Topic: ok discus does come under aMERICAN RIGHT?

[Adam]

BTW (and the following is very approximate)
For your 3'x5'x5' tank
The glass panels' thickness = 64mm (2.5") at a minimum.  At these thickness' the weight of glass panels become a factor in the required thickness due to the amorphous nature of the glass.

Thank you Jones... I was thinking 1" minimum and 2" to be safe but I recall you saying you're in some kind of engineering field so its good to know that 2.5" is needed to be safe.  The front or back panel alone (5'x5'x2.5") would have to weigh close to 3-400 lbs each I would estimate.

I totally agree with you on the 30" tall tanks.  My first reef tank was a 90 gallon tall. 48"x15"x30", and that thing was a pain in the behind to clean or aquascape.  If things fell off the rock and landed on the sand bed (which was 6" thick) I had to get  step ladder and a pair of aquarium tongs to get it out safely.  IMO I don't think I would ever really want a tank taller then about 24"

[Alex]

i finally got an answer back from the place they are looking for a total of 1700 pounds. thts including the stand the tank the sump and the hood. I have been looking at other sites and i think i can definately get it cheeper else where. Othr site have got 5 foot long by 2 foot wide by 2 foot wide for 550 so i have asked for a quotation from them. My arms are fairly long. I am 6 foot 1 tall. so i guess they are longer than most peoples.

Cheers for all the help guys.

Alex

[jones57742]

At 6'-4" I am into using cumbersome (but the best I could find) utensils for working on the bottom of the tank.

Also please note that the longest Python tube which I could find was only 36".

TR

[Alex]

i got loads more quotes, they range from 600 to 1700 so i think i am going to wait till i passed me driving lessons.

Alex

[Alex]

i have finally found the person who i am going to the tank off. its a 5 foot long 3 foot wide and high. its 585 pounds. and instead of a sump i thought about having a pond pump as you previously mentioned adam. now i presume that discus like still water so how will i deal with the water being pumped into the tank too powerfully?

Alex

[jones57742]

i have finally found the person who i am going to the tank off. its a 5 foot long 3 foot wide and high. its 585 pounds.

I presume that this creature is a "braced" acrylic tank and is it a 30" high or a 36" high (just curious)
BUT
before you "write them a check" you might consider "seeing the tank full of water" and "jiggling on the sides".
They will have this tank "setting on the floor" which is an issue addressed later.

and instead of a sump i thought about having a pond pump as you previously mentioned adam.

I have once again read the posts and do not understand "where you are coming from".

You will need mechanical and biological filtration!
The sump (ie. wet/dry filtration system) is the "way to go" for this size of setup.
IMHO the sump should be able to contain 1/4" of the volume of the tank (which is most probably 337 U.S. Gallons which would yield a sump size of 80 U.S. Gallons).
If you would like input on the design of the sump please post (I have done "tons of thinking" on this based upon my current "setup" and, hopefully, a new tank at my offices next year).

For your pump I recommend
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=IK1183
This pump will provide a 6X/hr turnover rate and I have had good luck Iwaki (many have survived my stupid stunts).

now i presume that discus like still water so how will i deal with the water being pumped into the tank too powerfully?

Energy dissipation devices are no problem!!!

What would you like it to "look like".


Three last items here.

What do you "plan on your tank setting on"??

IMHO "predrilling" the tank and sump is the "way to go".
Predrilling will provide for significant aesthetics but other folks can describe this concept way better than I can.

I am not "trying to throw cold water on you here";
will enjoy you pursuing this
BUT
I spent an amount which I would be embarrassed to reveal for my current "setup" and could have spent 3/4 less to achieve the same affect
BUT
I believe that I also know where many of the "pitfalls" are.

TR

[Alex]

i can understand where you are coming from. Pond pumps are very cheap over here in england, they are a 1/4 of the price for double the capacity. i can get a 5000L pond pump for £30: http://www.cmsgardens.co.uk/pond.htm

And pond pumps offer built in u.v lighting, biological and mechanical filtration that is nearly double the capacity of most leading aquarium filters.

i know sumps are very good, but i think if i can house a sump, i can definately house a pond pump. i was going to use either a hob or a fluidized filter too. I am also going to purchase a ro unit too. not all in one go i might add though.

hope these answered some questions.

P.s one of the reasons i am opting for a pond pump is its cheapness and sumps are even more expensive than to get two pond pumps.

Alex

[Adam]

I think you may run into a few problems with your proposed plan. 

 Pond pumps with integrated filtration are nearly all submersible which means they would have to sit in the tank and look ugly.  Other stand alone pumps designed just to move water are either run externally, or submerged.  Those pumps will do nothing but move water, and would need to be hooked up to some kind of filter.  So either way you are going to need a sump to house the pump unless you want it sitting in the tank.  You are going to need to turn over around 2700 to 3300 gallons per hour.  In order to do that you will probably need an externally run pond/pool pump.  Like this one, the sequence dart http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=MM1136

Also most pond filters are gravity fed back to the pond, so the filter would need to be placed above the tank, or it would have to be modified so that it would go under the tank.

A sump filter can be made with a 40-55 gallon tank and two five gallon buckets and 4-5 "gallons" of bioballs and some egg crate.  Given the size of the tank and the fact that you want discus I would really strongly recommend not skimping on the filtration and flow in a tank that size.  A hang on filter isnt really going to make any difference on a tank with the height you're talking about.

[Alex]

what i mean by pond pump is actually a pond filter, i am so used to calling a pump sorry. if i can get something to push the water into the filter that will be house under the tank. all the filters over here in england do not need to be submersed. And i was planning on getting a preasureized filter so that it can be fed back into the tank. My main concern is that it might just swirl my discus around because of the return water. but i was thinking today of maybe feeding it into maybe a diy trikle filter. In a trikle filter does it matter at what rate the water is being fed over it? Or would i encounter problems over tha fact that it might be not filtering through the trikle and end up over spilling every where?

Alex

[Adam]

Here is the site with plans for the DIY trickle filter out of "home depot" 5 gallon buckets. Any number of bio-media could be used in this filter, your imagination is the only limit, but the pot scrubbers seem like a good idea so long as they are totally free of all soaps and detergents.  http://www.aquariumlife.net/projects/diy-filter/111.asp

Between the buckets, the scrubbers, the 30 gallon tank, and the diamond drill bit to drill for an external pump that is rated for 2800-3500 GPH  I'd say 90% of the cost will come from the pump... which should run you around $220-250  If you want to try to get away cheaper there are some pumps rated at around 1000-1500 gph that are only in the $99-150 range.  Filter, and components and tank should only be around $50 total. Prices are US of course.  As long as you are running two 1 1/4" drains you will have no problems as they will each handle about 900 gph, but you might want to step up to 2" bulk head drains which would each handle about 2500 gph.

You dont have to worry about blowing your fish around.  Use a spray bar style return, and you probably will have fairly gentle overall flow in your tank.  You would have to get upwards of 20x turn over through a single output before you would start to blow your fish around.  Even then the flow would dissipate very quickly across the 5' length of the tank, it would only be really powerful for probably 18-24" tops.

[Alex]

yh i was thinking about doing a diy spray bar maybe that goes over the entire 5 foot length. having less holes and the start and then gradually having more and more.

what do you think?

ALex

[Adam]

Check out the link provided as an idea for your return line.  The calfo manifold was originally designed for saltwater because you want turbulent water so having water spray back at each other gives you that result. You dont have to have it come from all directions,  but in your case just along the 5" length would be sufficient.  One nozzle every 6" would probably give you the water flow results you are looking for, as that would give you 10 outlets, the average output from each nozzle being 100-300ish GPH depending on which pump you go with.  That would also give you the option of blocking off some nozzles if you wanted more flow from fewer outputs etc.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2003/short.htm

[Alex]

yh i decided to add the manifold to my return flow idea.

Alex