# 250G High Tech Tank



## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

There have been several mentions of a future, big tank in some of my posts. My 70G tank was actually re-setup to be a proving/testing ground for learning to run a higher tech tank so this big tank would not start out as a huge disaster. Well, the time has finally arrived to start this project. I received a call today from the tank builder, Bow Valley Aquarium in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, that my tank has been built and will ship to me on Monday. All I can say is finally! The builder selection is a long story, and if you ever want my opinion please send me an email.

Although I haven't actually received the tank yet, I have a few things that I am going to post before the big arrival. I've got a drawing of the tank back that I supplied to the builder.










The overall tank dimensions are 66" long x 26" wide x 36" tall. The tank will be 3/4" Starphire glass on the front and sides with a rimless eurobracing design. Clear silicone will be used for the joints and the background will be a navy blue laminated sheet. As you can see the tank has been drilled with five 2 3/8" drilled holes for water flow. The top two holes are for water return to the tank and the bottom three will be for overflows. The plan is to plumb the tank for silence using a U style overflow and a DIY custom spray bar for the returns.

I have been finishing my basement for a while and this aquarium will eventually be the center piece. I have put in some hardware already that I will post prior to the tanks arrival. The process so far has been a few months, but I will compress this into 1 or 2 posts. Hopefully, by then, the tank will have arrived and the real action will begin. I'm going to build a custom stand for it. I'm hoping to finish up with a fully automated tank with a foolproof, fail-safe design. I'm sure there will be a few mishaps as things get worked out. Just hopefully none while I am asleep.

Anyone with any experience moving large glass tanks like this? I was thinking of calling a moving company to do it since I figure it will be over 500lbs.


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## yikesjason (Jul 2, 2008)

This looks like it should be a great build. I am looking forward to it. I love to see the big tanks.


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## sajata (Aug 21, 2009)

do you plan automatic water changes?
what are the plans for the filtration?
lighting?
I guess I am rushing things...
in the process of building my own 60x16x24 acrylic.


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## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

Very tall aquarium. I assume Altums are the chosen center-piece fish? 

However, I don't get your plumbing design. You said you're going to be using U-style overflow boxes yet how can the bottom 3 be used for overflows. Unless I'm not getting something.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Definitely auto water changing for this one. No way I can do buckets on this scale. The plan for filtration is a custom sump build including about 30G of refugium for grow out/quarantine. Lighting will be 480W of T5HO with Giesmman bulbs and a DIY blue LED night light. 

By overflows, I just meant plumbing overflows, not boxes. The piping will be U shaped overflow to achieve water level closer to the top of the glass. The system will be a custom design but based on some suggestions from the folks at monsteraquariums forum.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

*DIY Exhaust System*

One of the things I am concious of with keeping tanks is the humidity they create. I have never experienced a tank as large as a 250G so I can only imagine the humidity it will create. I am trying to address this by exhausting the hood section of the tank out of the vicinity of the aquarium. Here I will have some photos and explanation of how I created an exhaust system in my unfinished basement that will allow me to exhaust the hot, humid tank air to 1) my furnace cold air return during the winter (improves heating efficiency and will help humidify the house during the super dry Canadian winters) or 2) outside using my dryer vent during the summer.

This system was put in months ago, before I started finishing my basement. To start, I had to put together the piece which will actually sit inside the hood and draw air. I am using a 120V 4" drive exhaust fan that was given to me as the first piece of hardware that will move air. I attached it to a 4" PVC elbow using some nails and construction adhesive. Once the adhesive dried, I wrapped it in duct tape to make the seal air tight.



















The next step was to mount the assembly to a floor joist and add an electrical junction to house the electrical connections for the exhaust fan and the flow boosting fan (to come). I drilled a couple holes into the PVC elbow and screwed it to a floor joist and mounted a standard light junction to the joist so that the junction was flush to the PVC elbow. This will give me access to the junction in the future since it will be below the ceiling drywall.











In all honesty, at this point I figured I just hook up some more PVC, and the drive exhaust fan would be able to overcome the head pressure and move the air from the one end of the system to the other. Boy was I wrong. I had no flow, so I had to figure out a good way to boost the pressure. Walking through Princess Auto I noticed furnace duct boosting fans. What do you know, they had a 120V 4" fan. Perfect! So I mounted the fan at the elbow and wired it up to a 120V electrical cord. In hindsight, I should've placed the boosting fan at a different spot but it works pretty well where it is. Attached to the boosting fan is length of 4" PVC that runs the length of the floor joist.










If you are wondering, yes that is 14-2 standard wire. It has since been replaced with 14-2 flexible outdoor wire. I used duct tape again to seal the PVC connections to the boosting fan. The long run of PVC was secured to the floor joist at each end the same way the PVC elbow was secured. The 4" PVC run took me to the tricky part of the project. I had to get the air from my future rec room, across the whole basement to where my furnace and dryer duct are. I had already boxed in my furnace duct work so I figured I could run a line next to the existing duct work without any problems. I used a modified funnel to taper the connection from the 4" PVC to a 1.5" flex hose that would carry the air the rest of the run. The braided flex hose creates a bit of an issue in terms of extra head pressure but I really didn't have much choice at this point. Here's the funnel adapter and it attached to the PVC with duct tape.



















I don't have any photos of the termination of the whole system but there is a T connection with valving on each of the branches that allows me to run the air to my cold air return on my furnace during the winter or to my dryer duct during the summer. The whole system doesn't move a lot of air but enough that I think the humidity in the main room of the basement won't get out of control and it should help cool the lighting a little bit. It may have just been an interesting project and not particularly useful, but I figured with this setup I might as well go for everything I can think of rather than get the tank going and wish I had this or that.


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## jman (Sep 7, 2009)

What kind of fish are you thinking of? Discus?


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Eventually a school of 12 -16 blue strain discus. Not sure what kind yet. To go with them 2 large schools of smaller tetras. Probably cardinals and harlequin raspboras. Or maybe some rummy nose. Not really to sure exactly yet.


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## roznalos (Aug 18, 2008)

This would be a surely awesome tank build.
Looking forward to it


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

wow this is going to be amazing


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## Digsy (Mar 4, 2006)

I'm looking forward to seeing another discus tank, especially such a large one!


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

After almost 7 months of waiting for this tank, it has finally arrived. Not much to see yet since it is still in the crate but here it is.










With most of the crate material removed. Man what a stressful job messing around with crowbars and prybars with a giant glass box inches away.










Here's a shot of it the builder sent me prior to shipping. It's looking pretty good.


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## hoa101 (Aug 31, 2009)

I am not exactly the most experienced guy around, but how does one do maintenance, plant, etc, in a tank that is 3 feet deep?? 

Beautiful-looking tank though, although it is hard to get a sense of the scale with nothing but the tank sitting there.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Long arms, long tools and a step stool will go a long way for maintenance.

The scale is shown in the first post, ie dimensioned drawing.


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## hoa101 (Aug 31, 2009)

Jeebus, that does not sound like fun. I'll leave the 3' deep tanks to better men than I.

By scale I meant, like a person standing next to it. I am a former surfer, so bear with me. You know how if you look at a picture of a wave with nobody on it, it just looks like every other wave? Could be 3 ft, could be 6ft, could be 12ft - there is no sense of _scale_... However, stick a surfer on that wave and suddenly you look at the pic and say, "Holy @$%&! That is sick, brah!" 

So, a picture of a fish tank is a picture of a fish tank, but some tanks are TANKS, if you take my meaning.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

I'll have some new pics tonight as I uncrate this bad boy.


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## nismo tetra (Oct 11, 2009)

hoa101 said:


> Jeebus, that does not sound like fun. I'll leave the 3' deep tanks to better men than I.
> 
> By scale I meant, like a person standing next to it. I am a former surfer, so bear with me. You know how if you look at a picture of a wave with nobody on it, it just looks like every other wave? Could be 3 ft, could be 6ft, could be 12ft - there is no sense of _scale_... However, stick a surfer on that wave and suddenly you look at the pic and say, "Holy @$%&! That is sick, brah!"
> 
> So, a picture of a fish tank is a picture of a fish tank, but some tanks are TANKS, if you take my meaning.


dude its almost hanging off both those skids.....plenty of scale there. Or take a tape measure, and pull out 66 inches. 

Good luck with the tank, custom tanks are sweet. And yes humidity does suck.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Finally the first update in nearly a year. This project has been on hold until I finished the basement that the tank was going to be installed in. I found out very quickly that having your first child will put a little damper on the projects you had going before. Nearly 1 year after the tank arrived it has been uncrated and is almost ready to be put on the stand. I'm thinking I will have to have professional movers do this job. 

I've got the structural part of my stand built. It is 2x6 and 2x4 construction. 3/4" plywood on top. My wife is paranoid it isn't strong enough for a 250G but I think it's plenty safe.

Here's the stand going together:

The top frame that the plywood will be screwed to:




















and the whole thing clamped together ready to be screwed.










I also realized that if I tried to put the tank on the stand and then put the manzanita wood as a whole in it wouldn't fit and there is no way I was assembling it by hanging into the tank so I have started putting together my stump that will go in and I will install it in the tank before I put the tank on the stand. I'm building it on the stand so I can get it sized correctly. 

Looking for some feedback on the arrangement. I have lots more good branches that will beef up the right side a bit more so it isn't complete yet.

Straight on:










Closer:










From the left:










From the right:










And still to be put into the arrangement:


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## TeamTeal (Mar 31, 2010)

nice job with the wood arrangement


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## ridewake210 (Jan 12, 2007)

What a big aquarium you have there!
I will be keeping my eye on this thread, some pretty cool stuff ya got going on.


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## VadimShevchuk (Sep 19, 2009)

I am loving this thread already! I think the wood is looking good. How many gallons are you gonna change per week?


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Will be changing quite a few gallons. No specifics in mind but the water changing will be automated. I'll post my design when I bring the filter together.


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## The_Finglonger (Jun 21, 2010)

nice driftwooding!!


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## chonhzilla (Apr 22, 2008)

Lookin good!


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Here's what I think will be the final arrangement. I got every piece in, including a couple small pieces I had in an old tank.

Straight On:










From the left:










and the right:










What do you think?


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Looks rather busy for my own taste, but I think it will depend alot on what you do with plants to soften it.

Really look forward to seeing this one all come together! :icon_smil


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

I'm thinking that it might be a bit busy as well by looking at the pictures and then when I check it out in real life I'm very happy with it. I guess because it is so big (3ft tall, 5 ft wide, 2ft deep) it looks very cluttered in 2D. But the plan for planting will soften some of the wood appearance. I'm planning on doing almost exclusively slow growers. Lots of crypts for around the base of the wood, some swords for the back areas, large anubias attached around the lower parts of the wood, and small anubias towards the top. I will also be covering parts of the wood with different ferns and mosses. I think this will help green up the whole wooded area and create some visual differences.

I may have 1 or 2 stem species for a corner, or some other select spot but the growth of stems is something I'm not sure I will be able to keep up with or want to for that matter. But we will see. I love ludwigia cuba and pogostemon stellata. Foreground planting will probably be marcilea drummondi. I may try HC but at 3" tank depth it may be tough.


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## TeamTeal (Mar 31, 2010)

that will look good in a hardscape only tank


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

Did you really have this sitting for a year? I don't think I could handle this....


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

The wood was well over a year. The tank I've had for a year.


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## Frau Frankenstein (Jul 22, 2010)

Consigliere... how did you end up moving that beast into your basement? Ive got heartburn just looking at it. Would love a "primer" on this, since I might be moving a large tank to my basement in the future. Im seeing shattered glass, tears and a red faced hubbie, so totally stressin while im supposed to be de-stressin.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

That is a very good question. I had a "Large Item" moving company come in and then refuse to move it when they saw it. I'm looking around some more to find someone to do it, but yes it is a bit stressful. I may end up having to do it myself with some family/friends. If that is the case I will document how I do it. I actually think I have a pretty good idea in mind but time and materials likely makes it worth it to hire someone.

The trick of the move in my case is a 90" turn on my staircase. It will be tough but I've gotten some good ideas from some of the forums out there how to execute the move if I do it myself.


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## Frau Frankenstein (Jul 22, 2010)

ugg... not the answer Im hoping for, although I have no angles and a straight shot to walkout basement. No moving company would touch mine either, tried fragile piano movers, antique movers---all the same, ended up calling the two petshops in Minneapolis with a great reputation and got some very helpful fish geeks, a van and a dolly....I seriously have heartburn. the move's on wed night...in the dark.....the weather is supposed to be rainy. heartburn. I'll totally give you tips but I think Im short a burly guy with muscles.


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## gringostar9 (Oct 11, 2010)

Looking good so far... Can't wait to see that thing in action.


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## Dan the Man (Sep 8, 2009)

Any update?


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

I'm looking at the dates on these posts and it seems like I get the itch to work on this project about this time every year. What turned out to be the most difficult aspect of the entire project was completely overlooked by me when I designed this tank. Moving it to my basement was an absolute nightmare. Professional movers turned down the job but in the end my two brother-in-laws, my dad and myself moved it from my garage to my basement.










Making the Plan










Not the most comfortable moment










Don't let go









Almost there



Almost two years from delivery it finally makes it into my house.










Front view










Better lighting


I can finally get started on all the setup. The plumbing will be the first job. The filter the second. That will be the moment of truth on filling this thing with water and getting the pumps going. I'll be posting the drainage plumbing design shortly.


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## the planter (Jul 8, 2010)

I think this is going to be a good tank. cant wait to see it up and going :icon_smil


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

It's time to finally move the design from paper to actual parts. The drain system is setup so that the water level in the tank is determined by the horizontal pipe at the top. The two capped ends will be used to vent any air by attaching some hosing. Ball valves provide full isolation for each drain. They also provide the capability for a quick 1/3 water change. The lowest drain in the tank will be used mainly for draining almost the whole tank if it's needed. Total output at maximum drainage will be two full 1.5" ABS pipes. The ball valves can potentially provide some more sophisticated flows but I don't think I will use it that way very often, if ever.









Drain plumbing

A weakness of this system is all the threaded parts. The ball valve fittings to 1.5" straight pipe is threaded and the connection to the drain bulkheads to the tanks is threaded. Any recommendations for good teflon tape for ABS piping? The taping job will probably determine if I have any leaks when it starts up.

Anyone see any fatal flaws in this setup?

It will drain from the two down going 1.5" pipes into a 70G sump filter. At the end of the drain lines will be a DIY "muffler" installed inside the sump to try and minimize the noise of the whole system.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Have you got an update, the progress so far is great and I want to see more, checked the blog and no luck there either, I'm guessing your too tired to post an update but the tank and layout to dat is great.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Nothing meaningful yet. I've been working away on cleaning the 70G tank that will become the sump and designing the sump itself. Also waiting for a couple PVC fittings to come in to be able to finish the design on the return plumbing. Hopefully will have something in a week or two.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Nice, I was looking around at bulk reef supply and was amazed at wow expensive a good back flow preventer could cost, and some of the sumps were very pricey too. I would have tp buy some plexiglass and adhesives and go to work with the table saw and drill press, good luck.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

The last few weeks I've been installing the drainage plumbing onto the bulkheads. A few design changes were necessary as I installed things to make sure there was room for the return plumbing. The isolation valves for the rightside upper drain bulkhead will be hard to get to so I think I'm going to drill a hole in the valve handles and put a threaded rod and nut through it so I can pull it open or closed from above. Here's a couple shots of the drainage plumbing installed.








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The next step was to turn my old 70G tank into the filter. I'm doing a sump setup underneath the stand. The design is based on a bunch of nice saltwater sumps I've seen on the internet. I chose Lexan for the dividers. Glass would've been better but Lexan was easier to get and wasn't overly expensive. It took a little bit to figure out how best to cut it. There are a few chips out of some of the dividers that hopefully will be filled with silicone. You'll see I didn't spare any silicone when I installed the dividers. Before I installed each divider I sanded the surface that was going to be siliconed to the glass. Hopefully the extra surface area will make a strong enough bond to stand up to the flows in the sump. Here's the photos of the transformation of the 70G tank to the sump:







































































The pump mounts have some rubber grommets siliconed in below the screw heads. There will be 2 more rubber gromets sandwiching each pump mount with stainless washers and nuts to keep everything together and vibrating without hitting the glass.

With everything installed here we are:

















Overall the filter has 5 distinct features. A submerged return pump, a bubble trap before the return pump. 2 sections of bio filtration, sump pump with float switch connected to the house drain and a 15G or so refugium. The sump pump still needs to be installed but the plumbing is all in place.. The refugium will initially be used for keeping isolation from new fish while getting them exposed to tank conditions. After that I'll use it to grow some plants.

The next part of the project is the plumbing for the return system. I have some check valves on order that I need to get that finished. There will be 3 of them for redundancy since check valves aren't as reliable as an above water siphon break. I decided to give up on doing a siphon break and spend some extra money on heavy duty check valves. The return system will include a 3" PVC CO2 reactor with injection via pressurized CO2 and regulator.

Here's how everything looks together right now:


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Nice, it looks really good and that driftwood is huge, you will have that thing teaming with life one way or the other, really nice.

The plumbing and the sump looks great, I do have one word of advise, when you use silicone you apply the bead and then lightly drag you finger thought it and you only get one shot so if your not totally happy after wards it's tough you just have to live with it as is, but this helps push it into the cracks and crevasses and spreads out a wider base making good contact which means good adhesion, just a word to the wise, but you've done a great job this is one sweet tank.


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

WOW, what a project getting that beast into your basement... you're lucky that you had some guys to help you out!
Driftwood arrangement looks fantastic.


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## NWehrman (Jun 2, 2011)

Very nice! Looking forward to seeing the progression!


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Thanks for the tip on the silicone. I did do the old finger drag on all the beads and then added another layer to make sure there was no sealing issue. I've tested a couple chambers and they hold water with no leaks. One other thing that I did. I would let the big bead dry on the outside (maybe an hour) and then would press the bead into the point where the lexan and glass meet. The bead was so thick that the silicone underneath was still wet and could move to make sure it was into all the crevices created by the sanding. Not sure if this made any difference or not but just something I tried here.


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## The Gipper (Sep 9, 2003)

The driftwood is awesome but it really fills the whole tank...where will the discus at full size swim


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

I'm re-thinking about the discus. I'm actually thinking I will not do them at all for this tank. At least not anything near term. If I do end up stocking with discus, it will be 6-8 at the most so should have plenty of room. There is a lot of driftwood though. I may pare it down a bit. I've got some adjustments to make to it before starting it up so we'll see how it works out in the next couple of weeks.


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## rbarn (Mar 21, 2009)

Consigliere said:


> I'm re-thinking about the discus. I'm actually thinking I will not do them at all for this tank. At least not anything near term. If I do end up stocking with discus, it will be 6-8 at the most so should have plenty of room. There is a lot of driftwood though. I may pare it down a bit. I've got some adjustments to make to it before starting it up so we'll see how it works out in the next couple of weeks.



Yes, please do not throw a bunch of beautiful discus into a new tank. Get it established for a minimum of 6 months --- then start adding the expensive and hard to keep fishies.

I was thinking you had too much wood in there as well. Looks good. But you had nothing but a tank of wood basically. Give the fish some room.

Love the tank.


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## HeathBar (Aug 28, 2007)

Wow! That is a killer tank and the driftwood looks really great in it. I can't wait to see the progress of this tank.


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## fuzz_16 (Oct 28, 2011)

love the driftwood  you just bought peices then glued it all together? siliconed?

i wouldnt ever want to move if i had that set up...and all i was thinking was good thing it fit through the door! (didnt know dimensions but i was thinking about what someone would do if they could get tank through the door) 

i think some discus would look beautiful in that tank, if you worked with the driftwood to open it up more instead of being so tight, something a fish could swim through and not have to go around, that might be better. Id be afraid one might get startled and hurt himself on it


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

The driftwood is mainly zip tied together with some silicone in certain spots. It's all siliconed to some rocks to keep it submerged when I have to fill it up.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

My only issue with everything you've done... don't lay your co2 tank on its side. The regulator is not designed to handle liquid co2 and without an anti-siphon tube installed, the tank is dumping liquid into the reg. It could easy render it useless and cause catastrophic failure.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Thanks for the heads up. The CO2 was planning to do on its side but not in the position it's shown now. Was planning dual check valves on the CO2 supply line. Should alleviate this potential problem?


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

Consigliere said:


> Thanks for the heads up. The CO2 was planning to do on its side but not in the position it's shown now. Was planning dual check valves on the CO2 supply line. Should alleviate this potential problem?


No. Check valves well prevent back flow of water to the reg, the will not prevent liquid co2 from going IN the reg. Gas cylinders are designed to be sat on their base, and when on side liquid co2 will escape and could easily get into the reg and cause it to blow up(liquid goes in, expands to gas, boom). 

It isn't a "potential" problem. It is guaranteed that eventually you'll have a failure. 

Tank needs to be in vertical position.


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## Byakuya (Oct 26, 2011)

OverStocked said:


> No. Check valves well prevent back flow of water to the reg, the will not prevent liquid co2 from going IN the reg. Gas cylinders are designed to be sat on their base, and when on side liquid co2 will escape and could easily get into the reg and cause it to blow up(liquid goes in, expands to gas, boom).
> 
> It isn't a "potential" problem. It is guaranteed that eventually you'll have a failure.
> 
> Tank needs to be in vertical position.


Life saver!
--

Haha totally going to follow your tank man  looks amazing! can't wait to see more pictures of the progress!


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Very helpful on the CO2 setup! Thanks a million. Did not realize this was a potential disaster waiting to happen. 

I can stand up the CO2 canister although I hadn't designed this with that intent so may not be a pretty solution. 

One question - Is it sufficient to have it on say 45degree angle, or is completely vertical required?


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Consigliere said:


> Thanks for the tip on the silicone. I did do the old finger drag on all the beads and then added another layer to make sure there was no sealing issue. I've tested a couple chambers and they hold water with no leaks. One other thing that I did. I would let the big bead dry on the outside (maybe an hour) and then would press the bead into the point where the lexan and glass meet. The bead was so thick that the silicone underneath was still wet and could move to make sure it was into all the crevices created by the sanding. Not sure if this made any difference or not but just something I tried here.


That's excellent then, I'm used to doing silicone in Bathrooms & Kitchens and by the time you drag your finger through it to make it look good & set it in place, it has already formed a skin and it you try to fix a small area it looks horrible. No worries with sump in that department and what you did should be perfect.

I can't wait to see it full and it is a lot of wood but that's what makes it unique IMO, fish swim through wood & plants without a worry in the world and never touch a thing unless they are stopping to rest, good luck with the project.

I had no idea about the CO2 but it is logical, I just saw the tank and said to myself "that's different" but the liquid never occurred to me.


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## Mxx (Dec 29, 2010)

Crazy tank that! And those must be some seriously long arms of yours if you're planning on using long arms for your aquascaping as suggested... I was measuring my reach and thinking that I wouldn't dare go beyond 27" deep. But I suppose you'll quickly become quite adept at using long tweezers and other tools, that or you will be investing in a scuba rig... 3/4" starfire glass sufficiently strong for a 36" deep doesn't come cheap either!

With such as strong focal point with your driftwood bouquet I suppose that finding complementary ways to plant such as tank can be challenging, so I'll be interested to see where this goes from here. 

A large deep tank however still needs large fish to look right in my opinion, so I'd have thought discus would have actually been your best bet, so long as they're not tangerine coloured ones. (And assuming that via your presence on this site you are going to plant your tank heavily). There is I believe a breeder in Canada who raises natural or semi-natural strains, or a blue strain would look great as well in a planted tank. I'd thought of keeping Discus and Congo Tetras myself in a 1000L tank, when I have the chance, which isn't exactly bio-type, but which would look good together in a big tank such as this. I don't however think you'd need to go discus extreme, but should just treat them properly like any other fish you'd keep, apart from the slightly higher temperatures. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/fish/152359-beginners-guide-discus.html


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Hind sight being 20/20 I would've also gone with a shorter tank. Not only the reaching the bottom but moving it too. 

The planting will definitely be a challenge with the wood arrangement being such a strong feature. The general plan will be to have some large anubias and ferns attached to the central area of the wood. The back corners will have some large swords and crypt balansae. Looking for very tall plants for the back corners and back areas. There will be a transition using medium sized crypts and blyxa to, hopefully, a crypt parva carpet in the front. Open to suggestions for plant species and ideas. Tall plants suggestions would be helpful too. 

The substrate scaping will be important to get to look right and balance the look of the tank as well.

Found out my check valves should be delivered tomorrow so hoping to be able to get water in this weekend to find it out if there are any leaks.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Try some Hygrophila corymbosa angustifolia in the back it will make a quick background, I got some at an auction and at first I didn't like it but thought I'd use it until I got something better but as it has started to fill in it's growing on me, it responds well to trimming and it will grow 36 inches with no problems. I also have Cryptocoryne crispatula var. balansae and Vallisneria nana that all grow straight to the surface.

The plumbing, check valves, unions, valves, etc. can run the bill up quickly but it's nice when your finished.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Couple pretty good looking suggestions on there. Thanks. The val nana has a couple cool tanks come up when you google it. I've kept different vals before but they always ended up getting out of control because they spread so quickly. I wonder maybe something like that behind the guts of the wood arrangement might create a neat effect. Especially with the return flow blowing the long grass around. Might be interesting to try.

How fast does the hygro grow? I've had a few types before and they take off pretty quickly, also to the point of taking over. Do the tall plants loose their bottom leaves easily like most stems?

I figure the plumbing has me at about $600 so far not including the pump or anything in the filter. Price you pay for running a small pool inside your house. Working as an engineer in manufacturing doesn't help either. The more valves the better and make it redundant!

Turns out I can turn my CO2 tank vertically and still fit everything I planned on so I'm happy about that upgrade.


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## Mxx (Dec 29, 2010)

In hindsight how much shorter do you think you would have gone then with the tank? 

One way to approach the design of it might be to use the driftwood as somewhat of a minimalist 'object in space' and have plants with small leaves and little texture such as a moss even growing on it. 

Personally, I'd likely instead go with a lot of Giant Vallisneria, Amazon swordplants and perhaps Blyxa for your mid-ground species, and then some manner of low maintenance carpeting plant along the entire front. The Giant Vals are large enough to reach the top, and linear enough that they wouldn't have a texture which detracts too greatly from the focal point, and you could consider using some clusters of them as well around the midground to provide some added visual depth to give the fish something extra to swim around. If you stick to rosette plants like vals and swords then you don't have to mess with them as much as with stem plants certainly. But given that driftwood arrangement I'd myself stick to just a very limited number of plant species. 

And you might be well advised to aim for a low maintenance approach, as a tank this size requiring intensive management could be a considerable demand on time. You might want to look as well at thus using MTS as a substrate underlay and capping it with something such as Estes Sand or blasting sand. 

Did you have any plans for lighting and substrate?


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Not sure how much shorter. Maybe down to 26". 

Will definitely be low maintenance for plants. I had some jungle stem tanks before and they are crazy to keep up with.

I'm looking at options for substrate but would like to keep things fairly low cost on this one. The MTS is a great thought, just not sure if I want to sling mud all over my basement trying to get it in. The Estes Sand looks like it has some great colours. I'm looking for something like their walnut. I've used pool filter sand for other tanks and it was great just don't think I want it for this tank. Want it to be a bit more muted so the plants pop more.

I have the lights. 6x 80W T5HO 60" long. Giesmann aquaflora and midday bulbs with ready fit fixtures. Trying to figure out the best way to install them now. I think I'll put some strapping on the ceiling and add some hooks. Will use some cable and hang them off the hooks. I may use the hooks to setup a pulley style system so that I can adjust the height of the lights by a few inches for fine tuning later on.


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## galabar (Oct 19, 2011)

I'm not sure I'm understanding how the tank will drain into the sump during normal operations. Do you have an overflow box, or are you depending on the water simply flowing into the bulkhead and into the sump?


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## Byakuya (Oct 26, 2011)

what color substrate are you looking for again :O?


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Just water flowing through the bulkhead for flow to the sump. Should all be gravity fed. The 3 bulkheads on the outside of the tank will drain to the horizontal section of pipes they are connected to with the two vertical section draining back to the sumps. The bulkheads are essentially the inlet for a stand pipe. The purpose of the bottom bulkhead is simply to drain most of the water in the tank if need be. It won't normally be valved open, or if it is it will be very low flow.

Looking for some darker coloured substrate. Browns, black even maybe.


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## Byakuya (Oct 26, 2011)

You could always go with the black EcoComplete 

http://www.amazon.com/CaribSea-Eco-...E80S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320974000&sr=8-1

Although it would probably start to run a bit pricey :\


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Just had a brainstorm. 

Instead of having a CO2 reactor in the plumbing, why not just install the CO2 tubing into the center of the PVC fitting on the intake of the pump? Pump should chop up the gas quite a bit for quick diffusion into the water and simplifies the plumbing immensely. Also saves me about $120 in plumbing parts.

Anyone tried this before? Thoughts?


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Yeah anything that says aquarium sand on it is about 10x the cost it should be. Looking for something a bit cheaper but may end up going with a commercial aquarium offering in the end.


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

I have my CO2 split right now. Some is coming through the Rex Grigg style reactor connected to the sump pump's output, no bubbles and there weren't even when I hadn't split the line. Some is coming through the intake of the in tank pump that travels through +8 feet of PVC to a spray bar and I have microbubbles galore coming out. I think I am getting more uniform CO2 but you will get bubbles, not completely dissolved CO2.

It would really cost that much to connect a reactor? I didn't add it up but am pretty sure it cost a whole lot less than that to plumb a loop of wide PVC into my sump pump's return.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Consigliere said:


> Couple pretty good looking suggestions on there. Thanks. The val nana has a couple cool tanks come up when you google it. I've kept different vals before but they always ended up getting out of control because they spread so quickly. I wonder maybe something like that behind the guts of the wood arrangement might create a neat effect. Especially with the return flow blowing the long grass around. Might be interesting to try.
> 
> How fast does the hygro grow? I've had a few types before and they take off pretty quickly, also to the point of taking over. Do the tall plants loose their bottom leaves easily like most stems?


No they stay thick and green at the bottom and grow like a tree so you can cut the branches coming toward you and make a hedge or lop of the long leave and branches reaching the top and this plant doesn't even notice, I really like it but it needs a big tank, but it doesn't take up too much room like a sword.

It took 2 months to acclimate and go from 15 inches to 30 inches, so it's growth rate is good without being crazy.

There's two things you could get from AP.com and maybe save on shipping, they have a nice brown or black substrate that is a baked clay like Floutite but the colors are nice and the Carbon Doser EXT5000 external reator will give you good results in a big tank like that, I use one and it's the best thing on the market for big tanks and the next step would be something custom made. It works best IMO with filters/pumps at 300 gph, what are you using as filtration?


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Duh, I forgot you have the sump so scratch the EXT5000 and look here and ask plantbrain about the setup for CO2 in a sump, he gets good result and it looks to be a simple setup.


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## Mxx (Dec 29, 2010)

For CO2 I believe you need to make sure to very tightly seal your sump, which may as suggested involve duct tape. And you'd want to have the injection happening earlier in the sump, at least before it passes through the final mechanical filtering sponges/floss/etc media, to ensure no bubbles are getting pumped back into the tank as those would be unsightly and to give it time to be absorbed. 

Hygrophila corymbosa, as suggested, have some varieties that would be good for a big tank. I haven't used it before but would like to. Personally I'd prefer what I believe is the stricta variety, which has larger swordplant like leaves. I've seen photos of that used very nicely in big tanks. Or the 'compact' variety could form a nice mid-ground transition from foreground carpeting plants to background plants.

I think black substrates always look much better than brown, (light sand does as well but it's hard to keep looking clean). So if cost there is a concern than blasting sand is very very cheap, and works very well for plants it seems on top of a rich underlay such as MTS. (That's likely my plan for now at least when I move up to a big tank).


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

Consigliere said:


> Yeah anything that says aquarium sand on it is about 10x the cost it should be. Looking for something a bit cheaper but may end up going with a commercial aquarium offering in the end.


Well, you are in it all the way or none of it:icon_cool
I'd get something that matches the nice stand, the nice labor and work, and it is something you will be putting your fingers into for the next few years and be looking at, I am willing to spend the $ there.

I understand and feel the same way as you, but I'm also willign to pay more for something that looks and performs good and I can move around easily.

For aesthetics and performance, I find it hard to chose much other than ADA AS, but I have some aesthetic considerations in other tanks, so I use a dolomite sand which is a nice white color.

This is for aesthetics though.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Unforunately for the Canucks out there ADA products are difficult, if not impossible, to come by. Looked into getting some a while ago but no luck.


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## Byakuya (Oct 26, 2011)

Whats next on the to-do list sir ?


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

A light goes up tonight and maybe the return plumbing.


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## Byakuya (Oct 26, 2011)

Nice!  can't wait to see a picture!


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Been going pretty hard the last few nights on getting this tank going. [censored]The check valves arrived Friday and I got to work on the return plumbing. [censored]I had a last minute change of design and didn't go with a CO2 reactor out of PVC. [censored]Instead I decided to use a 1300 L/h powerhead hooked up to a 36W UV tube. [censored]The UV/powerhead setup will move water from the return pump chamber in the sump to the first chamber after the drainage chamber. [censored]The CO2 will be bubbled into the inlet of the powerhead. [censored]I modified the impeller based on a design I found by Tom Barr. [censored]Should be similar to a needle wheel impeller, hopefully.








​Here's a few photos of the finished plumbing setup. [censored]Right now I'm two crimp rings short of being able to fire the tank up. [censored]The water supply from the house system is piped in with pex and there is a termination end with an irrigation manifold for adding drippers. [censored]The drippers aren't installed yet. [censored]Here's the tap and drip supply:








There is also a tap at the top of the tank for directly filling there.

[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-4dTH7KbN5Pw/Tr8-nPMoojI/AAAAAAAABWU/kQaZ72JSL98/s800/DSC_0018.JPG[/img]​
The return plumbing, UV tube and sump pump plumbing is pictured here. [censored]The sump pump is hooked up to the house drain with a float switch for hopefully automatic water changes. [censored]Also pictured is the Milwaukee CO2 controller.

















I also got the first of 3 T5HO light fixtures installed. [censored]Each fixture has two 80W bulbs installed. [censored]The bulbs are Giesmann 4x Midday and 2x Aquaflora. [censored]Total of 480W might be a bit much so I think I will start with mounting them as far from the tank as possible. [censored]Each light will be run independently on timers with I think only about an hour per day will all 3 fixtures on. [censored]The majority of the time I think I will run only 2 fixtures. [censored]I will try and run something similar to a daylight cycle where only 1 light will be on to start and end a day and two on for a few hours. [censored]All 3 on to simulate high noon.








The lights are held on with PVC coated aircraft cable hanging from brass hooks. [censored]I'm going to add some hooks to be able to lower light easily but for now high up is all I need.








Tomorrow I'll finish of the pex water supply and we'll hopefully be able to have our first test run. [censored]Crossing my fingers there are no leaks.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

It looks good and that needle wheel pump was what you needed it's just to easy with the sump, I'll shoot you a link on a nice pump with a aerating impeller should that one not be efficient enough, but it looks like it will be fine.

Man your getting close and it looks like the adrenaline is starting to kick in, the ceilings are low down there but that's OK. Do the lights have any reflectors it's hard to tell from the photo. 

Your getting so close, don't forget to double, I mean triple check everything before the big fill and it helps to have a second body around in case you need to put your finger in the ****.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Look here for the Needle Wheel Impeller that is an aerating option for the pump, this would be great even if you had to run multiples to get enough CO2 in a big tank, good luck.

After you get to the site page you have to click "replacement parts" then "needle wheel impeller" and check out the "needle wheel conversion kit" it has the fitting for the CO2 line built in, it's nice.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Thanks for the link. Will check that out if I need to get another CO2 line going. The lights have reflectors. Can't remember the type now but I think they came with the Ready Fit fixtures?

Yeah the ceiling is a bit low to the tank. Only 19" of clearance. 

I was thinking about bringing a buddy over as I fill it just for the reason you pointed out. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.


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## green_valley (Sep 14, 2011)

WOw............that is going to be impressive.


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## Byakuya (Oct 26, 2011)

love it! Can't wait to see the test run pictures!


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Well just did the test run and had 4 leaks. One was a bulkhead fitting that I tightened down and got sealed up (I think). Another is at a threaded section where the drainage plumbing connects to a bulkhead. There is another leak at one of the ABS sections where the 4 way splitter runs into the vertical drain section. There is another at an elbow of the pump return plumbing. 

Any good ways of fixing this without cutting out the fittings? Cutting out the fittings could get a bit ugly.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

I've seen epoxy used by some and I'm sure it's fine as long it's good and dry when you apply it, a new fitting would be the ultimate fix but sometimes if fittings are close together it gets hard to do. Just do what you can and test it again until it's right.

If your going to cut pipe under the tank a PVC saw is almost impossible, I borrow the pipe cutter from a plumber friend so I don't have spend $40 + on a pair but they are nice, good luck.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Decided to go ahead and cut out the leaking plumbing and start new. Seems to be no method for 100% long term no leaks. 

I'll be simplifying a lot of the plumbing at the time too. Since the leaks were only drips I ran the tank for about 2 hours figuring out the different functionallty and to make sure everything was working well. Everything generally worked fine but I realized there is no need for some of the plumbing features. I'll take a bunch of that out and have a better setup in the end. 

I've also decided on substrate. I'm going to be getting 14 bags of Netlea brown for the substrate.


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## Byakuya (Oct 26, 2011)

sorry to hear about the leaks ! can't wait to see a picture of the planting; hopefully in the close future!


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

That's a good idea on the plumbing, it never pays to take short cuts when your playing with large amounts of water and the amount of pressure is crazy when trying to stop a leak.

I've never heard of the substrat your using but can't wait to see it, 14 bags, man it just never ends!

It appears the substrate is similar to ADA AS or Fluval Stratum, or atleast somewhere in between.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Got everything wet tonight. No leaks this time! Filter is running no issues. Everything seems to be in order. A couple tweaks still to make but overall everything is ready.

All the lights are in. Just soaking the wood now and testing a few things out. Will have some pics up in the next day or two.

The substrate is from Asia apparently. Imported into Toronto by a couple stores. I guess its not available in the US at this time. It's similar to ADA Amazonia from what I've read, except about 25% less on the price.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Cool, I'm glad to hear you got it done with no leaks, great!!!

I was looking in some other threads were folks are using new substrates, it's called Akadama and used for Bonsai, but it's a baked clay like Flourite but softens when wet, with great nutrient holding and transfer properties, so you get the nutrient benefit of AS with the longevity of Flourite, at least from what I can see.

After I googled Netlea most of the stores were Shrimp retailers in the UK.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Survived the first night no leaks, no water on the floor. Things are looking good.

I looked at the Akadema substrate but always the biggest problem in Canada is finding it. I'm not in a big city either so makes it tougher. 

The Netlea is popular in shrimping but they have one designed for planted tanks as well. Here's a link to the store I got it from:

http://www.aquainspiration.com/productdetail.asp?PIN=SS&PNAME=NTL&PSIZE=NBS9L&PTYPE=Aqua Soil 

Haven't ever seen it in person so hopefully it works out.


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## hakishimiei (Oct 13, 2011)

wow!!! i cant wait to see this up and running
i wanna set up something like this in the near future once i have my own house hahahha


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

I've got to buy my heaters for this tank soon. Haven't found anything locally that is suitable. 

I'm looking for some recommendations for a fully submersible 1000W setup. Anyone have any suggestions for brands? 

I've seen the JBJ setups, they look pretty sweet but are pricey.


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## SlammedDC2 (Jun 4, 2011)

Consigliere said:


> I've got to buy my heaters for this tank soon. Haven't found anything locally that is suitable.
> 
> I'm looking for some recommendations for a fully submersible 1000W setup. Anyone have any suggestions for brands?
> 
> I've seen the JBJ setups, they look pretty sweet but are pricey.


 I got a submersible 800w with heat controller from www.catalinaaquarium.com
mine works really well, I like it.

Here you go: http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=42_43&products_id=1786
two 500w heaters with controller.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

They are pricey at that size, I paid $50 ea for the Hydor inlines so $100 plus shipping, here's a link to a nice one but this site has good prices but shipping to the Great North may be a different story. I've have had even the cheapest heaters last forever.


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## Byakuya (Oct 26, 2011)

SlammedDC2 said:


> I got a submersible 800w with heat controller from www.catalinaaquarium.com
> mine works really well, I like it.
> 
> Here you go: http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=42_43&products_id=1786
> two 500w heaters with controller.


This looks like a fantastic deal :O! don't know about shipping!


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

After the first dry run of the tank there were a few leaks in the plmbing that needed to be fixed. There were two that I won't admit to how they happened but let's just put them on me. The other two were because of a bad bulkhead installation. I had to remove the bulkhead, scrape the inside glass free of silicone, re-seat the gasket and re-install the bulkhead. I siliconed it in for good measure. Here's why I don't make a living building aquariums:










To get the bulkhead fixed and get at the other leaks the original plumbing had to have some pieces cut out and new fittings put in. Here's the right side of the tank before installing the new fittings.



















and the new setup:










finally holding water with no leaks:










This photo shows the tap for filling the tank and all the lights installed:










and the nightlight shot:










I added the filter media today to get ready to cycle everything. There is a 3" layer of foam on the left and 56 pot scrubbies with some java rock on them to hold them down. I'll add some polishing fill when I get the tank filled again and sump running.










I also got my substrate today.14 bags of Netlea brown. It's a nice grain size, and looks pretty good in the cloudy water...so far.










Before I put the substrate in I had to touch up the manzanita arrangement. Got some rocks under it to tilt it in the right direction, moved a few branches around and also added some rocks where I want to add some depth to the layout.Here's the final layout of the tank before adding the substrate:





































Obviously the giant ugly rock in the arrangement won't stay. It's there to make sure the wood doesn't float up on me and ruin the layout.

I've got the substrate in and am filling the tank up as I write this. Here's a shot from a few minutes ago.










Just have to get my heater ordered and my CO2 canister filled up now and the tank will be fully ready to go. The substrate scaping is going to have to wait until the tank clears up.


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## danepatrick (Jul 17, 2006)

can't wait to see the progress!


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## TickleMyElmo (Aug 13, 2009)

Wow this is going to be epic!


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## Byakuya (Oct 26, 2011)

Consigliere said:


>


Is that a water stain line? or what is that weird mesh thing?


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Yeah just water and gravel dust. That was the water level when I started dumping in the substrate. Still have to clean the interior glass but waiting for things to get visible again.

Ran the tank for the first time unsupervised overnight and no issues. Definitely a confidence builder. It was still quite cloudy this morning which isn't unexpected since I dumped in 11 bags of substrate without washing. Still have 3 bags left in reserve to finalize the scape and potentially use for the refugium and/or small grow out tank down the road.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

It looks good even with silty water in it and I like that aerator breaking the water flow.

It looks good so far and why throw out all those good nutrients in the soil, it will settle. The substrate looks nice and so far just like ADA AS it has a nice color too.

I've never built a tank with nice plumbing or that needed bulkheads but I am getting ready to plumb in my RO/DI and auto water change so I've been studying reef tanks and sales videos, it seems lots of unions & sch 80 is the way to go for the least problems, too bad all of mine in CPVC.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Yeah stick with the reef guys for learning how to setup RO/DI and auto water changers. Necessarily, they are ahead of typically ahead of freshwater hobby.

There's no way Sch80 is required. Thats nuts. Sch 40 is totally fine. Unions definitely will make your plumbing job easier to repair or adjust down the road but comes at a cost. If you design it well, you can get away with only a union or two but if anything fails you'll have to cut more stuff out.


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## Byakuya (Oct 26, 2011)

! when are you going to start planting  and what?


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Might start planting this weekend but still have some work to do to get the whole setup up to the level it needs to be. Will be tough to finish the work before getting some plants in though.

Looked at what's available locally and will have a bunch of varities of crypts - balansae, wenditii, parva, couple I forget. Some swords for the back. Some ferns and anubias barteri for the wood focal point. Will try and find some anubias nana petite. Love that plant.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Keep in mind that swords get really big and will most likely grow like crazy in that nice substrate you just bought, and that huge root structure is a big mess when they start to shadow light from the other plants and you now need to yank them.

Sorry, do what you like I'm just not a sword fan.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

The swords do go like crazy but there will only be a couple of them and will be at the very back where the wood structure is densest. They are a bit of a pain but I think 3 or 4 of them would fit in nicely to a certain spot where there is about 8-9" of substrate.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

I tried!


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Fair enough. May reconsider the swords. Just feel like I need some plants with some scale for this tank, especially tall ones.

Here it is before the first attempted auto-water change procedure. Still pretty cloudy and tea stained from the soaking wood. Still have a bit of scaping on the gravel to do to create the profiles I want. The water was too cold to do it before. I've got all my old heaters in there going 100% to get it up to at 75.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

I like it but realize the flow of the substrate will change. The tea color gives it some real depth, you can see a couple of branches very clearly near the from glass and as the wood get farther toward the back it has more haze in front of it giving a nice 3D effect.

75 degrees is almost good, well I guess it is good, I keep mine at 77 during the winter and it climbs to 80 in the very hottest days of summer.

I bought some Manzanita and it just arrived, it's big 48" x 24" x 12" but it doesn't have the depth of your piece. I want to find some Fissidens before I put it in and make some Pleco holes just in case I feel the need for some Long Finned Albino Bristle Nosed Pleco's from here out know as LFABNP, they are so cool at 5 inches long 2 inches is all tail and if the come out the golden color really pops, I'm dying not to get them :help:


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## Byakuya (Oct 26, 2011)

Update :d!


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

The manzanita piece that I have is a whole bunch zip tied together. Think about buying some other branches and adding it to the piece you have. You can also silicone but I found zip ties much easier.

Will have an update shortly. First planting session is done but will have a few more to go before this thing is ready. 10 pots of parva with at least 50 plants and I have about 1/4 of what I need. 

When I was running my 70G tank I cursed the 12" tweezers I bought because they were so big but I am so glad I have them now!


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

I got energetic on Sunday afternoon and decided that I would do my first round of planting, despite having a million other things to do. I couldn't resist. Before I could start planting though I had to build a mini scaffold for me to stand on to work in the tank. Using a chair just wasn't cutting it. Here's my makeshift scaffolding:










I cleaned out most of the crypts at the best LFS in town. There are a bunch of ones in here: anubias bartera, java fern (normal), crypt parva, crypt poderfolia, crypt wendtii (red and green), crypt retrospiralis, crypt balansae, crypt abilda and apongeton crispus. A few of the crypts aren't in the greatest shape but they were reasonably priced so I figured I would give them a shot. Before putting them in the tank I soaked them in a very, very mild peroxide and water solution to try and at least hurt some of the algae that may be on them. Here's the plants before going in the tank:










Planting a 3 feet deep tank while you are standing 3 feet in the air is not the most comfortable scenario. *Luckily I have 12" tweezers to help and very long arms. *This is the shot during my first break to give my back a rest:










I had to finish up the planting before I got everything in. I ran out of super glue for attaching the ferns and anubias so there are a few of them that still need to go in. Here's a bunch of shots of different areas:










The start of the parva lawn, about 1/4 of the way there after planting 10 pots worth:










Balansae and ponderfolia sections:










Apongeton crispus and more balansae










More balansae, retrospiralis and abilda. The retrospiralis and abilda are on light support a bit so you can't see them very well.










A section of wendtii green:










and after refilling the tank:




























After this planting session and getting the tank refilled I was hurting. Sore back and tired but worth it. The green really pops against the wood and brown soil and dark background. After a night of planting I would have to say that the Netlea substrate is very nice to work with. It is easy to plant in, doesn't make a big mess when disturbed. Areas that were underwater were an absolute breeze to plant in. All the planting that is shown was finished in about an hour and a half. Once you get the hang of using 12" tweezers they are an absolute necessity for planting in a tank this deep. Overall I'm very happy with the progress. Lots of plants left to go but a good start. I figure this will be about 1/4 to 1/3 of the total plant biomass that I'll plant in here. The general theme will be the same though. Slow growers, crpyts, anubias, ferns etc. Don't want a high maintenance tank. I feel like I may go with one select stem species behind the anubias barteri but I will have to wait until I can get some shipped in the spring time for that. The Canadian winters aren't to friendly to plant shipments.


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

This is a nice build! Sorry if I missed it but what are the measurements for this tank? I have a good chunk of petite if you cant find any. I ship in styro boxes w/3 day heat packs so you should be good on that. Nice job posting progress pics! I love to see these giant come together. I am also excited to see how the new substrate works out.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Measurements on the tank are 60" long, 26" wide and 36" tall. Unfortunately shipping across customs is not an option for plants. I found a LFS that can order some nana petite and I've got a dozen of them on order now. Thanks for the offer though!!


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Yeah, please excuse my ignorance for skimming the fisrt few posts and digging in to the good stuff. You couldnt have made it more clear in your very first post. Sorry  Glad you found a source for them.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

No worries. The first posts are just the for the equipment geeks....of which I am one. That's the engineer in me coming out. 

I also like to provide as much detail on how to DIY and how to setup as possible. I've learned so much from other peoples journals that I think it's a great way to give back.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Because I needed an excuse to have another beer before bed...here's the tank 24hr after planting. There a bunch of new plants needing to be put in their permanent home but I am waiting to do that until the water needs changing for clarity again. The wood is leaching less tanins now but will need a big change again in a day or two.










Ordered a bunch of plants from the LFS that they normally don't carry today as well. 20 more pots of parva on the way, some java narrow leaf, java windelov (red apparently but now that I'm reading up on it it will be green submersed), anubias nana petite and a new crypt I forget. Should be here in 2 weeks. Will work out nicely for another big water change and that should be the majority of the planting done.


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Wow!!! @0 pots of parva? Have you made an appointment with your chiropracter:hihi: I cant wait to see it all planted and growing in! I went back and read the whole thread, amazing job over a few years! It nice to see someone with such patience for doing it right.


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## Jeromeit (Sep 30, 2011)

now that.. is gorgeous.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Haha yes the chiropractor may need a visit. I have a few rules when planting....one pot....then beer. Helps with the pain at least, especially considering my basement ceiling is less than 8ft. Thank goodness I'm 6'6" and can reach the bottom easily with 12" tweezers and my scaffold.

Thanks for the nice comments. I'm actually not as patient as you would think. The big problem was moving the tank. Professional movers would not touch it because they wouldn't insure the move. So some amateurs, a little thought, and a lot of brute force and ignorance got it done. I did take the opportunity to do some extensive planning and sourcing while I waited to get the tank moved though. 

Looking for a little feedback on something....with the plants in now I'm working on setting up the lighting cycle. With these slow growers, no stems etc for the startup I'm thinking 4hr at most with 1 of 3 lights is where I should start to make sure I don't have a nasty algae outbreak. I'll be getting my pressurized CO2 up and running tomorrow but my experience is that at startup not very much light should be required, and usually I startup with lots of stems in there. I've got a dozen Otos in there to clean things up but trying to make sure I don't fight algae issues for weeks on end.


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## ua hua (Oct 30, 2009)

Very nice tank. Is the lighting your using the Sunlight supply ready fit retro fit? I have been looking at one of those fixtures and was curious of the quality of the fixture.


http://www.aquacave.com/ready-fit-48-two-lamp-t5br-retro-kit-by-sunlight-supply-1263.html


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## Kworker (Oct 28, 2011)

going to be some very happy fish in the future.. looks great


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

It's really taking shape now and looks great, I'll have to say I've never seen plants in the little white containers and that's something completely different than we are used to in the lower 48. Don't be afraid to give the Crypts a little light, I have 6 different species and some grow like weeds, and despite what others say a 36" deep tank will need a little extra, plus they are in a nutrient rich substrate so they should be ready to grow. I like to use the burst method for lighting and start with a single circuit (2 CF bulbs 130w with poor reflectors) to just have and extended viewing period of 9 hrs, then my main lighting is just enough to sustain plant life with barely any growth (7 hrs. CF bulbs an additional 192 w with a large reflective area) then my burst is 2.5 hrs of another 192 watts of CF lighting and this is the period where my growth is rapid so I can adjust it up or down if needed, my total is 3.43 wpg. I do realize your lighting is different and maybe you could use the Sticky in the lighting section to help with amounts of light and photo period.

I keep my CO2 good but not so good the fish are lethargic.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Those are the lights I have. I like them so far. I ran one fixture for about 6 months on my 70G and had no problems with it. The reflectors seem to do a good job as well. Don't really have any experience to say if they are worth the $ but they are doing the trick for me and are quite bright.

Thanks for the advice on the photo period. Will take some tinkering for sure.


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Personally, I would stay on the low end at about 6 hours and bump it once a week from there to see what you get. I do highly recommend setting up the Co2 ASAP as it willl help with any algae outbreak. You could also consider floaters as a nutrient sink instead of stems. Way cheaper route to go but may hinder the effectiveness of your lighting if you get too many too fast.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Thanks for the feedback. I got my CO2 filled today and will install it tonight as long as I'm not working too late. Will start out low on the lighting and work my way up from there. Will still be a work in progress for a couple weeks so just want to keep everything alive for now and algae free. Can fine tune once I have all the plants in.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

That's true about the floating plants and I sometime forget that almost half the surface of my tank stay covered with Riccia Fluitans, so much so that my tank was pearling like crazy yesterday so I flung the cabinet door open to check my bubble counter but everything was fine, then I realized I had thrown out all but 10 pieces of Riccia so my plants were getting almost twice the light as the norm and they do suck up the nutients.

But I have no experience with a nutrient rich substrate, I've always used Flourite and EI dosing.


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## zenche (Feb 9, 2011)

holy crap. dare i say, this is going to be one epic tank!


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## Byakuya (Oct 26, 2011)

Great updates man  haven't been on the forums much lately but glad to see you got some plants in finally! Can't wait to see it fully planted and grown out!

Will you wait until its fully planted and has good growth before fish :O?


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Been working on and off on the tank of late. One of the first things to take care of was getting the CO2 up and running. After filling the CO2 tank I got everything hooked back up. The CO2 bubbles run into the intake of the powerhead that puts water through the UV chamber. The modded impeller is shown in another post. It's working really well. Can't even see the bubbles on the output so they are being dissolved 100% before being put back into the sump. Unfortunately the long layoff wasn't kind to my solenoid. It was full of dust and other junk and had to be totally taken apart and cleaned out. After putting it back together it still isn't working properly. It's passing CO2 with and without power. I still got it up and running and everything connected up but will have to get a new one I think. It's still clicking away when power goes off and on but will not stop the CO2 when there is no power to the solenoid. Any suggestions on how to fix it? I've had it apart a few times and can't figure out the problem.

With the CO2 in the next step was getting the sump sealed up. I had a bunch of acrylic lying around from some other old projects that I could use to create a cover over the open areas. With some cutting here and there I fit it around the plumbing. I used Tuck Tape to seal the edges of the acrylic sheets and around all the stuff going in and out of the sump so that it is generally air tight. Not 100% but pretty close. I put a small piece into the pump section of the sump so that I can break that seal and get at the pumps without having to take apart major sections of the cover. Is working well so far. Drop checker is nice and green and the couple of otos in the tank aren't gasping. Here's a photo of the sump all sealed up.










Another small thing that I had been planning was a self priming vacuum that I could connect to the filter system. This way I could clean the tank without any buckets and then would only have to clean out the filter, just like you would normally have to do. Here' s the apparatus I came up with. It's just a standard vacuum with an old Fluval ball valve hooked up to it. It's connected to a ABS cap that I can put on the drain system to self prime. Unfortunately, in practice it's much harder to use than I thought and I ended up putting a couple gallons of water on the floor....twice. I think I'm going to stick with the buckets for now, but it works as intended. Notice the scaffold in the picture doubles as a nice work station.










Onto the second planting session now. I got some new crpyts from the LFS; some more wendtii green to fill out some spots, some larger wendtii red I think, 3 more pots of parva (20 more are on the way) and the rest are left overs that I didn't get in on the first planting or have become unrooted and need to be replanted. Here's the lineup going into the tank this time.










A few hours later and we're ready to refill the tank again.










and about another hour later, the tank totally filled.










All the anubias and java ferns are attached to the driftwood using Loctite Super Glue gel. Works pretty well as long as the surfaces are not soaking wet. Hold the plant in place for about 15-20s and it will hold no problem . The open area on the front right will be filled with parva to finish out the "lawn". The open area on the left side will be filled up with more crypts and the wood will have some needle leaf java ferns, windelov java ferns and anubias nana petite going in. I think I have another species or two to come too but can't remember exactly which ones now.

I realized now the design flaw of not having access to hot water at the tank. You can't do a total water change without putting major stress on the fish. I lost a number of otos because of it on this round. I'll never be able to do a full drain and water replacement without bucketing in some piping hot water to keep the temperature at least reasonable. I finished this up at 3am and there was no way I was bucketing in the hot water so I lost a couple of the otos I had in there for algae control.

Here's the tank 3 days later.










Nothing really interesting to report since everything is slow growing in here. Lots of crypts melting off obviously, but have seen some small growth. Even have some plants pearling already which is a good sign. No algae to be seen yet either which I'm really happy about. The good CO2 is probably the key here. Based on some forum advice and personal experience I am only running 2 of the 3 lights for about 5hrs a day. When I've got all the plants in I'll introduce the 3rd light but it will only be on for about 1.5-2hrs a day for a good burst. Otherwise I'll keep the light cycle around 5-6 hours total until the plants are fully established and algae, if any, is under control.

Here's some of the pearling after about 3 hours of lights on.



















On Friday I'm supposed to have the last shipment of the plants in. Will be getting them in over the weekend sometime and will have another update then. After that it will be getting fish in there and then, hopefully, watching everything sprout.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Is there anyway to change the fill plubing to get hot water or a holding tank with pump and a heater?


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## seahunter (Nov 29, 2011)

Awesome build buddy! Everything looks fantastic. From build to design and scape. Subscribed and ill most probably be stealing allot of your ideas for me next build!:biggrin: Lol


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## Mxx (Dec 29, 2010)

Can you not get a python water changer to supply warm water from a tap upstairs?


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## RSidetrack (Jul 17, 2011)

This tank is awesome!

I couldn't imagine the effort it took to move that thing in the basement nor how much the thing weighs. Any reason for going glass instead of acrylic on this tank? Obviously there are drawbacks to either choice - mainly weight for glass.

Either way, can't wait to see it as it matures.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

I can definitely get warm water to the tank by running hoses around the house. Can't put anything permanent in though. The basement is now drywalled and finished off. The plumbing was all done when the basement wasn't finished.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Consigliere said:


>


Nice work!


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

odd suggestion but you could buy an extra in tnak heater and grab a large container. fill it with water the night before a change and put a tank water heater in there toget it close to temp. how much of a drop in tmep did you go if youdon't mind me asking?


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

The drywall only need to get fixed once but the water changes with bucket of hot water goes on forever.

Things will come to you over time, it's a little different working is a tall tank, plus it's not like you do it everyday.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Tap water in the frigid north is about 55-60F in the winter or so. The tank probably ran about 64F immediately after filling and takes about 18h to get back up to 78F.

Thanks for the suggestions on the water, going forward I'll probably just use a garden hose to the utility sink in the basement to mix in some hot water. Only see myself having to fill this up one more time and I have to bring my hoses inside for the winter anyways.


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## Byakuya (Oct 26, 2011)

Great updates ! I can't wait to see the fish and all the plants! The growth in about 2-3 months is going to make your tank just amazing!


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Your slack'n on the up dates, how is your tank coming a long. I can imagine you need a rest after getting it all put together and the holidays coming.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

2 weekends ago I picked up all the plants I had ordered from the LFS, except for the anubias nana var petite. The plants direct from the distributor where in much better shape than the ones that had been hanging around the store for a while. Especially the parva. I got 15 pots of it and it was mostly full grown. I also got 6 pots of needle leaf fern, 5 pots of Windelov fern, a couple more pots of crypt ponderfolia, a couple more pots of crypt wendtii 'Red', 6 pots of crpyt cordata and half a dozen more anubias barteri. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera after this planting so no photos exist of the tank in the best shape it's looked since starting. After a week and a half the moajority of the crypts execpt the balansae, ponderfolia and parva have almost completely melted. Starting to see some growth from them now a week and a half after being transplanted. Here's a couple tank shots of what things look like now.










The floaters are some lobelia cardinalas that I bought but decided not to plant. It was a whim buy and after looking it up I shouldn't have gotten it. I don't think its the small form. I'm going to just let it float for a while to see if it survives but I don't think I want it in the tank based on what I've read about it.

Here's the view I have from my desk.










A photo of the right foreground which will eventually be a parva lawn. The 2nd round of parva are almost fully grown. Compared to the parva I planted on the left side these ones look fully grown.










It will be interesting to see which side fills in more quickly. The left side is planted more densely but the plants are very small where the right side is fully grown but not planted as thick.

This is all that was left of a 12-14 large crypt wendtii 'red' (as well as some diatom algae from starting up) and all that's left of about the same number of crypt cordata



















With the tank fully planted and some of the plants having about a month in the tank I figured it was pretty safe to start introducing fish. I previously had bought 6 otos to keep the startup algae at bay and they all died. It's likely that the tank wasn't entirely cycled and some other stress reactions all worked against them. I jumped the gun a bit on getting them, maybe I was too paranoid about a bit algae infested startup.

The last time I started up a bigger planted tank I didn't introduce any of the "show" fish until after the cleaning crew had been in for a few weeks. I plan on doing the same thing this time. I'll build up the cleaning staff over the next couple weeks and then will get the rest of the fish in.

So far, I'm pretty happy with what I've found in stock at the fish stores around town. Introduced into the tank this weekend were:

6 otos, 1 albino bristlenose pleco, 2 clown plecos, 2 rubbernose plecos, 9 panda corys and 120 ghost shrimp. Here's a few shots of some of the new tenants:

Albino bristlenose pleco










Rubbernose pleco










Another rubbernose











Clown pleco










Ghost shrimp










Panda corys










After the first day I haven't seen the clown plecos around. It also looks like one of the rubbernose plecos has some ich. Hopefully it's alright and doesn't spread to the other fish. Also, about a dozen of the ghost shrimp have bitten the dust. Fairly expected considering I bought 10 dozen. After the first day I haven't seen any more carcasses lying in the gravel so I think the rest have acclimated well. It's pretty cool to say about 100 ghost shrimp cruising around and doing their thing. Makes the tank seem very active with almost no fish in it at all. They are constantly eating something and it's noticeable that they are cleaning things up after only a couple days.

As far as the tank setup goes I'm pretty much finished. I have a couple small odds and ends to complete and then build the cabinet to finish it off. That will be the last major job and then the only work left will be maintenance. Not all the way there yet but it's feeling much closer than it did 2 months ago. There will be one more planting left for the tank, I just need to find the right species. I need to get some anubias nana var petite it pretty large quantity to fill in the two sections of the driftwood (mostly on the left side) and I'd like a mid sized anubias strain for the left side as well. I'm going to try and order some of them through another LFS and see how it goes. Right now it's just wait for the crypts to come back and the ferns and anubias to starting spreading out.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

It looks good and I would think things will fill in quickly with that soil, I used Stratum in a little 2.5 gallon shrimp tank with no C02 and all my plants are growing nicely and this is a first for me with no C02. Man it's really too bad those weren't a 100 Amanos to do your cleaning, the Ghost shrimp are 10 for $1 here and mostly used as feeders. I picked up 4 fresh water flounders the other day and they will clean mostly the glass but they are different and I've kept them in the past along with Clams and Hillstream Loaches.

I love the Pleco but worry about them tearing up my tank so I don't have any, they seem to be the Bull Dog of the aquarium, I really like the Albino long fin. It looks like you got a little diatom out break but not too bad and nothing really to worry about, keep us posted with new pics when you can.


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## catchandrelease (Feb 12, 2010)

Consigliere,
tank looks great, I am in calgary as well. where are you getting your plants from locally, I havent seen those white caps that you had on the plants from that one purchase.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Only shrimp I can find locally so far are ghost and RCS but the RCS are tiny and $6 each. The ghosts will die of to 50 or so I figure so that's why I got so many. Eventually I'm going to have to make a road trip for some fish and shrimp. The flounder looks interesting. How big do they get? Got pics?

There is some diatom algae from the startup that is still around but its getting eaten/dying every day. I've got the 36UV light running 24/7 and it's taking care of some of it too.

These plecos all are 5" max, clowns more like 3.5" so I figured they were going to be good size. Definitely don't want a big 12" in a year.

Now that the planting is done I've got all 3 banks of lights going. 480W for about 5hr a day right now. My CO2 solenoid still isn't fixed so I'm just running about 1 bubble per second on the CO2 all day. The crypts that were planted a week ago are totally melted and new shoots are starting to grow. 

Got a nitrate measurement kit and nitrates are at 0. A couple shrimp have bitten the dust but that's to be expected. Haven't seen any dead fish lying around so I think the new fish are taking to the tank well.

catchandrelease: I'm in Ontario, my plants come from a LFS here. The white caps are just clay rings that come from the distributor. I took all the clay rings and threw them into the bio section of my filter.


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## Mxx (Dec 29, 2010)

Even if your solenoid isn't working I think you can run quitea lot more CO2 that 1 bubble per second for 24/7. I'm running more than that on my nano and your tank is 50 times the size of mine! The wait for your plants to fill in might be quite a long one otherwise...


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Been playing with my camera. Finally spending the time to learn how to use it beyond point and shoot. This shot seems a bit underexposed still so probably will need to adjust some settings but it's definitely an improvement from before. Quick update on the tank, the wendtii 'bronze' is starting to grow back after completely melting. The cordata is basically still all melted. 2 plants have started to just shoot out of the ground but just barely. The balansae, ponderfolia and apongenton in the back has been growing well the last couple weeks. It's fully recovered. The anubias and parva have signs of growth but very slow as you would expect.


I've lost 3 panda corys and 2 otos. I've seen all the plecos except one clown pleco but no body so I think both clowns are still alive. About another dozen ghost shrimp have bit the dust so I figure there is about 75-85 left.

I've adjusted the drainage setup to eliminate some noise. I'll have a post on the new setup sometime soon. I'm also looking at a new return pump. The Quiet One 9000 I have is not so quiet. I'm looking at the Reeflo Snapper Gold to replace it but am still considering options. Any suggestions for quiet return pumps around 2000GPH?

Also bumped up the CO2 a bit and increased the lighting running time to 6.5hrs.


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## TexasCichlid (Jul 12, 2011)

Why only 6.5 hours on the lighting? If you are concerned about algae, you might try going for a longer photoperiod but splitting it in half during the day. That's one monster of a tank. Glad you are having fun.


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## leaa (Dec 16, 2011)

I love seeing complex builds like these, looks great so far and will be following this with interest


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## magnum (Jun 23, 2011)

Wow this setup is quite amazing. I'm hoping once I graduate from college I'll have the time and money to create my own high tech tank of slightly smaller size.


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## wabisabi (Jan 31, 2011)

Great tank!

Have you considered getting a flash water heater (tankless water heater) for your basement? There are electric models that heat the water on an as needed basis. They're small enough to fit in the cabinet under the sink. You would still need to get electrical down to where you wanted the water heater though.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

I finally got around to fixing my solenoid so I could put my pH controller online and control the CO2 a bit. Not really required to maintain the tank but saves some money on CO2 in my opinion. AFter taking the solenoid apart a couple times because it was passing, I finally figured out the actual problem. The outlfow orifice that the plunger seals against was corroded and irregular. I think the rubber on the plunger was a bit hard as well. So, I figured the CO2 must be passing through a small crack between the plunger and the orifice. I figured I could fix it myself using some silicone. The concept was to build a gasket surface onto the outflow orifice using tiny beads of silicone applied with a toothpick. Then I would form it into a continuous bead using the end of another clean toothpick. Here's the solenoid body after my DIY gasket:










Put my regulator and solenoid back together after the silicone cured and it worked like a charm. My CO2 is back in action controlling from a pH of 7.2 (measurement after two days of no CO2 injection) to 6.7.

I've also changed around the drainage setup to quiet things down and provide full return pump output. Previously, I had only been draining without a siphon. My intention was to startup without a siphon drain until I got comfortable with how to set it up. Wanted to make sure 100% that during a power failure I wouldn't dump the tank on the floor. I also realized a setup without siphon was going to be far too loud and I couldn't maximize the flow from the return pump. The problem was that I needed to provide a setup to break the siphon in the event of a power failure. After seeing the Beananimal (sp?) design I decided that capping my ABS drain setup at the high points (http://canaquaticgardens.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/drain-system-plumbing-dry-fit/) and installing tubing into the tops of the cap I could setup a drain under siphon and the other drain as overflow with the capability to emergency siphon should the tank level get too high. Here's a couple shots of the new drainage, first the siphon drain:










and the overflow/emergency siphon:










The guards are DIY made out of plant pots I got when I bought some of the plants for the tank. I tested what I figured were the full range of failure conditions and the tank/sump never flooded. I hoped I was in good shape and this is how the tank is setup today.

A couple notes on the plant care. I've been dosing every other day 3/4 of EI amounts of Plantex CSM+B, K and P. On the other days I've been changing 5% of the water, so roughly 15% per week. Prior to starting dosing I took one of the lights of for 6hrs, significantly reducing the total light to the tank. Now, about a week after dosing GSA growth is very low to none, diatom algae is very low and still receeding but hair algae has started in a couple spots. *So I figured I have a nutrient imbalance, and potentially a surplus from low lighting. So, I turned the light on that I had turned off a week ago and will continue the EI dosing. My current lighting setup is 0.7WPG for ~1.5hrs, 2WPG ~ 2hrs and 1.25WPG for 4.5hrs. Fairly low light, especially considering 3ft deep tank so I figured adding the light back in was the right thing to do.

Another note, since the dosing was started all plants have improved growth except the parva. I think they have been limited by the lower lighting so adding the light should help with them the most. I expect the rest of the plants will have a nice spurt as well.

Interestingly, after changing the drainage setup, I had a massive power failure at the host today. Out for 10hrs followed by 1 hour on and then 2 hrs off again. The setup held up perfectly. The only deficiency is that after a power blip, the sump pump will pump out about 15G of water and the return chamber in the sump will go to low level. The return pump will be pushing a bunch of air until you put more water back into the tank. Considering that a power blip is likely to be followed by power failures, I'm OK with this being the worst thing that can happen. I would much rather buy a new pump than a new hardwood floor. During the downtime, the tank dropped about 6 degrees which is probably going to stress the fish a bit.

Since the last update I've added some new fish. They aren't visible in this shot but I've added 6 albino corys, 3 bristlenose pleco, 2 clown pleco and 30 cardinal tetras. I've lost my albino bushynose pleco and an oto since the last time I updated this. The cardinal tetras have gone in the have been hiding in the back in the plants. They are eating but not much. The seem to be getting a bit braver and venturing to the front for food today though. *Here's the tank today:


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

The update photo looks good, the plants are growing nicely and the overall appearance of the tank is clean. I would imagine that most of those fish are just shy and hiding in that driftwood until dusk when they come out to play or pray.

I'm glad you mentioned the Quite One pump as I almost purchase one to use in my RO water holding tank which is in the garage but I still don't want to hear it. I ended up getting a Taam Rio pump which I haven't install as of now but I have one of their pumps in my C02 reactor and it is dead quiet.

I'd keep bump'n you should be able to run those lights 8 to 10 hours with out any problems but there's no hurry and it may be best that you wait a week or 2 after each increase to let the plant growth catch up with the increase each time, good luck.

I would get another solenoid ready as that one looked like it was on the outs, the Burkert 6011 is $50 at Aquariumplants.com and it's rock solid, I broke a plastic hose barb on my regulator and it took a week to replace the oddball sized piece, after 3 weeks I'm still trying to get my tank back in order.

For GSA you phosphate may be low and your mix should be 1 part KH2P04 and 3 parts KN03 and your GSA should dissapear with no adjustment to lighting needed.


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## Consigliere (Mar 21, 2009)

Now that I've been doing a lot of research on the pump I have I'm starting to think that the noise is not entirely from the pump but from vibration of the pump/sump onto the plywood base. I'm going to try and drain the sump, prop it up and put some rubber material underneath and see if that improves the noise level. If it doesn't I'll replace the Quiet One 9000 with something else. The manufacturer quotes dB level of only 45 for this pump, all others I've seen are around 55-60dB so this pump should be quieter. I'll post an update on that one once I've tried the vibration reduction.

The GSA started showing up a couple weeks ago and after some quick searches realized that I was likely low on nutrients so started the EI dosing. I'm dry dosing 3/4 EI quantities on phosphate, potassium and micros right now. No nitrogen dosing but I should probably start with a little bit of nitrogen. My assumption was that the bioload in the tank would provide enough N but that may not be the case. Another test to run in the coming weeks. Since the dosing starting no GSA growth, but I haven't gotten around to removing it from the glass manually. I was hoping to be able to get some nerite snails to do that for me but haven't had any luck finding them locally.

With the lighting the total on time is 8hrs now, with the breakdown of how much light for how long in the previous post. May still be low on the light but don't want to change again so quickly without seeing the feedback on the first change.


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## adriano (Nov 4, 2011)

Consigliere said:


> Unforunately for the Canucks out there ADA products are difficult, if not impossible, to come by. Looked into getting some a while ago but no luck.


An old post, but...

http://www.miyabi-aqua.com/retailers

Beyond 'Canadian Aquatics', the store in Trois-Rivières is also currently setting up for domestic deliveries. Very courteous guys working there, by the way.


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## magnum (Jun 23, 2011)

Any updated pics? I know I'd like to see how it has filled out.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

I've heard quite a few people complain about noise levels with the Quite One line of pumps, they are priced to sell.

It's been sometime since you posted a photo of your tank, how is it doing?


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## jcgd (Feb 18, 2004)

Try a mouse pad under the pump. Even foam is too rigid and transfers the vibrations.


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## dastowers (Feb 19, 2011)

UPDATE please!!!!!!


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## MikeS (Apr 27, 2008)

dastowers said:


> UPDATE please!!!!!!


Ditto!


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