# African and Pleco adventure



## mdwflyer

My now 2 year old son really likes going to the Vancouver aquarium, so that seemed like a good excuse to setup a tank at home. Last winter I picked up a 135g tank and stand + sump from a BCAA member, it was a SW setup but just needed a good cleaning.










I did the initial setup/plumbing in the garage. Having been away from fish for a long time, and having never had anything to do with a 6' fish tank I didn't want any disaster in the house... The sump setup I found somewhere on the net for a discus tank. It's 2 stacks of drawers from walmart, 1 drawer for floss, 2 with pot scrubbers, 1 carbon, and 1 purigen.










Once everything was running and stable and cycled etc... I had the local glass shop guys come over to help me move it upstairs.










10 months later it's running pretty well with big help from Roger and staff at Roger's, Charles at Canadian Aquatics, Harold at Fair Deal's and this forum.










My plecos get zucchini and yams, the cichlids, and synodontis petricola's get NLS.



















I love taking pictures, but taking pictures in the fish tank is tough..


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## rich16

Really nice pics there Mark...great looking tank!


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## madcow

Wow. beautiful tank! Great looking plecos! I gotta get my self a tank that big!


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## mikebike

great tank and love those plecos


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## mdwflyer

Thanks for the comments, it is a fun challenge keeping everyone fed and happy. On the pleco side if things I know they get their veggies, but they don't get any of the wafers because the cichlids go nuts for them...



















With the cichlids, I wish I had them on NLS sooner, that is some seriously good fish food, I swear there is less poop per feeding  it's the random who is not getting on with who... Right now I have one Mbuna cobalt blue zebra that has decided he is it. It is weird how adding or subtracting just one fish can totally change the tank dynamic.


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## charles

Great looking tank and plecos. I think you need more african and more plecos


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## mdwflyer

charles said:


> Great looking tank and plecos. I think you need more african and more plecos


Thanks Charles, definitely more africans, and I am sure one or two more plecos...


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## bingerz

nice tank!!! nice to see more african keepers around!!


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## monkE

beautiful assortment of plecos in there! I know it's much harder to get those Cichlids to hold still for a decent shot but i'm sure you'll get a few of them up in no time! 

Great looking tank, well done so far
keep the pictures coming, you've got some great shots there!


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## Luke78

Thats a great looking setup,nice collection of plecos you got there! Question for you, do your africans ever become a nuisance towards your plecos?


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## Vman

Noce looking tank. Looks very tranquil,not like mine.Mine is always full of movement. I agree,more fish would be nice to see in there.


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## mdwflyer

Thanks,

Luke, knock on wood I have been lucky with cichlid/pleco interaction. I had one mbuna early on that wanted to be in all the pleco hide-outs and was nipping at the pleco's. He got traded in pretty quick 

Charles has been telling me all along that i need way more africans. There is a dozen baby yellow labs growing up in the hospital tank. Always on the lookout for nice peacocks.


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## mdwflyer

I keep a 33 tall in the bathroom that I use for water changes and now a nursery....



















L244 didn't bolt for the camera this time. He's the flat pleco



















I've been trying to be careful when picking out plecos to stick with species that stay small. 135g isn't very big with 1'+ fish... at this point L190 is the only one that will eventually become a giant, and I did see a full size one before picking him up.










L190 and L226 currently would be the most visible/ not freaked when you approach the tank.


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## mdwflyer

I've always wanted clown loaches, they have so much character. m_class2g had to find a home for 5 of them, so what the hell. When I got there turned out there was 6 of them 










I was a little nervous about adding 6 good size clowns, with africans you just never know what's going to happen... When I recently added 2 nice peacocks my cobalt zebra lost it, and went super aggressive. After watching him stress out the whole tank for a couple days, I found him a new home.










The clowns fit right in, my ruby red peacock thinks he has found mates...










Plecos love zucchini, it brings L201 out of hiding within 30 seconds.. There's 5 plecos hanging out.


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## Luke78

Glad to hear things are working out for both species.Iam sure you've provided plenty of hiding spots, and established some spots they can claim for their own.Yeah Charles is good at his job



mdwflyer said:


> Thanks,
> 
> Luke, knock on wood I have been lucky with cichlid/pleco interaction. I had one mbuna early on that wanted to be in all the pleco hide-outs and was nipping at the pleco's. He got traded in pretty quick
> 
> Charles has been telling me all along that i need way more africans. There is a dozen baby yellow labs growing up in the hospital tank. Always on the lookout for nice peacocks.


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## mdwflyer

Luke78 said:


> Glad to hear things are working out for both species.Iam sure you've provided plenty of hiding spots, and established some spots they can claim for their own.Yeah Charles is good at his job


Looking at it, I am going to have to make/add more spots. The castle has gone from Pleco poop castle to party central. With 6x 3"+ clowns, 6 2.5"+ petricolas, fat L201 and L128 when he can stand it...

The left side of my tank could use a wall, it's beside a window so I currently just have a piece of cardboard to block out the sunlight. The Dramatic AquaScapes website that Diztrbd1 posted has some pretty awesome DIY projects...


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## mdwflyer

One of the first fish I picked up was a little clown pleco from Roger's, 11 months later it's still only about 1.5" and really good at hiding.










L201 is my wife's favourite.










L226 is almost always visible, he's becoming more of a pain lately. He has decided the thread holding plants to wood is tasty, every other day another plant is floating around... The clown loaches having been making friends with everyone.










Composition: 5.9
Execution: 1.8

L201 in the castle, Clown loach, L226 and L190 on the driftwood behind with some kitchen light reflection and pesky yellow lab darting around front.


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## mdwflyer

Also picked up a UV sterilizer last week. Wanna keep things as clean and boring as possible. I have run the return from the sterilizer back into the sump, so it doing double duty by adding enough circulation to keep the sediment buildup down in the bottom of the sump.


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## mdwflyer

It took about 3 weeks for the clown loaches to really get acclimatized to their new surroundings. I see the need for more driftwood, and more anubias for shade/cover. I was surprised by the increase in bioload when the CL's really started eating.

I'm doing 15-20% water changes a week right now, that's keeping everything nice and boring.

The water circulation works out, so that the castle is one of the big poop collection spots. Here's what 2 days of zucchini, yams and NLS looks like:


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## cichlid

Yea, love seeing big tanks of africans! Gorgious collection! The best way to get pics of africans.... In the morning, i turn off the light at night and find them calmer first thing! I'll upload my tank pics during the first intermission!


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## mdwflyer

Thanks, you have some pretty flashy africans in your setup.

I do run 2 air pumps in the sump. I have a couple air stones running in the scrubber pad drawers, as well as 2 large sponge filters, and one of the big round airstones by the return pump. Between that, and surface disturbance from the water going back into the tank there seems to be enough air for everyone.

Here's one of the family woodchuck's, more commonly known as L190:


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## cichlid

Yea, Im not running any pumps, as I was buying a marinland 606 pump for my nano reef project, that hit me! I have a cople small ones Im going to hook in


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## mdwflyer

My maintenance schedule...

I do 10-15% water change 2-3 times a week. Probably 75% of the crap ends up in the Castle, so turn off the powerhead carefully move the castle stuff around and python that side of the tank. Once or twice a month the coral from the other side of the tank gets rinsed out. Floss in the sump gets changed twice a week.

Water changes are via the 33 gallon tank that's currently in the bathroom. I add water, seachem cichlid salt/equilibrium/buffer into that tank, let it settle and use it to fill the 135.

I picked up a 12g Fluval edge to put in the Bathroom, which will be perfect for baby cichlids/hospital tank etc.. then the 33g can go under big tank beside the sump, and then NO MORE BUCKETS!

Trying to keep everything consistent my water parameters are:
PH: 7.8
GH: 140-150
KH: 80-90
Nitrates: 5-10


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## liquid_krystale

The L190 is the royal pleco, right? I luvs myself one of them! They are so beautiful, with their striking pattern and red eyes, as well as their stub-tacular, seemingly truncated bodies. I would kill for them but they get so big, and my tank is way too small to be anything but a temporary home.


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## mdwflyer

That is correct, L190 is the royal pleco, and will grow into a monster. He may be the excuse for going to a 180g in a few years 

When I setup the tank I really wanted to build a sump, it has been a success with challenges. Having enough flow to keep everyone happy (including the wife when it sounded like Al Bundy's toilet), maintaining it without screwing up the biological, adding more fish = more floss changes, etc..

I added to 2 Canister filters over the holidays. J&L had the Eheim 2075 at a great price, and Charles had a year old 2028 which I added a few days later. I could not be happier. They are super quiet, with the extra water movement I have turned down the sump so it's nice and quiet. Significantly less sediment floating around in the tank. It's all good!










Charles, thanks again for the priming secrets, that should be added to the manual...


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## charles

Well, it is easy and quick and effective. Not a secret though 

Anyway, have you seen the new plecos that just come in


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## m_class2g

Glad the loaches found a good home! Nice setup!!


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## mdwflyer

Long time no update... Family life has been busy to say the least.

As of monday feb 13, my wife is no longer pregnant, and we have added 8 Lbs 9 Ounces of baby Isaac to the family. Everyone is happy and healthy, although big brother Luke is getting used to his new role...

Fish tank has been (knock on wood) pretty stable. My Aulonocara stuartgranti chiwindi that I picked up in Calgary from Fairdeals has been getting a little bit on the aggressive side (that never happens with africans...) so when I saw some jacobfreibergi at Rogers, I picked up 3. Will see how that plays out


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## rich16

Mark, 
Congratulations on the arrival of Isaac! Try to remember what sleep was like...


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## mdwflyer

Thanks Rich, 1 month later it's going very well with Isaac. Down to one feed a night, good little man!

Once again Charles has a shipment of Pleco's... One more has made it's new home at my place.










Welcome to the pack mr L239. Visit with Charles is always educational, amazing I came home with only 1 fish...


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## mdwflyer

Somebody asked how many fish I had in my tank, and I really wasn't sure... Here's what I think is in there:

1x Clown pleco
1x L128
1x L134
1x L190
1x L200
1x L201
1x L226
1x L239
1x L244

6x Synodontis Petricola
6x Clown Loaches
12-15ish lake malawi cichlids

I'm really happy with the group, there are enough pleco's that there are almost always 2-3 visible doing something or other. The clown loaches are awesome, there are into everything, keep the aggression down, and with the petricola's keep the bottom nicely stirred up.

Plants are doing well, although I have given up on trying to secure them to anything. I have various Anubias and some Jave Fern that either free float around, or get pinned between to solid objects.


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## Ktowncichlids

Where did you by the red trim tank from? I think I may know!


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## mdwflyer

Ktowncichlids said:


> Where did you by the red trim tank from? I think I may know!


I picked it up from a forum member in Coquitlam last winter (in a snowstorm, uphill both ways...) the tank was originally a salt water setup.


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## mdwflyer

Mixing africans with anything else is hit or miss, just be prepared to get one or the other out of the tank if it isn't working. 

Particularly with Mbuna. I don't have any Mbuna in my tank anymore. I had one nice Mbuna that wanted to pick on my plecos, so he went to Rogers. I had another beautiful Mbuna that went absolutely nuts when I added some aulonocara, so he went to Rogers. What do I mean by nuts? It's easier to see with a bigger tank. When you have one fish that has a good 3 foot radius around him that no fish enter... or just plain chases anything and everything, that's nuts.

Agression aside, feeding is the next challenge mixing plecos with cichlids. My plecos get zucchini, and yams, and even at that there is still sharing with the loaches. There is no point trying to give them algae wafers cause cichlids think it's crack! They like it better than NLS...


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## rich16

mdwflyer said:


> . There is no point trying to give them algae wafers cause cichlids think it's crack! They like it better than NLS...


Ha ha, so true. It's entertaining to watch one of my mbuna race around, madly munching on an algae wafer, with 5 or 6 others chasing him/her.


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## mdwflyer

Another visit to Charles place, 3 more plecos migrated to my place..










L239, joined by L75 & L91 that didn't want to pose for a photo right off the bat. Thanks Charles


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## charles

great photo. really capture the true color of the L239; something I can't do for some reason...

I still can't believe you are keeping them so well in a higher ph tank without losing any L#...


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## mdwflyer

Thanks Charles, plants on the other hand, if it's not anubias, I can kill it...


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## mdwflyer

At least cichlids don't hide! Nothing worse than adding a nice pleco, then not seeing it for 2 months. I saw L75 darting around almost right away, but L91 vanished. After lights out on night 2, look who was cruising around.

Hello L91


















Managed to get one shot of L75


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## charles

perhaps is time to add a more exotic one like the L160 or the L27? Both were banned to be export just till recently.


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## mdwflyer

L160 spiny monster is out cause of the meat diet. Curious about L27, how old/big before maturity? Would they be like BEP, nobody can breed them?


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## mdwflyer

Couple more:

L75









L91


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## mdwflyer

L190 trying his teeth on glass...









Sometime around 5am this morning putting Isaac back to sleep, walking past the aquarium saw some shapes in the moonlight and decided to take a couple pictures. I didn't see L134 until I looked at the pic on the camera.









On closer inspection, somebody was watching back!


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## charles

eye in the castle. careful it wont get stuck in there.
L160 eats everything. If you can keep a panaque (L190) in there happy, a L160 is nothing to worry about.

L27, you can't breed them. They get just as big as a L190.


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## mdwflyer

Aaargh, what a week... I've been in and out of town with work over the last week. A couple of the clown loaches started showing signs of ich, so upped the water change/vacuum bottom quickly before heading out of town again, also added what I thought was full dose of coppersafe and took the purigen out of the canisters. Came home at 3am 2 days later to see a dead very bloated pleco... pulled him out and put him in a glass of water to look at in the morning. Once again I was only at home for 14 hours before heading out, so another water change. Took a closer look at the dead pleco, it was my L200. I took a bunch of pictures of him, I probably should have opened him up to try and see what caused the bloat, but just didn't feel like it. Really weird, happened very fast.

Back off to work for another 2 days, home last night. Ich is still there, better on a couple of the loaches, but another water change this morning. Took a look at the coppersafe bottle and did the math on the dose to make sure I got it right. Turns out I didn't only gave 1/4 of the dose, so added more. Trying to get things back to boring...


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## mdwflyer

Back to boring, Clown loaches all cleaned up, the 2 smallest/skinniest were the worst hit. Daily vacuum and approx 20% water changes. I almost think the other fish like it ich attacks, cause the tank is never cleaner +extra feeding to keep the loaches "happy"... 

Was not able to come up with a cause for the bloat on L200, no dead fish for him to have chomped on, and with Cichlids/Loaches/Petricola's I seriously doubt he got his mouth on much NLS :bigsmile: Everyone else is happy/healthy so that's that.


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## Claudia

Beautiful tank, but even more beautiful is your pleco collection, love it


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## mdwflyer

Thanks, Claudia. It's always a work in progress :bigsmile:


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## Claudia

Indeed it is but so worth it  I like that idea of the sump too, really cool way to do it.


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## mdwflyer

Been really busy, I guess that is not ever going to end...

Managed to sneak in a trip to visit Harold in Calgary this week. Fairdeals has some awesome fish, having previously purchased some beautiful africans I wanted to see what all he had. Fortunately, I limited the amount of money in my pocket :bigsmile: Lots of beautiful fish, went on a specific mission, but came back with more.

I have always been interested in Calvus, and he had some that were already used to living and eating around peacocks so I brought back four.










Added another awesome cichlid, although he is still a little camera shy.

Here is the Ruby Red that I got from Harold last year:










Also added L368, very active pleco.

Some of the gang were having a zucchini party the other day:


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## IceBlue

Beautiful pictures. Do you mind posting your ph, gh, kh. I am running PH 8.2, gh 120 ppm, kh 200 ppm approx. in my cichlid tank but stay away from plecos because of the hard water, but you have been successful.


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## mdwflyer

IceBlue said:


> Beautiful pictures. Do you mind posting your ph, gh, kh. I am running PH 8.2, gh 120 ppm, kh 200 ppm approx. in my cichlid tank but stay away from plecos because of the hard water, but you have been successful.


Thanks,
Testing kit is Hagen
ph 7.8
gh 120mg/L
kh 80mg/L
N03 5

For me the bigger issue pleco/african wise is making sure the plecos get the right food, and monitoring the aggression level on the africans.


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## mdwflyer

Today was deal with problem cichlid day. When you have a cichlid that either has a 2' radius around him with no fish, or it is chasing someone, you have a problem :bigsmile: This time, I had 2 fish stressing everyone else (me included) out. 1 Strawberry Peacock, and 1 lemon jake, both of which have been good fish. Figuring on a big battle to get them out, I planned it for this morning as a clean-up as well. All the wood and rocks came out, big poop vacuum, and then cichlid removal. The weirdest thing ever happened, I had both fish easily out of the tank in less than 2 minutes. They were so used to being "alone" I was able to calmly scurry everyone else to the other side of the tank and all done! 

This evening, the tank is totally calmed down. Mission accomplished!


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## IceBlue

Thanks for the quick feed back mdwflyer. Maybe I'll tone the buffers down. Seeing your tank has given me some inspiration on which direction to head with my 180 hap peacock tank.


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## mdwflyer

Africans are a pain in the ass, they are fun, but they are a pain in the ass. I am glad that i have them, but it would be a lot easier keeping a whole bunch of different plecos happy without africans.

Latest peacock from Fairdeals, Eureka red, not a great picture he's been shy:









L239 has been hanging out in the open more often lately, really beautiful pleco:









Clown loaches eventually run out of gas, all at once:


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## mdwflyer

I have 2 L239's, both from Charles. One I picked up about a year ago, and the other on one of his the last shipments. I had never seen either of them eat until this morning.


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## mdwflyer

3rd try


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## charles

look at them going at the food. Very health fish in your tank.


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## mdwflyer

Thanks Charles, powerhead #2 was another huge improvement.


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## mdwflyer

Okay, fathers day quiz:


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## mdwflyer

From Charles latest shipment, one of his first "hiding" spots was in the open.


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## mdwflyer

L368 just about never stops moving, I'll have to post vid of the L368 swooop!










Poor lighting, cool fish. L239 hanging out with L263.










L226 and Calvus


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## 2wheelsx2

I'll still not sure if those are L263's and my little guy didn't make it but they sure look nice. Those are some very healthy looking plecos.


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## mdwflyer

Are you thinking just a big L264? It seems to have more flashing on the dorsal than most of the other 263 pics, either way it's beautiful. Unfortunately it has found "pleco castle" and is away in hiding for the time being...



2wheelsx2 said:


> I'll still not sure if those are L263's and my little guy didn't make it but they sure look nice. Those are some very healthy looking plecos.


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## 2wheelsx2

mdwflyer said:


> Are you thinking just a big L264? It seems to have more flashing on the dorsal than most of the other 263 pics, either way it's beautiful. Unfortunately it has found "pleco castle" and is away in hiding for the time being...


It's difficult to tell when they are this young. The one I got was very distinctly different looking in terms of colouration and black dot size. I believe the flashing goes away as the L263 ages, so that's one way to tell. In your pictures, the dots look bigger than the type specimens on planetcatfish and the colouration too grey, but it could either be anything. We won't know until it gets older but I agree, it's a beautiful fish, and that's why I got 2 more L264 from Charles, which are in my 125 gallon now.


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## rich16

Mark, you take some great pics. I like the evolution of your tank. How are the Calvus doing with your Malawis?


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## mdwflyer

2wheelsx2 said:


> It's difficult to tell when they are this young. The one I got was very distinctly different looking in terms of colouration and black dot size. I believe the flashing goes away as the L263 ages, so that's one way to tell. In your pictures, the dots look bigger than the type specimens on planetcatfish and the colouration too grey, but it could either be anything. We won't know until it gets older but I agree, it's a beautiful fish, and that's why I got 2 more L264 from Charles, which are in my 125 gallon now.


From what I recall, the 2 L263's that came in on Charles last shipment were quite a bit bigger than the 264's and a lighter almost yellowish grey. That L239 beside him is a good 3". I really wanted to get L264, but the L260 colony has kinda blown my budget out of the water.



rich16 said:


> Mark, you take some great pics. I like the evolution of your tank. How are the Calvus doing with your Malawis?


Thanks Rich, your 2 peacocks are still doing great. The bigger of the 2 is the big boy in the tank. The Calvus are doing very well, I wasn't sure if I made a mistake when I brought them home. I still have a couple Mbuna in the tank, but the aggression is pretty low, anyhow they have been eating very well, and are characters. We are really enjoying the tank, 4 month old Isaac likes to hang out in his rocking chair watching everything.


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## 2wheelsx2

mdwflyer said:


> From what I recall, the 2 L263's that came in on Charles last shipment were quite a bit bigger than the 264's and a lighter almost yellowish grey. That L239 beside him is a good 3". I really wanted to get L264, but the L260 colony has kinda blown my budget out of the water.


It'll get more obvious when it gets older. I found out that my little guy that I thought was an L263 made it after all. It was an L264 which died and got lighter that I mistook for it. I'll try to get some pics as it grows and we'll both find out if we have L263's. If they are, it's quite the score, as they are a lot rarer. I got 5 little ones (including the L263) and 2 bigger ones from this batch.


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## mdwflyer

What a week, as Sir Topham Hatt from Thomas the train would say "THIS is a disaster, full of confusion and DELAY!"

First off, Nothing died.

I have been running 2 canisters + sump since december with one 2075, and one 2028. A while back I decided to setup an L260 colony in a 75g with the intent of it becoming a breeding program. With that in mind, 2 more 2075's became available so I picked them up. For a little while I had all 4 canisters running on my african tank, it was AWESOME, crystal clear super happy fish.

Anyhow, setup the 75g put one 2075 on it, then sold 2028, so only 2075's in the house with 2 on the african tank. About 10 days ago, the 2075 on the 75g leaked some water overnight. I took it apart, cleaned it, put it back together. Still weeping from the power cord, google it, leaking primer... search leaking 2075 primer, so and so on some other forum says take such and such apart clean it and it'll work. Do that, and now it really leaks! Pick up the phone, call Eheim, tech support asks me a few questions. Then we check the serial #, and he tells me he's sending me a new power head! So we check the serial #'s on my other 2 2075's, now he's sending me 2 new power heads.

That is customer service!

At one point I only had 1 canister running on the african tank, and decided to take the opportunity to clean up the wiring/plumbing mess from adding random bits over the last year and a half. Even more importantly take off the clamshell doors that have been a PITA since I got the setup, and install some cabinet style doors! Couple 2x6's a 2x4 and Belkin power supply later, much cleaner and easier to work with :bigsmile:



















L201, L226, L239, and L368 having lunch










Distant relatives hanging out


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## jay_leask

cant believe this has been up for so long and this is the first time seeing your thread. very nice collection of plecos, and pictures.


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## 2wheelsx2

Bravo! It's certainly nice to have all the wires out of the way and everything cleaned up, isn't it? I started going with controllers instead of a billion timers for that reason. 2 more controllers to go...


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## mdwflyer

jay_leask said:


> cant believe this has been up for so long and this is the first time seeing your thread. very nice collection of plecos, and pictures.


Thanks very much, I am very happy with how things in the tank have evolved.



2wheelsx2 said:


> Bravo! It's certainly nice to have all the wires out of the way and everything cleaned up, isn't it? I started going with controllers instead of a billion timers for that reason. 2 more controllers to go...


Getting the doors fixed up, and everything cleaned up inside is worth a ton, with the fatigue level in our house right now, I need everything fish related as simple and clean as possible. I have never really looked at controllers yet, the via-aqua heaters are solid state with a temp probe, no bi metallic strip, and I only have 1 of my lights on the timer now, the other one I just leave on moonlight.

For those thinking about going big into plecos, the crap load (I won't call it bio) when I was back down to one canister was unreal. I was doing a significant poop vacuum every third day, floss in the sump probably 4 days, and the canister was LOADED in 5.

When I picked up the last fish from Charles, they were still in the bag from south america. I had never done that before, and it was suggested that I do a prazipro treatment on both tanks. Took the carbon, and purigen all out, and treated as directed, absolutely no issues. Just put the carbon and purigen back in after about 2 weeks without, the overnight clarity is amazing. I really should have done a good video of before and after.

My other screw up last week was my python, when I picked it up and found an adapter at home depot that wasn't great but sorta did the job. It wasn't holding by many threads, and I should have known I was on borrowed time. That was another trip to Lowes to spend half an hour looking at flu flu valves and up, down male female whatevers. Now it's properly fixed up, doesn't leak, and hooks up nicely!

Our 4.5 month old just figured out how to roll over last night, he hates sleeping on his back, falls asleep on his belly then rolls over on his back and wakes up screaming. He's gonna have to figure it out...


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## 2wheelsx2

mdwflyer said:


> TOur 4.5 month old just figured out how to roll over last night, he hates sleeping on his back, falls asleep on his belly then rolls over on his back and wakes up screaming. He's gonna have to figure it out...


I'm glad those days are over for us, as mine are 3 and 5, but we still get woken up regularly for bedwetting and nightmares.....


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## charles

you still bedwetting and nightmares, Gary, stop drinking that last glass of water before you go to sleep.


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## 2wheelsx2

charles said:


> you still bedwetting and nightmares, Gary, stop drinking that last glass of water before you go to sleep.


It's those dreams of 14" L14 and 12" L24 that cause me to wet my bed, so you can help by bringing in smaller ones.


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## mdwflyer

and they are ALL pending Wow!


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## 2wheelsx2

mdwflyer said:


> and they are ALL pending Wow!


Yep, some lucky guys are going to be very happy.


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## mdwflyer

I know I am at least 20 years from having enough hours in the day, but here we are.

Trying to make things a little easier on my wife and I, we have been putting this playset together:










It's not done, one hell of a big kit. Should last a long time :bigsmile:

Tank has been doing well,










I have been thinning the cichlid herd somewhat. I had a female yellow lab, and one female peacock that were indirectly causing problems. I decided to pull a total of 5 fish, all of which are available at Roger's. Last time I did this is was a piece of cake, this time not so much. I had to removed every darn piece of wood, rock, and castle. There was water all over the place, but in the end I won :bigsmile:

F1 L134 from Davej:


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## Sidius

Your tank looks great md!! I can't imagine the mess all those plecos must make, haha. I only have 2 (ones a small BN) and those guys are poop factories..


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## mdwflyer

Thanks! I will have to do video of poop clean up one of these days. What doesn't get canistered or sumped ends up in the castle. Canisters get de-pooped every week/10 days. 8x10 floss in the sump turns into a lump of dirt in about a week (I have one canister return aimed slightly upward for good surface disturbance, also aimed towards the sump overflow)

With that fish removal, I am down to 1 mbuna in the tank. The Acei that's still there doesn't get into much trouble on his own. I still have 2 thick skins, they are little [email protected]#%ards, but generally only go at each other. I would love to find a nice Baenschi peacock at some point.

If I was starting it over, I would only do panaques and real vegitarians with the africans, that would be "cleaner" :bigsmile:


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## 2wheelsx2

mdwflyer said:


> If I was starting it over, I would only do panaques and real vegitarians with the africans, that would be "cleaner" :bigsmile:


If you were to do that, you'd discover there's another level of poop out there. I have only one 9" Royal left now and am very glad of it. You want him?


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## mdwflyer

2wheelsx2 said:


> If you were to do that, you'd discover there's another level of poop out there. I have only one 9" Royal left now and am very glad of it. You want him?


This is all hypothetical, I would yes, but I'd also like a 2' wide tank :bigsmile: I was thinking more dietary, and not having as many in the tank. Right now, for panaques I have 3.5" L190, 4" L226, and little midget clown pleco. If it was going to be panaque only, 1 monster, and the rest under 6" fully grown :bigsmile:


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## charles

go all pseuda.  I have a L97 and a bunch of L160


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## mdwflyer

I would love to go pseuda, L25, and L273 for sure! They wouldn't like the tank diet wise though. Little L91, L75, and L368 actually go for the NLS that makes it to the bottom during the morning feed.


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## 2wheelsx2

My pseudas love the NLS pellets so you wouldn't have a problem. The L160 in particular. Pseuda diet is not that much different than for Scobiancistrus or Leporcanthicus (L368 and L91).


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## mdwflyer

You guys can be a bad influence!


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## charles

Maybe a L79  I heard there are limited number coming.


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## mdwflyer

Woah, long time no update... All has been relatively stable.

Family has been over the top busy, there is no description in the english language for that level of fatigue :bigsmile:

Both tanks have been doing well, I did have 1 loss. My ruby red peacock started losing weight, no outward signs of illness. The interesting part, after he went "missing" next clean up, I found his cleaned up skeleton.

At one point it was a bad week for koralia powerheads, they were both acting up, I had to head out of town. No powerheads was going to be a disaster, so I picked up 2 Tunze's @ J&L. Very happy with them.

Started having an aggression problem with one of my bigger peacocks. On more than one occasion a very wise fish keeper by the name of Charles reminded me that having other Mbuna in the tank could always be part of the problem. I was down to 1 nice yellow tail acei, and although not mbuna, my 2 thick skins are pint sized little PITA's. I decided to remove the 3, and see what happens. Didn't bother trying to sneak them out, just carefully took everything out first, until I had one of the coral pieces in the sink and something was wiggling in it! Damn, back to the tank, thinking a pleco got stuck, turns out it's a darn Calvus and he didn't want to come out! Spent more time trying to "save" the calvus that didn't need saving. All worked out, he saved himself.

There are 2 very nice 2.5" thick skins and one 3" acei @ Rogers Aquatic now. The drop in stress in the tank was almost instant.

Here's some recent feeings:


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## mdwflyer

1 pseuda very small pseuda made it's way to my tank a few weeks ago. Thank-you Charles, L600 F1 is doing a GREAT job of hiding! I have seen it twice, all part of the pleco game.

When I added L134 F1 from Davej a while back, I don't think I saw it for close to 6 months... Times have changed, was doing a water change/clean-up this morning. Look who was checking over everything that left the tank...










I have had to remove the coral from my tank, had one Calvus get stuck twice. The first time he got out himself, the second time it was lucky I spotted him gasping. Coral is in the sump now.


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## 2wheelsx2

Nice score on the L600. They went fast. I got one hiding in my 20 gallon growout also.


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## Sidius

I would love to add a thick skin to my tank.. They have impressive colours but I've heard they get really aggressive. It seems like this just confirms it lol


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## mdwflyer

2wheelsx2 said:


> Nice score on the L600. They went fast. I got one hiding in my 20 gallon growout also.


They sure did go fast, great find by Charles. I was a little worried about the small size, but if he survived a few weeks he's gonna do just fine.



Sidius said:


> I would love to add a thick skin to my tank.. They have impressive colours but I've heard they get really aggressive. It seems like this just confirms it lol


I started with 10 thick skins :bigsmile: I don't think very many of them died of natural causes. I wanted to keep the last 2, it was actually a Peacock that I was having aggression problems with. I just decided to pull the pin on the non-peacock cichlids, and it worked relatively well. There may still be one left at Rogers Aquatic.

Feeding time is always good, I still can't believe any of these exist in nature:


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## Foxtail

I need to get me one of those L264 sultans one day.

Sent via the Shining.


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## 2wheelsx2

Your L128 looks great. I have only 1 left from my big group and will have to replace them one day, but currently my tank is full of Pseudas.


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## mdwflyer

Foxtail said:


> I need to get me one of those L264 sultans one day.


If you are thinking about it, and Canadian Aquatics have some (and they do) you should get one. Although that one is not L264 :bigsmile:, but they do have L264.



2wheelsx2 said:


> Your L128 looks great. I have only 1 left from my big group and will have to replace them one day, but currently my tank is full of Pseudas.


Thanks, that L128 is one of the bigger plecos in the tank, and it is by far, the most skittish of the bunch.

I'm not adding (I hope) anymore fish. Backwash filter is coming SOON, wish I had read about that sooner. Also thinking about doing a redesign of the sump, it works reasonably well, but could be a lot better. I'm able to keep the water quality where i want it, but the time required can be shortened, and that's worth it's weight in gold right now.


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## MrJackyTang

Wow ! The Plecos R so Amazing ! Can I ask If Pleco Is ok with Salt since I Put 1Tablespoon/5Gallon !
Some people said Yes and other said it will die right away in water with salt !
How about u ?


mdwflyer said:


> My now 2 year old son really likes going to the Vancouver aquarium, so that seemed like a good excuse to setup a tank at home. Last winter I picked up a 135g tank and stand + sump from a BCAA member, it was a SW setup but just needed a good cleaning.
> 
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> I did the initial setup/plumbing in the garage. Having been away from fish for a long time, and having never had anything to do with a 6' fish tank I didn't want any disaster in the house... The sump setup I found somewhere on the net for a discus tank. It's 2 stacks of drawers from walmart, 1 drawer for floss, 2 with pot scrubbers, 1 carbon, and 1 purigen.
> 
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> Once everything was running and stable and cycled etc... I had the local glass shop guys come over to help me move it upstairs.
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> 10 months later it's running pretty well with big help from Roger and staff at Roger's, Charles at Canadian Aquatics, Harold at Fair Deal's and this forum.
> 
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> My plecos get zucchini and yams, the cichlids, and synodontis petricola's get NLS.
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> I love taking pictures, but taking pictures in the fish tank is tough..


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## charles

Looking good, Mark


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## mdwflyer

MrJackyTang said:


> Wow ! The Plecos R so Amazing ! Can I ask If Pleco Is ok with Salt since I Put 1Tablespoon/5Gallon !
> Some people said Yes and other said it will die right away in water with salt !
> How about u ?


Thank you very much! They are wonderful fish. I'm no expert, but you may want to ask that question in the Catfishes section with your water parameters/substrate etc. I can tell you that currently my Ph is 7.8, Gh 8-10, Kh 7-9, and TDS under 200. A couple of my plecos came from Calgary where the water is significantly harder.


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## mdwflyer

Horrible pic of a stunning pleco


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## 2wheelsx2

Very nice. Mine hasn't come out of the tube in the light so all I ever see is the back half. It's too bad that juvie pattern doesn't stay, as it sure is pretty.


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## Vancitycam

very nice the whole setup, i just read start to finish, let me know if you ever have to rehome peacocks i maybe be able to take them and would give you than you would get for store credit for sure

also the wood piece came from where? if you already said, sorry i didnt catch it the pics werw so nice


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## mdwflyer

Vancitycam said:


> very nice the whole setup, i just read start to finish, let me know if you ever have to rehome peacocks i maybe be able to take them and would give you than you would get for store credit for sure
> 
> also the wood piece came from where? if you already said, sorry i didnt catch it the pics werw so nice


Thanks for the kind comments, always a work in progress.

The africans are down to bare basics, at some point I'd like to add more, but household life needs to get easier first.

The bigger fancy piece that was originally a floater came from Roger's (I don't know what kind of wood it is, but it's sure cool), the manzanita branches come from Roger's, the mopani wood comes from Canadian Aquatics.

Right now I am planning stages for a new build/replacement setup with my current system.

If I do it, it'll be a 6'x2' 180 gallon, with a better designed sump, bigger overflow, better UV setup, and backwash filter, and proper canopy/ LED light setup.

Virual's http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/tank-journals-16/450-gallon-filtration-upgrade-33958/ has me wanting to do the backwash in a big way. The plumbing will never be easier than the current status of our home reno. There is a bathroom on the other side of the wall the fish tank is on, and the basement is currently all opened up. Gotta do it!


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## Sidius

That filtration system that he posted was seriously impressive.. If it wasn't so expensive I'd look into getting one but it's just not worth it for a 90g tank. When I upgrade (at this point my plan is to upgrade to a 220g) I might have to look at that more seriously.

Do you have specific Africans in mind? I could always keep you in mind when I'm ever re-homing some.


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## mdwflyer

Sidius said:


> That filtration system that he posted was seriously impressive.. If it wasn't so expensive I'd look into getting one but it's just not worth it for a 90g tank. When I upgrade (at this point my plan is to upgrade to a 220g) I might have to look at that more seriously.
> 
> Do you have specific Africans in mind? I could always keep you in mind when I'm ever re-homing some.


I've been pricing it out of the states, on a slightly smaller scale, still get the job done nicely. I had over filtration for a little while on my tank when I was cycling a couple canisters. I had 3-2075's, 1 2028, and my sump. CLEAR water, happy fish, it was awesome.

Right now, I don't want to add any africans :bigsmile: I have found peace in the fish tank (don't know how long it will last). I would love to add some more colourful peacocks, I just don't want to deal with add 1 and start fighting, then have to add more to not lose a fancy one  I have been very lucky thus far.


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## mdwflyer

A happy clown loach is a fat clown loach, or better yet 6 fat clown loaches










L239's are awesome, glad I picked up 2 when the chance was there.










L263 has finally settled, and all over the place now










My first pleco from Charles, and my wife and sons favourite, L201 known in the house as "Spot"


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## datfish

Congratulations on Issac! You have some great plecos! Hopefully you can still find some time to tend to the tank in between trying to sleep and having young child.


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## 2wheelsx2

The L239 looks great. I wish I still had my last 4, but something happened in my L134 growout tank a while back and I lost all 4.


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## mdwflyer

datfish said:


> Congratulations on Issac! You have some great plecos! Hopefully you can still find some time to tend to the tank in between trying to sleep and having young child.


Thanks very much, I probably should not say anything, but @ 9 months he's finally sleeping through the night... we were starting to wonder if it was every going to happen :bigsmile:



2wheelsx2 said:


> The L239 looks great. I wish I still had my last 4, but something happened in my L134 growout tank a while back and I lost all 4.


That really bites, hopefully Charles can get more next year. I didn't see mine for close to a year. I even used one to help get the L260 tank going, then after putting him back they both came out of hiding. I swear they change colour, I am not sure if it is background, or their mood. At times they are like a midnight blue almost black with the tips of the fins a light blue. I don't think I've been able to get the camera/lighting to truly represent what they look like.


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## charles

They are coming


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## 2wheelsx2

mdwflyer said:


> That really bites, hopefully Charles can get more next year. I didn't see mine for close to a year. I even used one to help get the L260 tank going, then after putting him back they both came out of hiding. I swear they change colour, I am not sure if it is background, or their mood. At times they are like a midnight blue almost black with the tips of the fins a light blue. I don't think I've been able to get the camera/lighting to truly represent what they look like.


Yes, I had up to 12 at one point. And the colouration goes from indigo blue to smoke grey to fluorecent blue. Very interesting fish. Unfortunately through a series of 1 disaster after another, I lost them all. And I've pretty much full restocked the tank with Pseuda and Scobiancistrus now, so I don't have any more room for smaller plecos as they wouldn't be able to compete.


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## monkE

beautiful tank man!! love that clownloach shot! i never manage to get all 6 of mine together when i have the camera out!


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## mdwflyer

2wheelsx2 said:


> Yes, I had up to 12 at one point. And the colouration goes from indigo blue to smoke grey to fluorecent blue. Very interesting fish. Unfortunately through a series of 1 disaster after another, I lost them all. And I've pretty much full restocked the tank with Pseuda and Scobiancistrus now, so I don't have any more room for smaller plecos as they wouldn't be able to compete.


That just a great reason for starting another tank for smaller plecos! This time, no disasters permitted. Cube, or 6 footer?



monkE said:


> beautiful tank man!! love that clownloach shot! i never manage to get all 6 of mine together when i have the camera out!


Thanks, we sure do enjoy having a herd of clown loaches. They are all over the place, they are pigs, the help diffuse aggression problems, and if the clown loaches are healthy, everyone else should be :bigsmile: Sometimes it is concerning when they play dead, but I guess when you play that hard all the time...


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## 2wheelsx2

mdwflyer said:


> That just a great reason for starting another tank for smaller plecos! This time, no disasters permitted. Cube, or 6 footer?


That's where they were, in my smaller tank, which is a 46 bow, for the second attempt, but then I added an L14 (3.5") and 3 L75's and now 2 L47's and recently 2 L177 so it's not so spacious anymore and that might have been part of the problem.


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## mdwflyer

I guess I should not have stopped by for a visit with Charles this afternoon, now have L177........ :bigsmile:


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## 2wheelsx2

What? No L47?


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## mdwflyer

2wheelsx2 said:


> What? No L47?


That was the first one I looked at... That's about 24 hours after I said no more fish.... Very constructive visit as always!


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## jobber

This thread and Gary's is killing me. Those beautiful spots and green yellow body. Nice photography


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## Sidius

Your tank looks amazing as always and you have an impressive collection. Are you running a UV in your tank? The water is so crystal clear.


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## mdwflyer

jobber said:


> This thread and Gary's is killing me. Those beautiful spots and green yellow body. Nice photography


:bigsmile: Thanks, plecos are awesome, messy, but awesome.



Sidius said:


> Your tank looks amazing as always and you have an impressive collection. Are you running a UV in your tank? The water is so crystal clear.


Up until just under a month ago I have been running a Laguna 16w UV. The last time I serviced it, water was coming out of where it shouldn't as I was taking it out from the sump area. Opened it up, and couldn't believe it wasn't a dead short. The sleeve around the UV bulb eroded a small hole, and the UV was full of water. Very lucky.

Just picked up 18W Odyssea from Charles, I'll try getting a before and after pic. Highly recommend some kind of UV.


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## Sidius

Ya I'm looking into getting the coralife 12x (36W) UV for the 180g and I'm going to hook it up inline with my Eheim 2075. It's overkill but the 6x (18W) needs a slower flow rate than my Eheim to be effective on parasites/bacteria and I don't want to add another powerhead.


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## 2wheelsx2

The more things you hook up to your filter, the slower the flowrate is. Plus you have to account for hydraulic head. I have my CO2 and 6x Coralife on my 2028 which has the same flow rate as the 2075 and it works fine. 350 GPH without media. About 270 with media iirc and then you add the loop for the UV and you're down to 240 or 250 gph.


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## Sidius

2wheelsx2 said:


> The more things you hook up to your filter, the slower the flowrate is. Plus you have to account for hydraulic head. I have my CO2 and 6x Coralife on my 2028 which has the same flow rate as the 2075 and it works fine. 350 GPH without media. About 270 with media iirc and then you add the loop for the UV and you're down to 240 or 250 gph.


I read some good information by someone that tested out his UV's at different flow rates and he said for best results you want a flow rate of 10gph per Watt. The slower the flow rate, the more effective the UV will be at killing parasites/bacteria (essentially the slower the flow rate, the longer the parasites/bacteria are exposed to the UV rays). If it's just for algae, a higher flow rate is fine but if it's faster than 10gph per watt, the effectiveness of it against parasites drops significantly.


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## 2wheelsx2

That's likely for a poorly designed UV. I can tell you from personal experience that I've never run into an ich problem (even with fish exhibiting ich) in my 125 gallon with my setup. This article (and the whole website) explains it quite clearly. UV Sterilization, Aquarium & Pond; How To use UVC, Information

However, it certainly can't hurt have more power and more flow, but of course the offset is 2x the electricity and of course a more expensive replacement bulb.

I don't use UV for algae problems as my tanks are planted and the plants and CO2 take care of waterborne algae and a UV is usually against attached algae so I don't know how much one can push the flow rate and still kill algae. Seems a bit of waste to hook up a UV light 24/7 just to kill algae to me when my tanks are full of plecos and plants.


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## Sidius

Thanks I'll give that a read some time! Anyway, I don't mean to hijack mdwflyer's journal lol


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## mdwflyer

I was going to get either TMC or Aqua UV, but I am just so darn busy with work and life right now and Charles had the Odyssea for basically half price. It already doing it's thing.



Sidius said:


> Ya I'm looking into getting the coralife 12x (36W) UV for the 180g and I'm going to hook it up inline with my Eheim 2075. It's overkill but the 6x (18W) needs a slower flow rate than my Eheim to be effective on parasites/bacteria and I don't want to add another powerhead.


That's a good link Gary posted, I've got that one in favourites.

If you do a sump properly, ALL that stuff runs cleanly off the one return pump. Heaters and everything in the sump, never a worry about biological going away.

My current sump design doesn't cut it, that's why I need the 2 canisters+the sump. When I picked up my used tank, the bottom is tempered so couldn't drill the bottom. Could still have drilled the back, but elected to go with U tub overflow. I didn't know anything about anything, and didn't talk to the right people, I just did it. Saw a picture on a forum somewhere and sorta copied it. With what I did I can't get the water fast enough out of the tank "quietly" to make it workable. Also the first couple stages of the sump are not that effective for cleaning. I do have great biological happening, and that's a big plus. I think Charles has talked me into no canisters on the next build.


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## 2wheelsx2

mdwflyer said:


> I was going to get either TMC or Aqua UV, but I am just so darn busy with work and life right now and Charles had the Odyssea for basically half price. It already doing it's thing.
> 
> That's a good link Gary posted, I've got that one in favourites.
> 
> If you do a sump properly, ALL that stuff runs cleanly off the one return pump. Heaters and everything in the sump, never a worry about biological going away.
> 
> My current sump design doesn't cut it, that's why I need the 2 canisters+the sump. When I picked up my used tank, the bottom is tempered so couldn't drill the bottom. Could still have drilled the back, but elected to go with U tub overflow. I didn't know anything about anything, and didn't talk to the right people, I just did it. Saw a picture on a forum somewhere and sorta copied it. With what I did I can't get the water fast enough out of the tank "quietly" to make it workable. Also the first couple stages of the sump are not that effective for cleaning. I do have great biological happening, and that's a big plus. I think Charles has talked me into no canisters on the next build.


Yeah, the next one I go with will be a TMC. I've seen Tony's and it looks great. Plus the t5 bulbs are easier to get and cheaper than the PC UV bulbs.

My 125 is tempered at the bottom too. The whole purpose of the overflow is to just skim the top. You'll have to provide the water movement to get the other stuff up there. The U tubes really limit what you can do in a larger tank. I think for smaller tanks they're ok. I'm sure you've read up on it already, but you want a Beananimal setup so you can flow as much as you want and go with the big plumbing which you can throttle back to get a full pipe on one so there is no gurgling. Here is a site I found 2 nights ahead while working late that has some really interesting details of how to implement it - no teeth on the weir, coast to coast external overflow, etc. That's what I'd like to do in my next big tank. Glass Reef - The Basics - Overflow


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## Sidius

2wheelsx2 said:


> Yeah, the next one I go with will be a TMC. I've seen Tony's and it looks great. Plus the t5 bulbs are easier to get and cheaper than the PC UV bulbs.


I'm confused.. A UV that uses T5 bulbs? What's the difference between a TMC and say the Coralife 12x turbotwist?


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## tony1928

Sidius said:


> I'm confused.. A UV that uses T5 bulbs? What's the difference between a TMC and say the Coralife 12x turbotwist?


The uv bulb in that brand uses a T5 base.


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## mdwflyer

2wheelsx2 said:


> Yeah, the next one I go with will be a TMC. I've seen Tony's and it looks great. Plus the t5 bulbs are easier to get and cheaper than the PC UV bulbs.
> 
> My 125 is tempered at the bottom too. The whole purpose of the overflow is to just skim the top. You'll have to provide the water movement to get the other stuff up there. The U tubes really limit what you can do in a larger tank. I think for smaller tanks they're ok. I'm sure you've read up on it already, but you want a Beananimal setup so you can flow as much as you want and go with the big plumbing which you can throttle back to get a full pipe on one so there is no gurgling. Here is a site I found 2 nights ahead while working late that has some really interesting details of how to implement it - no teeth on the weir, coast to coast external overflow, etc. That's what I'd like to do in my next big tank. Glass Reef - The Basics - Overflow


Now that's a slick setup! Without cutting the tank, you could just make a 6 foot version of my HOB overflow. With 4 or 5 U tubes, you would get great skimming, lots of room for a couple quiet standpipes. No holes in the tank is always best! Who's gonna build it though...



Sidius said:


> I'm confused.. A UV that uses T5 bulbs? What's the difference between a TMC and say the Coralife 12x turbotwist?


The Odyssea does the same water twist as the coralife for less than half the money. I will put a TMC on the new build.


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## 2wheelsx2

mdwflyer said:


> Now that's a slick setup! Without cutting the tank, you could just make a 6 foot version of my HOB overflow. With 4 or 5 U tubes, you would get great skimming, lots of room for a couple quiet standpipes. No holes in the tank is always best! Who's gonna build it though...
> 
> The Odyssea does the same water twist as the coralife for less than half the money. I will put a TMC on the new build.


When you order your tank from the tank maker, just have them build it for you! That's what I plan to do.  I plan to drill the tank. As a matter of fact, I plan to drill all my tanks over 50 gallons in the future. Just makes things easier.

The twist may or may not mean much. I am concerned that it creates turbulence inside which causes cloudiness, rendering the light less effective, but the Coralife is a proven model. As for the TMC and t5 UV bulbs. T5 = single tube = less restrike, meaning more of the light is contacting the water for the same wattage instead of the like "restriking" the other tube of the bulb so just by that definition, a T5 bulb of any sort will be more efficient per watt than a PC bulb. That's the main reason I like the TMC. The second is the lower cost and lower heat of the replacement bulbs, once again, per watt used.


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## mdwflyer

The Laguna I had used a T5 bulb, but the chamber design was not optimal. I was getting lots of bubbles from the outlet for the flow I wanted, the odyssea with the twist that restricts/controls flow has no bubbles for the same flow rate.


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## 2wheelsx2

mdwflyer said:


> The Laguna I had used a T5 bulb, but the chamber design was not optimal. I was getting lots of bubbles from the outlet for the flow I wanted, the odyssea with the twist that restricts/controls flow has no bubbles for the same flow rate.


That's funny as I have the same problem with the Coralife. I sometime have airlocks in the UV. Maybe it's because I'm mounting them vertically. I'll have to experiment. I was planning on trying the Odyssey on my 20 gallon anyway.


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## Sidius

Ya I think I'll give one of these TMC units a try.. I'm aiming for the level 2 sterilization so I'm going to run a 25watt unit on my Eheim 2075 (needs a target flow rate of 8-12gph/per watt or 200-300gph for level 2). They're pretty affordable and have great reviews. Thanks for the heads up!


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## mdwflyer

Finally some pics:

Clowns and Africans:









Clown and L368:









Calvus and Plecos:









Charles, here is L177 chomping away:


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## mdwflyer

The UV is doing it's job well, whole bunch of gunk out of the tank :bigsmile:

Happy fat clown loaches


















The 2 big boys (for now):









Sometimes when the lights are off neat groups hang out:


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## Sidius

The water clarity is amazing.. You've got a nice collection of fish.


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## mdwflyer

Sidius said:


> The water clarity is amazing.. You've got a nice collection of fish.


Thanks, that's about 12 hours after feeding time, and one day after water change/vacuum. I'm really happy with what is in the tank right now. No aggression problems, and everybody seems to get getting more than enough food.


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## mdwflyer

After cleaning up some sections of my sump, I added a small powerhead that was lying around into the first section. I would always end up with gunk getting past the floss settling out on the bottom. Not an easy place to clean, now it stays clean.


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## Foxtail

Last PIC on the left... is that a L264? 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## mdwflyer

Foxtail said:


> Last PIC on the left... is that a L264?


Pretty close, L263. If you look @ both on planet catfish, they are almost identical. He came in with a bunch of L264, and his colour is more yellow and smaller dots. I should probably put some pictures up on PC for the pleco wizards to dissect :bigsmile: I'm just happy that he's an active fairly visible pleco.


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## Foxtail

He looks cool... I love the ones that have that metallic shimmer to their scales.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## charles

glad you like our UV. your water is so clear. Happy loaches are a good sign of good quality water


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## mdwflyer

Foxtail said:


> He looks cool... I love the ones that have that metallic shimmer to their scales.


I think most of them have it, they just don't like getting their picture taken, more specifically with the lights on...



charles said:


> glad you like our UV. your water is so clear. Happy loaches are a good sign of good quality water


Thanks Charles, I'm sure glad I picked it up that day. +L177 is doing very well, another beautiful Baryancistrus.


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## mdwflyer

Arrived home from first longer trip to a crystal clear tank full of relatively happy, somewhat hungry fish.










I find taking aquarium pictures tough, flash on, or flash off, is there enough light for zoom, etc....

If there isn't a zucchini or yam, L201 rarely comes out with the lights on. Maybe he was asking for a piece of zucchini... I gave him one :bigsmile:

No flash:









Flash:









Feeding time with flash:









No flash:









On the new build planning, I am back leaning towards acrylic...


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## jobber

Must be quite the sight after long haul trips to come home to a feeding frenzy. 
Loricariidae looks so plump and well fed.


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## mdwflyer

jobber said:


> Must be quite the sight after long haul trips to come home to a feeding frenzy.
> Loricariidae looks so plump and well fed.


It is really nice coming home and seeing that all the fish are happy and healthy. They know when I get home it's feeding time!


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## jobber

Haha. You know what I'll be asking for.....videos 
Btw, thanks for having your avatar picture as a L200. It helped make last month's decision easy.


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## mdwflyer

jobber said:


> Haha. You know what I'll be asking for.....videos
> Btw, thanks for having your avatar picture as a L200. It helped make last month's decision easy.


Video comes with a soundtrack of 3year old rattling off @70+ words a minute and 1 year old squawking and yodelling away...

L200 was one of the more photogenic pleco's I have had, also the only one that I have lost. There wasn't any reason, no sign of anything beforehand.

Managed to catch little L600 out in the open when the lights came on first thing in the morning. Although I have never seen him eat, he's growing.


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## 2wheelsx2

Nice. I also lost my L200's but I have one L128 left and he's getting fat. My L600 is round and plump like my L160 but he's in a 20 gallon growing out. I have found the Pseuda to be very secretive until they get to about 6" and then they get more and more aggressive. I've seen my little L600 come out for NLS Thera A. But I have to put the food in and walk away and then sneak back 2 minutes later.


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## tony1928

Very nice pix of the L600. Mine is the same as Gary's. He'll pop out to gobble up NLS but otherwise will hide in the shade of the overhangs. Mine is growing pretty fast now. I usually look for his bright orange tail. He's probably 3" or so.


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## JTang

Great collection of Cichlids n Plecos u have! I wish my 135g will look just as nice... Where did u buy these beautiful cichlids? What's your water parameters?


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## mdwflyer

Thanks! Finding good africans can be a challenge, Fairdeals is a good place to look.

Course at work is finally all done, hopefully the carnage in the tank is as well... I started with L190 starting to look beat up, he eats well, almost always visible, but his fins are shredded. Trying to figure out who was going for L190, my little clown pleco was #1 suspect. I decided to send him to Rogers, beautiful healthy little clown pleco. Anyhow, getting a 2.5" pleco out of 135g means everything is coming out of the tank. I made sure that no Calvus were hiding in anything I took out of the tank... caught the pleco no problem, in the process noticed L226 with very, very sunken belly...not good, it didn't make it. I also could not find L600, I hope he has found a good hide out, but I kinda don't think soo...

Good news L190 is doing pretty well, fins still shredded though.


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## mdwflyer

We just did a family road trip south of the border, on the way south we stopped in @ the wetspot in Portland to see what the stock was like.

Really nice store, clean and a LOT of tanks! Planned for a stop on the drive northbound to fill up :bigsmile:

Brought home:
L114
Aulonocara sp. Mamalela-Lemon Jake
Aulonocara sp. Maulana Bi Colour
Aulonocara sp. Lwanda
Aulonocara sp. Maleri- Chipoka
Aulonocara Jacobfreibergi Otter Point

Very, very happy with everything, I was running low on africans and the tank stress was going up. Now it's back to happy, the clown loaches are really happy to have more fish to tease. Pics soon


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## 2wheelsx2

I got 2 L114's from them in the spring. Healthy fish and great looking. I got them at 1.5" and they are now 3". You're going to love them.


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## jbyoung00008

mdwflyer said:


> We just did a family road trip south of the border, on the way south we stopped in @ the wetspot in Portland to see what the stock was like.
> 
> Really nice store, clean and a LOT of tanks! Planned for a stop on the drive northbound to fill up :bigsmile:
> 
> Brought home:
> L114
> Aulonocara sp. Mamalela-Lemon Jake
> Aulonocara sp. Maulana Bi Colour
> Aulonocara sp. Lwanda
> Aulonocara sp. Maleri- Chipoka
> Aulonocara Jacobfreibergi Otter Point
> 
> Very, very happy with everything, I was running low on africans and the tank stress was going up. Now it's back to happy, the clown loaches are really happy to have more fish to tease. Pics soon


I want to go to the wet spot so bad. Im jealous. Im going to order from them and pick up the fish in Blaine at my friends house one of these days. I just havnt had the time to yet. Post some pictures of your tank.


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## Master wilkins

South of the border? What's the procedure in crossing the border with live fish?


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## mdwflyer

Master wilkins said:


> South of the border? What's the procedure in crossing the border with live fish?


When dealing with Canada or US customs, it is best to educate yourself directly with whom you will be dealing. No surprises that way. :bigsmile: Your first statement to Customs should always include "the purpose of my trip is business/pleasure" declare everything you have, and have the supporting paperwork (if asked), and all will be fine.


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## mdwflyer

Some of the new guys


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## charles

I think you need a black and white pleco


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## mdwflyer

charles said:


> I think you need a black and white pleco


Hmmmm, as well as the plecos have done. I don't think I would want to bet on L46 being a rockstar in my tank... Fingers crossed that the little red tail that I brought up from Portland blossoms into a nice big pseuda!


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## mdwflyer

Ready and waiting for breakfast!


































Everybody has settled in very well. Have not seen L114 since I put him in the tank, but with plecos that's not all bad.


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## mdwflyer

I have been worried about L114 getting enough food since I brought him home. Having talked it over with Charles, I decided to put him in the L260 tank for the next year and put some weight on him. Now to find him... it turned out to be pretty easy, he was in one of the castle halves. The problem with that, he didn't want to get out of the castle.










Castle half with L114 moved to L260 tank...

Still no pic...


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## tony1928

My L114 has been hiding since day 1. Funny the small L600 I used to have was not like that and my big L600 that I have is always out front though given he's a foot long he has nowhere to hide anyway lol 

Sent from my gigantic Samsung Note 2


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## 2wheelsx2

L114's are pretty secretive. I only see my 2 little guys when I look through the bottom of the stand as they are always hiding. I remember when I had 2 L114's that were 5" in the 125 gallon. I thought one had died as I didn't see it for 6 months. Then one day he came out to eat and he was almost 7".  I wouldn't worry about Pseudas not getting enough to eat. I haven't seen my L24 eat for over 3 months now as it never comes out when the lights are on anymore, but when I check on him after lights out he's big and fat.


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## mdwflyer

You guys need to post some updates on your tanks!

I really should have put L600 in the L260 tank, I'm pretty sure it would still be around...

I do worry about food competition with clown loaches, african cichlids, and petricolas you snooze you starve. Obviously all the fish have it figured out, but new one's need to get with the program pretty quick. The additions from the Wetspot have really worked out well.


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## jbyoung00008

IME with Africans, when you introduce a new fish, the new fish has 3 or 4 days to figure out their place in the tank. If they havn't by than I remove them. Usually I can see the signs of being picked on. Fin tears, last to eat etc.... Once the lights go out the weak get picked on. Its probably a little different with Pleco's but always something to keep an eye on.  

Beauty tank. You have some nice fish in there.


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## mdwflyer

New Year, time for an update.... both tanks are happily stable, lost 2 of the new africans : Aulonocara sp. Lwanda and Aulonocara sp. Maleri- Chipoka. One of my original regals that was full size when I picked him up way back when also died of old age. I was a little worried to see how the remaining population would work it, but it has been excellent. The clown loaches and africans have a pretty good time, the Calvus are eating well, petricolas and plecos just keep going and going.

Work schedule has been all over the place, so I have been doing big water changea 60-75% every 4-7 days depending on when I am home. The fish in both tanks are loving it, L114 has almost doubled in size.


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## 2wheelsx2

Those L114's are some of the fastest growing plecos outside of commons.


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## mdwflyer

2wheelsx2 said:


> Those L114's are some of the fastest growing plecos outside of commons.


At the rate he's eating and growing he will be in the big tank by summer.

Here's a couple quick video clips:


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## mdwflyer

and number 2:


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