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New 500l tank project plans

I'm no expert but for filtration, I guess you will need to treat this as though it is two smaller tanks to get good circulation. Can't see how you'd get decent flow round the front corner otherwise. Couple of the bigger filters like the FX5 or ideally the eheim equivalent should be ok

On a big tank I'd go for a sump for ease of maintenance if I didn't have little ones around.
 
Thanks Tony, I will consider the 55cm max, as I do intend to make this a high tech planted with carpeting plants.

I am not that keen on the idea of using a sump at the moment, just wondering if I should built it in anyway in case I want to take that road in the future, and run my filters pipe work via that or drill the tank itself??

Since it will be up against the wall on all sides then its pretty much impossible to run extra stuff afterwards if I don't make provisions for it now.

I already have a JBL e1500 so was thinking of adding a second or maybe even a third as they are pretty cheap at £90 each and rated at 1500lph.

What do you guys think?
 
Ajm200 said:
I'm no expert but for filtration, I guess you will need to treat this as though it is two smaller tanks to get good circulation. Can't see how you'd get decent flow round the front corner otherwise. Couple of the bigger filters like the FX5 or ideally the eheim equivalent should be ok
On a big tank I'd go for a sump for ease of maintenance if I didn't have little ones around.
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Tanks Ajm, just worried about CO2 loss due to the sump! I will see how this can work out.

Tonser said:
Just another thought Paulo...
I have problems with my tank thats in the wall with installing the koralias as you can't get the magnets on the back of the glass due to it being up against the wall. The internal suction cups work for a while but seem to vibrate loose very easily.
Tony
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Thanks for that Tony, never through about the magnet!! The idea would be 3 filters with spray bars running all along the entire size of the tank on both directions of the "L".

But for that I would need at least 3 filters I think, I will see what the tank builder suggests, but a sump does give me more control over turnover as I would just increase the size of the pump, or have two pumps one for the right hand side and one for the left on spraybars.
 
If you have the cash. Two filters in each half would give you redundancy from a flow perspective. If one fails the other would still move the water in that side of the tank. Too many years in IT brainwashed into considering redundancy in everything. Positioning 3 filters to get even flow over the whole tank might be challenging.
 
I did look into a covered sump but was still concerned that the kids would get into it. If the sump could be setup so that there was very little splashing and it was covered you could probably minimse co2 loss. The tank designer can probably give you the best advice on how to achieve this.
 
Would an overtank trickle filter do the business? It might mean having a long one built to spec (i think) unless you could find a couple of AquaOne AR980s that are being broken for spares. Just to clarify i have one of the afore mentioned AR980s and it has a powerhead that pumps water through a spraybar over the media trays that are held in what is best described as a covered trough along the length of the tank. Water then returns through an overflow at the far end. Whilst my tank isn't heavily stocked i've found this filter to be astoundingly good - really easy to maintain, high flow rate and tons of media. It has the advantage for you of also not needing any holes drilled in the tank for sump or thinking round the headache of filter tubing, and you could pretty much make the filter as big as you wanted with all that space above the tank (for example stacking media trays vertically as well as horizontally) - you could even have it made in acrylic or glass so you can see when your media needs cleaning!
Cheers!
Matt
 
Hi Dragon,

I would have a couple of concerns about this design. The first is narrow deep tanks are always a pig. I have two tanks in the alcoves either side of a chimney which are 12" deep and 30" tall and if i was to redo them i would not go as tall again. There is a low surface are to volume ratio which decreases O2 levels esp lower in the tank. Also any scape is going to look very flat.

The second is the join at the front. I would ask for a top and bottom brace bar on each side, getting this right will be the key to the tank looking good as well. If this is a dirty big wide join i don't think you will enjoy the tank as much.

For filtration I would go with a huge sump and an OR6500 or bigger. I would go with a linea flow from one end to the other, prahaps with a power head to help it round the corner.

It will look the bomb if you get it right.
 
Many thanks for all the input guys, I am just worried about the sump being noisy and CO2 escaping it.
The front glass is going to be opti-white for clarity, I am just thinking which colour I should paint the back and sides, if black, blue or white?

After what Tony mentioned I am going for 55cm max, which probably end up filling just 50cm, at the moment my Rio 125 is 36cm deep so I know what I will have to work with in terms of the scaping, not the best but good enough for me and I don't want the tank sticking out of the wall.

The guys that are coming to see me tomorrow are very experienced tank builders and mostly marine tanks, so I am sure they know what they are doing.

Here is a tank they just finished installing:

IMG_1000.JPG

IMG_1046.JPG

Really looking forward to this now, pending the site visit and structural approval this should be on!! happy days!!
 
Noise and CO2 loss both have the same cause, surface agitation. As long as the pipe into the sump is below the water line and the sump is a nice 3 compartment job without too much of a cascade you should be fine. I would rather just turn the CO2 up and burn through an extra few canisters than have poor filtration.

That said, I only pay £5 for a 5kg refill from a local fire extinguisher maintenance place.
Rob
 
After meeting the supplier yesterday he gave me the idea of rather the wood have the entire front in painted glass, either black or white, black would be too much for the living room so I am thinking all white to match most of the walls. Here how it would look, would look more modern and more my style rather than the wood.



and the technical details:



What do you guys think?
 
Sexy! A great project Paulo, I look forward to how it develops
 
Jase said:
Sexy! A great project Paulo, I look forward to how it develops
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Just waiting for a quote on the glass option and then its all systems go, hopefully it will be done in the next couple of months 🙂 can't wait.
 
Jase said:
Just a thought, is this replacing the Rio or an addition to...?
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At the moment its a replacement but who knows! I might find a corner for the Rio lol
 
Who have you gone to for the tank build? Or is it a non-sponsor so you can't say 😉
 
This is going to look simply beutifull, what a tank its going to be, can just imagine standing infrount of that l shape tank and feeling like im actually under there with the fish, I am however thinking what the flow will be like withing there, even unplanted, let alone planted, Im sure it will be fine. Going to be watching this one.
 
LondonDragon said:
Jase said:
Just a thought, is this replacing the Rio or an addition to...?
Click to expand...
At the moment its a replacement but who knows! I might find a corner for the Rio lol
Click to expand...

It will be a good winter home for Pixie & Chelsea 😀
 
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