# 135g mixed african setup



## AKAmikeross (Nov 5, 2012)

This tank is the reason I have not updated my 135g journal. That project was side tracked because I found an awesome deal on another135g tank/stand setup. The tank needed some serious cleaning but luckily there was no scratches under all the gunk I cleaned off and the tank was resealed a year ago. The stand was originally a fake wood melamine color so I patched any deep scratches and painted it a satin black and added some door handles. I added some 2x4 post within the stand to beef it up. Still have to adjust the hinges, as you can see in the pics the doors are not aligned.

I like my tanks with no background but also hate seeing any equipment in the tank, especially any out of place wires. I had a friend make a fake overflow box for me. Its just a 3 sided, 3.5"W x 10"L x 24"H black plexiglass with 5 x 1" holes on either side and 4 x 1" holes drilled on the bottom front. I have my fx5 intake, 300w heater and room for a internal UV sterilizer and another intake for an extra canister filter. The hoses for the canister and any wires run behind the overflow box. Only equipment visible are 2 hydor power heads. Its hard to pick up the look this gives in photos but its a pretty cool effect in person running no back ground.

The lighting in some of the pics looks different but that's just me messing around with the camera settings. I have no idea what I am doing when taking these pics so any insight on taking better pics of fish is much appreciated.

Any questions feel free to ask and love some feedback on the tank good or bad welcome.

The majority of the equipment and fish were purchased through members on this site.


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## AKAmikeross (Nov 5, 2012)

This is the first fish I acquired since getting back into the hobby. Hes a very large vc10 I got from Moloto.









Bicolor500 I got from Charles. This guy had no color when I bought him about 5 weeks ago. He got big quick and color is amazing... My nicest fish IMO.









Redtop zebra I got from Jrock









Anyone know what type of peacock he is? I think he is a hybrid... acquired him from Tequilla.









White calvus, forgot the username of the member I acquired him from


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## AKAmikeross (Nov 5, 2012)




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## AKAmikeross (Nov 5, 2012)




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## AKAmikeross (Nov 5, 2012)

Here are some updated shots of the other 135g setup. I have not touched this project in almost 2 months. Now that I have this bedroom tank setup I can slowly finish this other tank project and not rush it.

Please ignore the messy garage


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## Fishy_Addiction (May 3, 2013)

AKAmikeross said:


>


That the Rhino you got from me in the bottom right?

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## AKAmikeross (Nov 5, 2012)

^^^ that's him... about an inch bigger since you last saw him. He's looking good, no one messes with him and he seems to being doing well in my african water parameters. He has so many hiding spots in this new tank that I rarely see him out... hard to get more pics of him but he's growing.


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## Fishy_Addiction (May 3, 2013)

AKAmikeross said:


> ^^^ that's him... about an inch bigger since you last saw him. He's looking good, no one messes with him and he seems to being doing well in my african water parameters. He has so many hiding spots in this new tank that I rarely see him out... hard to get more pics of him but he's growing.


Thought so.  I miss him my bristlenose hides too much. :-( 
Oh wow he has grown.  
That is good he did well.^^
Aw. Lol I now those feels with that simple piece of drift wood I had. Haha.

I'm so glad he is doing well.  would love to see a picture when he is even bigger. XD hurry up and grow little guy! Lol.

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## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

Love your tank. Looks like a sunshine peacock maybe


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## kim86 (Sep 5, 2012)

Looking awesome! How are your SJ fish doing that you picked up from us?


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## AKAmikeross (Nov 5, 2012)

kim86 said:


> Looking awesome! How are your SJ fish doing that you picked up from us?


They all doing great and growing fast. The eureka peacock I picked up from you guys is really starting to color up and I can tell he's gonna turn out to be a quality peacock. Two of the jalo reefs have gone missing , should have known better, they were pretty small. The 6 Phenochilus Tanzania are turning a very nice deep blue/purple color and I think 4 of them are males. The blue dolphins are both females, growing nicely, now I need to track down a large male. The venustus is packing on size pretty quickly and is very good quality IMO. Actually all the fish I bought from you look to be of better quality then most of the fish I see sold locally here in shops.

Geez, looks like I bought a lot of fish from you... all for very good deals I might add.


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## kim86 (Sep 5, 2012)

Hahaha well that's awesome to hear!! Sad about the Jalos... but great that everyone else is colouring up and getting bigger!! Hopefully we have some cool sales again soon so the two remaining Bi Colour 500s can get homes haha  planning on another SJ order soon too so we can order plants too. Spence is the best. Come in sometime soon and say hello


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## AKAmikeross (Nov 5, 2012)

I popped in to see what you guys brought in on your last order but didnt pick anything up. Gonna hold up on fish purchases for a little while. Gotta thin down this heard and figure out what I am keeping and whats not making the cut.


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## Sidius (Mar 25, 2012)

Looking great... I love to see more African tanks 

Are you building that tank stand for the second 135g yourself? If so it looks like pretty good quality work. Do you have a plan or template you're working from?


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## AKAmikeross (Nov 5, 2012)

Yeah, building it myself. The framing is the way I have built all tank stands no matter what the size. Its a pretty common way found online. There is a member on cypho.com who I am copying his design. Well there is no design actually. He posted pictures of his tank, I liked his design so I am copying it as best as I can.

I actually have another tank journal for the other 135g tank somewhere here... might be a few pages back. Anyways, there are pictures there of how I framed this tank stand and it shows pictures of the guy's tank I am copying. Its not identical but pretty darn close to how his looks. Gonna try something new on this other tank setup and paint the stand/canopy white.


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