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Yes! Now if I can only get a pair........... these shark dealers, (LOL!) some them completely miss the idea of customer service, or service in general! HA!:shout:
500 + Gallon Shark and Ray System
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Sorry I missed your call yesterday Andre! I did not have my phone with me! I'll try and reconnect later after/if I get through the next few days of work.:up:
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O.K., I know I have went a bit off the DIY build subject so I have changed my ways for now and here is the latest progress report on the system mixed with a little more info about those fabulous short tail nurse sharks! LOL! The pictures are below so check them out!
I am close, I think anyways.....to getting a pair of the short tail nurse sharks from a shark importer within the next few weeks if all goes well. They will come from off the coast near Kenya, Africa. I won't lie... they are going to cost an insane amount of money but if I can get them to breed, that's a big if BTW as I would be the first or one of the first to produce a live pup of this species (in captivity) at present I don't think any one has hatched a pup yet. These S-T lay eggs unlike their two much larger cousin nurse sharks. A few others have had them lay eggs but as far as I know they have all been infertile or the fertile ones have yet to hatch but the efforts in breeding these sharks are still a new thing and they can typically live for well over thirty years in a tank. The female S-T nurse shark in Amsterdam (at one of their public aquarium(s)) has lived 33 years so far and is still swimming! Nice-!:yay:
The pictures below show some of the latest, and most likely some of the last, upgrades for the D.A. RKL controller system/setup. I now have a 24 hour lighting system with the lunar white LED module which I hope will encourage breeding but at any rate it will allow easy night viewing without having to turn back on any bright lights to check out the tank. They look really cool suspended that high above the tank in the dark and there are six pods with 2 LEDs in each pod and you can control the Pods (on/off) by sets of two pods at a time so you can adjust the area and brightness of the tank which is an added bonus I think! The only other thing/module I will add soon is another float switch for a third sump I am adding as a "precautionary overflow/power outage reserve tank" (That's a little catch phrase I came up with, LOL!), which will be plumbed just under the tank and it will be connected with bulkheads and when, not if (LOL!), the power goes out and that tall skimmer backwashes all of that water it will go into the reserve tank. When the power comes back on the switch senses the water level in the tank being elevated and of course the pump will cut on and pump the extra water back into the system. The reserve tank will hold an extra 30+ gallons or so. I will also be adding a large 100-150 gallon stock tank that will be plumbed into the system from the sumps for a shark nursery to raise the shark pups in but that may wait till I see some eggs first!:sad:
The other pictures show the larger DIY protein skimmer I just added. It has a 750 gallon venturi pump driving it, I may put an even better Sicce skimmer pump later on down the road but right now it is doing a good job! It is about 4.25 feet tall with a 4" base section that reduces to a 3" top section and the skimmer cup is removable of course and the top will come off as well. I designed this while "playing" in Home Depot the other day for about 20 minutes and then built it in about 20 more minutes. Very simple design. Yes, it is made of PVC but even the smaller PVC one I built was pulling a lot of skim with a smaller pump and with the PVC there is no light going into the tower which means no algae growth. The price tag was crazy cheap other than the pump which still the whole thing was under a $100. You can see I also added a Two Little Fishies Kalk Reactor 300 which is plumbed into the auto top-off pump so it will kinda dose whatever I put in it at the rate of evaporation, etc. The PH already stays high so I use it to dose some liquid vitamins and such right now.
I have a bundle of large Red Mangrove plants coming soon that will be added to the biological sump and I will run a plant light over the top of them and of course run the light counter opposite of the primary lights so the PH will hopefully be alittle more stable at night. It does not go way off but daytime PH is around 8.40-8.38 and PH at night is about 8.36-8.34 (give or take) all of this is monitored electronically by the D.A. PH probe, etc.
There is also a photo of my primitive screen covering, it's in two sections so it is easy to remove put back on and it just sits on top of the sides, real simple.
I'll keep you all posted on the Short tail nurse shark situation and any other new additions.
Take care.
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I am close, I think anyways.....to getting a pair of the short tail nurse sharks from a shark importer within the next few weeks if all goes well. They will come from off the coast near Kenya, Africa. I won't lie... they are going to cost an insane amount of money but if I can get them to breed, that's a big if BTW as I would be the first or one of the first to produce a live pup of this species (in captivity) at present I don't think any one has hatched a pup yet. These S-T lay eggs unlike their two much larger cousin nurse sharks. A few others have had them lay eggs but as far as I know they have all been infertile or the fertile ones have yet to hatch but the efforts in breeding these sharks are still a new thing and they can typically live for well over thirty years in a tank. The female S-T nurse shark in Amsterdam (at one of their public aquarium(s)) has lived 33 years so far and is still swimming! Nice-!:yay:
The pictures below show some of the latest, and most likely some of the last, upgrades for the D.A. RKL controller system/setup. I now have a 24 hour lighting system with the lunar white LED module which I hope will encourage breeding but at any rate it will allow easy night viewing without having to turn back on any bright lights to check out the tank. They look really cool suspended that high above the tank in the dark and there are six pods with 2 LEDs in each pod and you can control the Pods (on/off) by sets of two pods at a time so you can adjust the area and brightness of the tank which is an added bonus I think! The only other thing/module I will add soon is another float switch for a third sump I am adding as a "precautionary overflow/power outage reserve tank" (That's a little catch phrase I came up with, LOL!), which will be plumbed just under the tank and it will be connected with bulkheads and when, not if (LOL!), the power goes out and that tall skimmer backwashes all of that water it will go into the reserve tank. When the power comes back on the switch senses the water level in the tank being elevated and of course the pump will cut on and pump the extra water back into the system. The reserve tank will hold an extra 30+ gallons or so. I will also be adding a large 100-150 gallon stock tank that will be plumbed into the system from the sumps for a shark nursery to raise the shark pups in but that may wait till I see some eggs first!:sad:
The other pictures show the larger DIY protein skimmer I just added. It has a 750 gallon venturi pump driving it, I may put an even better Sicce skimmer pump later on down the road but right now it is doing a good job! It is about 4.25 feet tall with a 4" base section that reduces to a 3" top section and the skimmer cup is removable of course and the top will come off as well. I designed this while "playing" in Home Depot the other day for about 20 minutes and then built it in about 20 more minutes. Very simple design. Yes, it is made of PVC but even the smaller PVC one I built was pulling a lot of skim with a smaller pump and with the PVC there is no light going into the tower which means no algae growth. The price tag was crazy cheap other than the pump which still the whole thing was under a $100. You can see I also added a Two Little Fishies Kalk Reactor 300 which is plumbed into the auto top-off pump so it will kinda dose whatever I put in it at the rate of evaporation, etc. The PH already stays high so I use it to dose some liquid vitamins and such right now.
I have a bundle of large Red Mangrove plants coming soon that will be added to the biological sump and I will run a plant light over the top of them and of course run the light counter opposite of the primary lights so the PH will hopefully be alittle more stable at night. It does not go way off but daytime PH is around 8.40-8.38 and PH at night is about 8.36-8.34 (give or take) all of this is monitored electronically by the D.A. PH probe, etc.
There is also a photo of my primitive screen covering, it's in two sections so it is easy to remove put back on and it just sits on top of the sides, real simple.
I'll keep you all posted on the Short tail nurse shark situation and any other new additions.
Take care.
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Great Job!!! It did not dawn on me who you were until I saw Heaths old set up.
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Thanks Chris!
Heath and I were literally 30 yards from stopping in and seeing you guys yesterday but we realized last minute that it was 3:00p.m. so we decided we had better go ahead and get our trip to Atlanta underway. We'll come by next time I hope!
Heath and I were literally 30 yards from stopping in and seeing you guys yesterday but we realized last minute that it was 3:00p.m. so we decided we had better go ahead and get our trip to Atlanta underway. We'll come by next time I hope!
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Hey Luke I think every shark aquarium should have that sign near it by law!!! :lol2:
I got the mangroves yesterday, a bundle of 21 large 14"-16" from 742 in HI on Ebay like you suggested....so far they look great! I will get more later. I just setup the plant light over them a bit ago and I hope they will do well. They were around $34 shipped expressed shipping, it only took about three business days.
Thanks for the encouraging words I should hear about those S-T nurse sharks within the next few weeks according to the saler. I can't wait but my wallet can......I dread the price tag but it is for the greater good. I got to try and stop all of that insane "full size nurse shark in a 100 gallon" crap that has been going on!
Talk to you later!
I got the mangroves yesterday, a bundle of 21 large 14"-16" from 742 in HI on Ebay like you suggested....so far they look great! I will get more later. I just setup the plant light over them a bit ago and I hope they will do well. They were around $34 shipped expressed shipping, it only took about three business days.
Thanks for the encouraging words I should hear about those S-T nurse sharks within the next few weeks according to the saler. I can't wait but my wallet can......I dread the price tag but it is for the greater good. I got to try and stop all of that insane "full size nurse shark in a 100 gallon" crap that has been going on!
Talk to you later!
jsjohn1914
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awesome pics
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Sure, profile is under "742" I think that is it........ or some 740 number.
Check all the options though some bundles are not much more money for a good many more plants and some are just SEEDS but the picture shows actual plants so just make sure b/c it can be a bit confusing since there are so many for sale by this same saler. Some packages are the same product and amounts but are two different prices. I got the red mangroves, they all seem to be this type of plant for the most part...so far so good! :thumbs: Once shipped, it only took about three business days to Georgia via U.S. priority mail!
Check all the options though some bundles are not much more money for a good many more plants and some are just SEEDS but the picture shows actual plants so just make sure b/c it can be a bit confusing since there are so many for sale by this same saler. Some packages are the same product and amounts but are two different prices. I got the red mangroves, they all seem to be this type of plant for the most part...so far so good! :thumbs: Once shipped, it only took about three business days to Georgia via U.S. priority mail!
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Well I have been done some upgrades a while back that I did not get to post on here. I upgraded the SeaChem R/O unit I was using to an (ARC sponsor...Ha! I had to plug that in! He he!) Air, Water, and Ice Typhoon III Extreme RO/DI 150 gallon per day unit with the dual TDS monitor and the TDS alarm system which hasn't worked from day one but I should be getting a replacement unit on that from the company soon.
The utility sink is an update for the shark room/basement and I included some pictures of the red hawaiian mangrove plants and my little (empty) egg crate in one of the sumps.
for good measure.
Pictures are below:
On the shark update, I was hopeful to have another pair of sharks in the tank by now but it is def. NOT looking like the short tail nurse sharks are going to be on the menu as none of the major, small, or "black market" (j.k!) importers have been able to acquire them so I am looking into possibly some rare horns either Japanese bullheads or even better yet mexican bullheads since they stay quiet small as adults and prefer tropical temps and so forth.
I don't really know yet for sure, but my latest visions include a
1800 to 2000 + gallon temperate shark lagoon/breeding tank in another room of the basement which would be to the approx size of 13.5 feet long x 10.5 feet wide and two to three feet deep, (non-elevated of course) at ground level so I can jump in it and go for a swim or something! LOL! I really must put these kind of thoughts out of my head....but the wife does not seem to care....I've got to stop this!
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The utility sink is an update for the shark room/basement and I included some pictures of the red hawaiian mangrove plants and my little (empty) egg crate in one of the sumps.
for good measure.
Pictures are below:
On the shark update, I was hopeful to have another pair of sharks in the tank by now but it is def. NOT looking like the short tail nurse sharks are going to be on the menu as none of the major, small, or "black market" (j.k!) importers have been able to acquire them so I am looking into possibly some rare horns either Japanese bullheads or even better yet mexican bullheads since they stay quiet small as adults and prefer tropical temps and so forth.
I don't really know yet for sure, but my latest visions include a
1800 to 2000 + gallon temperate shark lagoon/breeding tank in another room of the basement which would be to the approx size of 13.5 feet long x 10.5 feet wide and two to three feet deep, (non-elevated of course) at ground level so I can jump in it and go for a swim or something! LOL! I really must put these kind of thoughts out of my head....but the wife does not seem to care....I've got to stop this!
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I call dibs on first pup.:up:
Wow I just read this thread pg1-5. Awesome looking tank, when I buy a house I'm going to have to insist on an unfinished basement so I can do this.
I may have missed this, or already forgotten in, but did you detail the build somewhere? Or follow a plan you / guide you found somewhere?
the engineer in my (I should be working right now) wants to build it just to tinker with it...
I may have missed this, or already forgotten in, but did you detail the build somewhere? Or follow a plan you / guide you found somewhere?
the engineer in my (I should be working right now) wants to build it just to tinker with it...
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Thank you all and Chris I'll let you know if the eggs start showing up! LOL!
First off, sorry for the delayed response I did not get a notification and I have not been on here for a while...my apologies again.
I did a really poor job as far as documenting the build honestly the photos on here are all I have pretty much. The design is straight out of my head and nothing more than trial and error, with plenty of errors! LOL!
I just looked at several large 250-500 gallon fish stands over a period of time and thought if that amount of pine can hold that tank than this much hardwood using 2 x 12's and 4 x 6's should be able to easily suppport this and so forth so really there was very little actual research or details in the build other than I just thought in general....overbuild and than build some more. I used three to three and a half inch coarse threaded construction screws on the whole thing and then re-enforced where ever possible. I built it starting with a boxed frame and used 2 x 8's with the construction screws and placed them about 16 inches apart I believe and used a lot of screws to hold them and then I went form there from the "box" up kinda like a floor in most homes. The top panel had a 3/4 inch plywood piece attached to it and then I used the dock float/liner part on top of that as a "tray" and then I started building the sides up on it and so on...
If your around Flowery Branch one day maybe you could stop in and take a look! I wish it were about four feet longer now and at least two feet wide but the room isn't exactly that big.
Thank you for the very kind words and take care!
First off, sorry for the delayed response I did not get a notification and I have not been on here for a while...my apologies again.
I did a really poor job as far as documenting the build honestly the photos on here are all I have pretty much. The design is straight out of my head and nothing more than trial and error, with plenty of errors! LOL!
I just looked at several large 250-500 gallon fish stands over a period of time and thought if that amount of pine can hold that tank than this much hardwood using 2 x 12's and 4 x 6's should be able to easily suppport this and so forth so really there was very little actual research or details in the build other than I just thought in general....overbuild and than build some more. I used three to three and a half inch coarse threaded construction screws on the whole thing and then re-enforced where ever possible. I built it starting with a boxed frame and used 2 x 8's with the construction screws and placed them about 16 inches apart I believe and used a lot of screws to hold them and then I went form there from the "box" up kinda like a floor in most homes. The top panel had a 3/4 inch plywood piece attached to it and then I used the dock float/liner part on top of that as a "tray" and then I started building the sides up on it and so on...
If your around Flowery Branch one day maybe you could stop in and take a look! I wish it were about four feet longer now and at least two feet wide but the room isn't exactly that big.
Thank you for the very kind words and take care!
Trigger,
I just picked up a pair of Mexican Horn Sharks on Divers Den! I'm ecstatic!
Anyway, have you made any progress with the ST Nurses? I'm looking forward to trading species of captive bred sharks and possibly collaborating with you in the future.
I just picked up a pair of Mexican Horn Sharks on Divers Den! I'm ecstatic!
Anyway, have you made any progress with the ST Nurses? I'm looking forward to trading species of captive bred sharks and possibly collaborating with you in the future.
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Whoa! I saw that pair you were right on it to get those guys and a darn good price too! Congrats!!!:thumbs:
I gave up on the S-T nurse sharks. I didn't give up the search, as in calling off the dogs a.k.a. having the suppliers attempt to get them, but the trail has gone cold, stone cold! LOL! I even contacted some collectors in Kenya, Africa and they either told me they were too hard to catch or they didn't say anything at all.
I have not even been lead-on about those S-T nurse sharks for months so I went the same direction you did and I started trying to get some mexican horn sharks. I would have gotten that spare male they have on their but I already have two males now and one has to go (right now!) to eventually make room for a female.
The males I have are around 18-22 inches long and one is identical to the mexicans you just bought but the other has some spots left on him and his claspers are a little bit smaller so I think he is slightly younger than the other. The one for sale could truly be a dark brown californian horn shark but the collector told me he had them specially collected in mexican waters south of Baja but the californian and mexican horn shark's habitat range of course overlaps that area so it could be. The spots he has left are smaller so I think maybe he is really a southern californian horn shark.
On another note, the eppies have definately grown! There large spots seem to be getting more abundant and somewhat larger.
Those are a great looking pair and goodluck with them! It looks like we may end up having the exact same species which is just odd! LOL!:doh:
I may eventually try and work with some coral cats or other small benthic shark too as I have decided NOT to build the 2200-2500 gallon system anytime soon if ever due to the time and upkeep it would take. I will likely however build a 10ft x 5ft x 2.5 ft tank across from the other shark tank ultimately to house the mexican pair by themselves and use the existing tank for the eppies and maybe the catsharks or some type of small (hopefully somewhat rare) bamboo or carpet shark.
Good luck and please send me some pictures! If you want to see the one I have for sale I will have pictures up in the "for sale" section on here really soon, likely by the time you get read this!
Take care!
I gave up on the S-T nurse sharks. I didn't give up the search, as in calling off the dogs a.k.a. having the suppliers attempt to get them, but the trail has gone cold, stone cold! LOL! I even contacted some collectors in Kenya, Africa and they either told me they were too hard to catch or they didn't say anything at all.
I have not even been lead-on about those S-T nurse sharks for months so I went the same direction you did and I started trying to get some mexican horn sharks. I would have gotten that spare male they have on their but I already have two males now and one has to go (right now!) to eventually make room for a female.
The males I have are around 18-22 inches long and one is identical to the mexicans you just bought but the other has some spots left on him and his claspers are a little bit smaller so I think he is slightly younger than the other. The one for sale could truly be a dark brown californian horn shark but the collector told me he had them specially collected in mexican waters south of Baja but the californian and mexican horn shark's habitat range of course overlaps that area so it could be. The spots he has left are smaller so I think maybe he is really a southern californian horn shark.
On another note, the eppies have definately grown! There large spots seem to be getting more abundant and somewhat larger.
Those are a great looking pair and goodluck with them! It looks like we may end up having the exact same species which is just odd! LOL!:doh:
I may eventually try and work with some coral cats or other small benthic shark too as I have decided NOT to build the 2200-2500 gallon system anytime soon if ever due to the time and upkeep it would take. I will likely however build a 10ft x 5ft x 2.5 ft tank across from the other shark tank ultimately to house the mexican pair by themselves and use the existing tank for the eppies and maybe the catsharks or some type of small (hopefully somewhat rare) bamboo or carpet shark.
Good luck and please send me some pictures! If you want to see the one I have for sale I will have pictures up in the "for sale" section on here really soon, likely by the time you get read this!
Take care!
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If your interested: I just posted one of my large male horn sharks over in the "For sale" section with photos! 18-20" male bullhead/horn!
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looks great
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<div class="gc_ifarem_title">YouTube - sharks 011</div>
Here is a video of the two male horn sharks swimming around the tank/lagoon during feeding time. I hope you enjoy video and I apologize for the low video quality as this was filmed using an older model digital camera and it does not detech the aquaium lighting very well.:sad:
The male that swims by very close to the surface around 50 seconds into the video is the one that I am currently selling or willing to trade at the moment. Trade is dependent on the person having a large enough tank and the items I would be interested in would be either five 200 hundred gallon (boxes) of Instant Ocean regular sea salt or a used/new but functioning protein skimmer which is rated to handle at least a 350-500+ gallon aquarium system.
Here is a video of the two male horn sharks swimming around the tank/lagoon during feeding time. I hope you enjoy video and I apologize for the low video quality as this was filmed using an older model digital camera and it does not detech the aquaium lighting very well.:sad:
The male that swims by very close to the surface around 50 seconds into the video is the one that I am currently selling or willing to trade at the moment. Trade is dependent on the person having a large enough tank and the items I would be interested in would be either five 200 hundred gallon (boxes) of Instant Ocean regular sea salt or a used/new but functioning protein skimmer which is rated to handle at least a 350-500+ gallon aquarium system.
