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14 foot Planted Tank ................ is it possible ?????

sgl101

Member
Joined
9 Mar 2009
Messages
33
Hi

Im in the process of setting up a new tank ... (Long Story)

is it possible to set up a huge planted tank ?

also what sort of planning etc would i need to do

i would like to run on 2-3 fluval fx5 filters

it will be lt with halides

and i will be using tropica substrate

all info greatly recieved

Steve
 
hellohefalump said:
Are you going to be using CO2? If you are, I would definately go down the fire extinguisher route (cheaper) or keep it low tech and low light.

Why low tech and low light ?

Just wondering ?

Steve
 
sgl101 said:
hellohefalump said:
Are you going to be using CO2? If you are, I would definately go down the fire extinguisher route (cheaper) or keep it low tech and low light.

Why low tech and low light ?

Just wondering ?

Steve

so you dont have to inject CO2. Obviously on massive tanks getting the CO2 delivered to all corners will be a hard job, however, i am sure Tom (plantbrain) can give you some tips.
 
aaronnorth said:
Obviously on massive tanks getting the CO2 delivered to all corners will be a hard job

and CO2 adds more expense as well.

Although I guess a successful planted tank of this size is going to be expensive no matter what options you take.
 
My last tank was a 10x4x3 full reef tank with 3kw of lighting and a 22k budget.

I want to do this right and right first time.

Regards Steve
 
I'd vote you need many many more filters than just 4 fx5's.
 
sgl101 said:
My last tank was a 10x4x3 full reef tank with 3kw of lighting and a 22k budget.
Got any photos Steve?? would be nice to see it, cheers
Welcome aboard and good luck with the new project :)
 
sgl101 said:
Why low tech and low light ?

Just wondering ?

Steve

High tech (ie CO2 injected) and high light will incur lots of maintenance as (generally speaking) plants grow fast and need more attention

Low tech would be easier to maintain in a tank of that size.
 
LondonDragon said:
sgl101 said:
My last tank was a 10x4x3 full reef tank with 3kw of lighting and a 22k budget.
Got any photos Steve?? would be nice to see it, cheers
Welcome aboard and good luck with the new project :)

there is a 70 page thread on ultimate reef under "steve's big one"

Regards Steve
 
TDI-line said:
Hello and welcome.

Just out of interest but why have you choosen the Tropica substrate over others like ADA aquasoil etc.

i have seen it used in my lfs and they are having great results the tank was in last months pfk and it seems to be doing well
 
Garuf said:
I'd vote you need many many more filters than just 4 fx5's.


i would like to here more on this as the tank will be approx 1500ltrs which each fx5 is rated at so 3/4 would be 3/4 times the filtering required and also there will be supplemented flow?

Regards Steve
 
We recommend as close to 10x turnover as a minimum the closer to 20x the better. You're looking at massive turnover pond pumps and you're well into reefer territory come that point, especially as I would imagine you'd be using a sump or something similar.
 
Garuf said:
We recommend as close to 10x turnover as a minimum the closer to 20x the better. You're looking at massive turnover pond pumps and you're well into reefer territory come that point, especially as I would imagine you'd be using a sump or something similar.

i appreciate turn over is important although it varies to a reef as you want a turbulat surface in a reef for oxygen exchange and to thrash out the co2, however in a planted tank i was going to use under water currents and water movements, which will give me the turn over, but this is surely differant to the need for external filters, as plants will take up nutrients and with a low fish load more than 4 seems over kill imo

Regards Steve
 
sgl101 said:
Garuf said:
I'd vote you need many many more filters than just 4 fx5's.


i would like to here more on this as the tank will be approx 1500ltrs which each fx5 is rated at so 3/4 would be 3/4 times the filtering required and also there will be supplemented flow?

Regards Steve

My tank is 720 litre, so nearly half of yours, i use an Eheim Pro 3e 2078 (700 litres) and an Eheim Pro 3 2075 (600 litres), and i am thinking about adding a third one too.

Once you start adding CO2 reactors and in-line heaters, the flow starts to drop. And you'll probably need a few of these too.
 
have you considdered using a sump for filteration ?....i appreciate that many "plant keepers" are not in favour of this due to CO2 being lost in the sump but it must be worth thinking about. You could also think of using a couple of the sequence 10,000's for circulation....a bit like you would with a closed loop system in a reef aquarium to get all those currents in inaccessible places.

Good luck with it mate....i bet, with a bit of planning, it could look awesome. just one thing though, if you were thinking about putting Discus in there, think again....they're the most unnatural fish you could ever wish for in a planted tank (just my humble opinion ;) )

Andy
 
andy said:
have you considdered using a sump for filteration ?....i appreciate that many "plant keepers" are not in favour of this due to CO2 being lost in the sump but it must be worth thinking about. You could also think of using a couple of the sequence 10,000's for circulation....a bit like you would with a closed loop system in a reef aquarium to get all those currents in inaccessible places.

Good luck with it mate....i bet, with a bit of planning, it could look awesome. just one thing though, if you were thinking about putting Discus in there, think again....they're the most unnatural fish you could ever wish for in a planted tank (just my humble opinion ;) )

Andy

i had an 8 foot sump on my 10 foter and had 6 closed loops run by 6 sequence 10000s
 
Hi,
It's not that "plant keepers" eschew the use of sumps. Instead it's necessary that they understand what the disadvantages of sumps are, and to address the weaknesses.

Specifically, sumps tend to drive off CO2 because typically they are open to atmosphere and typically there is a lot of splashing going on inside the sump. This merely means that more CO2 needs to injected to compensate for the CO2 lost due to out gassing. The water volume held by the sump must also be taken into account when calculating the nutrient dosage.

If the sump can be sealed against atmospheric loss and if the internal pathways can be made less turbulent - and if the water volume is accounted for in nutrient dosage calculation, then the advantages of the sump are that higher turnovers can be achieved without the need for extra filters. So there is no inherent reason to avoid sumps if these weaknesses can be addressed.

Cheers,
 
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