my 105gal tank

[godfather]

Hello,

Finally got my tank delivered, so here are the pics of it !!!
I chose such a big tank because it came at a nice price ( second hand ) and also because octo's seem to like to crawl around on the bottom and I wanted the lil monster to have more than enough room to be happy

Now I'm wondering how to decorate the aquarium!
The LFS is going to come around to help me start it up and show me how everything works ( filters, heater, skimmer, etc...) and will bring the live rock and fine sand.
How much space do I need to foresee as open space? I've seen open space in a lot of pics already, but I don't know how to do it in my tank...
Should half of it be open space, with some toys and rocks in it but basically lower so the octo can freely crawl and jet around, and the other part be dense rock creating a lot of caves ?
Or should I have 3/4th of the aquarium making up caves by being filled by rocks and the open space kept tiny??

The wood will soon be covered by some plastic/acryllic black thingie, to make it look nicer ( and blend in with my living room more lol ).

Would love to hear from you!

Cheers

Roger

 

[NickA5582]

to TONMO, Godfather!

We suggest having roughly 2 lbs of rock for each gallon. The octo should have a open play area somewhere in the tank, should not be too small.

Do you know if the person who first owned the tank use any chemicals containing copper?

 

[godfather]

to TONMO, Godfather!

We suggest having roughly 2 lbs of rock for each gallon. The octo should have a open play area somewhere in the tank, should not be too small.

Do you know if the person who first owned the tank use any chemicals containing copper?

Thanks Nick
I've actually been on tonmo a few months now, but not very active as I was abroad and didn't have my tank yet... but now that I'm setting it up I'll have lots more questions

Oh ok...so about 1kg of rock for each gallon??? This may be a very stupid question... but 400 gallons of water, plus 800lbs of rock.... my god, that's heavy! You sure the aquarium can hold that??

The previous owner never used any chemicals containing copper in it... apparently the first owner was an elder person, who let the LSF do everything, and I believe the tank was used as a reef tank.

 

[cthulhu77]

It sounds like a lot, but even a small rock weighs 2-3 pounds...that much really isn't overkill at all, but, yes, it is heavy!
Can hardly wait to see the habitat develop !
Kudos!
Greg

 

[neptune]

What a great tank. What species are you thinking of, many options with that size. I am so jealous!!!!

If this was ever used as a reef tank I am sure it had alot more rock in there that 2#/gal.

If it is really old, you may want to refresh some silicon before set-up, but it looks in great shape from your pics!

IMO -Just make sure to add the rock after the h2o and compensate for displacement. (Have a few buckets ready)

I agree this is going to be a great habitat to watch!!!!

 

[godfather]

What a great tank. What species are you thinking of, many options with that size. I am so jealous!!!!

If this was ever used as a reef tank I am sure it had alot more rock in there that 2#/gal.

If it is really old, you may want to refresh some silicon before set-up, but it looks in great shape from your pics!

IMO -Just make sure to add the rock after the h2o and compensate for displacement. (Have a few buckets ready)

I agree this is going to be a great habitat to watch!!!!

hello Neptune!!

Well, I'm thinking of getting a bimac... but as you can read in my previous posts the bimacs is very hard to get over here
Fishsupply.com isn't interested to sell outside the US, and Jim from octopets.com told me with most airlines it might take up to 6 months for him to get a license, before he can start exporting them!

My LFS can get a "brown octopus", from around Indonesia. I'm hoping it would be a cynea or a vulgaris, because they are diural as well and seem really beautifull too!!
But don't you think the tank wouldn't even be big enough for a vulgaris?

Another option would be to have a tank-raised bimac from either octopets or fishsupply flown over from the US through a pet transporter, but haven't found a company able/willing to do so yet.
And this will cost me an arm and a leg I'm afraid :?

The last option would be buying bimac eggs... but what would I do with 10 eggs from octopets!! I don't want 9 to have to die so I can just enjoy one either and as this is my first aquarium ever just keeping an octo will be hard enough, let alone trying to have the eggs hatch and caring for the babies!!

Thanks for the tips! I'm glad the LFS will help me set it up completely, including the live rocks (I am so bad at decorating stuff!!! ).
Positive news is that my tap water can be used, as it's been tested and with adding the salt I should be able to have my tank cycled within 3-5 weeks at most ( that's what the LFS told me.... luckily the owner once kept an octo when he was younger, and as he heard me talking about getting one he is going to keep some at the store again )

The tank was a real sale, I got it and the protein skimmer, heater, etc for some 850$!

The tank will be started around 11 April with the help from the guys from the LFS so expect more pics then

 

[godfather]

It sounds like a lot, but even a small rock weighs 2-3 pounds...that much really isn't overkill at all, but, yes, it is heavy!
Can hardly wait to see the habitat develop !
Kudos!
Greg

Thanks Greg!! I'm really glad I finally got the tank delivered, as I had bought it some 3 months ago, and since then have been reading a lot on these boards, and jealously looking at all the pics

 

[neptune]

GF,

Glad to hear you have some help with the LFS, but if I can inject some outside advice (along with using some of Colin's own words from here
Cephalopod Care )

The water that comes out of our taps is for our consumption, not for cephalopods. It is safe for us to drink but potentially poisonous for an octopus!

Chemicals are added to our drinking water by the water authorities. This may include chlorine, chloramines, fluorine etc. Also, run off from farmland can produce high levels of nitrate and phosphate in our water supplies; something we really want to avoid putting into our aquariums

I could not agree more!!

Regardless of how well your water testeted, your lfs has a sell to make!

One more word of caution Live Rock can take quite a while to cure in a new tank with NO chems. Make sure the rock has cycled before any creatures are added.

A cyanea would be a great addition to this site! What a beautiful octo!!!
I keep thinking about owning one myself!


I will definately be waiting for pics, and hope I didn't offend your lfs person if/when they read this :P

 

[NickA5582]

105 gallons should be ok for a vulgaris or cyanea, but keep in mind they do get very large.

Sounds like you got quite a deal on the tank, good luck with it!

A cyanea would be a great addition to this site! What a beautiful octo!!!

Lucky people in Hawaii, they get Cyanea and E. Scolopes.

 

[neptune]

tell me about it, much less they get to dive with them 8)

 

[godfather]

GF,

Glad to hear you have some help with the LFS, but if I can inject some outside advice (along with using some of Colin's own words from here
Cephalopod Care )

I could not agree more!!

Regardless of how well your water testeted, your lfs has a sell to make!

One more word of caution Live Rock can take quite a while to cure in a new tank with NO chems. Make sure the rock has cycled before any creatures are added.

A cyanea would be a great addition to this site! What a beautiful octo!!!
I keep thinking about owning one myself!


I will definately be waiting for pics, and hope I didn't offend your lfs person if/when they read this :P

hmm, thanks for this info neptune !! (it's been a while since I read the checklists so I had forgotten that part ).
If I recall correctly, I could also get seawater at the LFS, so I'll just go for that to get the tank started

"Regardless of how well your water testeted, your lfs has a sell to make! "

Very true, but as the guy seems very caring & rather knowledgeful I did believe it would be ok. Will keep this in mind though!!

Yeah I like the octopus cyanea a lot too... but still having second thoughts as it seems so much bigger than a bimac (on the pics I've seen) and I don't want it to be cramped in my tank! ;(
There's no point in keeping a larger octo because it just is more visible due to it's size, especially since 3/4th of the day I'll be out working or sleeping!!
A "cheerful" octo that hides or hunts or plays when he feels like it and has the place to do so is what I'm aiming for

You can't get cyanea over there? That's too bad as they really seem very pretty !
Mind you, I'm not sure if I will be able to find one either, but I just noticed dragonfish here is from Belgium too, and he mentioned in some post he has a friend that works in an aquarium shop & can get o. cyanea so I shot him a PM *keeps fingers crossed*

Anyways, I'm getting faaar ahead already, I have at least 8-10 weeks I'd say before I need to get really excited and counting down the days till my octo arrives !
In between the tank starting up and the octo arriving, I need to give myself a full-on crash course about cleaning, feeding, water changes, checking water params and all that stuff - and the octo isn't being ordered before I run my final params with you guys and the LFS but also feel confident that I won't kill off the little sea monster!


Don't worry about the guys from the LFS...they can take care of themselves ( and they aren't going to read this :P ).
It's those little octo's I worry about

Grts

Roger

 

[godfather]

105 gallons should be ok for a vulgaris or cyanea, but keep in mind they do get very large.

Sounds like you got quite a deal on the tank, good luck with it!

That's good news Nick! But aren't they more escape prone?
And they'll probably need A LOT more food, too ?

I'm ruling out vulgaris as they seem really too large...

Sorry for all the questions, but thanks for all your help and support!

 

[neptune]

Roger,

We can get cyanea here, but my wife has enough space dedicated to my tanks already. I have 3 tanks going right now, and would have a doz more if no one was looking!

For me to pull off getting a cyanea I would have to condense my current set-up, and I do not see that happening (I still love my reef and predatory fish).

I am thankful to see you going through the right steps in ensuring the best for whatever octo you end up keeping. I am sure it will be too!!

 

[godfather]

Oh and can you get them tank-raised ?? Because, if it can make you feel less jealous , mine would probably be caught in the wild.

Hehe, I have that situation going on with computers and know exactly what you mean !!
My bedroom is slowly turning into the network operations center
Currently have 5 pc's, an enterprise-grade hardware firewall ( market value 2-3 years ago would have been 30-40k $ :P ) and some Cisco routers laying around. IT & IT security are my biggest hobbies and pastimes, but also the area I work in, so I need to be able to simulate attacks and complex network setups - but I constantly feel I'm in need of more machines !
I can imagine it's quite intimidating when I meet a girl and she gets to see ( and hear ) all that equipment for the first time
( but "luckily" everything is in the bedroom, so the rest of the appartment isn't clogged full with machines.... but now the tank is in the living room )

I don't think I'd give up other critters to get a cyanea either if I were in your position, but you have a very cute bimac already so that makes up for the lack of a cyanea, now doesn't it ?

I am thankful to see you going through the right steps in ensuring the best for whatever octo you end up keeping. I am sure it will be too!!

It's also in my best interest, of course.
I don't want to buy an octo and have it die on me after a couple of days!! (not taking into account this would be cruel to the octo )
Because of a very restrictive clause in my renting contract, I can't keep dogs or cats or birds so an octopus is the only other animal I'm interested in and which doesn't fall under the clause ( first off I know they won't expect an octo and secondly, aquariums are exempted from said clause )

I'll check back on this thread tomorrow, as it's 4:33AM over here now.

Thanks again for all your tips & help!

 

[cthulhu77]

What? You're giving up at only 4:33 ????? I mean REALLY!
sounds like you are all set...keep on sending pics!