New tank.. New idea's..

[dannypowell]

Hello everyone..

Just replaced my 48x18x12 with a monster 72x24x18 but now that ive set the thing up i'm having a few ideas..

First I have built the stand myself and a cracking job ive done to, apart from 3-4 sleepless nights waiting for a crash from my living room. The stand is 24" tall and underneath I have enough space for a second tank.

I also have alot of fish, including 7 silver dollers, all my fish are great plant eathers leaving the tank very baren after a good feast.

Would I benefit from setting up my 48" tank underneath my main tank, filling it with oxygenating plants, pumping from the main tank into one end of the small tank, out the other end and back to the other end of the main, creating a cycle of water?

If so how many sleepless nights would I have wondering if one of my pumps packs up, or can this be protected? The last thing I want to do is pump the entire contents of both tanks onto the floor creating an 850 ltr pond.

All input would be greatful

Cheers Dan

 

[Alien Anna]

Not that I know anything about this at all, but it sounds a great idea to me! You could have a few dither fish in the planted tank - something non-plant eating and hardy. Cherry barbs would be nice - they like lots of cover and are very hardy.

You could have like a rocky aquascape on the top, for your silver dollars, and an Asian or South American pond in the bottom. You could even grow plants with the specific intention of feeding your silver dollars with them!

How about having an open tank on the bottom, with overhead lights, so you can have some of those semi-aquatic plants that group out of the water?

 

[bigfish]

wow a 72 x 24 x 18 tank i would love one of those in my garage, how much u pay for it?

 

[CFC]

Running the top tank into the bottom tank full of plants is a excellent additional filtration method as the plants will use up the nitrates left in the water by the normal biological filtration.This method is also used to help stablize pH in tanks that use additional co2 for plant growth,they do this by having the lights on in the tanks at alternate times,the upper tank by day and the lower tank by night so that there are always plants using the extra co2 and preventing drops in pH.
By linking the two tanks you also enlarge the surface area of the tank you intend to keep the main fish in allowing you more space for stocking fish,much in the same way that marine keepers use sump tanks on their set ups,i plan to add a 50 gallon sump to my 200 gallon tank soon.

The best way of doing this kind of set up is to have the tank drilled,this should only be attempted by proffesional glazers or those who have a lot of experience!!!
By drilling a 3/4" hole just below the water level and using elbow fittings which are available from good lfs you can hard plumb the tanks together.You fit a small pump in the bottom tank to return the water to the main tank and if the pump fails the water in the top tank drops below the drainage hole and stops the system.To stop the alternate problem of the drainage becoming clogged all you need to do is make a small hole in the return tubing about 3" below the water line of the bottom tank,if the water drops below the the hole then air will be taken in that will stop the system again.

 

[dannypowell]

Thanks for prompt replies..


Thats a good idea, i'd not thought of using gravity to control the flow of water, eg, what goes up must come down, but thats all...

I think I will have a crack at this when I move house on the 5th, until then I will need the second tank to house the fish in whilst moving the main tank.

Does anyone recomend a good glazer to drill a hole in the west midlands, pref Hereford area..

P.S. BigFish, I paid £230 for the tank which took 10 days to produce and deliver, It has two 15mm base plate glass and 12mm all round. All the wood for the cabinet came to aproximatly £100 from any DIY retailer... £330 for 6ft aquarium, bargain! Some retailers charge in excess of £600 for this.

Dan