Freshwater Tanks

[Mogo]

Danmhippo-
Your pond is very similar to mine in size and critters. When kids come over I put in my 8" Mako shark. Plastic. Battery driven. The fans go wild!

Why not try a couple turtles? You would need very good filtration. Keep them smaller than your feeders or else. Keep water level lower so they don't escape. I also have frogs hanging around for free.

To my dismay- my "nobrainer"pond is more popular with guests than my 130 reeftank.

 

[Reef Guy11]

Hey guys,

I have a 55 gal FW tank. Right Now it has 4 opaline gourami, 2 are full size, 2 Blue gourami one full size, 2 Gold gourami med size, one full size fire mouth Cichlid, one small red zebra cichlid, one baby blood red parott cichlid, the common pleco one almost full size and the other is small, 3 long finned Danios, one white Cloud, 3 small tiger barbs, one tire track eel, one med sun catfish, and one crayfish. There three base rock in the tank and three plants. In about a month when i put my Red Ear Slider in the pond that i am going to build, I will be setting up my 90 gallon as a planted tank with rare and hard to find plants and my fish from my 55 will go in there with the plants.

 

[eddi]

In addition to my 360 and 125 gallon reefs, I have a 54 gallon fresh in my home office and a 29 gallon fresh in my work office. Both have mainly discus, with a fire eel and a black ghost.


Eddi

 

[danmhippo]

Mogo, Thanx.

I was always afraid of adding turtles into the pond. I feared one day I will find fins missing from the fish. Would that be something I should worry over? Feeder Goldfish are quite large by now, about 5" in size.

Where would I go to find frogs small enough for the pond that size? Most of the aquarium shops only carries tropical frogs. Water temp here dips down to mid 40's, tropical stuff simply won't last.

Thanks again.

Jimmy

 

[Anonymous]

I don't really want to do another freshwater tank unless I can set up a very large(125) Mbuna Tank..but then what the heck why not make it a Tang Tank.........no what I mean? :twisted:

 

[wombat1]

Super dumb question... would the principles of LR and a DSB work in a FW tank as well? If you used LR that had sat out in the sun for a week, then scrubbed clean and cycled in a FW tank would it reduce nitrates? If you used a fine grained silica sand and got some sand stirring FW animals, would the FWDSB reduce nitrates? I think the LR would release Ca into the water, but this might be good for a hard water (cichlid??) tank. I know absolutely nothing about FW tanks so excuse my ignorance...

 

[Anonymous]

Super dumb question... would the principles of LR and a DSB work in a FW tank as well? If you used LR that had sat out in the sun for a week, then scrubbed clean and cycled in a FW tank would it reduce nitrates? If you used a fine grained silica sand and got some sand stirring FW animals, would the FWDSB reduce nitrates? I think the LR would release Ca into the water, but this might be good for a hard water (cichlid??) tank. I know absolutely nothing about FW tanks so excuse my ignorance...

in a manner of speaking-yes

my tank has no filters, save for the sponge prefilters in the overflow box, and the return pump.

all filtration takes places on the surfaces(gracel bed, plant leaves) in the tank, and via the plant growth.

i believe that a fine sand bed will also dentrify in fw-i'm testing that one now w/my minibow

 

[Anonymous]

if you want to see your fish alive, don't add a turtle. also, if you don't want to deal with, quite frankly, the filth, don't put in a turtle. also, you would NOT believe what escape artists they are!

the native f/w fish i'm familiar with that would do well in an outdoor pond would a: need more than 30gals. and b: not be much to look at from above. i'm thinking mosquito fish, pumpkin seeds (pugnacious hardly does their 'tudes justice), and some minnows.

we're in the process of establishing a small pond here at home - 250 preformed pond and i'm using the tub of a wheelbarrow to create a filter/waterfall feature. i've got me bulkhead and check valve, now i just need to find the right size bit to drill out the opening for the bulkhead. then, when spring comes around (pretty soon by the looks of things around here) we'll get some water iris, water lilies, and papyrus.

vitz, those are some rainbows ya got there!

 

[_range_]

Why have a freshwater when you can stick a clown in a blender? I like blenders. Jewel Cichlid = mmm good. In a blender.

 

[brandon4291]

wombat that is a thought provoker. it had me scratching my head for awhile...it would be neat for someone to study the oxygen gradients in a FW DSB and make a comparison, Im sure it still comes down to grain size and transporting action in the sand bed. good idea to have that knowledge in your head for future design reference. good call


baby map turtles and small musk turtles like razorbacks are ideal aquarium species. I like to keep a family of wild-type guppies in there for snacks, and I also feed the turtles shrimp pellets. I have never in my life seen an animal that clears a tank of snails faster than a yellow map turtle--as soon as it gets put in it eats all of them like crunchy M&M's until they are all gone, every last one.

Filtration is sometimes a hassle like you mentioned-- the only way I get around not having any for this planted tank is because these turtles are juveniles and there are only two. Turtle poop that is primarily powdered shrimp pellets is quickly reduced further by japonicum shrimp and larger apple snails, so it doesnt build up. Also, this tank runs 0 nitrate continually because of the plant growth and CO2 suppl.

 

[brandon4291]

the turtle is facing the cam so he looks very tiny-- hes about as long as your thumb. this species is IMO the very best choice for an aquarium (maybe not a pond) even with tropical fish. These razorbacks would rather root through the substrate for snails and food bits than waste time trying to catch fish, not that a dead fish isn't a willing treat for them. Their best character is that they are 99.9% fully aquatic, which works well if you view your animals from the side rather than on top. Even with driftwood stumps, they almost never come out of the water if they are fed on the bottom of the tank.

 

[brandon4291]

once they get full grown I expect the turtle to follow his natural inclinations and eat anything he can fit in his mouth---hey, I buy them small.


A dojo is another hardy animal commonly sold as a tropical fish that can live in ponds and grow to three feet in length. They were associated with Koi ponds for hundreds of years in Japan, and have also been studied by scientists for their abilities to respond (swim erratically) to changes in barometric pressure

not that you would ever see them in your pond, but it is neat to think about them being in there.

 

[brandon4291]

we have ordered large leopard frogs from Carolina biological supply that are shipped overnite. Just open the styrofoam box and there you will two or three large frogs who could stand the temp swings found outdoors. If I remember correctly they also had some waterdogs--what about a large albino axolotl---thats my vote for you Dan. Huge red or white waterdog with large red external gills...

Also how about a large albino Xenopus Laevis? (african clawed frog) that is a 100% aquatic species and being white you will see him well. another opportunistic fish-muncher. grows about the size of your open hand in three years...

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Wombat..........we are all "ignorant" of something...it is stupididity that we ask to be excused for. (people that don't learn by experience). Ok......Live Rock turned Dead Rock will work just fine in Fresh Water for many species of fish. I highly recommend Lacerock for African Cichlids. Algae will keep your Nitrates down.........just the same as in a Marine Tank. My tank had lots of algae and I did very few water changes. My fish bred like well.......Rabbits? Have Fun! Hey I am lookin into the Deep Sand Bed method for my 55 gallon Fish Only With Liverock. Makes a lot of sense to me. Have you had any experience with that? :?:

 

[Anonymous]

the l/r thing for f/w seems to look good on paper, but where's the correlation in nature for a f/w "reef"?

it makes no sense to me, but what do i know, eh? :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

African Ciclids live in lakes that are very rocky with limited plant growth. These fish are actually the only fish I would use "live rock" with. Remember we are talkin fresh water so we are actually going to start out with dead rock and this rock will become liverock while the tank matures. When I do set up another freshwater...I will make it a False Saltwater Tank using brightly colored Mbuna with lots of "liverock" caves. I will probably use a combination of Lacerock,Tuffa,and Lava rock. The substrate will be coral sand. I hope no one is confused...I am not talkin about the Liverock we purchase for our salties.........I am talking about making our own fresh water Liverock while our f/w tank matures. The stuff in our f/w liverock will serve the same purpose as our s/w liverock as stuff grows on it. This will help keep Nitrates to a minimum in the f/w tank. This of course is my opinion from my experience with f/w tanks. Twisted and Proud

 

[Pineapple House]

I have a small Planted tank. Specs:
10 gallon planted
Aquaclear 500 filter, with carbon and sponge
3" of flourite gravel
Fertilizers for leaves and roots
Started September 15th, 2002

Heavily planted, I don't even know the names of most.
DIY C02 reactor

Lighting:
I try to get the best lighting posible, without harming the plants. I have 2, 40wt Corallife Bulbs and 1, 16wt PC over this 10 gallon. The 2, 40wt bulbs are shared with the goldfish. Basicly half of the bulb is on one, the other half on the other tank. 96wts of PC/NO lighting total over a 10 gallon. I have had great results with this, getting 1" or more plant growth every other day. Lighting is on 12hrs daily.

Fish:
No fish. I don't plan on having any fish for quite some time. Likely if I do get some fish, it would be a couple Neon Tetras.

PH =)

 

[Anonymous]

Nice Plant Tank............I often play with the Idea of setting up a tank just for plants. Do you have to spend much time keeping it up? :?:

 

[Rich-n-poor]

Brandon:

that looks like at least 4 inches of gravel in your turtle tank, I wonder if you get any aerobic/anaerbic benefits from the depth of that bed that contributes to the ) nitrates.

I dont think its a matter of the material used so much as the creation of low/no oxygen zone beneficial to the conversion of nitrate into gases.

When I talked about applying reef pricipals to fresh tanks this is what I meant. It isnt a matter of live rock so much as porous rock with a large surface area for bacteria.

It isnt a matter of sand as substrate so much as creating enough depth in the substrate to creat a low/no oxygen zone at the bottom.

BangBang:

I had two previous attempts at salt water fail or meet with only marginal success prior to using a deep sand bed. This included a skimmed tank with 1 lb per gallon of live rock and lots of matinence.

The same tank with a deep sadn bed only requires feeding and ive done no water changes in a year with various soft corals and shrooms and some LPS coral

I will use a deep sand bed in every marine tank I set up from now on

rich
_________________
Honda CRF150R

 

[LtSmash]

I have a 20 gallon with 1 oscar...his name is two face. why two face? well one side of his face is black and the other side with the lightish brown. i put white gravel on one side, black on the other, clearcoated a gashed quarter and tossed it in there...i think its a kickass theme tank =) chicks love it hehe..oh my backdrop is a collage of a ton of pic of twoface. incase you dont know twoface was a twisted batman villan =)