# 46 Gallon Bow-Front Aquarium



## D-B-J (Jun 1, 2014)

I decided I need to start an official thread for these pictures.  I'll be posting millions, and don't want to add a new thread every few days. 

Here's the tank on day 2:





Cheers! 
Jake


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## D-B-J (Jun 1, 2014)

First fish!!

pH was at 7.6 last night, ammonia was at 0.25, and nitrates and nitrites were at 0. I added a few drops of pH down and will see what happens..




Black Phantom Tetra by f_one_eight, on Flickr



Gold Pristella Tetra by f_one_eight, on Flickr



Ten Tetras by f_one_eight, on Flickr



First Fish by f_one_eight, on Flickr

Cheers!
Jake


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## IzzieK (Jun 1, 2014)

Nice fishies...good shots...where is the cat to watch it from the other side? Just asking...


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## pjaye (Jun 1, 2014)

I'm planning on surprising Scott with an aquarium for his birthday. These are nice shots.


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## minicoop1985 (Jun 1, 2014)

I like the light on the bags. Just something otherworldly about that lighting-reminds me of a jellyfish. I followed you on Flickr because I'm sure there's good stuff to come.


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## D-B-J (Jun 1, 2014)

IzzieK said:


> Nice fishies...good shots...where is the cat to watch it from the other side? Just asking...



She left my room when I started playing music and spilling water on the floor, haha.


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## D-B-J (Jun 1, 2014)

symplybarb said:


> I'm planning on surprising Scott with an aquarium for his birthday. These are nice shots.



Thanks! I just wish I hadn't sold my macro...


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## D-B-J (Jun 1, 2014)

minicoop1985 said:


> I like the light on the bags. Just something otherworldly about that lighting-reminds me of a jellyfish. I followed you on Flickr because I'm sure there's good stuff to come.



I plan to have a lot more fish. I just kept it to ten for now to let the tank cycle. 

Cheers!
Jake 


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## dxqcanada (Jun 1, 2014)

You need more plants, and good lights.
We never needed aeration on our large tanks .. also it looks really cool with landscaping (and you don't need the fake background, just black).


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## Bamps (Jun 1, 2014)

Love the pics so far!! How bout a close up with the lens tight on the glass and mr/ms fish bubbling hello.


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## D-B-J (Jun 1, 2014)

dxqcanada said:


> You need more plants, and good lights.
> We never needed aeration on our large tanks .. also it looks really cool with landscaping (and you don't need the fake background, just black).



I have more than enough light. I have 120 watts, and can have 150 of T5 HO if I used all four spots in the fixture. And I will get more plants, but I don't have many LFS' close to me. 


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## DarkShadow (Jun 1, 2014)

Great water chemistry there, I can totally relate as I been doing aquariums seems like forever. My previous was a successful saltwater with a Black Volitan Lion Fish, I had some Damsels to but he lion fish swallowed them. I always had to watch when putting in the hand inside for any cleaning of unwanted algae of the lions where abouts to avoid a sting. Nice shots and set up.


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## D-B-J (Jun 1, 2014)

DarkShadow said:


> Great water chemistry there, I can totally relate as I been doing aquariums seems like forever. My previous was a successful saltwater with a Black Volitan Lion Fish, I had some Damsels to but he lion fish swallowed them. I always had to watch when putting in the hand inside for any cleaning of unwanted algae of the lions where abouts to avoid a sting. Nice shots and set up.



Thanks! The ammonia was down to .1 or so today and the pH was down to 7.3 or 7.4, so I'm slowly getting there.

Cheers!
Jake 


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## snerd (Jun 1, 2014)

Hmmmmm............. aquariums. (off to check card balances. i really shouldn't be left alone like this.)


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## pjaye (Jun 1, 2014)

D-B-J said:


> symplybarb said:
> 
> 
> > I'm planning on surprising Scott with an aquarium for his birthday. These are nice shots.
> ...



Ah. If you were closer, I'd lend you mine. I have to say, when I saw the first picture of the fish in the bag, I thought you had put the fish in a martini glass.... I obviously need some sleep. 

How long after you set up the tank did you put the fish in?


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## D-B-J (Jun 1, 2014)

symplybarb said:


> D-B-J said:
> 
> 
> > symplybarb said:
> ...



Only three days. The levels were oddly perfect, so I figured I'd just go for it!


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## DarkShadow (Jun 1, 2014)

Just keep an eye on it as the tank cycles is could spike with ammonia and nitrites very toxic until enough of a good bacteria bed builds of Nitrates not toxic unless high levels that can cause stress,sickness or death. I cant tell you how my times family or friends called me to tell me how all there fish died. When I tell them new tank syndrome they say what the heck is that. Then I got to go into the water chemistry speech and they wonder why the pet store did not tell them this. Untrained or they don't care or both. My brother did the same thing,buy a tank and the fish the same day set it up and dump 10 fish in there at once. All the fish died within a week or two except for one maybe two.

Saltwater is a whole different ball game as some of the fish are caught by cyanide. They cyanide to force the fish out of the reefs for easer catch, the problem is it poisons the fish but usually will live a month or so and enough time to ship them out for sale and unfortunate the customer usually gets the short end of the stick death. a hundred dollar fish dead that looked totally healthy. Big money business so they cut corners to get them.


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## D-B-J (Jun 1, 2014)

DarkShadow said:


> Just keep an eye on it as the tank cycles is could spike with ammonia and nitrites very toxic until enough of a good bacteria bed builds of Nitrates not toxic unless high levels that can cause stress,sickness or death. I cant tell you how my times family or friends called me to tell me how all there fish died. When I tell them new tank syndrome they say what the heck is that. Then I got to go into the water chemistry speech and they wonder why the pet store did not tell them this. Untrained or they don't care or both. My brother did the same thing,buy a tank and the fish the same day set it up and dump 10 fish in there at once. All the fish died within a week or two except for one maybe two.
> 
> Saltwater is a whole different ball game as some of the fish are caught by cyanide. They cyanide to force the fish out of the reefs for easer catch, the problem is it poisons the fish but usually will live a month or so and enough time to ship them out for sale and unfortunate the customer usually gets the short end of the stick death. a hundred dollar fish dead that look totally healthy. Big money business so they cut corners to get them.



Oh I know. I've had a tank before, so I know how it all works. [emoji16][emoji16] 


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## DarkShadow (Jun 1, 2014)

Great hobby Jake and very relaxing and hope you enjoy it. I love the bow fronts and sorry I never bought one.


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## D-B-J (Jun 1, 2014)

DarkShadow said:


> Great hobby Jake and very relaxing and hope you enjoy it. I love the bow fronts and sorry I never bought one.



They are beautiful, for sure. I love mine. My goal is a 120 or 150 planted bowfront[emoji16][emoji106]


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## manaheim (Jun 1, 2014)

Oh man. You people need to not be posting pictures of fish, or I'll wind up going down to the pet store and buying a giant marine aquarium again. BAD BAD BAD.


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## D-B-J (Jun 1, 2014)

manaheim said:


> Oh man. You people need to not be posting pictures of fish, or I'll wind up going down to the pet store and buying a giant marine aquarium again. BAD BAD BAD.



Go go go!!!


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## manaheim (Jun 1, 2014)

The really bad thing is I can totally just go downstairs and grab my 15 gallon setup and put together a mini reef. I even have two five gallon buckets full of Fiji rock.  Bad bad bad bad bad.


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## pjaye (Jun 1, 2014)

Good good good. 
Cant wait to see the pictures :mrgreen:


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## manaheim (Jun 1, 2014)

Augh.

Man I'd love me a couple little clown fish.  Been so long. And they're so cute.


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## D-B-J (Jun 1, 2014)

manaheim said:


> Augh.
> 
> Man I'd love me a couple little clown fish.  Been so long. And they're so cute.



I expect setup pictures in a week. Go!


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## DarkShadow (Jun 2, 2014)

manaheim said:


> Augh.
> 
> Man I'd love me a couple little clown fish. Been so long. And they're so cute.


The Clowns are breed in captivity tank raised so they are easer to keep and pretty hardy. A small tank like the bio cube works great. Put it some live rock and a anemone and makes a nice decor. Now I want another marine set up.


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## D-B-J (Jun 2, 2014)

DarkShadow said:


> manaheim said:
> 
> 
> > Augh.
> ...



You both should set up tanks!


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## D-B-J (Jun 3, 2014)

pH is at 7.6 still, nitrites are at 0, nitrites around 0.1, ammonia around .1, and temp around 79.  Added five more cories and two plants, and planting them stirred up a bit of dust. 




Five Coryadora&#x27;s by f_one_eight, on Flickr

Cheers!
Jake


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## Msteelio91 (Jun 3, 2014)

Oh man. I'm super excited for these pics. Love a good aquarium and it looks like you have the makings of an awesome tank here


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## D-B-J (Jun 3, 2014)

Msteelio91 said:


> Oh man. I'm super excited for these pics. Love a good aquarium and it looks like you have the makings of an awesome tank here



Thanks! I'll be working hard at it for the foreseeable future.  

Cheers!
Jake


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## wyogirl (Jun 3, 2014)

Ha!  I didn't know there were so many aquarium enthusiasts here on TPF.  If you need a fish forum to hang in I really like this one:  Fish Lore Aquarium Fish Forum

So how about you come over and aquascape my 55 gallon cichlid tank.  Those little beasts are re-decorating by themselves all the darn time.  I can't keep anything in that tank where I want it.


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## D-B-J (Jun 3, 2014)

wyogirl said:


> Ha!  I didn't know there were so many aquarium enthusiasts here on TPF.  If you need a fish forum to hang in I really like this one:  Fish Lore Aquarium Fish Forum
> 
> So how about you come over and aquascape my 55 gallon cichlid tank.  Those little beasts are re-decorating by themselves all the darn time.  I can't keep anything in that tank where I want it.



That's why I stick with peaceful community tanks


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## wyogirl (Jun 3, 2014)

D-B-J said:


> wyogirl said:
> 
> 
> > Ha!  I didn't know there were so many aquarium enthusiasts here on TPF.  If you need a fish forum to hang in I really like this one:  Fish Lore Aquarium Fish Forum
> ...



I like big fish.  I did have some Angel fish the size of my hand in with red eye tetras and that worked well.  Then I moved 1500 miles and gave the fish to my brother.  I started over with all Cichlids per my husband's request.

You have a nice setup.  I can't wait to see more pics.


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## D-B-J (Jun 3, 2014)

wyogirl said:


> D-B-J said:
> 
> 
> > wyogirl said:
> ...



Currently I have no significant other to help me determine what fish I get. [emoji16]

Jake 


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## DarkShadow (Jun 3, 2014)

I had african cichlids in a 55 Gallon and what a war zone it was.After they established there territory I could not add a new fish to the aquarium. I tried a couple of times in complete darkness hoping the fish would blend in the crowd but nope they torn the new fish to pieces. If they where not killing each other they where shoveling rocks around.Each day I have bare glass on one side and a huge mound of rocks on the other. I had one that was totally mental trying to kill everything I had to remove him and gave him to the pet shop. I had almost all of these.african cichlids


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## D-B-J (Jun 3, 2014)

DarkShadow said:


> I had african cichlids in a 55 Gallon and what a war zone it was.After they established there territory I could not add a new fish to the aquarium. I tried a couple of times in complete darkness hoping the fish would blend in the crowd but nope they torn the new fish to pieces. If they where not killing each other they where shoveling rocks around.Each day I have bare glass on one side and a huge mound of rocks on the other. I had one that was totally mental trying to kill everything I had to remove him and gave him to the pet shop. I had almost all of these.african cichlids



Doesn't sound*** enjoyable, honestly..


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## DarkShadow (Jun 3, 2014)

Yes very enjoyable.Going to the pet shop this week,going to look and see what cool tanks the have.


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## D-B-J (Jun 3, 2014)

DarkShadow said:


> Yes very enjoyable.Going to the pet shop this week,going to look and see what cool tanks the have.



So you're going to start a tank?!


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## DarkShadow (Jun 3, 2014)

Thinking about it,thinking saltwater again.


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## D-B-J (Jun 3, 2014)

DarkShadow said:


> Thinking about it,thinking saltwater again.



Tis a good choice. I will await pictures!


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## D-B-J (Jun 5, 2014)

Changed up the setup, yet again.  I added more holes to the canister outflow pipes (to lessen the flow, as the tetras seemed to be fighting it hard), as well as angled them up to disrupt the surface, and removed the airstone as I didn't like the looks of it. 



Aeration 1 by f_one_eight, on Flickr



Aeration 2 by f_one_eight, on Flickr


Cheers!
Jake


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## wyogirl (Jun 5, 2014)

the inside top of my aquarium looks like an algae farm with salt creep.  Yours makes me feel the need to go scrub mine down.


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## D-B-J (Jun 5, 2014)

wyogirl said:


> the inside top of my aquarium looks like an algae farm with salt creep.  Yours makes me feel the need to go scrub mine down.



Freshwater makes it a lot easier to keep clean :mrgreen:


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## wyogirl (Jun 5, 2014)

it is freshwater.  The salt creep is because we have a water softener I guess.... I certainly don't add salt.


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## D-B-J (Jun 5, 2014)

wyogirl said:


> it is freshwater.  The salt creep is because we have a water softener I guess.... I certainly don't add salt.



ahh.. that stinks.


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## D-B-J (Jun 5, 2014)

Make sure to watch in HD!


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## D-B-J (Jun 5, 2014)

6-5-14 by f_one_eight, on Flickr

And a picture for today.


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## wyogirl (Jun 5, 2014)

live plants?  What kind of lighting do you have?


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## Msteelio91 (Jun 5, 2014)

You need some bottom dwellers in there


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## D-B-J (Jun 5, 2014)

wyogirl said:


> live plants?  What kind of lighting do you have?



Yes they are live plants.  I currently have 2x39watt T5HO lights at 10,000K, and 2x39watt T5HO lights at 6700K, on about an 8hr cycle.  I may shorten/lessen it soon, depending on how much algae growth I get. 

Cheers!
Jake


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## D-B-J (Jun 5, 2014)

Msteelio91 said:


> You need some bottom dwellers in there



I currently have 5 cory cats, but plan on adding 2 whip-tail catfish and a school of kuhli loaches.


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## D-B-J (Jun 5, 2014)

And one more!


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## D-B-J (Jun 5, 2014)

So, sh** went down tonight.. Literally. I heard a cracking noise twice two nights ago, stressed a bit, and let it be. Then again tonight around 6 I heard a really loud one, and started freaking out. I live on the second floor, and the tank is in close proximity to thousands of dollars of tech and stereo equip(limited space). Needless to say, I decided to drain it, and found a local place that sells this particular tank. Went ahead and got a new one, a few plants, a new piece of driftwood, and came back and set it up. It looks good. Maybe even better. Fish seem alright (we'll know in the morning how detrimental the shock was). I have high hopes. The kicker? I can't seem to find any cracks on the old tank. Granted, they could be hiding behind silicone or the trim, but it's annoying. I know for a fact that if I left it full I wouldn't have been able to sleep. So here's to hoping I no longer here those dreaded cracking sounds... More pictures and video to come, but here's a quick cellphone snap. 









Cheers!
Jake 


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## D-B-J (Jun 6, 2014)

I'm at work today, but my father said the fish look happy!


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## D-B-J (Jun 7, 2014)

Fish are looking good, added the UV sterilizer, now all I need to do is switch back to the old background. This ones nice, but doesn't provide the same amount of depth.. 







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## D-B-J (Jun 8, 2014)

If you've been following along, you know I had to drain and fill a new tank recently.  Since then, I changed the outflow, removed the airstone, added a UV sterilizer, a few plants, a new piece of driftwood, and changed the scape.  I'm getting happier and happier with it.  I still have a few things that need tweaking, but it's slowly starting to settle out. 


The Tank--This photo was created with 3 off camera flashes, and I blended the exposures from 3 separate images.  



The Tank by f_one_eight, on Flickr


Cheers!
Jake


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## D-B-J (Jun 9, 2014)

And the drama continues.  My Nova Extreme light fixture (4x39watt T5 HO) has been not working more and more, and today I came home from work to find out that it hadn't been on all day.  Couple that and the noise of the fan and I got fed up and bought a new light.  This time I went with LED's, as I'll need no fan, and they'll use significantly less power (~120watts vs ~40watts I believe).  Now lets hope the new one works..this tank is getting expensive!

Cheers,
Jake


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## snerd (Jun 9, 2014)

Good grief! I thought an aquarium would be a nice, quiet, RELAXING hobby LOL!!

Anyway, looks like never a dull moment for you lately. Thanks for the updates!


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## D-B-J (Jun 9, 2014)

snerd said:


> Good grief! I thought an aquarium would be a nice, quiet, RELAXING hobby LOL!!
> 
> Anyway, looks like never a dull moment for you lately. Thanks for the updates!



Me too! I think part of the problem was that the gear (tank, lights, etc) had atleast 2 or 3 years of full-time use, and then sat in a a box for three years.  I should have anticipated all of these failures... thankfully the pumps are working!

Jake


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## D-B-J (Jun 16, 2014)

Marineland Plant LED light and Fluval E-Series 300watt heater added tonight.  I can't believe how awesome the light fixture is!



Marineland Plant LED by f_one_eight, on Flickr



Untitled by f_one_eight, on Flickr



Untitled by f_one_eight, on Flickr



Fluval E Series 300watt Heater by f_one_eight, on Flickr



Marineland Plant LED Blue LED's by f_one_eight, on Flickr

Cheers!
Jake


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## manaheim (Jun 17, 2014)

Beautiful tank.
The new LED lights are amazing.
Especially for marine tanks.
Which I seriously need to resist putting together.
Because that would be seriously bad.
I need to unsubscribe from this thread.


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## D-B-J (Jun 17, 2014)

manaheim said:


> Beautiful tank.
> The new LED lights are amazing.
> Especially for marine tanks.
> Which I seriously need to resist putting together.
> ...



Nono set it up!!!


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## D-B-J (Jun 17, 2014)

manaheim said:


> Beautiful tank.
> The new LED lights are amazing.
> Especially for marine tanks.
> Which I seriously need to resist putting together.
> ...



I expect pictures within a week.


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## manaheim (Jun 17, 2014)

lol


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## D-B-J (Jun 17, 2014)

Added new fish this evening.  6 Black Phantom Tetras, 6 Gold Pristella Tetras, 3 Weather Loaches, and 1 Whiptail Catfish.  



6 Black Phantom Tetras by f_one_eight, on Flickr



3 Weather Loaches by f_one_eight, on Flickr



Whiptail Catfish by f_one_eight, on Flickr



6 Pristella Tetras by f_one_eight, on Flickr



Second Wave of Fish by f_one_eight, on Flickr

Cheers!
Jake


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## cmcz450 (Jun 17, 2014)

Awesome setup, it makes me realize how much I don't miss having one though lol


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## D-B-J (Jun 17, 2014)

cmcz450 said:


> Awesome setup, it makes me realize how much I don't miss having one though lol



What... $600 in unplanned expenses doesn't sound fun?!


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## cmcz450 (Jun 18, 2014)

It almost does. After seeing your pics of it installed with fish, I thought for a moment maybe I would like to get one again. Then I finished reading the entire thread  it looks great though, and if it's your hobby, $600 is no sweat.


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## D-B-J (Jun 18, 2014)

cmcz450 said:


> It almost does. After seeing your pics of it installed with fish, I thought for a moment maybe I would like to get one again. Then I finished reading the entire thread  it looks great though, and if it's your hobby, $600 is no sweat.



It is. Marine Biology is my field, so it's kind of my life, haha.

Jake


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## DarkShadow (Jun 18, 2014)

Tank looks beautiful and so Natural looking.Nice artistic arrangements of driftwood plants etc.Great job.


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## D-B-J (Jun 18, 2014)

DarkShadow said:


> Tank looks beautiful and so Natural looking.Nice artistic arrangements of driftwood plants etc.Great job.



Glad you like it!


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## D-B-J (Jun 19, 2014)

220 Second Exposure by f_one_eight, on Flickr


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## cmcz450 (Jun 19, 2014)

D-B-J said:


> cmcz450 said:
> 
> 
> > It almost does. After seeing your pics of it installed with fish, I thought for a moment maybe I would like to get one again. Then I finished reading the entire thread  it looks great though, and if it's your hobby, $600 is no sweat.
> ...





So this may be out of your realm of study, but have you seen Blackfish on Netflix? It's a really informative documentary about Orcas and how they are handled in captivity. I love Orcas too, and watching it was an eye opening experience.


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## D-B-J (Jun 19, 2014)

cmcz450 said:


> D-B-J said:
> 
> 
> > cmcz450 said:
> ...



I have watched it, and do agree that it was quite eye-opening.  As a youngster I never realized how harmful it is to keep large animals in captivity like that, but as I grow older and especially what I learned in college really changed how I view commercial enterprises such as zoos and aquariums.


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