Tyguy's T-Bar Tank

Aww but he's so gorgeous!

 

He's my most stunning fish I own but I'm betting max will end up giving him a run for his money

 

I was able to get sunshine moved over and the 40 set up for the tbars. What do you think?

 

 

Looks great so far.

 

Thanks Dave125g

 

Looks good! How many t-bars do you still have? (I'm losing track).

 

5 right now. 3 Males and 2 females. Looking to sell at least 1 of the males. Not many people in my area interested in them though.

 

Are you going to go with 2 pair then?

 

Ideally I would just keep 1 male and 2 female. But I'm toying with the idea of putting them in the 135g with the sevs and oscura. I was planning on doing a small group of thorichthys in that tank with the sevs and oscuras (once I get a pair out of them) but i'm considering keeping 4 tbars instead of doing the thorichthys. Less geographically correct but if i'm keeping the sevs in there with hoplos and a BN then geography doesn't really matter

If I do that, then I'm considering making the 40 a malayan peninsula biotope for the kuhlis.

If the tbars stay in the 40 I'd only want to do 1 male. In the 125 I think they'd be ok with 2 males.

A lot depends on how sunshine behaves

 

Tank is looking good! I like the rock caves you build. Looks like your starlight BN approves too! His brother (sister? cousin?) over here likes to hang out by the filter outlet, I have yet to see him in a cave.

 

This little guy prefers rocks for some reason. His last set up he spent all his time under a flat rock. And now he seems particularly interested in the rock cave...even though they are supposed to like driftwood and I put several new pieces in for him.

 

I almost never see mine on my driftwood. The rare times he's not by the filter outlet, he's usually on the water pump tubing.

 

Mine is constantly on the driftwood, and I still never seen her eat any veggies.

 

I don't even feed veggies anymore. I'm waiting until it's a bit older.

 

Mine did discover zucchini, he is on that until it's gone every time I add it now. But I had to use a veggie clip on the glass; he would never go down to the sand after it.

 

Mine comes nowhere close to the glass. It just hangs there while the cichlids nip at it and make a mess

 

With my BN pleco, I leave the veggies in the tank until they're gone. I used to take them out after 24hrs but I realized that sometimes I was just throwing out untouched veggies. So now I'll put zucchini, carrot or broccolI in the tank and just leave it until Tiny, my fat guppies or my shrimp eat it

 

Looks awesome! Waiting for glamour shots of Max now

 

Haha. Max seems a bit perturbed by the move. I think I'm going to have to clear out at least one of the other males pretty soon and give him some more room.

 

Got some decent photos last night

 

Looking great!

 

SO gorgeous. Thanks for sharing! I never thought much about Central American cichlids until you got your sajicas!

 

Thanks! I never considered them either until I found sajicas. I always thought centrals were more trouble than they were worth...but then after finding some species with (IMO) quite astonishing beauty, I gave them a closer look. I've since found several species of centrals I really would like to keep.

 

Some of the viejas are beautiful, too. I could see myself with a CA cichlid tank someday. I've got the planted sump thing down enough to feel comfortable running one of those in place of a planted tank!

 

If I could ever wrap my head around a planted sump/fw refugium I'd love to set one up for the 135. The overflow situation just really scares me.

 

It's not scary, really it's not... you just have to leave enough empty space in your sump to accommodate the few gallons above the overflow line, in case the pump stops working.

Or you can do overhead sumps like me, and the water will just drain back into the tank in a pump failure. A big tank can easily accommodate another five gallons or so within the top trim margin.

 

Yeah...my wife would straight up veto an above the tank sump.

I know that the sump would need to be big enough to take on the full amount of overflow, but ideally I'd want a small sump completely devoted to being a refugium. And I'd want the overflow to be silent. Most of the overflow boxes I've seen have bad reviews for being loud, and the DIY options seem to either be ugly, or not very sound. But it's a topic I'd love to tackle for my big tank.

 

Herbie overflows are silent, look into those. My cats have a drinking-fountain-style bowl in the kitchen that is louder than the two overflows on my 125g sump boxes. You can buy nice, clean black plumbing parts that will disappear in your tank.

An above-tank sump can be a pretty planting box if you do it right If I was doing mine again, I'd change a few things... Not least of all, putting the overflows through the bottom of the boxes instead of out the ends. But I know the look isn't for everyone!

 

I've seen the herbie overflows before. I really like that design. But I'd have to find the right overflow box wouldn't I? Most of the overflow boxes I've seen (granted I haven't looked into them heavily) just have one outflow/drain.

Hmm. You make a good point about making a nice looking planter box above the tank. I'd probably have to re-do my canopy since the entire lid opens. Hmm...might float that idea past the wife and see what she thinks.

 

You don't have to drill a tank OR have overflow boxes with the overhead sump concept...

You might be able to mount a shelf up above. Not hard to find brackets that'll hold the weight of a windowbox of water. I even thought of just using windowbox brackets like you'd mount under a window!

 

Yeah. Didn't you do a build thread on yours? I remember someone doing one at some point vaguely

 

I did. I should update it with "things to change next time", for better aesthetics. Overall though, I'm happy with it.

 

Going to have to check that out...I may be considering something like that

 

Round and round they go.... When they'll stop.... Nobody knows

 

Kuhlis are insane

 

The wife kind of approved the above the tank plant box. So you should totally mention some of the things you'd change. I'd be interested

 

My l183 was out for a change

 

The wife kind of approved the above the tank plant box. So you should totally mention some of the things you'd change. I'd be interested

The main thing I would do is run the overflows through bulkheads in the BOTTOM of the planting box(es), instead of out the ends. And drill holes in the shelf under them, or whatever the box(es) rest on, to accommodate those. I also wouldn't use the lighting panel pieces ( ) to divide the compartments; they were too thin, the silicone didn't hold. They stay in place now because of strategically placed lava rock, but I'd find something a little thicker/more substantial to use if I was rebuilding them. Of course, I got a piece with broken corners for about $1 at Home Depot, so I'm not out much cash on that idea!

I'll have to post pics of the whole setup so you can get a better idea.

 

Thanks is appreciate it