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PCS & Stuart M. Grant - Cichlid Preservation Fund - Details here


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#41 Buccal

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Posted 22 April 2013 - 09:13 AM

I think the excessive look of pipe work is some way in setting up to minimize manual maintenance.
Careful thinking is required when dealing with tanks so deep.
Sometimes the attractiveness of the appearance has to be weighed up against the way it works.

#42 sandgroper

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Posted 22 April 2013 - 10:31 AM

Not when there display tanks, other wise it detracts from the display. There are lots of ways to hide things just got to use your imagination. The first mistake was putting all the displays on top of one another.

#43 tywonreef

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Posted 22 April 2013 - 01:32 PM

hi all,
Paul from Morley aquariums using troys account as I cannot seem to get mine to work.

time to clarify a few things.

The filtration used was not supplied or installed by us, the owner has employed 'water treatment specialists' to do this task. The owner has a very strong background in aquaculture systems worldwide & this is what he was most comfortable with, I cannot argue with his experience as he was doing this while I was in nappies. I was approached to quote on filtration & made my own suggestions but was really not keen on the liability for a job this large. I certainly have a few concerns with the system used & not particularly pleased with the pipework. I have forwarded my concerns to the owners & hopefully these will be addressed or I will be educated (including changing the pipework to a less obvious location). Noise was another concern, but the stands are going to be fully enclosed & made to be far more attractive, I expect (& have suggested) that some noise reduction products be used inside the cladding to minimize the sound. This is really out of our hands but hopefully it will all work fine.

We have been given the job of stocking & setting up the tanks ie; washing & placing the gravel, rockwork & other decoration, then supplying fish. This is underway as I type & gravel is in most tanks.
We are using a lot of the universal rock artificials as handling rockwork of the size\ height needed was to heavy & risky for us. These should look pretty good, the main challenge is to try to get some height in the display. We are also going to set up at least one tank with holey rock which should look amazing.

Artificial plants are being used as the owners did not want live. There was very limited plants tall enough for us to consider & the time frame given to us has not allowed the luxury of searching for more suitable items. Any suggestions for decor & artificial plant that are able to go up to 1.5m tall would be appreciated. The quantity needed in a hurry has meant using tall reptile enclosure vines, so not a lot of variety will be present. I am looking for tall bits of soaked driftwood so if anyone can help let me know.
I will attempt to hide the pipework with some universal rock sheeting wrapped around it. Any other suggestions appreciated.

The fish stocking is as follows

5m tank - rays, silver dollars, monos, silver sharks, large clown loaches, tinfoil barbs & other tank busters. Definitely considering some peacock bass.
5m tankl - koi - this is the owners history, he grew up with them & they will make for a nice display of large fish. We hope to do a sunken asian garden effect on this tank, but am still waiting for approval. At the moment this will be quite plain with minimal rock & plant

1.5m tank - electric yellows & cobalt blues - just a 2 tone tank with lots of them.
1.5m tank - assorted male peacocks & other metallic male cichlids, should look brilliant
1.5m tank - discus of all sorts
1.5m tank - rainbowfish, plenty of boesmaini & other new guineas along with some australians. Probably also some hardy heads. Angfa are going to help out with these as well. Full selection will depend on availability.
1.5m tank - bloody red parrots, not my choice at all, but wanted despite my attempts to convince otherwise, I wanted a fronti tank. I am not a fan of these & do not sell them, but this job is too good an opportunity to turn down on this basis - apparently I have a price & it is not that high lol.

Initial stocking will obviously be quite light as we get to grips with the filter system as this is all new to me. Apparently the media used is one that will become biologically active, bit time will tell so I will be taken a cautious approach by using quite small numbers initially.

We will not be maintaining the tanks, they are hiring someone for around 10 hours per week to look after them, we are just the stockists.

This is a potentially a massive boost for the entire freshwater aquarium industry in W.A, there is no where else where such a massive display can be seen in one place for no cost. Cichlids in particular could benefit hugely as they will gain massive exposure when the market really takes off (which I am sure it will in the future). I was there on Saturday am & it was pretty busy (the meal I had at Eden cafe was superb). This project deserves much support from all involved in freshwater fish in W.A. as this sort of thing is nearly always salt water.

I got the job not based on price as we certainly did not go in cheap, more to do with our close proximity & good relationship I have formed with the owner. Some benefit has already been seen as all rock, decoration & gravel has been sourced locally from our own wholesalers based here rather than in the east. I have put the word out on facebook (pcs page inc.) asking for potential stock & decor.

If this proves successful, the next stage is potentially a tank of truly immense proportions, stocked entirely with malawi cichlids (50,000 litres!) right in the middle of the complex, this will promote cichlids in W.A to a scale possibly larger than anywhere else in Australia, possibly the world. As such it is deserving of support from the PCS.

Please appreciate that this is going to be ongoing in its development & appearance, the owner is happy to change things around over the journey, even completely change the fish to make sure that they are ultimately the finest displays in public. Until such time as they are up & running this is not possible as we will need to step back & have a good look at them to get a feel for them. For now it is a case of get them set up & some fish in asap.

I am aware that there are many really nice fish we can use including rarities, but due to the public nature we will avoid anything that might attract the attention of the fisheries dept, questions such as 'where did they come from' will need to be answered or confiscation & culling will follow (remember mark at atlantis & his gars - took them & killed them for no reason). L numbers & other fish that are hard to explain will be avoided. I have no concern for the rays as these are all bred locally & have been available through bay fish & other large wholesalers in the past, so a suitable explanation trail exists. Arapaima, arrowanas & sinilar can't be used.



If there is any input from the PCS, the owners are quite happy to allow promotional signs, even membership pamphlets. They are really trying to make this place into a major community centre.

If anyone has any questions or would like to help, please call me at the shop or email me at paul@morleyaquariums.com.au.



#44 Kleinz

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Posted 22 April 2013 - 01:42 PM

Way to go Paul, you just spoiled a thread full of rumour, innuendo and character assassination with facts and clarity and inspiration.

Boo! smile.gif

I knew you wouldn't be able to resist in the end smile.gif

I still think my Pyramid of D Caves idea has merit tongue.gif

I can't wait to see them stocked, even the parrots!

#45 tywonreef

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Posted 22 April 2013 - 02:02 PM

the pyramid sounds cool, I will basically fill the quote supplied (Which I have gone to great pains to point out is really an estimate as we do not have anything near this scale to base it on) & we will see what it needs. Would you be prepared to make a d cave as suggested?.

There was a fair bit of negative feeling in the earlier posts, I think this project should be embraced so please try to be positive where possible. There is no reason that things can't be changed for the better over time & as we learn. Budget is not really an big issue, as docfish said, it is only a tiny cost when compared to the advertising costs, the main thing is for a fantastic result in the end.
The reason for the choice of filter was not price based as this has cost a bomb, it really is just his aquaculture background coming through.

I agree with all comments in respect to the pipework, this is like an attempt to highlight their product rather than minimize it's visual impact, the price of using water treatment guys instead of aquarists, I wanted large box units overhead so no pipework at all below the tank, just one feeder pipe going up & a return pipe going down, much cheaper & not a problem in the case of a leak in the filtration.
I have asked that it gets changed to pipes in the corner with an elbow rather than the centre pipe & t-piece, hopefully they will agree.

#46 Bowdy

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Posted 22 April 2013 - 02:23 PM



Wouldn't plumbing through the tank base using bulkheads be a lot tidier then hanging pipes over the edge ?
I'm sure your end result will be great Paul it's a big task. Good luck with it.

#47 tywonreef

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Posted 22 April 2013 - 05:00 PM

totally agree, if they were willing to drill holes life would be easy, but they did not want to do this for some reason (not a valid one I am sure). This would be the best by far, gravity fed overflow & big sump.

#48 sandgroper

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Posted 22 April 2013 - 05:29 PM

Paul for plant height, can't you just join 2 or 3 larger ones together as a lot of them are just joined by short segments. cheers.gif steve and good luck with it all.

#49 tywonreef

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Posted 22 April 2013 - 09:14 PM

We are just about to start joining some now, i am really looking for a bit more variety than just the vines. I gave several types, but all are a bit similar. Something really bushy would be good.
Thanks for the suggestions & input guys, keep them coming.

#50 ice

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 08:24 AM

Hey Paul, i got some nice fake plants from a place out malaga/waneroo way. I cant remember the name of the place for the life of me but they have very realistic looking plants from tiny stuff right up to tree sizes. I bought some larger non conventional type stuff and jammed it in the tank and it looks bloody fantastic, they have all aged fairly well too and havnt exactly had an easy life with the big mangrove jack smashing into them and biting them every day.

If i can find the name ill get back to you with it, definitely worth a look.

#51 tywonreef

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 08:29 AM

If you could find the name that would be fantastic

#52 ice

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 08:33 AM

http://www.endlessgreenery.com.au/

99% sure that is the place mate!

Worth a drive out there to check out their stock, I need to go back out there soon to pick up some extra bits and pieces for my tanks too.

Hope it helps mate!

#53 Bowdy

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 09:18 AM

Everlasting greenery is great to

#54 AXIS

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 10:44 AM

Interesting to hear how this is all proceeding, I really must pop down and see it in person in the start-up stages.

Thanks for the detailed update Paul.

#55 tywonreef

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 05:36 PM

gravel is in - what a job cleaning that lot. I have some or the fake rocks & wood in, but only temporary locations. I am waiting for the holey rock as I will need this to work with the fake holey as the fake stuff is hollow underneath & hard to stack effectively. It is just in a pretty rough layout pile at the moment. Couple of the smaller tanks taking shape & ready for the rest of the rock & plants to go in. Hopefully start filling later this week.
The mega tanks are pretty plain at the moment. The koi tank will really not have a lot of decor as these guys meed so much room. I am hoping to do a sunken garden effect, just waiting for the ok. The ray tank is a bit of a challenge as we want to leave a lot of space on the floor for them, if I start stacking rock this will cut into it heaps. No doubt I will work out this shortly when I see what I have left from the others.
Fun,fun, fun.

#56 Bowdy

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 05:39 PM

If your starting with pups you can chuck In heaps of decor and as they grow just remove it slowly.

#57 SamJohns

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 05:47 PM

Who's going swimming to remove it haha? Wouldn't be an easy job given the height, not to mention the barbs....

#58 Bowdy

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 06:07 PM

Johns you sook smile.gif

#59 SamJohns

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 06:35 PM

Haven't been stung yet. Don't intend on doing so haha. You go for your life Raymondo.

#60 Bowdy

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Posted 23 April 2013 - 06:39 PM

To will be an adventure smile.gif




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