Cylindrical Tropical Tank.

[SolarB]

Newbee here (my first post).

My two children have a small tank but dropping food in once a day and checking for movement from both Goldfish is curently as far as our collective fish experiance extends. However, I've recently aquired a large glass cylinder that would make a beautiful tank and this has given me the incentive to be a little more ambitious. Foolishly I didn't think that keeping fish was complicated but I have realised very quickly that there's a lot more to the whole aquarium thing than I'd appreciated.

My current thinking has the tank sitting vertically on a hollow round base fitted with castors for ease of movement with power supplies for the heaters, lights and pump housed in the base. The tank itself will not have a backing board or area to hide things and it will be posssible to view the tank from all sides. The lid will be made of glass, the tank holds 110 liters and we would like to try keepng trpoical fish and plants. The picture shows the general layout of the tank.

If I could ask a few questions.....

Can I locate the filter in the base on flexible pipes along with the tanks power supplies?
If I do locate the filter underneath will cleaning the filter release huge quqntaties of water or give me other problems I haven't thought off?
Will high power LEDs mounted on the underside of the lid supply enough light to grow plants?
And most importantly, what have I overlooked with the basic design?

I haven't got as far as working out filter sizes, water changes or anything else yet as I want to confirm that the basic idea is sound. Any advice will be gladly received.

 

[Wills]

Hi there welcome to the forum! Keeping an aquarium can be complicated and head bangingly frustrating at times but it is all worth it

I like your idea of having a free standing aquarium but I can see a few problems with the plan you have at present. First thing to point out would be that round tanks hold less surface area for gas exchange which gives the fish oxygen so this limits your options as to how many fish you could have. Also tall tanks hold less surface area so again less room for oxygen to get in the water so your doubly limited with how many fish you could have due to low oxygen content of the water. Also with it being 70cm deep have you thought about how to clean out the bottom as it is essential to keep your gravel or sand clean as this produce excess waste. 110 liters is around 25 gallons so with that volume of water in regular tanks you can look at quite a reasonable stock though due to the uniqueness of your tank I would maybe at least half that amount. There are a few ways to help airate your tank which are quite simple such as putting the filter at the top of the water so it sends out waves so the water moves and releases gasses. You can also buy small air machines that send air bubbles up the water column and this will definitely help and I would include these in your plans but this means an other socket, they do look very nice though!! An other problem could be that usually people recommend that you put a tank in a corner where the tank can be appreciated but also in a place where the fish are not being whizzed past all the time as this can scare and stress them.

This is a link to the beginners resource center on this site http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=277264 this will really help you learn how to care for your tank, and the issues that can arise in your and any tank.

You also mentioned that you have some goldfish in small tanks - generally speaking we have guidelines for keeping goldies in aquariums and these are quite different to the common guides available in shops or people that tell you bowls are okay. Here is the guide for keeping goldfish responsibly from the coldwater section of the forum http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=43980 hope this helps as well

Sorry if things sound negative just trying to help you out, fishkeeping is quite a long term commitment to take on and often the first decisions will always affect things the most so if you work out what you need to do to start with it will save issues (and money) in the long run.
Wills

 

[SolarB]

Thanks for the welcome, and for the advice.

I hadn't intended to stock the tank anywhere near the maximum level, though I am beginning to suspect that as I get into fish keeping this may well change. Initially a few nice fish should keep the children happy.

I didn't appreciate that surface movement could supply oxygen, I was never a huge fan of the bubble things and if I can build an aquarium without one that will be good, though I guess it would be prudent to allow for one if it proves necessary. The tank will sit against a plane wall that isn't a through way but you will be able to see it from three sides, hopefully the fish won't find this too upsetting but I guess I should bare this in mind. Tank construction and comissioning will take a month or so, during which time I'll lurk here on the forum and try and learn as much as I can. As for cleaning, I'd better start looking for a solution.

The two fish we have at the moment are in a tank that's just under 30 liters, hopefully this is big enough for them at present but I'd better pull my finger out and get the new one up and running. The Goldfish isn't actually that big, when it swims away from the tank wall (as in the photo) it appears bigger, when it's against the front side it's quite small but when it's against the far wall it looks enormous. I wonder if they get the same effect looking out at me?

Lastly, thanks for the advice, it's not negative and is infact precisley what I was after. I'd much rather admit to knowing nothing and learn from other people than carry on and make some basic mistakes.