HeyPK

Oops! didn't see your link to the pictures. It is a well established, native species in the west, and is not considered a serious pest of houses. See http://www.ent.orst.edu/urban/PDF%20...st_Beetles.pdf

walterk

Thank you for that information! It was most helpful.

I also received a reply from an Entomologist:

Entomology (Study of Bugs)/Answered Question
Expert: Ed Saugstad
Subject: Black Polycaon Beetle?

Answer: Dear Walter - This does indeed appear to be a black polycaon beetle, Polycaon stoutii (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae). However, as long as the wooden surfaces in your office are coated in some fashion (varnish, shellac, paint, etc.) they are not in danger if infestation by these beetles - female beetles first “taste” the wood to determine whether it contains enough starch and sugar to nourish their offspring, and if the wood surface is coated, they cannot taste it and will not lay eggs. And you are correct in believing that once the wood is placed in water that you should have no more problems with these beetles. Should any adult beetle be able to emerge before the wood becomes completely saturated, it will float to the surface where it can be scooped out and destroyed. See http://tinyurl.com/68hdv for more detailed control recommendations for wood-infesting beetles in general.

Hope this helps,
Saugy
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Much of the stand is made of exposed plywood and pine on the inside, and there are large access holes in the back inside. My desk is made of oak. Inside of both - the wood is not stained/varnished. I'm going to apply the Borax solution just for my own peace of mind. Once it is treated, and it sinks into the wood, it will be good for years of protection.

walterk

Painted 1:1 Boracare and water solution onto all parts of the stand that are not stained. It will take 48 - 72 hours to dry. The aquarium will be delivered tomorrow afternoon.

Is this really happening?

walterk

TANK ARRIVED TONIGHT!!!

I decided that the paint brush applied Boracare had sufficiently dried with the aid of a number of fans. I had moved it out of my office and into another room to do this.

I placed acrylic sheets back on the hardwood floor in my office. Manged to get the stand back in there by myself and place it on top of the sheets. I shimmed the stand to get it level. I placed a styrofoam-like sheet of blue insulation on top of the stand. I set up the Ikea tertial work lamps on the back. That's it for today.

Tomorrow, I will have some help getting the tank on the stand...and then I will attach the background, add water and driftwood.

If everything looks right, I will then add the Estes Marine Sand.

Once the sand settles, (some of it will float overnight) I'll add fish poo from my 46 gallon bowfront and get the Eheim up and running (using mostly 1" black lava rock from the other tank).

walterk

Album: http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a1/...rent=Tank6.jpg

Hooking up the Eheim tomorrow. Will wait for the driftwood to water log before I tie on Christmas moss. Not sure what else I will add at this point.

VERY happy!!!

Michael

The tank looks enormous, and beautiful! What type of lighting did you decide to use?

walterk

I purchased 10: 9W CREE LED E26 PAR30 DIM 6500K 60 diameter. I wanted the "shimmer." When I put on the Eheim 2080, with the spray bar, I hope to make the tank look more like a river bottom...and I hope the lights will grow plants.

niko

The tank dimensions look amazing. Like out of a dream.

There was a single ADA aquascape in a tank about that size made somewhere around year 2001. It really looked endless.

Recently ADA made 2 huge tanks (everybody can see them on YouTube). They are not the best aquascapes because of the tanks' sizes. It seems that a tank size matches beautifully the plant sizes/details only up to a certain ratio. After that it becomes pretty much impossible to create a beautiful aquascape. The only large successful aquascape in the world is Amano's big home tank.

Walter's tank is very promising as dimensions. Glad to hear you mean to make a river type aquascape. It would probably be best if you have a large school of tightly schooling fish too.

About the filtration at this point:
Don't entertain too many exotic thoughts. ADA has figured it out the best. Add a bunch of Activated Carbon to your filter and about 1/3 of biomedia. Over the course of the next 2-3 months gradually reduce the amount of carbon and add more biomedia to the point where you have only biomedia. A separate mechanical only filter (an HOB Magnum is the easiest to maintain and the cheapest) will only help if it is supplied with a micron pad that you rinse every day until you see that the pad doesn't really retain much fine dirt.

--Nikolay

walterk

Thanks, Niko. The tank and stand dimensions seem to go very well with each other. I'm having difficulty with the Eheim 2080 I purchased used off of Ebay. It has been sitting around for a few months in dry dock. Tonight I put it all together. When I turned it on, it rattled for a few moments and just stopped. I've had no prior experience with this filter line. I discovered that the impeller shaft had broken. I had ordered a spare and pulled it out. I placed it in...and it broke again. These things are EXPENSIVE. I guess I need to get a hold of someone who can supervise when I attempt this again. Don't know what else to do. I'm at a loss.

niko

Yes, I read your other thread about the Eheim shafts. All I can say is that it could be that you are not putting together the impeller assembly as you are supposed to. Specifically the shaft needs to be supported in 2 places (one each end). In many pumps when you clean the impeller and put everything back together it looks like the shaft is straight but actualy it is off on one of the ends. If the shaft is ceramic usually it breaks as soos as the impeller tries to spin. Hope this is the answer but I don't know.

A word of advice - if this Eheim 2080 has a small ball that shows you the flow rate remove it when you use the filter. The ball is supposed to show you when the filter gets clogged up - the flow rate decreses. But usualy you don't need it and it does reduce the flow a little.