This project is approximately 2 to 2 1/2 years out. It is part of the reason i was working on a technique to recycle water (which i believe will work).
There are some open questions - typically the water in such an aquarium flows back to front and i was thinking it should flow right to left - the negative is having it flow right to left is the hoses on the side for the plumbing (if i use a sump); conversely i could try running it without a sump and on sponge filters but i'm not sure if that will work well (generate enough current).
The water change will be via drip system of approx 10 gph (this is of course configurable) - if a sump is used this is easy as a hole in the sump allows for egress as new water is added if no sump then it gets a bit trickier though in theory a hole could be drilled at the top for egress (comments?)
Stocking - this is a big open question - i would prefer at least 2 species of dwarf cichild (likely apistogramma); a bonus if they occur together or near each other in nature and at least one a bit of eye candy and another with interesting behavior. Of the fishes i currently own ones i would consider include nijjensi (not sure how aggressive they would be in such a large aquarium) d39 (IF they breed); norbert (if they live that long). I might consider putting my wavarni in there leaving the middle open and the two sides heavily complex - the wavarni are currently with the norbert and it seems to mostly work though i could be the wavarni with the discus and that would be a good fit temperature and behavior wise (the discus are wc with ec 20 ph 4.9 and temp 83). Currently the discus are with some young cf winemilleri which is a horrible fit given the bosterious behavior of the winemilleri at feeding them - they are around 4 inches but this is a side topic.
For dithers i would probably collect most of my margitaus and marilyn as well as the morse code tetra. I would probably add to the three groups and might consider 30 or 40 ruby tetra (so far @dw1305 is the only person with indication of aggression). I'll probably add a few whiptails of various species as well as a bunch of oto. The temperature depends on the species but i presume between 74 and 78.
Part of the reason for posting this so early is wc apisto species are hit and miss here and i could buy a couple of groups for this project if they become available and keep them in a spare 100 or 65.
I'm not sure if anyone who reads this board has a good feel for how aggression changes as the tank size gets larger - i.e, would the nijjensi have ample space to co-exist.
If the d39 breed i think i would be ok with a very large colony of them though a second species would add a bit of interest to the tank. I would also consider a lineta like species though i don't know if they are amendable for a setup of this nature. I prefer to stay away from the mac like species as well as the hongsloi and other large body types. I am open to something out of apistogramma genus - i could see adding a few wc laeteral dors or f1 if mine breed as they tend to stay higher and be a bit shier when it comes to confrontation (i'm testing a pair out with the d39 in a 65).
Anyway comments or suggestion for species (dithers, cats or dwarf cichild) welcome. It is a huge bonus if the species are normally found near or with each other. For dithers i prefer nothing larger than n. margitus and none of the known aggressive fishes. I rather have 100 small dithers than 50 large ones.
There are some open questions - typically the water in such an aquarium flows back to front and i was thinking it should flow right to left - the negative is having it flow right to left is the hoses on the side for the plumbing (if i use a sump); conversely i could try running it without a sump and on sponge filters but i'm not sure if that will work well (generate enough current).
The water change will be via drip system of approx 10 gph (this is of course configurable) - if a sump is used this is easy as a hole in the sump allows for egress as new water is added if no sump then it gets a bit trickier though in theory a hole could be drilled at the top for egress (comments?)
Stocking - this is a big open question - i would prefer at least 2 species of dwarf cichild (likely apistogramma); a bonus if they occur together or near each other in nature and at least one a bit of eye candy and another with interesting behavior. Of the fishes i currently own ones i would consider include nijjensi (not sure how aggressive they would be in such a large aquarium) d39 (IF they breed); norbert (if they live that long). I might consider putting my wavarni in there leaving the middle open and the two sides heavily complex - the wavarni are currently with the norbert and it seems to mostly work though i could be the wavarni with the discus and that would be a good fit temperature and behavior wise (the discus are wc with ec 20 ph 4.9 and temp 83). Currently the discus are with some young cf winemilleri which is a horrible fit given the bosterious behavior of the winemilleri at feeding them - they are around 4 inches but this is a side topic.
For dithers i would probably collect most of my margitaus and marilyn as well as the morse code tetra. I would probably add to the three groups and might consider 30 or 40 ruby tetra (so far @dw1305 is the only person with indication of aggression). I'll probably add a few whiptails of various species as well as a bunch of oto. The temperature depends on the species but i presume between 74 and 78.
Part of the reason for posting this so early is wc apisto species are hit and miss here and i could buy a couple of groups for this project if they become available and keep them in a spare 100 or 65.
I'm not sure if anyone who reads this board has a good feel for how aggression changes as the tank size gets larger - i.e, would the nijjensi have ample space to co-exist.
If the d39 breed i think i would be ok with a very large colony of them though a second species would add a bit of interest to the tank. I would also consider a lineta like species though i don't know if they are amendable for a setup of this nature. I prefer to stay away from the mac like species as well as the hongsloi and other large body types. I am open to something out of apistogramma genus - i could see adding a few wc laeteral dors or f1 if mine breed as they tend to stay higher and be a bit shier when it comes to confrontation (i'm testing a pair out with the d39 in a 65).
Anyway comments or suggestion for species (dithers, cats or dwarf cichild) welcome. It is a huge bonus if the species are normally found near or with each other. For dithers i prefer nothing larger than n. margitus and none of the known aggressive fishes. I rather have 100 small dithers than 50 large ones.
