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Sorry for the long post, but I am seeking advice on set up for a 100-180 gallon freshwater tank.
My job is building a new facility within the next 6 months. I have a 30 gallon tank sitting around at my house that I was going to put in my new office. I approached my boss to see if he was cool with that, and his response was "No, you're not going to put a 30 gallon tank in your office. What we're going to do is install a 150 gallon tank in the wall so that it can be seen in both in your office and the reception area. You just need to maintain it."
Pretty cool, right?
But a tank that size presents a number of problems for me. I've never had a tank that large before. The largest tank I have is a 55 gallon high tech planted tank. Also, the tank will need to be viewed from two sides, which means that I can't use the back of the tank to hide hoses/overflows/wires/etc.
So, doing some searching and brainstorming over the weekend, I was thinking of doing an African Cichlid tank. A Lake Malawi tank is interesting, as the haps and peacocks are a pretty good size and are very colorful. But, I like biotopes, so a Lake Tanganyika tank really appeals to me. I think a mixture of shellies, rock dwellers, substrate swimmers, and free swimmers would make for an impressive display.
I've thought out some issues, and general brainstorming:
-The boss said 150 gallon tank, but I'm thinking a 180 gallon would be better, since it is shorter than the 150 gallon and will be easier to get my hands in there to reach the bottom if needed.
-How to handle water changes is something I need to figure out.
-An African Cichlid tank. Probably Lake Tanganyika, unless y'all have a better idea.
-My experience with aquariums has been with mostly high tech planted tanks, so keeping cichlids is pretty foreign to me.
-I'm debating on going with a sump system, or using 2 Fluval FX6 filters instead.
-If I do go with a sump system, since the tank needs to be viewed from two sides, bulkheads for the overflows, outlets, etc. will either need to be drilled into the center of the bottom pane of the tank, or something along the lines of a peninsula style overflow will be needed.
-If the overflow is in the center of the tank, it will be hidden by rockwork.
-I've never used a sump before, so I need to study up on that.
-I need to figure out lighting here. Obviously I won't need as specialized lighting as I do with my planted tanks. But I do want something that is LED, programmable, and can be controlled either with a remote control, or via an app.
That's what I have so far. Thoughts/concerns/advice will be very welcome. Thank you.
My job is building a new facility within the next 6 months. I have a 30 gallon tank sitting around at my house that I was going to put in my new office. I approached my boss to see if he was cool with that, and his response was "No, you're not going to put a 30 gallon tank in your office. What we're going to do is install a 150 gallon tank in the wall so that it can be seen in both in your office and the reception area. You just need to maintain it."
Pretty cool, right?
But a tank that size presents a number of problems for me. I've never had a tank that large before. The largest tank I have is a 55 gallon high tech planted tank. Also, the tank will need to be viewed from two sides, which means that I can't use the back of the tank to hide hoses/overflows/wires/etc.
So, doing some searching and brainstorming over the weekend, I was thinking of doing an African Cichlid tank. A Lake Malawi tank is interesting, as the haps and peacocks are a pretty good size and are very colorful. But, I like biotopes, so a Lake Tanganyika tank really appeals to me. I think a mixture of shellies, rock dwellers, substrate swimmers, and free swimmers would make for an impressive display.
I've thought out some issues, and general brainstorming:
-The boss said 150 gallon tank, but I'm thinking a 180 gallon would be better, since it is shorter than the 150 gallon and will be easier to get my hands in there to reach the bottom if needed.
-How to handle water changes is something I need to figure out.
-An African Cichlid tank. Probably Lake Tanganyika, unless y'all have a better idea.
-My experience with aquariums has been with mostly high tech planted tanks, so keeping cichlids is pretty foreign to me.
-I'm debating on going with a sump system, or using 2 Fluval FX6 filters instead.
-If I do go with a sump system, since the tank needs to be viewed from two sides, bulkheads for the overflows, outlets, etc. will either need to be drilled into the center of the bottom pane of the tank, or something along the lines of a peninsula style overflow will be needed.
-If the overflow is in the center of the tank, it will be hidden by rockwork.
-I've never used a sump before, so I need to study up on that.
-I need to figure out lighting here. Obviously I won't need as specialized lighting as I do with my planted tanks. But I do want something that is LED, programmable, and can be controlled either with a remote control, or via an app.
That's what I have so far. Thoughts/concerns/advice will be very welcome. Thank you.