New 6x2x2 australian native tank.

[debiasir]

Great tank there, I didn't realise it wasn't a tank on top until the 2nd page with a full set up shot, I kept on thinking when are you filling it

should be quite a sight when you have establised plants in there.

thats what i though too

will look brilliant with plants out the top, cant wait for more pics

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

yeah its going to look fab! suh a good idea

 

[paige]

wow thats one big tank, looks good too

 

[garbodude]

hey everyone sorry so long between updates but i have had heaps of uni work and had dramas with my cichlid tank with 99% loss. so sad.

but this tank is looking great, post some pics soon. but i have connected the tank up to the toilet and i will show you how in a sec.

but with the standpipes i advise that you add a length of pipe with holes drilled in it as a salmontail cat - small one jumped in the overflow and got stuck halfway down. pain in the bum to get out.

currently i have banana lillys and i think their calles vale reeds or something i forget. and 2 rainbows and the salmontail cant and the golden eeltail cat.

i will try to get the pics tomorrow but i want to show how i connected the toilet to the sump so i dont have to do water changes. see picture.

 

[garbodude]

ok now the way this works is that you have the toilet running off the fish tanks water and have the fishtank filled with clean water the same way as a toilet would.

now i beleive this will only work with a sump and overflow because of the reason that you would need a float valve in your tank and they would get gummed up and look shiity. what i did was go to bunnings. or in america after reading this forum - home depot and buy-

a float valve 25$ - make sure it is small enough to fit in sump.

pipe and asociated elbows- for whatever corners you have to go around. 25$

ow i forgot to say that my sump is made of plastic so i could drill through the side to put the float valve in there if you have a glass sump u would have to build a stand for the valve to sit on in the sump with the pipe going in through the top- get me? you will in a sec.

a T connection. (all the pipe and stuff i just used 20 mm irrigation pipe.

you will also need 3 20mm female connectors to join the pipe to the toilet, float valve in the sump and the water inlet for the toilet.

have i lost anybody? just speak up. i know this wont be for everyone- with pipes on the floor and having big tanks with sumps but this is going so well for me i thought i had to share.

 

[garbodude]

now what you do is put the T join in the pipe that pumps the water back to the tank from the sump. your toilet should be lower then the top of the tank for this to work. ps . turn off the pump and lower the water enough in the tank to do this, also turn the water off at the toilet and flush it so there is nothing in the bowl.

then disconnect the toilet from the water supply- they may be connected in different ways but usually it is a flexible silver hose - use a wrench.

the way that it works is that, the pump is pushing the water up towards the tank with the top little bit of water pushing back towards the pump. the T section is then connected to a pipe that is connected to the cisten of the toilet- look its hard to say how to do it as they are all different but you may be lucky and get away with irrigation pards if so use plenty of plumbers tape- teflon tape that helps stop leaks. so when the float valve in the toilet is down the water pushing from the tank and the pump will fill the cisten, although it will be slower then befor but who cares.

so thats the first half done.!

now you have to have the tank filled with freash water automatically , and it works on the same principal as the toilet as you will have a float valve.

 

[garbodude]

so you drill a hole in the side of the sump or attach the float valve in the sump somehow so it will work now attach pipe to the tap where the toilet used to be connected to this float valve in the sump. then when the toilet is flushed it is filled with fishtank water and the tank gets clean water! soo good not to have change water again. cheers guys hopefully post some pics tomorrow.

alex

 

[CFC]

How are you getting around treating the water for chlorine/chloramine and heavy metals?

 

[Opcn]

if you are still planning on archers know that they are jumpers.

 

[KeddyPie]

Wow! I would die for a tank that big But, I have no room and no money Keep us posted!

Also, can you tell me a few of the fish you are going to be putting in there? With a tank that big, the options are endless!

 

[garbodude]

hey sorry now new pics, i have to borrow a camera so it will be in the next few days.

CFC at the moment i have been adding water conditioner to the sump every day or every second but am half way through an auto added where i could have a container of water conditioner attached to a hose and then attached to the float valve- so that when the float goes down it adds a few drops. not there yet any ideas would be appreciated.

opcn: i wasnt sure how much archers jumped, have you had them? are you sure that they jump, because with salmontail cats they have a reputation for jumping but i havent ever had it hapen to me in my last tank that was half open. i guess what im asking is are they compulsive jumpers or do they just have that as a reputation. any advice is welcom from anyone, especially whose kept them in a similar setup.

KeddyPie.

the fish will be all aust. natives. mainly rainbo fish- there are heaps of species. the two types of cats i mentioned earlier and hopfull archers, and hopfully some desert gobies. mabe gudgeons and a few other small blander fish that may not be as well known, but im not 100% fixed, mabee an eastern long neck turtle, but that will have to wait till the fish all grow to their max size.

 

[CFC]

Archers jump, a lot and very high!! On more than one occasion i have had to quickly scoop a over excited archer fish off the carpet when it has leapt from the tank during feeding time.

I know that you can get electronic dosing pumps with a digital timer for adding chemicals to tanks but i wouldnt know where to get one and would think they are expensive.

 

[andywg]

Archer fish are reknowned jumpers as in the wild, the fish that shoots the insect down into the water would probably lose it to another fish sitting under it, hence they jump out of the water to catch it on its way down.

 

[Jen]

Could you tack some kind of meshing around of the opening so if the fish jump, they can't get out of the tank?

Looks great! Looking forward to the finished product.

 

[garbodude]

thanks for all your input.

CFC i think i know what you mean about the electronic dosage adders, i think i will talk to someone at uni as im sure they would be used for experiments there- its a shame there isnt another way of removing chlorine...

thank andywg that makes total sense- just makes it a bit more of a pain in the neck for me.

what i can do canoechiq is use clear perspex to make like a fence on top of the wood border on top of the tank. or i could just not have archers- but i think i will have to because the whole setup was basically for them.so i guess i will make the fence does anyone know how high it will have to be? i would think half the distance from the tank and the light hood.