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Old 14-05-2003, 06:08 AM
 
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Default 180g planted predator tank

hi
I want to create a very natural tank for my 12" Serrasalmus rhombeus
and over 100 tropical south american fish.

what I have to work with is:
180 gallon glass aquarium
14' 25w heater cable.
300w heater.
100 pounds of quartz.
3-5 gallon buckets of flourite.
2 metal halide pendants. 2-175w 15k.

the tank will be open top. with a few inch layer of water sprite
across the surface to help cut down on the brightness.

my question is...what would be the best plants to use? I know I would
like some plants that grow out of the tank that will flower and would
also like to grow some bamboo.
I am just unsure of what would work best. the piranha is fairly active
but is great at negotiating his/her surroundings.

and lastly is there anything else I should have included in the setup?

thanks!
bob
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Old 14-05-2003, 07:08 PM
Christopher
 
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Default 180g planted predator tank

if you are concerned with light being too bright why not put less than 350W
over your tank and forget the plant cover, you'll save on your power bill
tremendously

wrote in message
om...
hi
I want to create a very natural tank for my 12" Serrasalmus rhombeus
and over 100 tropical south american fish.

what I have to work with is:
180 gallon glass aquarium
14' 25w heater cable.
300w heater.
100 pounds of quartz.
3-5 gallon buckets of flourite.
2 metal halide pendants. 2-175w 15k.

the tank will be open top. with a few inch layer of water sprite
across the surface to help cut down on the brightness.

my question is...what would be the best plants to use? I know I would
like some plants that grow out of the tank that will flower and would
also like to grow some bamboo.
I am just unsure of what would work best. the piranha is fairly active
but is great at negotiating his/her surroundings.

and lastly is there anything else I should have included in the setup?

thanks!
bob



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Old 14-05-2003, 10:08 PM
Neil
 
Posts: n/a
Default 180g planted predator tank

wrote in message
om...
hi
I want to create a very natural tank for my 12" Serrasalmus rhombeus
and over 100 tropical south american fish.

what I have to work with is:
180 gallon glass aquarium
14' 25w heater cable.
300w heater.
100 pounds of quartz.
3-5 gallon buckets of flourite.
2 metal halide pendants. 2-175w 15k.

the tank will be open top. with a few inch layer of water sprite
across the surface to help cut down on the brightness.

my question is...what would be the best plants to use? I know I would
like some plants that grow out of the tank that will flower and would
also like to grow some bamboo.
I am just unsure of what would work best. the piranha is fairly active
but is great at negotiating his/her surroundings.

and lastly is there anything else I should have included in the setup?

thanks!
bob


I'd love to see a picture of this when it gets set up. It sounds fantastic!


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Old 15-05-2003, 12:56 AM
LeighMo
 
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Default 180g planted predator tank

I want to create a very natural tank for my 12" Serrasalmus rhombeus
and over 100 tropical south american fish.


Are you sure it isn't going to end up a tank for a piranha and over 100 tasty
snacks?

Generally, it's very difficult to keep a planted tank with large fish. Even if
they don't chew up the plants, they damage them just moving around the tank.

Also, an open top tank with a piranha is a bad idea. They've been known to
knock the tops right off tanks and jump out. A tank without a cover is asking
for trouble. The bright light will be stressful for the fish, too.

I suspect you and your fish would be better off with less light, and a few
hardy plants like Anubias. Or, alternately, a nice planted tank full of small
tetras, and a separate tank for the 12" predator.



Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/
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Old 15-05-2003, 07:56 AM
 
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Default 180g planted predator tank

thanks for the reply christopher.

I am new to halide lighting and as far as I can see the 175w is the
smallest bulb made for these coral life pendants. I wanted to purchase
something less powerful however 2 pendants only a few months old for
$140 was no way I could pass them up.
is there any other bulbs you know of I can use?

thanks,
bob


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Old 16-05-2003, 03:20 AM
 
Posts: n/a
Default 180g planted predator tank

thanks for the replies and intrest everyone.

leigh, is there an alternative to using 175w bulbs? I heard street
lamps make a very nice blackwater look however promotes alot of algae
growth.

i'm not too worried about the fish jumping. I keep many serrasalmus
species and am part of a piranha research group. I have never heard of
one jumping yet. mine have never touched the tops that I have seen or
heard unlike my Cichla temensis that break the surface once or twice a
day.

I have been experimenting with this rhom for close to 2 months now
with several species of small tropical fish. the rhom eats a few but
for the most part will only eat fish over 5" so it's diet is large
pond comets and or large chunks of raw lean steak or fish filet. the
tank is a 125g with about 12 assorted live plants.

my problem is I am a noob to aquatic plants and am looking for advice
on some good hearty plants. and any info on a diffrent bulb for the
pendant's.

thanks,
bob
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Old 16-05-2003, 07:20 AM
 
Posts: n/a
Default 180g planted predator tank



You can see some large 180 gal arrowana planted tanks, these are
covered though!
I think Vincent has some photo's. I'll check the link or you can go to
www.aquaticquotient.com and hunt for it.

I've always wanted to do a large school of Whimple piranha(C. mento)
in a planted tank.
I think they are very well suited for a planted tank.

The large reds and blacks often will uproot plants when excited. If
you have only a few of them it's fine but a number of them can do some
damage in packs. Not sure if the whites do that as much. 12" is a big
old fish.

Regards,
Tom Barr
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Old 16-05-2003, 11:20 AM
Christopher
 
Posts: n/a
Default 180g planted predator tank

I don't know about the dimensions of your tank but you could use 48"
florescents (40W) staggered, this would give an even lighting and be far
less costly energy wise

wrote in message
om...
thanks for the reply christopher.

I am new to halide lighting and as far as I can see the 175w is the
smallest bulb made for these coral life pendants. I wanted to purchase
something less powerful however 2 pendants only a few months old for
$140 was no way I could pass them up.
is there any other bulbs you know of I can use?

thanks,
bob



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Old 16-05-2003, 01:20 PM
LeighMo
 
Posts: n/a
Default 180g planted predator tank

leigh, is there an alternative to using 175w bulbs? I heard street
lamps make a very nice blackwater look however promotes alot of algae
growth.


Sorry, I don't know much about MH lights. I use flourescents, myself. Perhaps
if you raised them higher over the tank, that would cut down on the light
intensity?

my problem is I am a noob to aquatic plants and am looking for advice
on some good hearty plants.


You'll have about 2 wpg, which would be a good number for a smaller tank. For
a 180 gallon tank, though, that might be too much. You may need to inject CO2
to keep the pH from going crazy. Not to mention the inevitable algae problems.

With a low-light tank, you could go with a few hardy, easy plants. But with a
high-light tank, you must plant heavily, and some of them should be
fast-growers. High-light = high maintenance. Make sure you can move your
lights out of the way easily, because you'll be spending a lot of time working
in the tank.

As for the actual plants...I like Hygrophila, because it's easy to maintain.
You might want a lot of low plants, like Sagittaria subulata, Marsilea, or
pygmy chain sword, so your fish still has room to swim. Vallisneria,
cryptocorynes, anubias, java fern, and Aponogetons are all tough plants that
will stand up to big fish pretty well.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/
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Old 17-05-2003, 08:44 AM
 
Posts: n/a
Default 180g planted predator tank

I heard street
lamps make a very nice blackwater look however promotes alot of algae
growth.


No algae, I've used HPS(yellow looking) and Merc vapor(Bluer looking),
heck they cost only 15$ and the bulbs last for years. The HSP and MH
are what they use for grow lights. But the light type is not what
causes the algae, it's more about CO2 and nutriuents that are at zero
ppm or out of balance.

my problem is I am a noob to aquatic plants and am looking for advice
on some good hearty plants. and any info on a diffrent bulb for the
pendant's.


I like the powercompact pendent up on 4 individual "feet". You can
also hang it from the ceiling. The "feet" raise it up off the top of
the tank about 3 inches. The box is 11"w x 2.5" h x 48.5"l(6 x 55w PC
lights). I used 3/16" and 1/4" wood then painted it. It's pretty light
weight.
You could go with 4 (2.1 w gal) or 6 (3.2 w/gal) 96w PC lights and do
the same thing with the 96 w lights.

MH's need to be up around 12" from the surface of the light, while the
PC's can be right down on the surface and still has good spread and
even lighting unlike the MH. Better reflectors on the PC's than
some/most MH set ups. The smaller HQI bulbs usually have a nice look
but cost more.
There's also the Spider MH reflector (or something close that is made
for a MH light).

Water sprite is a good test plant. Using driftwood with jave fern
attached to it or moss etc would look good and allow you to move the
pieces around for maintenance/design changes.
Bolbitus fern/moss on the wood and water sprite would look nice
together also.
Regards,
Tom Barr

thanks,
bob



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Old 17-05-2003, 02:32 PM
aquascape
 
Posts: n/a
Default 180g planted predator tank

I kept an 8" rhom in a planted tank before, it didnt really damage any
plants, it just sat there in the corner all day hiding behind the plants...I
have included a picture for you to see.

http://members.rogers.com/robertng/piranha10.jpg

As you can see, its split in half, left side had 3 red bellies(including a
breeding pair), the other side housed an 8" rhom. You can see the back of
it if you look closely.

Tank was a 65gallon (yes, I know the tank is too small for so much fish)

Plants included swords, java fern, apongeton, jungle vals on a sand
substrate.

My rhom ate everything, even half inch neons, it just sucked them in when it
had the chance.

I dont have the fish anymore, I thought my tank would have more potential as
a heavily planted tank housing apistos and other small tetras.

http://members.rogers.com/robertng/plantedc.jpg

its an older pic, the plants kind of grew out of control, i have to do some
aquascaping soon.

Rob


wrote in message
om...
hi
I want to create a very natural tank for my 12" Serrasalmus rhombeus
and over 100 tropical south american fish.

what I have to work with is:
180 gallon glass aquarium
14' 25w heater cable.
300w heater.
100 pounds of quartz.
3-5 gallon buckets of flourite.
2 metal halide pendants. 2-175w 15k.

the tank will be open top. with a few inch layer of water sprite
across the surface to help cut down on the brightness.

my question is...what would be the best plants to use? I know I would
like some plants that grow out of the tank that will flower and would
also like to grow some bamboo.
I am just unsure of what would work best. the piranha is fairly active
but is great at negotiating his/her surroundings.

and lastly is there anything else I should have included in the setup?

thanks!
bob



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Old 19-05-2003, 04:44 AM
 
Posts: n/a
Default 180g planted predator tank

thanks for the rep;ies and further intrest in my project.

to better help plants from being uprooted would potted plants help?

aquascape, what is the grass called in the foreground of your tank?
looks very nice.

here are some pics of the fish and some tankmates and the current
plants that have survived.
also a few shots of my next project, Serrasalmus geryi. at the moment
there are 2 that have blown nests so I have not done anything to thier
tank for now.

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5171.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5172.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5173.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5174.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/geryi/5175.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/geryi/5176.jpg
  #13   Report Post  
Old 19-05-2003, 04:44 AM
 
Posts: n/a
Default 180g planted predator tank

thanks for the rep;ies and further intrest in my project.

to better help plants from being uprooted would potted plants help?

aquascape, what is the grass called in the foreground of your tank?
looks very nice.

here are some pics of the fish and some tankmates and the current
plants that have survived.
also a few shots of my next project, Serrasalmus geryi. at the moment
there are 2 that have blown nests so I have not done anything to thier
tank for now.

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5171.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5172.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5173.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5174.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/geryi/5175.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/geryi/5176.jpg
  #14   Report Post  
Old 19-05-2003, 04:44 AM
 
Posts: n/a
Default 180g planted predator tank

thanks for the rep;ies and further intrest in my project.

to better help plants from being uprooted would potted plants help?

aquascape, what is the grass called in the foreground of your tank?
looks very nice.

here are some pics of the fish and some tankmates and the current
plants that have survived.
also a few shots of my next project, Serrasalmus geryi. at the moment
there are 2 that have blown nests so I have not done anything to thier
tank for now.

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5171.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5172.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5173.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5174.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/geryi/5175.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/geryi/5176.jpg
  #15   Report Post  
Old 19-05-2003, 05:32 AM
 
Posts: n/a
Default 180g planted predator tank

thanks for the rep;ies and further intrest in my project.

to better help plants from being uprooted would potted plants help?

aquascape, what is the grass called in the foreground of your tank?
looks very nice.

here are some pics of the fish and some tankmates and the current
plants that have survived.
also a few shots of my next project, Serrasalmus geryi. at the moment
there are 2 that have blown nests so I have not done anything to thier
tank for now.

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5171.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5172.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5173.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/rhom1/5174.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/geryi/5175.jpg

http://hareball.20megsfree.com/geryi/5176.jpg
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