Setting up a 180 gallon Troph tank - advise

[Zulaab]

Put the heater in the sump. -- no need to look at it in the tank.
Remove the airstones. With a wet/dry running and solid surface water movement, the airstones basically dont do you anything extra. All airstones do in reality is create surface movement. A wet/dry oxygenate water much better, so you are kinda just not doing anything with the airstones in that size of a tank.

[geoff_tropheus]

In the future I would look to adding some larger stones, it will help with fish being more comfortable in the upper watercolumn.

Another personal pref. of mine is larger stones.

I think you are on it man!!

[geoff_tropheus]

Dang good idea Jesper!!

Put that heater in the sump!

[geoff_tropheus]

Jesper, do you think the AC 110 bubbles will interfere with the overflow siphon?

Probably not, since the water level will run higher because of it and that will make for less bubbles from the AC 110. But want your opinion..

[Zulaab]

One other thing. Remove the towel from under the wet/dry. You REALLY dont want anything "unlevel" supporting it. Anyone here who have acrylic tanks will tell you the same. Make sure that the item is completely supported 100% level underneath it.

[Mzungu]

What is that blue lighted device in the center of the third picture? I see you have 2 or 3 of them? If it some sort of LED?

[geoff_tropheus]

If your worried about the sump on the stand, get a piece of insulation board and eggcrate between the sump bottom and stand.

[geoff_tropheus]

If you are worried about overflowing it, my sump is sitting in a tub from Walmart.

[Zulaab]

Jesper, do you think the AC 110 bubbles will interfere with the overflow siphon?

Probably not, since the water level will run higher because of it and that will make for less bubbles from the AC 110. But want your opinion..

Since he is running a wet/dry and it will attempt at 100% of its life to keep the water level even in tank (not in the sump though) the water fall effect of the AC110 should not make much of a difference because there is no "effective" evap from his tank creating more of a water fall effect.

I would avoid putting the overflow box and the AC110 butt up against each other as this might create the other problem of water that was just cleaned to run right though another cleaning system, but its not a "requirement" so its what ever the person thinks make its look good.

The one thing I really wanna stress like Geoff said, rock work is important for Trophs. They live by it, they love it, they defend it. Many of the shorelines where trophs live in are filled with boulders and they are used to dropping up and down from the rock work. Larger individual rocks or rock reefs allows territories to be built. Mine dig small pits where they want their spawn sites to be. What I recommend in the future when you have some time, is to study other peoples setups, and see how / why they are successful. The bridge you built is good for a few species of Trophs, but honestly, a much better setup for Petro's as they are deeper water fish that spawn in cave systems or underneath rocks they have dug out. Trophs for the most part live close to the surface, in the 3-15m (9-45ft) water depth, and rarely are there cave systems for them to hide in. I have one tank (my grow out tank) which have a cave system in it, but it causes the fish to all hang under the cave. I want that for the young so they can feel protected, for my adults.. I wanna see them.. not just know there is "fish in the tank somewhere"

Just my 2.3c worth
Jesper

[Zulaab]

If setup correct, its NEARLY impossible to overflow a sump. I have done it twice in the last 3 yrs... both times, because I didnt watch filling my tank up while doing a water change.. yes both my fault and both times could have been avoided if I didnt get distracted and did something stupid.

[Lawsman]

All good input. But, the bubble thing, well that is the Wife-I know, just please don't say anything Really can't complain she is cool with me spending the $, but there are always compromises. The cichlid caves are Wife's too!! I think they will trap crap w/ just having one opening?

The larger stones is a good idea. What kind? How large you talking? I like the rock that HAW had? Some other forum member had it in his tank and it really looked good.
This is my first Aqueon, does not look nearly as well made as the old Oceanics? I guess adding the larger rocks will decrease weight on tank by the water is displaces?
Plan on adding one Korila too? Don't recall the size, but they are big and can move some water!! I have two on the 156 and it is just too much, so I only run one now.

Still looking for suggestions on what to put in this tank? I like Ilangi, but look similar(better) to my Red Rainbows? I know Ikola's are commom, but 60 of these look cool to me. Plus, they wont cost me too much $. Just don't know yet?

As you can see, I (wife) likes a tank that looks attractive opposed to a tank more suited to breeding. I would be happy with having enough new fry to keep the colony at present levels. More would be good too, becasue that would mean I'm doing a good job keeping Troph's healthy. I hate losing fish.

[geoff_tropheus]

I have overflow'd mine twice because I put too much water in the sump. I only owned mine since November... :)

[Mzungu]

What is that blue lighted device in the center of the third picture? I see you have 2 or 3 of them? If it some sort of LED?

Bump. I'm confused as to what they are! :)

[geoff_tropheus]

If you want color and some Diveristy...for a more pleasing to the eye effect...

I would get 40 Rainbows of Choice. If you want some Diversity in color you can always get Duboisi and add any second colony you want and be safe from hybridization. If this is the case, get like 15-20 Dubs, and 25-35 of the other choice.

for Color it is really hard to beat Red Rainbow. I only owned my Colony for about 2 months, and I got soooo many comments on them, it almost made it very difficult for me to sell them. But they and Ilangi are not my style, I dont keep Trophs for that purpose.

Willie Sanders has over 100 of Ilangi for sale right now if you are looking for a local pickup.

Cesar has the best looking Lufubu "Purple Rainbow" I've seen in a long time.

How soon are you looking to start up?

[geoff_tropheus]

They look LED to me