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My 19,100 Gallon Waterfall Tank


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#1 Guest_NateTessler13_*

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Posted 14 July 2008 - 07:34 AM

Thought the topic title might draw some attention :tongue:

I've been working on my exhibit at Bass Pro Shops in Rossford, OH since mid-April. I've got two tanks over there. One is a 19,100 gallon waterfall exhibit that features native fish from Ohio. The other is a 4,100 gallon canyon exhibit that has two waterfalls and contains only Rainbow Trout. I don't have pictures of the latter right now. Here are some shots of my 19,100 gallon tank though. Hope you enjoy, I'll update whenever I get around to taking more shots.

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Here's my biggest Bowfin (around 7 lbs.). It's one of two great looking Bowfin we've got in the exhibit. It's fun to see them come up to the surface, take a gulp of air, and then swim back down. Great display fish.

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Here's one of my Bowfin again right above the big log in the aquarium. There's a Silver Redhorse sitting on the log below the Bowfin.

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One of Ohio's rarer fish, a Shortnose Gar. This fish was donated to me from our corporate fish farm in Missouri. We had to acquire permits to put this fish on display, but it was worth it. They make great aquarium fish and they eaven chase, catch, and eat live bluegills.

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This is a shot of one of the Bluegills in our exhibit. Some of our Bluegills were dontated from our corparate fish farm in Missouri. They look to me like they are the southern subspecies of Bluegill however.

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In the middle of this shot, you'll notice a 36" Muskellunge. It's one of the newest additions to the aquarium. I went out with the ODNR and collected this fish from the Mohican River. It's a beauty.

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A generic shot of the exhibit, showing our some of our bass. The tank has both Northern Largemouth Bass and Florida Largemouth Bass (up to 10 lbs.).

Hope you enjoy this teaser, I'll post more when I take more.

Thanks,
Nate

#2 Guest_schambers_*

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Posted 14 July 2008 - 12:10 PM

Great pictures! I love the bowfin.

#3 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 14 July 2008 - 01:46 PM

Awesome shots! I for one would love to learn more about the plumbing and filtration for that massive tank as well.

Do you have any big cats in there? I know the Nashville Bass Pro has a giant blue cat (they're calling it a channel, but it sure looks like a blue to me) that inhaled a six-pound bass soon after being added. I guess they're feeding more heavily now to avoid future incidents.

#4 Guest_NateTessler13_*

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Posted 14 July 2008 - 05:46 PM

Great pictures! I love the bowfin.


Thanks, come visit it sometime! Heck, bring the whole family.

Awesome shots! I for one would love to learn more about the plumbing and filtration for that massive tank as well.

Do you have any big cats in there? I know the Nashville Bass Pro has a giant blue cat (they're calling it a channel, but it sure looks like a blue to me) that inhaled a six-pound bass soon after being added. I guess they're feeding more heavily now to avoid future incidents.


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This shows the three sand filters (similar to what pools use for filtration I'm told). There is also one carbon filter there. All filters have UV sterilizers attached to them. When I add water I run it through the carbon to aid in removing harmful chemicals from the water. After water leaves the filters, it heads up to a large bio-tower filled with bio-balls. The bio-balls provide a great place for the biological filtration to occur. After the water leaves the bio-tower, it's fed through a chiller that chills my water down to approximately 65*F. Then, back to the tank with it. Here's a close up of one of my carbon filter...
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My UV Sterilizers are on the lower left. They aren't plugged in for this pictures, but they normally glow a UV-ish purple.

We do have a large Blue Catfish in the aquarium (much to my dissapproval because there is already so much confusion between Blue Catfish and Channel Catfish in my part of the state). I say dissapproval because you've got to travel nearly 200 miles to actually find Blue Catfish in any numbers, and Channel Catfish are all around. Oh well. The Blue Catfish I have is only 30 lbs. though. He's a crowd pleaser, so I'm actually pretty happy to have him, despite the confusion he'll cause.

#5 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 15 July 2008 - 10:42 AM

Awesome, thanks for sharing all that! Sand filters, eh? That may be something worth considering if I ever set up a giant tank of my own.

#6 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 15 July 2008 - 11:06 AM

Nice work!
It looks like fun but I bet it can be stressfull too. Do you take care of the pumps and plumbing too?
How often do you have to backwash the sand filters? Is it on a timer?
Do you have to pretreat your wash water before sending it down the drain?

#7 Guest_NateTessler13_*

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Posted 15 July 2008 - 01:11 PM

Nice work!
It looks like fun but I bet it can be stressfull too. Do you take care of the pumps and plumbing too?
How often do you have to backwash the sand filters? Is it on a timer?
Do you have to pretreat your wash water before sending it down the drain?


It is quite stressful. You've got fish to keep happy, guests of the store to keep happy, and management to keep happy. It's nothing like taking care of home aquariums. I do take care of the pumps and plumbing too. However, I have a very helpful and capable maintenance staff that oversees all maintenance issues throughout the store. If I've got a leaky pipe, it becomes a maintenance issue. I haven't had to seal any pipes yet. The filtration and plumbing was put into place and then the empty aquarium was handed over to me. I backwash the filters once a week. There is a pressure gauge that pretty much lets me know how much pressure is running through the filter and that helps me decide when which filter needs to be backwashed. The water that is backwashed goes directly into a floor drain that I have in my live support room, and it does not get pre-treated. Hope that answers your questions.

#8 Guest_redfinpickerel_*

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Posted 02 August 2008 - 04:19 PM

Sweet tank, the bowfin are really cool

#9 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 02 August 2008 - 09:59 PM

Great work Nate! I've been trying to get over there to see it, but schedule has just been in the way. Things get better when I get back from the conference next week. I'll have to get your schedule and meet up with you there and see your handy work :)

Todd

#10 Guest_schambers_*

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Posted 02 August 2008 - 10:52 PM

I finally got over there last week. Fantastic tank! There are some really great fish in there. Here's a shot I took showing the whole tank.

Attached File  Basspro.jpg   27.71KB   0 downloads

#11 Guest_NateTessler13_*

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Posted 03 August 2008 - 09:16 AM

Sweet tank, the bowfin are really cool

Thank you, I actually had another Bowfin at one point, but it jumped out the top of the tank.


Great work Nate! I've been trying to get over there to see it, but schedule has just been in the way. Things get better when I get back from the conference next week. I'll have to get your schedule and meet up with you there and see your handy work :)

Todd

Try to come in sometime around my scheduled presentations. I give a feeding show on Wednesdays and Saturdays at noon.

I finally got over there last week. Fantastic tank! There are some really great fish in there. Here's a shot I took showing the whole tank.

Thank you!

#12 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 03 August 2008 - 10:22 AM

I think Jeffro and I will have to take a long lunch on a Wed! Maybe we'll turn it into a whole LEC field trip lol.

Todd

#13 Guest_NateTessler13_*

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Posted 07 October 2008 - 09:51 AM

Took this picture of the Muskellunge in my exhibit. You can see the tag that the ODNR placed in the cheek of the fish.

Muskellunge in the Gallery




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