance of a flood. I think it is a small possibility. To make sure this isn't a huge problem, have your parents check their homeowners insurance policy and ensure that it would cover any damage covered by a broken aquarium. If it doesn't cover it then add it into the policy. It won't cost much extra.