# 300 Gallon In-Wall Acrylic



## deepRED

I haven't updated any of my tanks in a while so I decided to bring out the point-and-shoot and snap a few pics.

This tank has evolved quite a bit over the past year. Sold off all my stock and decided to start fresh. I went from having adult sized red head tapajos, balzani and severums, some beautiful large plecos, a fly river turtle and a 22" arowana (that I was babysitting) to having none of those fish at all.

Currently I have 24 wild peruvian angels, 12 geophagus winemilleri, 10 barilius canarensis, 6 albino bristlenose, and a 6" High back RTG Arowana. The geos and angels were just tiny juveniles when I added them, and the river trout have put on about an inch in length (and girth).

The aro is just a baby right now, but he will be able to cause some damage as he gets bigger. The river trout will need to come out for sure, but I want to see how long I can keep the angels in the tank. I've seen large angels with full sized arowana before, but it really depends on the temperament of the fish.

Picked up some really nice wood pieces from IPU a month ago and added them to my wood pile, gives a place for the smaller fish to hide.

Anyways, not your average tank or tank mates, need to keep things interesting or I get bored really easily. 


























































Man, I miss my dslr.


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## deepRED

Here's a link to short video:


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## bonsai dave

The tank is looking great Jeremy. Keep up the good work. I love the driftwood placement. The Peruvian angels are beautiful. What type of substrate and filtration are you using on this tank?


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## er201

very nice!


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## deepRED

Thanks Dave! The substrate is some leftover seachem onyx that I had in my old 150 cube. Filtration is a DIY trickle filter that sits above the tank, and an AC150 which I run to polish the water once in a while. The geos kick up a lot of crap during feeding so there is always a lot of sediment floating around, though I don't mind it as I think it looks more natural.

My TDS sits between 40-60ppm and I do a 50% water change once a week.

Even though my TDS and nitrates are low, I do my water changes regularly as I find it really helps with the growth of the fish. (hormones etc.. being removed).



bonsai dave said:


> The tank is looking great Jeremy. Keep up the good work. I love the driftwood placement. The Peruvian angels are beautiful. What type of substrate and filtration are you using on this tank?


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## lar

wow.....I wish I have tank like that!!


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## Claudia

I really like the in wall tanks, looks real nice Jeremy


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## ludds

Wow awesome tank 

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk


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## charles

this tank is more amazing to view in person.


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## Foxtail

I am jealous of your river trout...


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## Virual

Very Nice


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## deepRED

Thanks for the kind words everyone. The tank is pretty simple in its design and simple to maintain. 

For lighting I am actually running 3 x $10 dome reflector fixtures with 13watt screw-in cfl bulbs. Not good enough for growing many plants, but the spotlight effect was what was going for. The subdued lighting really makes the fish a lot more comfortable.


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## Rastapus

Looks great Jeremy, love the unique mix of fish and of course the wood!


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## deepRED

Foxtail said:


> I am jealous of your river trout...


I'll let you know when they need to be rehomed.


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## deepRED

Rastapus said:


> Looks great Jeremy, love the unique mix of fish and of course the wood!


You definitely need to bring a container of that stuff in. I need some more to fill my big cube!


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## Kimrocks

Arowana is very impressive too!


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## deepRED

Kimrocks said:


> Arowana is very impressive too!


I have him fully on dry food right now, makes feeding a whole lot easier. That's why I love grooming small rtg's. Way less picky than other varieties and you still get an impressive looking fish when they are full grown. 
How is yours doing, Kim? Need to come by and check it out sometime.


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## Rastapus

deepRED said:


> You definitely need to bring a container of that stuff in. I need some more to fill my big cube!


Already done! Should be in before Christmas!


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## jbyoung00008

Wow!!! Now thats a fish tank. Im jealous. I could look at your tank for hours. Thanks for sharing


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## jay_leask

wow just pure wow! i like all the driftwood.


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## ctclee

jbyoung00008 said:


> Wow!!! Now thats a fish tank. Im jealous. I could look at your tank for hours. Thanks for sharing


That's exactly my thought !! Amazing work !!


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## AKAmikeross

wow beautiful tank. Very nice aro and that driftwood piece looks awesome.

Can I get more info on where you acquired your aro and driftwood pieces.


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## Foxtail

deepRED said:


> I'll let you know when they need to be rehomed.


Give me lots of notice, I'll have to rehome all my tetras lol.


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## deepRED

mikeross said:


> wow beautiful tank. Very nice aro and that driftwood piece looks awesome.
> 
> Can I get more info on where you acquired your aro and driftwood pieces.


The aro is from the same batch that fantasy aquatics had not too long ago. They will be getting another shipment shortly. The driftwood is from various sources, but the three lighter colored pieces in the middle are from IPU. Really nice and reasonably priced. I soaked mine in a separate tank for a couple weeks to leach out as much of the tannins as possible before using them in the display.


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## waterbox

Great-looking aquarium. Love the angelfish school!


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## adanac50

Love the river trout..must look amazing schooling together...awesome tank....great job!


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## 2wheelsx2

Great looking iteration of the tank Jeremy. I think you need an L24 in there.


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## deepRED

adanac50 said:


> Love the river trout..must look amazing schooling together...awesome tank....great job!


From what I've read, they actually tend to fight when in groups but I haven't noticed much of that behavior as of yet. Maybe because it's a large enough group, or maybe the behavior comes out more as they get older/larger. 
They do look sweet darting around a big tank though, they tend to stick together mostly as they are the smallest fish in the tank.


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## deepRED

2wheelsx2 said:


> Great looking iteration of the tank Jeremy. I think you need an L24 in there.


I want to add a couple exotic plecs, but I'm a bit concerned about bio-load as the fish are not yet full sized. As the fish get bigger I'll probably add a sump to this tank as well in order to add more water volume. I'm thinking a 6' 125g to bring it closer to 400 gallons total volume.


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## 2wheelsx2

deepRED said:


> I want to add a couple exotic plecs, but I'm a bit concerned about bio-load as the fish are not yet full sized. As the fish get bigger I'll probably add a sump to this tank as well in order to add more water volume. I'm thinking a 6' 125g to bring it closer to 400 gallons total volume.


That is a bit of a concern, as I ran into that problem earlier in the year. My solution was to do 2 wc a week.  I think if you're doing a 50% wc a week now and parameters are all in line, then you can monitor over the next few months to see what the increase is like. Probably the biggest problem is going to be the Aro, but there's only one, and if you only get one or 2 big Pseudas you should be alright. As long as you don't get any big Panaque....that's what caused my problem, so now I only have one Panaque left.


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## deepRED

2wheelsx2 said:


> That is a bit of a concern, as I ran into that problem earlier in the year. My solution was to do 2 wc a week.  I think if you're doing a 50% wc a week now and parameters are all in line, then you can monitor over the next few months to see what the increase is like. Probably the biggest problem is going to be the Aro, but there's only one, and if you only get one or 2 big Pseudas you should be alright. As long as you don't get any big Panaque....that's what caused my problem, so now I only have one Panaque left.


Yeah, I'm just going to monitor it and we'll see in a few months. One major thing to consider is feeding regiment. Currently I am feeding 3-4 times a day as I want to optimize growth in these formative stages. As they mature I will feed less often. I really wanted to add some floating plants to help with nutrient absorption, but with the light being so limited, I'm afraid they'll just melt. A HOB refugium might work, but I'm limited by the 12" opening in the back of the plexi tank. Might have to use something like pothos and grow it out the back like I do on my cube. 
This is why a sump is making more sense the more I think about it.


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## Kimrocks

deepRED said:


> I have him fully on dry food right now, makes feeding a whole lot easier. That's why I love grooming small rtg's. Way less picky than other varieties and you still get an impressive looking fish when they are full grown.
> How is yours doing, Kim? Need to come by and check it out sometime.


Pop in time anytime you are in the area - the RTG (around 14-15 inches) and Flagtail has grown quite a bit since you last saw them!

BTW - Do check with me if you get tired of your Aro and/or your tank - : ). You bringing in more of these nice big Anubias?


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## 2wheelsx2

deepRED said:


> Yeah, I'm just going to monitor it and we'll see in a few months. One major thing to consider is feeding regiment. Currently I am feeding 3-4 times a day as I want to optimize growth in these formative stages. As they mature I will feed less often. I really wanted to add some floating plants to help with nutrient absorption, but with the light being so limited, I'm afraid they'll just melt. A HOB refugium might work, but I'm limited by the 12" opening in the back of the plexi tank. Might have to use something like pothos and grow it out the back like I do on my cube.
> This is why a sump is making more sense the more I think about it.


I am feeding my discus cube (100 gallon) 4 times a day, at least one feed of which is live or frozen blackworm and even at 2 wc a week the nitrate is manageable because of the plantmass (I have tons of Anubias and Luwdigia repens in there). But it's got 96 w of T5HO in it. On the other hand I am growing Anubias and Java Fern just fine with a 36W T8 in my 46 bow without problems, with the hood light that came with it. I don't think you need to concern yourself with melting, but rather at the slower growth rates, whether the plants would be effective as nutrient sinks. I would give it a try with some watersprite or some such. They'll also be much close to the light if they're floating so it shouldn't be too bad. The only problem is if they get trapped in areas that are dark and then they'll consume oxygen instead of CO2 most of the time.


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## deepRED

Kimrocks said:


> Pop in time anytime you are in the area - the RTG (around 14-15 inches) and Flagtail has grown quite a bit since you last saw them!
> 
> BTW - Do check with me if you get tired of your Aro and/or your tank - : ). You bringing in more of these nice big Anubias?
> 
> View attachment 12923


Wow, the aro looks great! Love the body shape, looks like you've done a good job grooming as the fish is nice and thick. What is it eating?

As for my tank, as long as I'm in this house I'll be keeping it. Don't want to patch up the wall if I don't have to... Lol

No plans on the Anubias, but I see that you have it planted in the gravel. You should actually un-bury the rhizome as it will eventually rot if its completely covered.


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## Kimrocks

deepRED said:


> Wow, the aro looks great! Love the body shape, looks like you've done a good job grooming as the fish is nice and thick. What is it eating?
> 
> As for my tank, as long as I'm in this house I'll be keeping it. Don't want to patch up the wall if I don't have to... Lol
> 
> No plans on the Anubias, but I see that you have it planted in the gravel. You should actually un-bury the rhizome as it will eventually rot if its completely covered.


I initially fed it Aro sticks and sometimes crickets, mealworms and superworms.

Lately, I have added a bit of Beefheart to the mix. And on the rare occasion feeder fish - Cichlids from my Uncle - : ).

My brother came over and saw it back in August - he commented that it was thicker than he expected it to be which is nice.

Thanks for the tip on the Anubias, will do that.


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## deepRED

2wheelsx2 said:


> I am feeding my discus cube (100 gallon) 4 times a day, at least one feed of which is live or frozen blackworm and even at 2 wc a week the nitrate is manageable because of the plantmass (I have tons of Anubias and Luwdigia repens in there). But it's got 96 w of T5HO in it. On the other hand I am growing Anubias and Java Fern just fine with a 36W T8 in my 46 bow without problems, with the hood light that came with it. I don't think you need to concern yourself with melting, but rather at the slower growth rates, whether the plants would be effective as nutrient sinks. I would give it a try with some watersprite or some such. They'll also be much close to the light if they're floating so it shouldn't be too bad. The only problem is if they get trapped in areas that are dark and then they'll consume oxygen instead of CO2 most of the time.


I've tried Asian water grass and it just melted. I think a big thing is where the plants collect, and it does tend to be in the shadowy parts of the tank. Was thinking water sprite actually, or floating some other type of hygro (wisteria), or even hornwort, though I hate how messy it can get.


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## 2wheelsx2

Hmmm...if that's the case, I wonder if you can devise a "ring" to trap the plants under the lights which wouldn't be visible unless you're looking "up" at the tank when sitting beside it. Then it would be possible to grow plants and not have to light the whole tank.

And I agree with you. Floating plants in general are messy. I tried floating plants for shade and they're forever clogging up my filters so now I use overhanging pieces of wood instead.


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## deepRED

I thought about that too, unfortunately my couch is right underneath the tank, so anything you use would definitely be visible. Oh well. I think I'm going to give it a try again and maybe just adjust the flow so that the plants stay circulating in the center of the tank. 
Waiting for boxing day to replace my crappy koralias, which have one by one started running in reverse (which you know about all too well.)


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## 2wheelsx2

Yep, I'm going to replace my Koralias with Tunze and Vortechs. I don't care how cheap they are when I have to put my hand in the tank every day to fix them.


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## deepRED

*Another update - Peruvian Angels gone, Peacock Bass in!*

It's been another few months since the last update and the tank is looking different once again. I ended up trading my group of peruvian angels to a friend who will try his hand at breeding them. The largest ones were about 10" tip to tip!

So in place of the angels I ended up picking up a group of kelberi peacock bass. I'll raise these guys till they're about a foot and then reduce the number to maybe 3 or 4 to keep long term. It's been a while since I kept monsters like these so it'll be fun to raise them up!



















Here's an updated photo of my HBRTG.. about 13" now and color is coming in nicely on the cheeks:










Full tank shot:


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## charles

your tank is always amazing. Always love those wood and java; simple but very natural.


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## deepRED

Thanks, Charles. Need to make it out your way for some supplies soon. 

When's your next fish shipment coming in?


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## tony1928

Beautiful tank......I'm always aspiring to be able to scape so nicely. 

Nice Kelberi's!!!


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## charles

what you looking for


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## jay_leask

nice bass, i just got 5 little ones recently. eating machines


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## Foxtail

Hey! ...... What happened to the river trout? Lol

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## m_class2g

Glad you are enjoying Kelberis! The group of 10 will be very nice when they grow to adult size, nice and gold. Kelberis are my favourite pbass and miss my old pair a lot. 

Jay how are yours doing!? Lets see some pics of those guys!


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## deepRED

The river trout got re-homed as well, all 10 of them. The biggest ones were around 4"...

Couldn't leave then in the tank because they'd be food for the bass eventually. I'll eventually move the geos to another tank too to reduce the bio-load in the tank as the other fish continue to grow. I want to add a large tigrinus again eventually and maybe a scarlet.



Foxtail said:


> Hey! ...... What happened to the river trout? Lol
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## charles

scarlet... nice


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## deepRED

charles said:


> scarlet... nice


Yup, we'll see. Right now I have bristlenose in there... lol... keeps the tank clean though!


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## beN

pure MIND BLOWING!!!!! wow dude. very nice man.


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## aqua59

Do you have any humidity problems from that much water volume evaporating ?


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## deepRED

Not really. I have an old drafty house. 

I actually have 700 gallons of tanks running in a 24''x12' area. All of them have full lids so the evaporation is fairly minimal.


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## jay_leask

any new pics of your bass?


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## deepRED

It's been over half a year and there's been quite a bit of changes in my tanks. The peacock bass were getting a little bit much for the tank as they grew and the water changes were increasing in order to maintain high water quality. They went from little 4" guys to well over 12". After the unexpected loss of my aro (jumped out of a 2" space that I accidently left after feeding) I decided to move the large fish along and do a community tank again.

There are 8 schools/shoals of fish in this tank, with over 400 fish total filling the space.

Who buys an 8 foot, 300 gallon tank and puts tetras in it? 

I'm probably going to add a couple varieties of rainbows and then call it a day.

Here's a quick crappy video of what the tank looks like today:


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## 2wheelsx2

That's a great looking tank. The unfortunate aspect of having so many small fish is that the shoals of fish are overlapping so that the shoaling behaviour is not observable. What types of fish are in there now?


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## deepRED

2wheelsx2 said:


> That's a great looking tank. The unfortunate aspect of having so many small fish is that the shoals of fish are overlapping so that the shoaling behaviour is not observable. What types of fish are in there now?


Yeah, for sure. I considered going with less groups and smaller groups for that very reason, but at the end of the day couldn't get over the fact that the tank is so large to just keep 80-100 fish small fish in it.

Right now there are:

Cardinals
Rummy Nose
Head and Tail light
Bleeding hearts
Red tail Hemiodis
Praecox Rainbows
Barilius bakerii

And my old group of albino bristlenose. (The biggest ones are about 6", some of the largest I've seen.)

The fish do stay in groups still, but it's definitely muddled because of the sheer volume.


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## deepRED

Here a pic of the peacock bass from a couple of months ago:


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## AWW

Great shot of the Pbass!! You said you moved them, Do you have an even larger tank?! or did you rehome them?

Its a shame you lost your aro! To be honest I think big fish are over rated. I would love to see more larger tanks with small fish!

How are the Barilius bakerii doing? This is a relatively new species in the eyes of hobby. I know you have had them for some time. I tried keeping a small school, But unfortunately they became snacks!


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## hi-revs

Wow! Absolutely stunning looking tank!
But I agree that having slightly bigger shoals of fish would be more appealing. 

Not sure if you're up for changing your current stock.
But if this was my tank, I'd likely stock it with:
Few rare plecos
6-10 clown loaches
6-10 torpedo barbs
10 tiger barbs
5 bala sharks

Regardless of what u end up with, still a stunning tank nonetheless!


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## deepRED

AWW said:


> Great shot of the Pbass!! You said you moved them, Do you have an even larger tank?! or did you rehome them?
> 
> Its a shame you lost your aro! To be honest I think big fish are over rated. I would love to see more larger tanks with small fish!
> 
> How are the Barilius bakerii doing? This is a relatively new species in the eyes of hobby. I know you have had them for some time. I tried keeping a small school, But unfortunately they became snacks!


Thanks! should have cleaned the plexi before I took the shot though. lol

The Pbass were rehomed. I used to have several larger tanks, 400-500+, but this is the biggest one in my current home. No space for anything else. 

I'm a huge fan of the barilius. I ended up selling the first group of them a while back before I put the bass in, and these ones I just got recently from Pat and Charles. They are one of my favorite "small" fish. Super active and dart to the surface constantly looking for food. The recent ones I got are not as nice in terms of coloration as the old group, but we'll see what they become down the road. They are voracious feeders, so they can't really be kept with slower moving tankmates unless you really overfeed your tank.


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## deepRED

I've kept almost every rare pleco imported, but the problem is that it's a plexi tank. There are certain types that will make quick work of the plexi in no time. 
At one point I had a 200 gallon with over 30 varieties of plecos. This is back in the day when Rainforest was still around and James was bringing in a lot of the rare stuff when no one else was. 
Was a fun tank to keep, but constant water changes because they're so dirty.

At this point, I won't be changing anything for a while, since these fish have only been in my tank for a few days. 

The next change I make might be switching it over to a fowler saltwater tank. Stock it with a shoal of butterfly fish, a tuskfish, some tangs and a couple of triggers.

We'll see what's next after I get bored... lol



hi-revs said:


> Wow! Absolutely stunning looking tank!
> But I agree that having slightly bigger shoals of fish would be more appealing.
> 
> Not sure if you're up for changing your current stock.
> But if this was my tank, I'd likely stock it with:
> Few rare plecos
> 6-10 clown loaches
> 6-10 torpedo barbs
> 10 tiger barbs
> 5 bala sharks
> 
> Regardless of what u end up with, still a stunning tank nonetheless!


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## m_class2g

Nice Jeremy. That is a lot of fish lol. 

Large fish are not over rated!!! lol. Just depends what you keep!


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## bonsai dave

Tanks is looking good. What happen to all the angels you had?


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## AWW

m_class2g said:


> Nice Jeremy. That is a lot of fish lol.
> 
> Large fish are not over rated!!! lol. Just depends what you keep!


Haha, From a large fish fanatic 

Maybe not over rated. Ill change my statement. Small fish are underrated haha.


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic

Wow the PBass are incredible looking. Too bad they're gone.

A massive 8' tank of small fish though really is quite unique and looks great too.


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## deepRED

m_class2g said:


> Nice Jeremy. That is a lot of fish lol.
> 
> Large fish are not over rated!!! lol. Just depends what you keep!





AWW said:


> Haha, From a large fish fanatic
> 
> Maybe not over rated. Ill change my statement. Small fish are underrated haha.


I'm still a fan of large fish, but when it comes down to it, I feel even a tank of this size is too small. I generally like to keep fish in groups (unless they are naturally solitary) and the tank is just not big enough to do that long term. If I had a 1000+ gallon tank I would love to keep all 9 peacock bass together and grow them out to full size, they really are beautiful fish.



bonsai dave said:


> Tanks is looking good. What happen to all the angels you had?


I traded the whole group of angels a while back. By the time I moved them they were quite large, some were a good 8" tall from tip to tip, grown out from toonie size.



SeaHorse_Fanatic said:


> Wow the PBass are incredible looking. Too bad they're gone.
> 
> A massive 8' tank of small fish though really is quite unique and looks great too.


We'll see how long it lasts Anthony. I almost jumped the gun over the holidays and was preparing to pick up a skimmer and some other gear to switch it over to salt. I got pretty sick on boxing day, which prevented me from going out and saved me a lot of money.


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## deepRED

Here's a quick update on the tank. Some new plants added as well as some new fish.

Added a few larger fish and it's encouraged stronger schooling behaviour in the tetras. Even though there's a ton if fish in the tank, the distinct groups stick together (except during feeding time) which adds a more natural feel to the tank.

Here are a few pics:


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## deepRED

Here's a video during feeding time:


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## 2wheelsx2

Are you feeding FDBW? What a frenzy!! Do your discus get enough food with all those aggressive eaters in there?


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## deepRED

The discus are all fat and healthy, they do get food because I feed a ton. Typically two big pinches of flake, and then blackworms and tetra bits right after. 
The flake distracts the smaller fish so the angels and discus can get to the worms. The discus are all bigger so they hold their own, I wouldn't try it with juvies though. 
I found out the big 6" albino discus was picking off the smaller cardinals in the beginning ( probably ate 20 or 30) until the other ones got a bit bigger and too quick for him to catch. 
He was hunting at night though and making quick work of them. It was his super fat belly and eventually some fish scraps that gave it away.

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## 2wheelsx2

Ah I see. Yeah, I've lost a few smaller cardinals that way too. Not sure who was chewing them up but I found some cardinal missing tails etc. I was actually surprised that I haven't lost more since it's reputed that wilds are more aggressive toward small fish but I have not found that to be the case.


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## deepRED

My group of wilds were the same way, some nipping, but didn't notice a ton of small fish go missing. I guess it's how well you keep them fed. 

This tank is at the brim right now. I've had to add the aquaclear 110 for mechanical filtration full time as my trickle filter wasn't keeping up and I was getting a bit of bacterial bloom. Once I added the second filter the water cleared right up. I guess I figured out the waste processing limits of my filter, which is good. 
The floating plants have also helped out a lot. I've starting dosing dry ferts into this tank as well as excel to really get the plants going. 

I may add a large canister filter as the fish continue to grow. The hemiodus and torpedos still have a few inches to go, and the mascara barbs have a couple more inches as well.


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## stratos

Looks great Jeremy. Did the rummies go in that tank? All 150 rainbows I had got eaten by my Aussie lungfish, turns out it was not the G.winemilleri eating them after all. Your 300 in wall inspires me to do something interesting with mine too...


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## deepRED

stratos said:


> Looks great Jeremy. Did the rummies go in that tank? All 150 rainbows I had got eaten by my Aussie lungfish, turns out it was not the G.winemilleri eating them after all. Your 300 in wall inspires me to do something interesting with mine too...


That's crazy! Wow... Must have been quite the buffet for the lungfish. 
Yeah, rummies went in here. Still have most of them as they were bigger than the cardinals.

You should really bring in some large wild discus for your tank... Would look amazing, and since your tank is on a drip, no water changes. 

I wish I could set mine up the same way, but it would require drilling through the house which is definitely a no-go.

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## bonsai dave

The tank is looking great . What are you using for lighting for this tank.


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## deepRED

bonsai dave said:


> The tank is looking great . What are you using for lighting for this tank.


Thanks Dave. I'm using three screw-in cfls shop light pendants with 100w (equiv) 6500k bulbs and twos strips of hot5 (sun blasters) w/aquasun bulbs. About 200 watts of light for an 8 footer, which isn't too bad. Also cost me under $100 for the complete setup. I have the luxury of not having to have the lights look "pretty" or matching because you don't see them from the front of the tank.

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## stratos

deepRED said:


> That's crazy! Wow... Must have been quite the buffet for the lungfish.
> Yeah, rummies went in here. Still have most of them as they were bigger than the cardinals.
> 
> You should really bring in some large wild discus for your tank... Would look amazing, and since your tank is on a drip, no water changes.
> 
> I wish I could set mine up the same way, but it would require drilling through the house which is definitely a no-go.
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Regarding the AUL eating the rainbows, I think it was more a case of late night snacking than a buffet. He was getting one or two a day I think. I did not pay much attention to the tank for a week or two, just dropping in massivore in the morning (lights are on timers, drip system means no maintenance) when one day my son asked me what happened to all the rainbows? At that point there were still a couple dozen, but the thought of trying to catch them with a net in the 300 only to put them in my other over-stocked 90 gallon....well, more trouble than it was worth I thought. At least the AUL is looking nice and healthy 

I've actually thought about the wild discus route. I have heard over the years they can be aggressive. Do you think they would peck at the AUL?


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## deepRED

stratos said:


> Regarding the AUL eating the rainbows, I think it was more a case of late night snacking than a buffet. He was getting one or two a day I think. I did not pay much attention to the tank for a week or two, just dropping in massivore in the morning (lights are on timers, drip system means no maintenance) when one day my son asked me what happened to all the rainbows? At that point there were still a couple dozen, but the thought of trying to catch them with a net in the 300 only to put them in my other over-stocked 90 gallon....well, more trouble than it was worth I thought. At least the AUL is looking nice and healthy
> 
> I've actually thought about the wild discus route. I have heard over the years they can be aggressive. Do you think they would peck at the AUL?


I would say probably not. For a fish that size I don't think they would do anything, especially since the AUL has been in the tank first. Keeping a small group of dither fish would probably prevent that from happening altogether. Possibly some adult sized demasoni, or even a medium size group of hatchets would look pretty cool. Not sure the AUL wouldn't snack on those though if he's catching rainbows. The red tail hemiodus I have exhibit really cool shoaling behaviour, and they get big enough that they shouldn't become snacks.

Another option would be going with a large group of Altums, which would be amazing in your tank at full size.

If you plan on going planted, the issue you'll encounter is having water that is too nutrient poor, so you would likely have to pot the plants in order for them to thrive.


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## 2wheelsx2

deepRED said:


> I have the luxury of not having to have the lights look "pretty" or matching because you don't see them from the front of the tank.


That's why I have canopies on both my show tanks. They look pretty butunder the "hood" it's a mish mish of lighting to get the effect I want. Way more cost effective for bigger tanks. If I were driving around in a Bentley, then I'd have a row of Kessils on my 125 gallon.


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## deepRED

Quick update on this tank.

Fish have put on some considerable size, especially the hemiodus and torpedo barbs:



Was able to add a group of 6 Mascara barbs from a fellow member and they have settled in nicely:



I have a group of 40 bleeding hearts in this tank and I tried to trim down the stock to no avail, they are smart and super fast, almost impossible to catch out of my tank without tearing the whole display apart. 
Thankfully they are nice fish and shoal quite tightly since I've put bigger fish in here to keep them in line:



Lastly, here's a picture of the best buddies:


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## FishFreaks

looking really, really nice!....looks like you might have my albino royal blue discus?! looks nice


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## FishFreaks

looks like the discus are timid to feed due to all the fast moving smaller fish. sinking live or frozen BW might benefit them more than surface food.


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## deepRED

FishFreaks said:


> looks like the discus are timid to feed due to all the fast moving smaller fish. sinking live or frozen BW might benefit them more than surface food.


I have a specific feeding regiment that ensures everyone gets enough food. Trust me, there are no timid fish in this tank during feeding time. 
I'll try to take a better video of the discus eating.

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## deepRED

It's been a while since the last update, but with the help of GKlaw I had a chance to get the tank plumbed for auto drip, and let me tell you, it's been a huge time saver. Also, my discus are loving it! 
The waste water is being gravity fed into my aquaponic pond and to irrigate the garden. 
Got a couple of new fish from Rick as well. 
As with all my other tanks, I've tried to go as simple as possible and have been able to just enjoy the fish.

Here are a few pics:1




























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## 2wheelsx2

Your discus are looking awesome! Makes me want some domestics so badly.


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## deepRED

I miss my wilds! Lol 




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## deepRED

Here's a full tank shot with the hbrtg and wild angels:










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## m_class2g

deepRED said:


> Here's a full tank shot with the hbrtg and wild angels:
> 
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> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


looking good!


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## tony1928

Those are some jumbo sized domestics. Looking good 

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## Daryl

Sorry if this has already been asked/answered (I haven't read whole thread -sorry): why do you keep the water level so low?

Very nice tank - can't believe the size on those Angels!


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## deepRED

I prefer to keep the water level low on this tank for a few reasons. Firstly, I have plants in there that grow out of the water, so it just allows a bit of space for them. Secondly, the arowana is a jumper. This leaves a bit of space for him so he doesn't smash his head on the top of the tank. Thirdly, I just like the look and wanted to change it up from what I had before. 
As the aro gets bigger, I will just change the drain standpipe and raise the water level back up to give him more room to swim, but it's good for now. The good thing about having the auto drip is that I'm not fully relying on the extra water volume for waste dilution, water doesn't go above 60ppm even with the heavy feeding. 


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## turttle

Very nice tank


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## Daryl

What is that nice broad leafed plant that is growing out of the water?


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## pandamom

Is it a peace lily?


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