about to set up a 350litre tank....

[Tiggs]

now decided on a 350 litre tank with fake rock background as a basis for an african tank.

few questions at the lay out phase....

i have 2 large eheim externals so how best to set these up?

do i use the inlet/outlest to generate a "flow" around the tank or just turbulence? in the lakes i assume theres not mucg flow but i need some to get the crap from gathering - can i have too much flow?

and how about the gravel jets i have seen where a powerhead and sponge is located at gravel level and the outlet keeps a flow going to keep the sand free of gunk......is that overkill with two externals? would i be better off just using one of the externals to collect inlet water at the mid level (and possible skim a little of the surface as well) and the other to have the inlet at gravel level........then point one outlet to generate flow and the other to move gunk of the bottom......possibley via a spray bar mounted at gravel level.

all pipe work will be hidden by the false backing so no issues there.

T

 

[freddyk]

Use the filters, use the powerheads, and use them to keep the tank as clean as possible. These guys have no problem with current and as long as they can swim without being plastered against the side of the glass they'll do fine. It's a good idea to have the surface disturbed by at least one of the filters (I just aim the spray bars upwards to do this). There is less oxygen exchange in calm surface water, and even less as a film builds up on the calm surface to further inhibit oxygen absorbtion.