MN-AQUARIST Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Hi everyone, I'm an aquarist from Minnesota. I have a small fish room with mostly livebearers in 10-20g aquariums, a 150g pond, a 60g, and I recently acquired a 540g aquarium (8'×3'×3') that I will be setting up over the next few months. I have been keeping fish for 15 years now and have about 6 years of retail fish experience as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Welcome to the 540 gallon club! What are you thoughts on stocking so far? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MN-AQUARIST Posted November 11, 2020 Author Share Posted November 11, 2020 Hi Daniel, I'm not entirely sure yet but I am leaning towards a pair of either albino pearl or black diamond stingrays, with some larger peaceful south American cichlids such as the threading acaras and or bumblebee Oscar's. Very much open to ideas still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Wow! Stingrays would be impressive in a tank of that size! I have tended towards discus and angelfish in my 540. At first it was heavily planted and I liked that. But then later I went with hardscape only (which I thought I wouldn't like) and I liked that too. Hardscape only is much easier to maintain. The biggest issue for me have been: 3 feet is so deep it is a little difficult to mess around on the bottom, like planting plants. A really gigantic pair of tweezers is helpful. For somethings a person has to get inside the aquarium With a big tank water changes can be a bear which is why I automated my system It takes a big heater too. I use an inline hot tub heater. I have the plumbing coming in from the bottom to reduce the clutter around the sides Be careful what fish you put into the tank. It is nearly impossible to catch fish out of the tank without draining nearly all the water out. I have had to resort to a fish trap to remove fish from the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MN-AQUARIST Posted November 11, 2020 Author Share Posted November 11, 2020 Thank you for the tips that's really good to know. What do you use for lighting? It came with a big coral life light with the old 4 pin bulbs, I was hoping to upgrade at some point to led lights but I'm not sure what ones and how many I might need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 Back in 2007 I started with metal halides but they hot and noisy. I soon switched to LEDs and have been through a series of those. Currently I am using three Kessil a360x's with beam focusers. Without a tight beam it is hard to push light down through 3 feet of water. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MN-AQUARIST Posted November 11, 2020 Author Share Posted November 11, 2020 I really like how that looks, I might have to copy that layout. That is a great looking tank for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Blake Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 I'm also a Minnesota fish keeper welcome to the forum!! I keep mainly US natives my biggest aquarium is a 300 so if you ever want to get rid of that 540 let me know lol. Have you been to tamed waters they have a pair or albino pearls that would love that tank you got there. This is my 300 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MN-AQUARIST Posted November 11, 2020 Author Share Posted November 11, 2020 I have! I'm good friends with the owner, I've been eyeing those rays a lot. He has them pellet trained already which is a huge help. Thats a good looking tank, where did you find a piece if wood that big? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RovingGinger Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 The Tamed Water rays are gorgeous, I got to check them out a week or so ago. Are you in the MN Aquarium Society? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MN-AQUARIST Posted November 11, 2020 Author Share Posted November 11, 2020 I am not currently, I have been thinking about joining though. For a while I lived to far from the metro to make it worth it but I am closer now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Blake Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 We are also doing online meetings now which has been nice the next meeting is about live bearers and is on Dec 3rd at 7 pm here is a link to the website Announcements AQUARIUM.MN 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RovingGinger Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 Yeah, the online meetings and auctions are great. I am an hour or so away but I can participate if it’s just drop off and pickup. The online auction platform has been awesome. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grace Posted November 12, 2020 Share Posted November 12, 2020 MN aquarist here as well! That's good to know about MAS online meetings - I incorrectly assumed there weren't any events, currently! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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