Is this aquarium cabinet strong enough?

[OscarG]

Oscar, youre on a hiding to nowhere. Foist the pleco off to the local shop for a couple bags of flake, and make the tank nice.
That pleco will destroy EVERYTHING you put in the tank. it will hide as much as it can all day long, and turn the tank into something you will be ashamed to show your friends.
You realise it can go to 5 foot long? :roll: :roll: (hammer) (hammer)

A large tank, heavily planted with large bogwood and shoals of tetras and barbs no larger than 4" body size is a beauty to behold.

I thought 2 foot was the max, biggest I've seen is about 14 inches though, my boy (actually fear he's a girl).

Ha I couldn't do that, had him 6 years, he's like family! He can just about still fit in his bogwood "cave". He does a bit of digging (I got sand substrate) but otherwise well behaved!

In smaller 60L tank. I have a just 2 fish, a super inquisitive Betta (who when I introduced him, attacked the previous occupants, cardinal tetras, I had to remove them) and a shy but hugely territorial tiny clown pleco. There's a lot of empty water in tank, love to put something else in there but don't think I can. Anything that ventures into one of her 5 caves will be attacked, anything that strays 1 inch from the bottom, he'll attack!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

^^^^
I had a really pretty smaller tank with about 30 tiger and green tiger barbs. I saw in a shop some while ago a large tank with a few hundred cardinals and neons in it - it was stunning. Sometimes they look a mess with loads of different fish. I'm debating whether to go for a heavily planted tank, which I like but will struggle to reach into for maintenance or a tank full of Malawis, which discounts plants anyway.

 

[sunnybob]

OK, 5 ft was attempt to make you see sense :roll: and I failed.
But that tank is going to be an eyesore, trust me. (hammer) (hammer)
Barbs can take care of themselves, tiger, spanner, odessa, all in shoals (minimum 6) will stand no nonsense.
Possibly silver dollars for some larger fish that arent totally destructive.

 

[OscarG]

Ha...there no convincing me from getting a whopper tank! I did contemplate building my own, there's a great YouTube channel where this chap makes his own tanks out of acrylic, even cuts the sheets on a DeWalt table saw.

I did see some Cherry Barbs the other day, you reckon 5 or 6 of those would be ok with an aggresive betta in a 60L?

I recently asked someone in shop and he said Betta's often kept alone so when introduced to tank he might have been initially confused with meeting other fish and given time might have settled down, maybe I was too hasty in whipping out these poor cardinals?

 

[sunnybob]

Betta's commonly known as siamese fighting fish, are good for one thing... fighting. Peasants in the far east rice fields carry then in jam jars or even plastic bags. When they have a break the put two together and bet on which one will kill the other. Been there, seen it.
Bettas will ALWAYS attack other fish. They are the aquatic pit bull dog, interbred to produce pure aggression. The fins are so large and bright because thats the only way they can see each other in the muddy paddy field water.
Small tetras wont be happy with a betta around.
Barbs on the other hand, are commando troops. They will appear, snatch a bite, and move on. A tank full of barbs is a bad place for a slow moving flag waving betta to be.
with heavy planting, its possible to keep barbs and tetras in the same tank, but your pleco will never allow anything to grow.
You are a champion of lost causes. :roll: I bet you take in stray dogs as well (hammer) (hammer) (hammer)
Dump both fish, and get a good looking tank that friends will be happy to look at rather than a cage for oddities that you have to make excuses for. =D> =D>

 

[Simon_M]

I did contemplate building my own, there's a great YouTube channel where this chap makes his own tanks

I did that at school. Bought some glass with pocket money and a tube of clear silicone adhesive and used sellotape to hold it together until the silicone cured.

Polystyrene ceiling tiles under the base, of course.

The tank was a success and a big improvement on the school’s metal framed tanks which rusted because the putty holding in the glass wasn’t doing a great job.

Acrylic tanks can be made with a bowed front but the main problem is stopping it getting scratched e.g. when cleaning it. Air/acrylic shows scratches whereas acrylic/water doesn’t (as much).

 

[Benchwayze]

Sounds like one of those questions which, if you have to ask, then secretly, you know the answer?
Cheers

John (hammer)

 

[ColeyS1]

Found out today that my external filter has been leaking nearly 1 litre per week- I honestly thought the water level was getting lower from evaporation. Dehumidifier is on now and will be for the next week or so. Joy

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[Stigmorgan]

In the process of setting this 700ltr beast up, tank is just under 500L and the sump is just over 200L, had to compromise as I wanted a 70"x24"x30" but I could only move 50" of wall to make it fit so had to settle for 48"×24"×30". The stand is a steel frame powder coated black, lighting is the Fluval 3.0 Bluetooth. It cost me a small fortune but so so worth every penny.

 

[ColeyS1]

700 litres !!!!! Crikey !!!

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[sunnybob]

Why the 200 litre sump?
Are you after marine invertebrates?

The biggest tank I ever sold was 72" x 30" high x 24" deep, all 1/2" plate glass.
We had to pay the lorry driver extra to take it from my shop to the customers house, and it took 6 men to get it into place. Of course the guy had not told me the tank had to go through a 90 degree corner that meant it had to be tilted upright to get through it. (hammer) (hammer) (hammer)

That was 849 litres (in theory, most likely 750 to allow for air gap). He turned that into a marine fish tank.

 

[Stigmorgan]

Why the 200 litre sump?
Are you after marine invertebrates?

The biggest tank I ever sold was 72" x 30" high x 24" deep, all 1/2" plate glass.
We had to pay the lorry driver extra to take it from my shop to the customers house, and it took 6 men to get it into place. Of course the guy had not told me the tank had to go through a 90 degree corner that meant it had to be tilted upright to get through it. (hammer) (hammer) (hammer)

That was 849 litres (in theory, most likely 750 to allow for air gap). He turned that into a marine fish tank.

The sump size is what came as part of the package deal, I keep freshwater dwarf puffers which are messy eaters so a huge water volume helps with keeping the water clean, this setup will hold around 20-30 puffers, 30+ Otocinclus and 20-30 Amano shrimp. So far I'm around £1700 into this setup, still have to buy 2 heaters, filtration media, substrate wood and rocks so probably another £400+ to spend before I can transfer my existing 180L setup across to the new one.

 

[ColeyS1]

I'd quite like to see your existing setup if you get chance please.

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[sunnybob]

They will love all that new freedom. and yes, if theres no pictures it didnt happen :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Stigmorgan]

My current 180L setup, currently home to 3 puffers, 3 Otocinclus and 5 amano shrimp, has a fluval plant light, and a fairly decent cannister filter. It's a nice tank, will be moving it over to the school for the special needs room once I move everything into the big tank because she who must be obeyed says I can't have both tanks in the house.

 

[sunnybob]

Its been so many years since i kept fish I had to go look up otocinclus because although i had fond memories of the name, I couldnt actually remember the shape (hammer) :roll:

Are you running pure fresh water? or brackish?

 

[Stigmorgan]

Its been so many years since i kept fish I had to go look up otocinclus because although i had fond memories of the name, I couldnt actually remember the shape (hammer) :roll:

Are you running pure fresh water? or brackish?

Pure freshwater, Otocinclus and dwarf puffers do t like salt at any level, Amano Shrimp can tolerate a slight amounts of salt for short periods, their eggs actually require brackish water in order to hatch and grow.

 

[sunnybob]

Its now 30 years since I sold my aquatic business, so some memories are fading :roll: .
we had marine, and brackish puffers, I dont remember freshwater puffers being available back then.

If youre breeding the shrimps youre doing the rights things. =D> =D> =D>

 

[Stigmorgan]

I don't think freshwater puffers were known of very much back then, there are 18 (i think) species of freshwater puffer, the smallest is the dwarf puffer which grows to less than 1inch, there are a few brackish species that are regularly sold as freshwater like the Figure 8 puffer because they are freshwater as juveniles then migrate to brackish waters as they mature into adults.
I don't breed the shrimp, far too much time and effort required. If the Otocinclus and puffers breed in the new tank then I'm more than happy to let them, will save me a small fortune buying livestock. The rest of the equipment I need is going to cost enough.