Dream House, Now For A Dream Tank

[Rockhoppers1964]

Hi guys, (and girls)
 
I used to keep tropical freshwater fish many years ago, (probably15+) and i am sure / know a lot has changed since then, so please consider me an absolute beginner.
 
I have just bought the house of my dreams, it has taken me a long time to find it because i was being quite exact about what i wanted it to look like and have. One of the things i high on the must have list was a place / room to put a good size freshwater tropical tank. This house has i believe ticked that box when i discovered that the previous owner had extended the house significantly and where the previous patio doors from the dining room had been, there was now a stud wall bewteen that and the new family room. This gave me the idea to try and build a tank in this "hole" and have it on show to both the dinning room (picture frame style) and the family room. I have seen this done before and it looked stunning. The other reason this location appeals is that the tank may be some size and hence weight, and there is a brick wall / floor lintel the tank could be sat upon. There is a also fresh water and a waste pipe very close if required.
 
The tank could be quite big, upto 1600mm long X 500mm wide X 1000mm tall if i want. that equates to 800 Litres i believe which sounds quite big.
 
I am planning to start this build early next year, so want to take the time now to get the design and filtration right. I enjoy the planning as much as the building and keeping part of the hobby. So this is where you guys come in !
 
I have the time and to a large extent the money to do it right and make it impressive, so i need advice, as much as i can get.
 
Anyone know if a similar tank has been featured on this website, i have had a look but can't see anything.
 
I suspect the tank will need to be cutom made, any good pointers and or suppliers, (i live in Scotland)
 
Filtration, i know there will be many points of view on this, so let me set out my requirments, and you guys can comment on the best system
1. I can be away from home for a week to ten days at a time sometimes so need a filtration system that can either look after itself for that time, or that is easy to maintain by the wife.
2. I would like it to be as silent as possible, otherwise the Mrs will complain.
3. Cost is not as much an issue as it meeting points 1 and 2 above.
4. Are the new Fluval or Ehiem systems worth looking at?
 
Lighting, a lot has changed since i last kept fish, any pointers
 
Any good fish shops in the Scottish central belt ?
 
Any good books to read, or magizines to subscribe to ?
 
I am sure there will be many more questions, but your inital thoughts are most appechiated.
 
Andrew
 
 

 

[matty1985]

Eheim filters are brilliant you will need a big model for a tank that size, also one of the selling points of the eheims is that they are silent . As for being away from home thats no problem at all the filter and tank will be fine,my friend has a tank thats 1000 litre and keeps some amazing dissus, I would think about looking at the floor to see if you will have to reinforce it . No a clue about Scotland aquarium shops but google is your friend . As for lightning the company that make your tank should give you advice on that.

better to think what fish you want and design the tank around them, dissus like depth but other fish like length to move around in, a tank that size your options are endless.

 

[Ch4rlie]

to TFF
 
Sounds like a great project!
 
Do start a journal on this forum about this as soon as you start, pic included would be great! 

 
External filters will be your best best, really more of a personal choice, there are quite a few out there that are good for the jobs, Ehiems are popular, TetraTecs, APS (All Ponds Solutions), Fluvals all being fairly popular as well.
 
Advantage of these external filters is you don't need to maintain them as much as internals, once a month is fine, personally I have a TetraTec EX1200 and I do a maintenance clean on these every 4 months or so, just when my flow output starts to slow down do I then do a maintenance clean! So no need to worry about being away for 10 days or so.
 
Sounds like a custom tank job but I have not done tank custom jobs, so am afraid cannot really advise about that.
Hope someone on this forum will soon can be more helpful with that side of things.
 
Lighting, well, thats another thing you will need to do a whole lot of research on. There really is lots of options, so thats good and depends on budget again but first, once you have decided on what you going to stock and what plants you would like, you then can start planning on what lighting setup would suit your setup best.
 
LED lighting setup are popular as there usually are lower energy usage and can be dimmed to suit, but more expensive.
 
Of course the tank and LED/lighting can be DIY jobs if you are good at that sort of thing, can save a lot of money but more time consuming.
 
Magazines, well, IMO there is only one good fishkeeping magazine, Practical Fishkeeping.
http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/magazine.php
 
Best of luck and do let us know how you get on and of course we'll help advise you when you get to asking questions 

 

[DrRob]

Greetings, welcome back to fishkeeping from 15 years ago. You're right, a lot has changed since we were keeping back then.
 
There was a journal a while back about someone building a tank in a wall that was a part room divider, can't for the life of me remember where it is now. I'll have a scout and see if I can find it. They did take the opportunity to run a sumped system, which gets around the height issue, as tall tanks get increasingly expensive (the glass thickness required increases with tank depth) and it's fairly tough to reach the bottom of a 1m deep tank. They tend to be noisier though (although I can't hear the one I'm sitting next to).
 
Best advice I can give is to make sure you have plenty of access to anything hidden in a wall, both from above and to the kit below. There's nothing worse than setting up a tank and then realising that that lovely piece of bog wood won't fit through the gap you have.
 
Otherwise, set up a journal on here, best way by far to get the right advice, start with the plan and people will comment, if you're heading off track they'll tell you, and people will learn from your ideas and you might like some of the crazy suggestions that they come up with.

 

[Rockhoppers1964]

Thanks for the comments and the welcome.
 
I guess the question is, what kind of fish ? as that seems to dictate the filtration, lighting etc.
So as this is my first tank for a while, i think the fish should be quite robust and able to survive my learning curve.
The Mrs wants something pretty to look at, and i have to obey to a certain degree.
Not overstocked, but also like shoals as they look cool.
 
For some reason, i am not overly keen on angles, its a personal thing but they just don't do it for me.
I like the shrimps i see in the LFS, never had then when i used to do this years ago.
 
So any suggestions for hardy, robost, pretty fish ?
 
Andrew

 

[DrRob]

Now that's a huge question.
 
Try thinking about what effect you want, do you want a few large fish or lots of small fish, or even 1 or 2 good sized fish with a shoal of smaller ones. That will lead you immediately towards options like cichlid species tanks, small community tanks or focus fish with dithers. Once you've narrowed it down, head to the LFS, have a look at a few fish, write down the ones you like, and most importantly BUY NOTHING. Come home, research the fish and post up here what you like.
 
After that you also need to consider if you're planting, not planting, or going marine.....

 

[Rockhoppers1964]

Did a bit of lunchtime surfing to find a starting point.
 
 
These are what i would call pretty fish, bright and colourful;
Peacock Cichlid
Red Texas Cichlid
Demasoni Cichlid
Jaguar Cichlid
 
Like the pleco's also and they seem quite useful.
 
Would like a shoaling fish in there too, any suggestions.
 
How does this little lot dictate the tank spec ?
 
Andrew

 

[DrRob]

OK, interesting mix, gives a good idea of what you're interested in. You're looking at bigger, showy fish, couple there are Malawi cichlids, very hard water fish and need to be kept in their own way, but certainly a popular route and does create an impressive tank.
 
The other two are pretty big species only fish, or can be kept with similarly sized fish in big tanks. You may start to struggle with those despite your tank size and I'd advice you against them if you're coming in as a beginner. If you are going to go that way with colour then I'd probably try to push you towards the Central American communities or, if you want small fish as well, things like the geophagus group from South America that can give you some size whilst still being peaceful enough to not eat the smaller fish.

 

[Rockhoppers1964]

Thanks Dr Rob, thats exactly the kind of help i am looking for.
 
Yes "showy" is probably a good way to describe the look i want.
This tank will be very prominent with one side facing the main living area.
The amount on times we entertain friends will mean the other side will get just as much attention, so i want it to look impressive for any direction.
 
Like the sand look as opposed the gravel look but maybe that depends again on fish and filtration.
Starting to discover there is a look of things interlinked.
 
The only dimension of the tank that is fixed, is the length as it will be beetween the frame of where the old patio doors sat, so 1600mm.
Now i need to decide if i make is tall and thin, or fat and not so tall.
Again assume this has an impact on the fish type?
 
Andrew

 

[DrRob]

As you're already realising, everything depends somewhat on everything. There are few absolute answers or right answers, but there are plenty of wrong ones.
 
The other important question I haven't asked is what your local water supply is like, as that'll make a difference to the easiest options as well.

 

[Rockhoppers1964]

Got this from the local water compnay website, does it help ?
In general i think we describe our water as soft.
Sorry, don't know how to import this in a more readable format.
 
Results Summary Table
Site Name: Glendevon A
Download Last 12 Months Detailed Report
Sample Period: 01/08/2012 to 31/07/2013
Download Last Calendar Year Detailed Report
Param. Name              No. of Results     PCV       Std Units of Measure     No. of Results Failing          % Compliance
Turbidity                      77                      4               NTU                                0                                     100
Aluminium                   76                      200             µgAl/l                            0                                      100
Iron                             76                      200             µgFe/l                          0                                        100
Manganese                76                      50                µgMn/l                         0                                       100
E. coli (Faecal coliforms) 227                0               CFU in 100ml                0                                        100 
Trihalomethanes         8                          100            µg/l                              0                                        100

 

[Rockhoppers1964]

Ok the size of the tank has been fixed, mainly due to the size of the hole i have to put it in.
 
60"(L) X 18"(W) X 24"(H)
That gives a volume of 425 L, which i think is a decent sized tank and will suit my needs.
 
I like the external filter idea, mainly to try and keep the inside of the tank clear, and for ease of use.
The Fluval G6 looks neat, but i don't hear many people using it, yet it appears to have been out for a while.
The Ehiem also looks neat.
 
Andrew

 

[Rockhoppers1964]

Ok, one thing that is clear now as the size of the tank is defined is the size of the heater.
 
Eheim say it should be a 250w heater.
 
Being a bit of a bore about things breaking down, (result of oil industry life) should i have two heaters either two 125w heaters to provide the heat or two 250w heaters, one set a couple of points below the other so that it provides cover if one fails ? (bearing in mind i can be away from home for a week to ten dyas at a time)
 
Has anyone tried inline heating, it looks attractive in that the heater in not now in the tank, and i would like to keep as much out of this tank as possible.
 
So many questions !
 
Andrew

 

[Ch4rlie]

425 litre tank, thats not too bad at all for a start from coming back after many years! 

 
Am afraid one 250w heater is not going to be enough for your tank of 425litres, basically 1w equals 1 litre of water.
 
So really you would be good with two 250w heaters.
 
I do not know much about inline heaters as have not owned one......yet!
 
I do like the idea of having inline heaters but a little more pricey, however am thinking of getting one when I eventually get round to setting up my 350 litre tank one day.
Think having the heater inside a large tank can be pretty awkward to get to, and having an inline heater makes sense as means you do not need to go inside the tank to retrieve or adjust the heater in case of maintenance or breakdown.

 

[Rockhoppers1964]

Did a bit of surfing... and found this in several places.
 
Find out the temp. of the room at its coldest (usually at night).

Take the temp you will run the tank at (eg 25C) subtract the room temp (eg 15C) and the temp you are left with is the difference between tank and room (ie 10C).

For a difference of about 5C you need 1 watt per litre
For a difference of about 10C you need 1.5 watt per litre
For a difference of about 15C you need 2 watt per litre

Now multiply by your aquarium volume...

Eg 425 litres x 1.5 watt per litre = 637 watts

Get the heater the same power or higher - probably a 600 watt heater in this example.
 
Sounds a lot, but if thats what it needs then that what it will be.
 
Andrew