(NO MORE) 2,000L High tech BEAST

[Filip Krupa]

Wow 50 otos will take some feeding!

Hence the filthy green glass hahaha

They look so much more relaxed than I have ever seen them in smaller numbers and at schooling behaviour is awesome!

I agree, its pure pleasure to watch. A few weeks ago I was £5k into this project and still little to show for it. Its starting to pay off.
Watch this space, planning on getting 300 rummynose tetras 😉

Think you may have the buy all tropicas stock for the month of the plants of your choice to get a decent Biomass.

And that would be the wisest thing to do! But will I? Naah. I will try to get what I have to grow in, and deal with imbalances in the meantime haha
FYI more to your point, the otos cost me £1.80 each!

Thanks
Fil

 

[Zeus.]

I will try to get what I have to grow in

Dangerous plans IMO the plants will be swapped by light and suffer due to your tank being SO deep, turn the light down and you wont have enough light getting to the plants and algae will thrive as algae has low light requirements. In my Pot scape algae was a bit of an issue at first then once the plants filled in the algae almost disappeared over night and then I ramped the light up a bit more and its still fine. But at first I was trimming and replanting to get rid of algae on the lower stems, not as issue as just lifted the pots out but your tank it will be hard. High Biomass FTW, But your call mate OFC.
'The Mysterons are watching you!' Bagsy Captain Scarlet

 

[foxfish]

Of course not many if any of us have personal experience with such a large planted tank so all we can do is offer our own experiences based on our smaller tanks.
I think in the same way as Zeus in that you might want to add as many plants as possible.
I think this is a well trusted method to start up a new tank.
Whatever you decide, I am very interested to follow the tanks progress 🙂

 

[Filip Krupa]

I do appreciate the advice, even if I end up with a different strat. The more options in the arsenal the better.

Status at the moment:
-Building the PLC.
-Letting the plants settle in. Some melting, some green hair algea. Lights on 6hrs. Overall happy with the progress.
-Trying to make a net for the overflow to keep young otos and adult RCS out of the sump.

 

[tam]

Otos look awesome - I was excited about getting a dozen for my new 180L, but 50 in the big space is lovely to see.

 

[Andrew Butler]

Trying to make a net for the overflow

Just a thought / idea -
I can't remember if the teeth for your overflow box are fixed or you can slide them out - if you can remove them it might be worth getting a bigger tooth and then try adding a mesh behind it or even the same size tooth and dial the overflow in, I just think a mesh will start restricting flow into the overflow when you get down to the smaller sizes; which you would need.

 

[Filip Krupa]

I can't remember if the teeth for your overflow box are fixed or you can slide them out

They are indeed fixed.

I just think a mesh will start restricting flow into the overflow

Thats the problem. In addition, it won't skim the surface even with large hole mesh. But I can work around that.

The mesh I've on now has fairly large holes. Baby shrimp will still pass, but the otos wont. In addition, the flow doesnt seem restricted (for now).
I guess it will be a bit of a balancing act, and managing side effects.

Thanks
Fil

 

[Andrew Butler]

They are indeed fixed.

That's a bummer!

Baby shrimp will still pass

The baby shrimp will only end up in your sump so you can fish them back out easy enough.

Just putting a thought out there to get over your surface skimming problem given circumstance:
How about putting a mesh over the pipes in you overflow box instead of behind/over the weir comb? - You might end up with fish in your overflow box but you can keep an eye on that.
Not ideal I know.

 

[Filip Krupa]

How about putting a mesh over the pipes in you overflow box instead of behind/over the weir comb?

There's an idea!
However, a few issues that might result. Fish stuck to the mesh on pipe (the flow is powerful). The mesh quickly filling up with debris and slowing the flow = rising water level.
Also, I could not be bothered getting the fish out on regular basis.

Thanks
Fil

 

[Edvet]

1) Fixed teeth in the overflow box: yuo can try to put some very coarse pond foam behind it, easy to change and keeps all critters out
2) plantmass: throw in some oxygenating pondplants, these grow quick and are cheap ( Elodea densa, hornwort) also float watersprite ceratopteris thalictroides, grows fast wjhen floating

 

[Andrew Butler]

I could not be bothered getting the fish out on regular basis

You shouldn't get many fish through the weir comb should you, shrimp maybe so.
How about making a cage around your pipe inlets inside your overflow box out of a mesh.
that should still allow the weir comb to skim the surface shouldn't it?

 

[Filip Krupa]

You shouldn't get many fish through the weir comb should you, shrimp maybe so.

Thats because youre stuck thinking of regular weir combs.
These are custom made Beast teeth we are talking about. 😉
Had to take out 20+ otos out of the sump yesterday haha.

coarse pond foam behind it, easy to change and keeps all critters out

I should try that

Fil

 

[Andrew Butler]

These are custom made Beast teeth we are talking about

Is it too late to change it now?
Get a new overflow box made and use a removable standard size weir comb; they are that size for a reason afterall and if it's removable it makes cleaning much easier - trust me!.
I've never had to separate acrylic before but if you can then it could be changed and fused pretty quickly.
Then you shouldn't get any fish in the weir side from a few jumpers maybe and the shrimplets will just end up in the sump which is no big deal.

 

[Filip Krupa]

Is it too late to change it now?
Get a new overflow box made and use a removable standard size weir comb

Waay too much work for something that can be worked around. I could even close the fixed teeth by mounting removable ones on top. Shrimp would still get through though.
Furthermore, the overflow isnt perfectly accessible, so its a lot safer to have at it with a long brush, than stretch over 2000L of water to remove a comb.

I built the overflow box to handle large amounts of flow in case I want to convert the tank to reef or large fish. The large teeth size was a compromise I took conciously.

Hope this makes sense.

Thanks
Fil

 

[Filip Krupa]

Plants settling in...

Dreaming of a 300 strong cloud of rummynoses...

9th of September:


Today:


Thanks for watching
Fil

 

[Edvet]

You could try to get some Echinodorus urugyayensis to replace the valls, they get to 75 cm height in my tank.

 

[Filip Krupa]

Echinodorus urugyayensis to replace the valls

Thanks for the suggestion. The vals might have to go at some point...

Fil

 

[foxfish]

Looks great so far.....

 

[Filip Krupa]

Some pics of the progress.
Tank still looks pretty empty, but the existing plants seem to be doing well.

A few dwarf sag and one sword are flowering.

The pogostemon experiment seems to be a success so far, and makes me think I might actually get away with a more demanding carpet plant despite the long distance to the light. I might try to carve out sections with different carpet plants.

Ludwigia boliviana looks nice and red. Need to get more red plants.

Sad to report, my otos stopped schooling after about a week in the tank.
My understanding is that they schooled at first as they werent sure of their surroundings. They have now settled and are rarely seen swimming in "open waters" in groups. Glad I took that vid.

Some pics below.

 

[Filip Krupa]

Also, maintenance is fun.

Thanks for watching