75G Tropheus Setup

[Rayne]

Hi everyone!

Thought I'd share the progress I've made on my newly aquired 75 gallon Oceanic drilled tank. I bought it off a guy on Craigslist up here with a TON of other tanks and equipment for $500. I sold all the rest of the stuff for $375 and only kept this 75G so it ended up costing me $125! Not too shabby for up here.

The tank was EXTREMELY dirty since it was in storage for quite a while, and the guy didn't clean it very often. I soaked the glass in vinegar and took a razor blade to it to get all the crud off. After the tank was cleaned I found that the front glass was a little scratched, but still I think it had potential!

Here's a shot of the tank as I got it, after the initial cleaning..


After a little more cleaning and a few coats of paint... voila!


I painted the inside of the stand in a coat of white mildew resistant paint as well to help brighten it up and to help seal it.


Wired up the tank with a little flourescent light and a switch and another switch for turning the sump pump on/off. Also mounted a powerbar to plug the rest of the equipment into.


Next up was deciding what to do about keeping this thing quiet. It came with a perforated drainpipe with a sponge prefilter that fit over top of it. I could only imagine how loud that must have been and since this tank is going into our TV room I wanted it to be as quiet as possible. So I built a durso drainpipe for the overflow and gave it a quick coat of black paint too. Had a really hard time getting the calcium deposit off the glass in that overflow..


When I was down in Vancouver over Easter I stopped in at J&L and picked up a ton of stuff! For filtration I went with the Aqueon Proflex 3 in wet/dry configuration. I was thinking about just building my own sump to save money but decided against it since this was my first tank with a sump and wanted to get a little more familiar with the setup & operation of them. The pump is a Quiet One 3000.


For lighting I also kinda went crazy and picked up two TMC AquaRay GroBeam 500 LED lighting. 24W of lighting goodness! These lights are VERY bright and much better than the Marineland DoubleBrights I had before. I actually sold the DoubleBrights to get these instead.


Another shot of the lights..


This is the lighting controller I picked up for the GroBeam 500's. It has a on/off timer and dimming feature to simulate sunrise/sunset. I have it set to dim down to 1% power to cast an eery moonlight glow on the tank at night. Looks awesome! The big rock in the tank is the only thing that you can see as the light reflects off of it a little bit.


And here was the first initial aquascape I tried. I used PFS as the substrate and some big old rocks I found in my backyard. I also threw some Java Fern in there and some other kind of plant I got off of Katie from BCA here and I cant remember the name of it. Hydor Koralia 750 in there for circulation as well.


This is how it sits now. I added some Jungle Val and rearranged a few of the rocks to better suit the flow. I also hid the heater in the overflow.

[Rayne]

I cycled the tank with Seachem stability and some PFS and filter media from a 10G I tore down. I've also stuck some baby convicts in there to help cycle. It's now ready zero for ammonia and nitrites so I'm ready to roll!

I finally ordered the Tropheus from Spencer Jack last night. I'm getting 25 Chimba Red! The juveniles won't be colored yet of course but if they look anything close to how this guy looks when they grow up I'll be extremely happy!


They are coming in tomorrow morning at 11am and I can't wait! I'll be sure to post more pics when I get them.

[joker1535]

I've got the exact same tropheus. When they hit 1.5 inches they get really pretty. Nice setup bud.

[monkE]

wow it looks great! I've never done a sump system before... i just thought that was for strickly marine set-ups, but i don't see any reason why you couldn't use it on fresh water...kinda like a really big canister filter i suppose.

Anyway great work on the stand and the aquascape... keep the pictures coming when you get it fully populated!

[EVANDU]

is it too small for tropheus. cause my biggest ikola killed another two male tropheus. and now only 4 bigger females, and 4 small trohpeus. my tanks is 65G. i placed a lot of hiding place, but it doesnet work very well for them.

[traco]

is it too small for tropheus. cause my biggest ikola killed another two male tropheus. and now only 4 bigger females, and 4 small trohpeus. my tanks is 65G. i placed a lot of hiding place, but it doesnet work very well for them.

Would be better if you started your own thread, Evandu. Would get a better response I think?

[hp10BII]

Setup looks really nice! Be sure to post pics of your new trophs.

[Rayne]

I've got the exact same tropheus. When they hit 1.5 inches they get really pretty. Nice setup bud.

Thanks!

wow it looks great! I've never done a sump system before... i just thought that was for strickly marine set-ups, but i don't see any reason why you couldn't use it on fresh water...kinda like a really big canister filter i suppose.

Anyway great work on the stand and the aquascape... keep the pictures coming when you get it fully populated!

This is my first sump and honestly, I don't think I'd ever do any other way now on a tank this size or bigger. Maintenance on the sump is EASY.

is it too small for tropheus. cause my biggest ikola killed another two male tropheus. and now only 4 bigger females, and 4 small trohpeus. my tanks is 65G. i placed a lot of hiding place, but it doesnet work very well for them.

It's fine for a juvenile colony now, and should be fine for an adult colony as I thin out the colony a little. I may have to remove some males depending on the ratio I end up with and aggression levels. I've read that 75G should be minimum for Trophs.

Setup looks really nice! Be sure to post pics of your new trophs.

Will do!

[Rayne]

Finally! The stars of the tank have arrived. 25 Tropheus sp. Red "Chimba".



Nicely packed. Double bagged, bubble-wrap inside a styrofoam box inside a cardboard box. No DOA fish!


They are around 1 1/2" - 2" as juvenilles right now and should grow anywhere to 4 - 6" when adults. They should start coloring up really nicely in the next few months as they grow.





This guy is already starting to get quite a bit of red.




I had the lights off on the tank for the first 24 hours, no food either. Once I turned the lights on they looked awesome and had ZERO casualties. I had a ton of algae on the big rock and they pretty much had it cleaned up the next day. They are all eating like pigs already.

[hp10BII]

Christmas in May!

Very nice looking fish, it'll be fun watching the colony establish itself and colour up as they grow older.

Congrats!