Help Needed With A 183litre Tank!

[stucolls]

Good evening everyon, hope everyone has their blue peter heads on!!
Im moving into a new house at the end of the month so will finally be able to set p my monster tank, its dimensions are:
Length - 60inches
Width - 12inches
Height - 15.5inches.

I have been waiting for ages to set up this little (or big) beauty but I need advice on 3 things.

I need to know the cheapest ways of.....
(a) making or buying a hood for it (and im not great at DIY)
(B) fitting lights too it if I cant get a hood.
© filtration, best method for a tank this size and cheapest way of acheiveing.

Many thanks everyone,

Stu

 

[xxBarneyxx]

The answer to almost all of them questions depends on exactly what you want to keep in it.

With regards to the hood I would get some nice skirting board and put this together in a square slightly smaller then the tank. Then using a routing bit take of enough of the inside bottom edge so that it sits on the edge of the tank.

If you want an open top tank you can use narrower skirting board and leave it at this using clip on/luminaire style lights.

If you want it closed top use deeper skirting boards (to give space above the water to fit the lights) get a sheet of ply (1/4 inch thick the same size as the tank) rout the top inside edge of the skirting board for the sheet of ply to fit in and then screw it in place. Then just buy some T8 or T5 light units (depending on what you want in the tank and the light requirements) and attached these inside to the ply wood. You might want to have the play wood in two sections so the back 2/3rds is fixed in place but the front 1/3 can be lifted with hinges to feed the fish.

If you dont have a routing bit then just make the skirting board "box" slightly bigger then the tank and then attached a peice of 2X1wood around the inside which sits on the edges of the glass.

Hope I explained that ok. Its easy to put together (if I can do it anyone can) but not so easy to explain.

Filtration depends on what you are going to stock it with. Probably a coiple of big canister filters is the best bet unless you want to put in a sump (which would probably work out a lot cheaper but means having a second tank under the main one and drilling your main tank).

Edit:
Picture to explain it better You could also have wood going across the tank from the front panel to the back which would stop it accidently slipping but puts more pressure in a smaller area.

 

[stucolls]

Thats great, I never thought of using skirting board, think I will probably have too go for the adding a bit of 1x1 on the inside because I dont have a router.
And im presuming if I wanted too I could just add a couple of hinges and stick some thin ply on top as a lid???
Would I need too treat the wood at all??

I will prob go with external canister filters (if I can afford them) because I wouldnt have a clue what I was doing with a sump and spare tank underneath!!! although I was tempted by just gettig 2 HOB filters, large ones obviously, and having one at either end? how do you think that may wrork?

Im planning on putting all my existing fish in there, thats

2 balloon mollies, 2 dlamation mollies, 3 albino cory, 3 peppered cory, 6 golden barbs, and a RTBS, oh and 3 ottos.

Thanks for all your help.

Stu

 

[bobross]

For canister filters, you can't go wrong with checking out ebay. Unless you have the two filters already, I would recommend a canister filter. You'd probably end up paying the same for the canister as you would for two filters. I got my Rena XP2 for $48 including shipping! (US Dollars) - it was brand new in the box and the seller was very prompt with delivery. Try pricing one of those at a petstore and you'll see the benefit of ebay.

With a tank that big, you could definitely expand the numbers of all of your existing fish (if you want to) and maybe add a centerpiece fish of some sort.

I'm no expert on DIY lighting & hoods - but you're considering building the hood yourself - you should price out what complete hoods with lights included would cost as a comparison. You might be able to get a hood & lights for the same price as what it would cost to build it.

Either route you take, good luck.

It would be cool if you threw up some pictures of progress!


BobRoss

 

[stucolls]

hmmm cant seem too find any hoods too fit too be honest!!! dunno if im looking in the wrong place or what, got a tetrex1200 on offer which im considering buying so its just the hood and lighs I ill need then!! pics will defo be coming on soon!!