125 gal Loach Lounge

[Rychek]

I recently moved and purchased a ~125 gallon tank (72"x24"x17") locally. It has been corner drilled as it was intended to be a marine reef setup. Since I've purchased it, I've been thinking about how well it could be as a loach tank (I've really missed my loaches since I sold them and their tank last year around this time).

I know the dimensions of the tank would be great for loaches, but I'm a little worried about the corner overflow. I want to take advantage of the sump (75 gallon DIY) that came with the tank as well as have a river manifold. I plan to put the pumps on the same end of the tank as the overflow because that is where the overflow's return pump output will be. I know physically it can be done, but are there any disadvantages I may not be seeing?

Here is a pic for those who are more visual.

[Diana]

Awesome set up!
Just make sure the overflow in the corner can handle a large flow of water. Figure out how many gallons per hour are safe, and set up the sump through that, and return at the other end of the tank.

Then add powerheads as per the river tank system here at Loaches to make up some more water flow until you have the river system that you and the Clown Loaches are looking for.

[Rychek]

Awesome set up!
Just make sure the overflow in the corner can handle a large flow of water. Figure out how many gallons per hour are safe, and set up the sump through that, and return at the other end of the tank.
.

The overflow is at least 1" PVC and the return is 3/4" so it'll flow a fair bit of water. The real catch is that both pipes are plumbed into the same corner. It's not ideal (from a river perspective), but it should work if I make the overflow the "up river" end of the tank.

For flow I'm planning on using a couple of MaxiJet 1200 pumps (I have one already). THe MJ1200 is a 295 gph pump which roughly compares to the AquaClear 50 which is a 300 gph pump. The maxi costs half as much though. I don't know what I'll use for a return pump yet. I have a Mag 5 pond pump available, but I think a little more flow would be better.

[Diana]

1" is not much when it is gravity fed. Can you make both the 1" and the 3/4" into outlets to the sump, then run a pipe to the other end for the inlet?

My Discus are happy in a tank with a 1" outlet and 3/4" inlet! Same sort of set up as yours: 2 bulkheads in a shroud, and 2 holes in the tank bottom.

[Rychek]

I just measured the drain pipe and it's actually 1.5" which should drain plenty of water. The real bottle neck on the drain will be the flow from the return pump. I don't expect the drain/return to be a large contributor to flow. It's mostly to allow for ease of maintenance and as a means to reduce odor.

It may sound funny that I'm trying to reduce odor with flow, but I've found that an odor from my reef tank becomes noticeable once the return pump has been shut off. I may be crazy, but I'm hoping the same principle will apply to a freshwater tank because my last loach tank a very peculiar odor. However, the odor issue is a happy by product of having a sump and all of the advantages that it entails.

Thanks for the input!

[Rychek]

As a refresher, the tank is 6'x2'x~1.5' and I intend to keep clowns and mixed botia. I may consider doing hillstreams at some point as well, but it's not for sure yet.

I've been thinking (a dangerous past-time, I know) and I'd like some input on alternate flow setups for this tank.

As mentioned earlier, I was planning on adding two MaxiJets in a river manifold. However, for the same price as the additional MaxiJet and the PVC I could purchase magnet mounts for the two Seio 1100 pumps I have in the garage (these pumps do not have the "multi-directional flow" nozzels. They would be setup like a Hydor Koralia). That would give me more flow that I could possibly get from the manifold/MaxiJet combo and allows for the use of the Hydor Koralia 3 pumps I have in my reef tank (I'd swap them for the Seio pumps). So that leaves me with the following options and nearly equal prices for each option:

1) manifold with 2x MaxiJet 1200 (~590 gph focused)
2) 1x Seio 1100 (~1100 gph mostly focused)
3) 2x Seio 1100 (~2200 gph mostly focused)
4) 2x Hydor Koralia 3 (~1600 gph dispersed)
5) 1x MaxiJet 1200 sure flow mod (~1600 gph)

I've also been toying with the idea of not using a sump and plugging the overflow at the bulkheads.

What would all ya'll do in this situation?

[Rychek]

I put water in the tank two days ago to leak test. The living room may not have been the best place to leak test, but circumstances (sub freezing temps) prevented testing outside recently. After two days of no leaks, I added a cube of mini mysis shrimp and a Magnum 350 canister filter. And so the cycling begins!





I do have a slight leak at the drain bulkhead, but I think I've about got it taken care of.

[chefkeith]

Nice Tank!

[Rychek]

Thanks! I've waited quite a while not only to get it, but to finally put water in it. Now I have to wait for it to cycle.

[Keith Wolcott]

It is looking good. Enjoy getting it all set up.

[Rychek]

Thanks Keith!

I do enjoy working on the tank, but today has been frustrating. I tried to hang the doors on the stand and discovered that the guys that built them, did a really poor job of it. One door in particular is so out of shape that it destroys the horizontal lines of all the doors and leaves a large V shaped gap between the doors on the right side.

Despite the incongruity and offense to my sense of symmetry, I'm happy to have doors on. Now I need to add the child locks to keep the munchkins out.

[Rychek]

I finally installed the child locks on the doors. My son (1 yr old) is going to be rather upset when he tries to play in the stand today and can't get the doors open.

I added sand two days ago and I received the mag mount for my Seio M1100 as well as the sure flow kit for my MaxiJet 1200. I've got the Seio and Magnum 350 canister running while the tank cycles.

I've acquired a RR 30 long setup that I'm planning on making a river tank out of. My lfs has 1.25 inch "Borneo Sucker Loaches" for 2.49 and I really want to get a few. This is the first time I've seen any hillstream type loaches for sale around here and I'm not willing to risk it being the last.

Pics to come when I get a chance to take some.

[Francois van Brederode]

Are you sure you want hillstream loaches???

Because there is almost no way you can combine them with Clowns.
Simply because clowns love warm water, and hillies really want cold water.
This is especially true because you don't exactly know wich species your lfs is stocking.

Find that out first before buying.
Just advice.

[Rychek]

I'm not going to combine the clowns and hillies. The clowns will be in the 125 gal tank and the hillies will be in a 30 long tank for that very reason. I appreciate the advice nonetheless.

[Diana]

30 long sounds great as a river tank! Go for it!

Fishless cycle will grow a lot of bacteria with simply adding ammonia. Otherwise you can sure do this by adding about twice as much fish food as you would to feed the fish, once they are stocked. Feed ammonia or fish food daily to keep the bacteria growing.

Do you have any healthy, cycled tanks? They can donate a starter colony of bacteria and the new tanks will cycle all the faster. I have removed up to 25% of the filter media and not had a problem with the donor tank. (note that my tanks are pretty heavily planted, though, and plants are part of the bio filter).

To take advantage of the rare appearance of the Hillstream Loaches I would do something like this:
Set up the 30 long, and steal the filter off a similar sized tank (or move 100% of the filter media to the new tank) then boost the population of bacteria in both the new tank and the donor tank with Dr. Tim's One and Only or Tetra Safe Start. Add the Hillstream Loaches right away.