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Money no Object – Space is

johnb

Member
Joined
4 Mar 2008
Messages
52
Location
London
Hi

Time for a new planted tank, price is no object so that’s good, however space is, the gap it needs to fit into is 79cms wide.

So im think to maximise the internal space in need an external filter heater

Im after planted but am not sure if I need to inject CO2 ?, if I do then im thinking inline.

Its not going to be huge but again im think a nice piece of wood with maybe moss \ carpet plants and some form of creeper on the wood. Im after slow moving water and crystal clear of course.

So thoughts on tanks, kit, plants and stocking to make an effective display appreciated.

Regards

John B
 
Well if money is no object, get a custom built opti-white tank! Something maybe 70 x 40 x 40 with a nice cabinet - the works. :lol:

There's loads of filters, heaters and lighting about - just take a look at Aqua Essentials and The Green Machine, our two sponsors for an insight.

As far as CO2 goes, it all depends on what plants you want to grow. If you want a low-tech setup, with moss, crypts, ferns and anubias etc then CO2 isn't necessarily needed. You could get away with dosing ferts and Easy Carbo. If you want to grow more challenging plants, and are going over about 2.5WPG then I'd suggest CO2 injection. You might as well seeing as you've got the budget!
 
I would agree on the optiwhite, the dimensions I'd have 70l x 45h x 50w, filtration, simply put the bigger the better, something like 2 of those superfish or ehiem 2000lph deals that'd give you loads. Get a cheap regulator, no point on splashing out on that, a aquamas reactor and for lights I'd go for the cheap german one, there's not really much point in splashing out on a arcadia with 4 tubes when you're only going to use 2...
Or alternatively, you could see if you could find one with 2x 70watt metal halides. That'd be one hell of a lighting rig.
 
A nice deep and wide Opti white tank and custom cabinet. Hanging silver lighting unit. Very large external filter in cabinet with inline heater and CO2 reactor plumbed into the filter return. Pressurised CO2 (probably FE) with Beetle counter (to measure high bubble rates more easily). Aquasoil substrate with decor and design of your choice.

Edit: Thinking about it if money is no object then I'd probably rig it all up with a permanent water change rig with pipes coming in and out so water changes are simply a case of turning a few valves to pump the water out from the external and then turn another valve to top it up. I might even be tempted to dispense with the external filter and use a sump filter, but it would be a lot more faffing about.
 
Thanks for the help so far, im looking for hight tech so CO2 and lighting will be crucial. However as filtration etc will all depend on volume

so im thinking 75cm Wide, and say 45 cm deep and 50 cms High -

37 Gallons (UK) OR 44 us OR 140 Ltrs

so using 2.5wpg i need 140 watt (I think)

as for the external filter 10 x 37 Gall is 370 Gall an hour or 1500 ltrs (I think)


If anyone can check my calculations it would be apprecaited

Another question can anyone recommend a supplier who can build to order (if you not allowed to post in public please PM me)

Regards

John B
 
Co2 is nice and easy, get the german lunapet external setup.
Lighting I won't comment on as I don't know anything about this aspect.
Filtration I would get 2 1500lph filters, this would give you loads of flow, a vital component to a healthy aquarium.
 
johnb said:
Another question can anyone recommend a supplier who can build to order (if you not allowed to post in public please PM me)
Aquariums Ltd are the boys! www.aquariums.ltd.uk
 
Hey, what are you people thinking?!

ADA!!

Get the whole caboodle, lights, CO2 etc. You can then charge people at the door to come in and view it. Neil (oldwhitewood) would be at the front!
 
Progress but as always thoughts apprecaited

Tank: Opti White High Clarity Tank 75x45x45cm (158 ltrs)

Lighting: Arcadia Series 4 Pendant 70cm - 1x150w 5200K+ 2x24w

So filter, I have a new unused Rena XP4 - I think thats up to the job ?

I will use an extenal heater and inline CO2

Im thinking of maybe having the tank drilled ? (want to keep as much kit out of the tank as possible)
opinons on having it drilled apprecaited and of course were and how I connect it up etc ?

Regards

John B
 
Yeah have it drilled and have a sump also. You can stick whatever you want in there and use it instead of a filter.
 
Don't have a sump, they off gas co2 like nobodies business. Use the filter you already have and supliment it with either a second large turnover filter or a external circulation pump similar to that used by Themulous.
 
I can't really see why a sump would give off CO2, unless it was fed by a wier. If the tank were drilled and water was taken from near the bottom, fed into a sump, again near the bottom then an external filter put in there it probably won't lose that much more than a normal tank with good flow.

I think Tom Barr used drilled tanks all the time now, though I don't know if he uses a sump or not.
 
beeky said:
I can't really see why a sump would give off CO2, unless it was fed by a wier. If the tank were drilled and water was taken from near the bottom, fed into a sump, again near the bottom then an external filter put in there it probably won't lose that much more than a normal tank with good flow.

I think Tom Barr used drilled tanks all the time now, though I don't know if he uses a sump or not.

If you're using a sump then the water has to be taken from the top of the tank by some kind of overflow (weir, standpipe, hole in the side of the tank etc.).

If you're using a closed system (like the one I think you're referring to set up by Barr) then you can take water from wherever you want in the tank, because when you switch the pump off the water stops moving (just like how your canister filter can have it's intake near the bottom).

As a sump is fed by gravity, if you had an intake near the bottom, if the return pump ever stopped the water would continue flowing happily from the aquarium to the sump until i reached the level of the intake - which wouldn't be a pretty sight!

Having said that, I've never used an overflow in a freshwater tank myself, so I can't comment on it's effect on CO2 levels - I suspect you could make a setup with minimal CO2 removing effect. If money is no object, then using up each cylinder of CO2 quicker might not even be a problem. Just use the largest one you can to minimise the inconvenience.

I would love to have a sump based system, it's SO convenient (have had them on marine tanks before). You can put as much cheap ugly effective equipment in them as you want, can add pumps for additional turnover/different flow patterns whenever you want, and do really handy things, like put a box of floss in the sump, and just syphon from the tank into the box for as long as you like, for a quick cleanup of the tank. No messing around with anything inline (heaters, co2 reactors, just chuck 'em in the sump, and leave the pump free to do what it does best - returning water to the tank at it's max rate. Really easy to change your mechanical fltration as often as you want, and never need to disturb the biological. You can put pregnant shrimp in it to stop the fish eating the babies. I have to say, in case you haven't already guessed, I love having a sump on a tank. :lol: And one day I'll have one again. (Not that I'm pushing for Johnb to use one, I think they really come into their own on bigger tanks - 70cm will run great on canisters.)

Mark

Mark
 
Yep, good point, I didn't think of that. If the sump were large enough you could have the intake about half way up the main tank as long as the sump had capacity in case of a pump failure.
 
vauxhallmark said:
If you're using a sump then the water has to be taken from the top of the tank by some kind of overflow (weir, standpipe, hole in the side of the tank etc.).

Not actually true, it's just that that's the most common and probably easiest way of doing it.

All you have to do is have an intake comes up vertically from the bottom (or lower down the side) and that goes up to the height you want the water level at where you then have a 180 degree bend (with an anti-syphon hole in the top) and pipework that leads back down to the level you want to remove the water from. In practice it would look a bit like an ehiem intake inside the tank - personally I'd have a traditional overflow!!!!
Once the water reaches the height of the bend it will overflow down into the sump - all enclosed within pipework.
 
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