Happy day!
In May I am going to start construction on my most ambitious aquarium project since 1989, when I opened an aquarium store inside a department store in Columbia, MD. I am going to be remodeling The Haven (I really don't understand why my wife insists on calling it my playroom, but that's more of a her problem, and not a me problem), which is basically going to do double duty as a home office and a fish room. For this thread, my questions are about build ideas for a 50g. The tank is 36x18x18.
Filtration
I was going to do the river manifold system seen around the web. I am an expert at making piles of debris....my favorite tools are the 9lb hammer, a crowbar and a sawzall, none of which are really the right kind of tools for building a river manifold system. Fortunately, I live near to a Home Depot that has lots of immigrants looking for work, so I'll pay a few bucks to have one cut the PVC and assemble it. My plan was to use Krylon spray paint to make it black.
Question: Is there any reason not to glue the whole thing together? I figure if there's any sort of problem, I'm going to have to dismantle the whole tank anyway to fix it.
Question: Is Krylon spray paint going to last and resist flaking? Perhaps I could find black PVC....
Question: According to the lore, I'll need to cycle 10x-15x, so 500-750gph. At the risk of causing a dispute, which is always fun as a bystander, does the group have a preference for a powerhead brand?
Question (edited): I am not setting up a canister filter. I could be persuaded to keep an Aquaclear 300 or whatever their big HoB is now called as I have a few available. As I will have sponge filters, is the extra filtration really necessary?
Question: Should I plan to add an air pump on either side of the tank to help with surface agitation or, given the heads and HoB, is it not necessary?
And the final question for today...what traps await me with Stiphodon, their typical tank mates and this whole river manifold system? In other words, have you built a system like this or had these fish and sometime during your experience of having this setup you said "oh crap, that's a lot of water on the floor, I wish I had done..." or "Oy vey, the schmutz on this intake valve is too much!" or "Ach, crivens, the wee little bugger won't leave the big man alone and its fin-nipping time." You know...the traps.
I thank you in advance for the pleasure of reading your responses.
In May I am going to start construction on my most ambitious aquarium project since 1989, when I opened an aquarium store inside a department store in Columbia, MD. I am going to be remodeling The Haven (I really don't understand why my wife insists on calling it my playroom, but that's more of a her problem, and not a me problem), which is basically going to do double duty as a home office and a fish room. For this thread, my questions are about build ideas for a 50g. The tank is 36x18x18.
Filtration
I was going to do the river manifold system seen around the web. I am an expert at making piles of debris....my favorite tools are the 9lb hammer, a crowbar and a sawzall, none of which are really the right kind of tools for building a river manifold system. Fortunately, I live near to a Home Depot that has lots of immigrants looking for work, so I'll pay a few bucks to have one cut the PVC and assemble it. My plan was to use Krylon spray paint to make it black.
Question: Is there any reason not to glue the whole thing together? I figure if there's any sort of problem, I'm going to have to dismantle the whole tank anyway to fix it.
Question: Is Krylon spray paint going to last and resist flaking? Perhaps I could find black PVC....
Question: According to the lore, I'll need to cycle 10x-15x, so 500-750gph. At the risk of causing a dispute, which is always fun as a bystander, does the group have a preference for a powerhead brand?
Question (edited): I am not setting up a canister filter. I could be persuaded to keep an Aquaclear 300 or whatever their big HoB is now called as I have a few available. As I will have sponge filters, is the extra filtration really necessary?
Question: Should I plan to add an air pump on either side of the tank to help with surface agitation or, given the heads and HoB, is it not necessary?
And the final question for today...what traps await me with Stiphodon, their typical tank mates and this whole river manifold system? In other words, have you built a system like this or had these fish and sometime during your experience of having this setup you said "oh crap, that's a lot of water on the floor, I wish I had done..." or "Oy vey, the schmutz on this intake valve is too much!" or "Ach, crivens, the wee little bugger won't leave the big man alone and its fin-nipping time." You know...the traps.
I thank you in advance for the pleasure of reading your responses.
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