# Mixed African Tank



## booba5 (May 3, 2008)

Hey guys, after a long fight with my spraybar pump, i have my tank up and running again. it's a mixed tank, so i'm gonna list what i can remember (i'll update later, i'm at work now) 
5 Red Zebras
3 Yellow Labs
4 Red tails
2 Ice Blues
2 Bumble Bees
1 Blue (tropheous? I got him under assorted, but i think he's a tropheous from the looks of him)
1 Albino
1 Blue Johny (can't remember the name)
1 School Bus (forgot the name, but he looked like a school bus until he inverted his colors)
1 Convict
3 Cobalt Blues
1 blue (peacock? still looking to id this one, i'll have a pic later)
1 Fahaka Puffer
1 Rubberlip pleco
3 (ish) Chinese Algae Eaters
2 Clown Loaches
1 Peacock Eel
4 Giant Danios (target fish....which dont work, but they're cool looking i guess...when i though my cihclids were killing each other..but they weren't read below)
Now before i get flamed on the Fahaka, he was raised with these guys, he's never niped or looking twice at them. I know that since they are all wild caught the temperment can be different from fish to fish, and mine is pretty chill (until i drop a crawdad in there). I had a 8 inch Dragon cat in there as well, but small fish (hence the 3ish cAEs) kept disappearing. I've put in about 5 or 6 CAEs but they've been getting eaten and disappearing, so i dunno how many are left, atleast 3 cuz i count that many lol. anyways, pics:








Surface agitation:
















Zip ties are to stop kinking:








I'll have more pics tonight, any comments welcome!


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## rgr4475 (Mar 19, 2008)

Nice looking tank. Interesting mix of fish too.


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## F8LBITEva (Nov 9, 2007)

very nice tank, you might want to stack rocks up higher so the fish use the upper part of the tank some more.


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## booba5 (May 3, 2008)

Thanks for the advice, i have mixed emotions on the background as well, i like the painted look, but i like the matural look more. Onle thing is a cant do a DIY background cuz i have nowhere else to put my current fish. My room mate tells me that this background makes the tank look like it's from Austin Powers, but i told hes color blind and to go watch the movie then talk to me lol. any other ideas?


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## Neptune Boulevard (Apr 3, 2008)

how many gallons is that puppy?


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## booba5 (May 3, 2008)

75 Gallon, i built the canopy, and only bought the tank for $60


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## Neptune Boulevard (Apr 3, 2008)

no fair  lol


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## booba5 (May 3, 2008)

lol i the dragon catfish i have is just chilling in a 30 gallon by himself, great fish but you never see him...yea they dont like greenbeans either if you wanna add that to your sig


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Nice looking tank, and love the filtration. Nice job. :thumb:


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## booba5 (May 3, 2008)

Thanks, I have the spray run by my magnum 350, also a small 170GPH Powerhead with a sponge on it. In the over flow, i took a 258GPH (@72" lift) put that in the bottom of the overflow, filed the overflow about half way up with lava rocks, then put about an inch or two of floss on top of that. The output of that one is run to the bottom of the tank, to help with the poo on the substrate. The magnum 350 has pot scrubbies in the carbon basket, and floss surrounding it as welll.


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## Neptune Boulevard (Apr 3, 2008)

sounds extremely technical haha. Wish I had the money to do something like that.

Haven't tried green beans, I'll have to experiment again haha.


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

Love the looks of that tank. As for the filtration, anything other than a HOB filter is over my head.


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## Neptune Boulevard (Apr 3, 2008)

amen


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## booba5 (May 3, 2008)

it was pretty simple to set up, i just thought about it in the simplest form, what does a HOB do? It pumps water out of the tank, then the water spills back out into the tank, now you put filter media in the way, so the water flows through it. That's how a HOB works, in the simplest way lol. So water flows through my overflow into my canister and through the pump i have, so why not put some filter media in the way? so i filled the overflow about half way up with lava rock (well known for diy biological media) then covered that lava rock with filter floss, so it polishes the water. Best part is, the inlet for my magnum 350 is at the bottom of the overflow, so the filter media in the overflow has around 650-700 GPH flowing over\through it.

What i liked, is i wanted to drop some carbon into a clean sock, took out the floss, put the sock in the overflow, and then put a little floss on top of that, BAM carbon filtration.


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## booba5 (May 3, 2008)

Here's some updated pics, I got some rocks, then boiled them for 15 min rolling.








My Eel:








My Puffer, in camo:








Tank Shot:


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## Neptune Boulevard (Apr 3, 2008)

my mind can't fathom it, guess i still fall under the noob category. :-?


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