You may want to put the bio balls in a media bag. They eventually get gunked up with detritus after 6-8 months and need to be dunked and agitated in a bucket of aquarium water occasionally. The media bag makes quick work of that.
I also have a 125 gallon tank I'm keeping 3 red spotted gold severums in. I love that background and your filtration, I'm going to look into those for my tank. great job, that must be beautiful and relaxing to watch. Hope to have mine set up like that.
Thanks for the comment! I really enjoy the tank and the background. It has held up well so far and I've had no issues. Good luck with your tank! Red Spotted Severums are beautiful and will look great in that tank!
Couple of questions. How long did it take to receive your background from the time you ordered it? Do your overflows have inlets on the middle and bottom as well? I have a 150 gallon with the overflows and ordered my background with matching side panels a few weeks ago. Nature Decor called me and asked about the purpose of the mid and lower inlets. They said the designer was having a hard time incorporating water pathways to those inlets so we decided to design the background as if the inlets weren’t there and only use the top ones. How well does your setup do as far as keeping waste out of the tank? Also, are you running any power heads or anything for flow other than the returns? Gorgeous setup by the way!
Thanks for the comment! It took about 4-5 weeks for it to ship and another 8 days for the shipping. While the company is very responsive to emails and questions, there was a delay in the production of it. It ships from Eastern Europe and will take about 7-10 days to arrive once it ships. My overflow boxes do have slits in the middle and bottom as well. They tried to manufacture small openings in the background for those, but I don't think they are very functional. That being said, I've had no issues with the function of the top slits in the overflow boxes. Those are the primary sources for the overflow boxes so I wouldn't worry about trying to make slits for the middle and bottom. The setup seems to do as well as any tank using a wet/dry filter with overflow boxes. When I siphon the gravel I do get some waste, but I've seen no difference compared to tanks without a 3D background. I run no other filtration other than the return from the wet/dry filter and I have no circulating fans or power heads in the tank. I have a pretty high powered return pump (Rio 3100HP pump) and it seems to result in plenty of water circulation throughout the tank. I direct the returns down and a little at each other and that seems to really help circulate the water. I often go 3-4 weeks without siphoning the gravel and have had no issues. Let me know if you have any other questions!
@@Jennifer-bz8ki I try to do a water change about twice a month, but I do sometimes let it go 4 weeks. I occasionally add water to the tank whenever it needs it due to evaporation (roughly once a week).
Thanks for the comment! The wet-dry filter was about $300 and the return pump was $65. So the filter setup was roughly $365. The plumbing came as part of the tank. Let me know if you have any other questions!
They don't need plants. You can put certain species of plants with them if you want, but Lake Malawi is a rocky lake with little vegetation (google "Lake Malawi underwater"). African cichlids can be hard on plants, but you can keep certain species with them if desired.
Intro 0:15/17:38
Background 2:49/17:38
Substrate 8:18/17:38
Overflow Drains 9:27/17:38
Wet/Dry Filter & Heater 10:12/17:38
Pump 13:23/17:38
Light 14:15/17:38
Summary 16:14/17:38
Excellent video! A lot of really good information, and your tank looks spectacular!
Thanks for the comment, glad you enjoyed it!
Love it. Looks awesome. Ever thought about putting a canopy on top??
I started to build one a long time ago and then got sidetracked, never got around to finishing it, but it would definitely look better with a canopy!
You may want to put the bio balls in a media bag. They eventually get gunked up with detritus after 6-8 months and need to be dunked and agitated in a bucket of aquarium water occasionally. The media bag makes quick work of that.
Good point, thanks for the advice!
I also have a 125 gallon tank I'm keeping 3 red spotted gold severums in. I love that background and your filtration, I'm going to look into those for my tank. great job, that must be beautiful and relaxing to watch. Hope to have mine set up like that.
Thanks for the comment! I really enjoy the tank and the background. It has held up well so far and I've had no issues. Good luck with your tank! Red Spotted Severums are beautiful and will look great in that tank!
Couple of questions. How long did it take to receive your background from the time you ordered it? Do your overflows have inlets on the middle and bottom as well? I have a 150 gallon with the overflows and ordered my background with matching side panels a few weeks ago. Nature Decor called me and asked about the purpose of the mid and lower inlets. They said the designer was having a hard time incorporating water pathways to those inlets so we decided to design the background as if the inlets weren’t there and only use the top ones. How well does your setup do as far as keeping waste out of the tank? Also, are you running any power heads or anything for flow other than the returns? Gorgeous setup by the way!
Thanks for the comment! It took about 4-5 weeks for it to ship and another 8 days for the shipping. While the company is very responsive to emails and questions, there was a delay in the production of it. It ships from Eastern Europe and will take about 7-10 days to arrive once it ships. My overflow boxes do have slits in the middle and bottom as well. They tried to manufacture small openings in the background for those, but I don't think they are very functional. That being said, I've had no issues with the function of the top slits in the overflow boxes. Those are the primary sources for the overflow boxes so I wouldn't worry about trying to make slits for the middle and bottom. The setup seems to do as well as any tank using a wet/dry filter with overflow boxes. When I siphon the gravel I do get some waste, but I've seen no difference compared to tanks without a 3D background. I run no other filtration other than the return from the wet/dry filter and I have no circulating fans or power heads in the tank. I have a pretty high powered return pump (Rio 3100HP pump) and it seems to result in plenty of water circulation throughout the tank. I direct the returns down and a little at each other and that seems to really help circulate the water. I often go 3-4 weeks without siphoning the gravel and have had no issues. Let me know if you have any other questions!
@@discus1018 you say 3-4 wks between siphoning the gravel, do you still do water changes in between?
@@Jennifer-bz8ki I try to do a water change about twice a month, but I do sometimes let it go 4 weeks. I occasionally add water to the tank whenever it needs it due to evaporation (roughly once a week).
Where can i buy the 3d background?
naturedecordesign.com is the company's website. You can get quotes for the backgrounds there.
AWESOME set up, one question. How much did just the filtration set up cost, mahalo.
Thanks for the comment! The wet-dry filter was about $300 and the return pump was $65. So the filter setup was roughly $365. The plumbing came as part of the tank. Let me know if you have any other questions!
@@discus1018 mahalo for the reply back, I'm a new sub.
@@tigahshark Thanks!
Very nice setup!
Thanks!
Don’t these fish need plants ?
They don't need plants. You can put certain species of plants with them if you want, but Lake Malawi is a rocky lake with little vegetation (google "Lake Malawi underwater"). African cichlids can be hard on plants, but you can keep certain species with them if desired.
Discus101 Makes sense.Thanks for reply....beautiful tank btw also nice to see a setup that isn’t OVERSTOCKED!!!
@@iluciferi5320 Thanks!