Refurbishing A 780 Litre (171 (uk) Gallons Or 206 (us) Gallon Tank

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Layout of this Post

Today is 18/04/2006
Ok I am going to lay this post out like a log book type thing with an index.
I will update each section when I come to it and place a date of post beside it.

When I say building everything from the ground up this is not necessarily true. I have recently purchased a large aquarium but I have just moved it into the house yesterday.

The Purchase

So what did I buy? and how much did it cost?

Well I was looking on a second hand site and found an aquarium for sale that is 200cm (Long) x 60cm (Wide) x 70 cm (High) and they wanted €700 for the thing. This also included 2 large Ehinem filter pumps and 4 x 58W lighting boxes. So I decided to bid €200 for the item and they said yes  … oh I was so happy.

So after playing with small aquariums and only half finishing a really large tank I have decided to go slowly with this aquarium and do a lot of research before I do anything.

The Plan
.
1. Plan what is needed for the filtration and what pipes need to be laid where.
2. Design the interior for the tank and build it around the filtration system. Im going to make my own Styrofoam cement background
3. Design and build a Biological tank / skimmer system.
4. Design and Build a lighting cover for the aquarium.
5. Introduce a Co2 and Osmoses system to the aquarium
6. Research and pick the ideal planting situation for the tank then introduce the plants.
7. cycle the water for a few weeks
8. Research and decide what fish to introduce. Split the introduction of the fish into 4 stages
a. Stage 1 introduce the cat fish
b. Stage 2 introduce all the splinter fish
c. Stage 3 introduce all shrimp and crabs
d. Stage 4 introduce all algae eaters
9. Build a brine shrimp tank to produce the brine for feeding times.

Photography

This is the Aquarium that i bought.

During the project I will make several photos from the stages and place them in the forum.
If you want to use any of the photos feel free but please let me know.

Questions or Ideas

If you have any questions please post the questions in the relevant Plan post. I’m going to make a post per category so this looks like it will be 9 posts then.

I’m going to keep this post up to date with all the logs of what is going on in each of the 9 Groups

Post 1 (This post) Concept of a 780 Litre (171 (UK) Gallons or 206 (US) Gallon Tank layout and Build.
18/4/2006 – Start of Report and build

Post 2 (20/04/2006) (click here)Building a Styrofoam background
Post 3 (23/04/2006) (Click here) Building a Biological Filter system
Post 4 (Not started) Building the Lighting hood
Post 5 (Not started) Building a CO2 and Reverse Osmoses system
Post 6 (12/05/2006) Planting the tank post Planting the tank.
Post 7 (Not started) Population of a 780 Litre (171 (UK) Gallons or 206 (US) Gallon Tank)
Post 8 (Not started) Brine Shrimp Tank

Running costs


Purchase of Tank = €200
Customflow compleate set = €67
T8 Lamp Endcaps 6 x 3.75 = €22.50
T8 TL Plastic Clips 4 x 1.95 = €7.80
T8 Tube Light Osram 11 58W = €9.90
T8 Tube Light Narva 860 58W = €8.40
T8 Tube Light Growlux 58W = €18.30
T8 Tube Light AquaStar 58W = €20.25
Styrofoam, PVC connectors, cement and silcone = €85
pigment blue = €7
pigment red = €7
pigment black = €7
pigment brown = €7
liquid foam = €5
2500 Ltr pump = €76
Filter foam = €44
Glass for Bio Filter = €50 incl cutting
Silicone for filter = €14
Tile cement = €13
19mm x 4m Pond tube (incl connectors) = €23
13mm x 4M Pund Tube (Incl Connectors) = €23 this is the auto drain from the sump.
6 x 25kg medium sized stones = €30
Active Carbon = €59.50 25L
Bio Balls = €26.50 5L



Summery

Once this is done I will post how I feel after this project. I will summarise all of the posts above.

Links
CustomFlow = Click here for more info

 

[bobf]

Nice purchase fozzy - i shall be watching with interest

Good luck with it.

 

[Luke_e]

You sure have got a lot to play with having a tank that size.

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

thanks . well it is underway....

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

ok so i have now found the cement pigment

blue
red
brown
and black

€7 each.

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Ok, so the pictures that I made whilst making the Bio filter haven’t come out correctly corrupted disc.. so, sorry no pictures of the building of the filter.
I have pictures of the Filter now that it is done.

So here are the pictures.

The Tank is 130cm x 40cm x 40 cm it is split into 4 sections.

The first section is for the BIO Balls. I’m going to use red lava stones instead as I have a sack that was free.
So the water will come in from the top and I will build a sprinkler type system that will spray the tank water over the stones. The water will then work its way through the stones and move into next section where I will place a heater to warm the water.

The water will then flow over the top of the glass. The water will then flow into the section with the foam.
First layer that you can’t see in the Photos is 20ltrs of active charcoal.
Second layer is large holed filter foam.
Third layer is thin holed filter foam.
Fourth layer is filter wool

After this layer it seeps through the slats at the bottom. From here the water moves through to the exit chamber. I have placed an internal pump here.

I will make another hole in the glass in the final chamber which will be ¾ of the way from the top of the tank. This will be an overflow. With the RO (reverse osmosis) system it will replace around 20 - 60 L per day.

 

[Number 1 Jasper]

Ok, so the pictures that I made whilst making the Bio filter haven’t come out correctly corrupted disc.. so, sorry no pictures of the building of the filter.
I have pictures of the Filter now that it is done.

So here are the pictures.

The Tank is 130cm x 40cm x 40 cm it is split into 4 sections.

The first section is for the BIO Balls. I’m going to use red lava stones instead as I have a sack that was free.
So the water will come in from the top and I will build a sprinkler type system that will spray the tank water over the stones. The water will then work its way through the stones and move into next section where I will place a heater to warm the water.

The water will then flow over the top of the glass. The water will then flow into the section with the foam.
First layer that you can’t see in the Photos is 20ltrs of active charcoal.
Second layer is large holed filter foam.
Third layer is thin holed filter foam.
Fourth layer is filter wool

After this layer it seeps through the slats at the bottom. From here the water moves through to the exit chamber. I have placed an internal pump here.

I will make another hole in the glass in the final chamber which will be ¾ of the way from the top of the tank. This will be an overflow. With the RO (reverse osmosis) system it will replace around 20 - 60 L per day.

Good luck

 

[andywg]

You have the filter set up backwards really.

You want the mechanical filtration before the biological. Ideally you would want a drip tray above the bio media (I assume a fair amount of the bio media will sit above the water surface (as in a wet dry, thus giving the media far more oxygen and making it far more efficient).

You can then put filter floss on the drip tray and this will filter out all of the free floating stuff. Having the floss (or even a sponge) outside of the water and not submerged will greatly improves its efficiency at removing particles.

Otherwise, all the gunk and debris will get caught on your bio media and start decaying there leading to increased nitrates rather than being caught on the mechanical media where you can just pull out the sponge/floss and rinse the stuff away.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but it looks a great project.

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

You have the filter set up backwards really.

You want the mechanical filtration before the biological. Ideally you would want a drip tray above the bio media (I assume a fair amount of the bio media will sit above the water surface (as in a wet dry, thus giving the media far more oxygen and making it far more efficient).

You can then put filter floss on the drip tray and this will filter out all of the free floating stuff. Having the floss (or even a sponge) outside of the water and not submerged will greatly improves its efficiency at removing particles.

Otherwise, all the gunk and debris will get caught on your bio media and start decaying there leading to increased nitrates rather than being caught on the mechanical media where you can just pull out the sponge/floss and rinse the stuff away.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but it looks a great project.

Thanks for the inofrmation.

I was researching and getting serveral peoples ideas about this. there were two experianced guys i was listening to and they both came up with good points. One guy said exsactly what you said. and the other was the following.

Have a drip pipe that will drip on to the Lava stones. this would break the waist down as it is rough. once it breaks down the water would then move in to the large foamed areas which would then collect the waist. but because it is a large surface area it gives it enough room to collect the waist products and break it down over a longer period.
so this would happen through the three thickness levels. of foam. in the last chamber i will have bio balls

I understand now more of what you were saying. I can still modify thistank to do what i want it to do. so back to the drawing board...

Thanks for the input.

 

[andywg]

No probs.

Lava rock would just clog up with the waste and any efficiency it would have for harbouring bio bacteria would diminish (not ot mention the rise in nitrates).

I have learned the hard way that sumps need good mechanical filtration to prevent having to be cleared out completely every 12 months or so. (and we never build our sumps with easy access, now do we?...)

Looking good though, and it's great to see more people going the sumped route on the larger tanks.

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

No probs.

Lava rock would just clog up with the waste and any efficiency it would have for harbouring bio bacteria would diminish (not ot mention the rise in nitrates).

I have learned the hard way that sumps need good mechanical filtration to prevent having to be cleared out completely every 12 months or so. (and we never build our sumps with easy access, now do we?...)

Looking good though, and it's great to see more people going the sumped route on the larger tanks.

Did a bit more research last night and found that the lava stones were the worst for the bio filter and i found the Ultra Bio_Media is was the best

this report tells you what is the BEST BIO MATERIAL even though the report is for salt aquariums the bio filter is the same rules.

What i have just realised that i forgot was i have two Eheim 2228 filters that came with the aquarium so what i am going to do is to fill these first with Ultra Bio- media then this will pump streight into the sump. in the sump i will have 1 layer of the Ultra Bio-media then it will go into the foam.

This will work better as i will then rotate the cleaning of the bio material one a year bu tthe first 2228 in 6 months then leave that one for a year but 6 months later (which is one year from installation) the second 2228. 3 months later the sump. this will keep enough bacteria in the system to stop the amonia spikes etc..

Its always good to have some one else to discus this with as you get more and better ideas.

Thanks

 

[andywg]

You don't want to pump the output of an eheim straight into the sump as this would create a direct syphon; in the event of a power cut you could drain a significant part of the tank into the sump (all the way down to the inlet to the eheim filter).

Once submerged a lot of the better media will loose their edge as there simply won't be the oxygen available to support the huge colonies of bacteria they can host.

If you are in the US then the best media for a wet dry is nylon pot scrubbers. Sadly I can't find them here in the UK, though they may be available on the continent where you are. Basically, you just want anything plastic with a huge surface area to volume ratio.

It does worry me a little bit that they don't mention in that site about Live Rock being the best filtration there is for a SW aquarium...

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

You don't want to pump the output of an eheim straight into the sump as this would create a direct syphon; in the event of a power cut you could drain a significant part of the tank into the sump (all the way down to the inlet to the eheim filter).

Once submerged a lot of the better media will loose their edge as there simply won't be the oxygen available to support the huge colonies of bacteria they can host.

If you are in the US then the best media for a wet dry is nylon pot scrubbers. Sadly I can't find them here in the UK, though they may be available on the continent where you are. Basically, you just want anything plastic with a huge surface area to volume ratio.

It does worry me a little bit that they don't mention in that site about Live Rock being the best filtration there is for a SW aquarium...

Ok i havent used a Eheim filter before so i didnt know that the pump wast closed off if fails... Thanks for that.

I have a plan for the two eheim pumps.

Im going to move the filter section now as it has started a good conversation and i will edit this part of it once i have an address.


IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE FILTER SYSTEM GO HERE BIO FILTER

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

Ok so now I have installed the DIY Styrofoam background and I have let the water continually over flow into the drain for three weeks I think it is now ready to start adding the plants.
The 2x 2228 filters are in and running and the 1x 130x 40 x 40 bio sump is turning over quite nicely now.

The heating when on last night and it is now up to 25.5 deg I need to get a temp sensor that will automatically turn off all heaters (2 x 300w) at 26 deg. I am trying to keep the tank between 25.5 and 26 deg as this will be the temperature range that my fish can live in.

I have now also installed the RO (Reveres Osmoses) system and is chucking out 60ltrs a day into the tank. This will keep the tank fresh and keep any toxins down. It also helps as I no longer have to perform water changes.

So what is next ??

Well I have to build a lighting hood, install my CO2 system and finally add the plants and cycle the tank then populate the tank.

I get paid Friday so I will go get my filter material and pay for the lighting things I need

 

[SkiFletch]

So wait, you've got the RO unit going constantly? Is this just to fill the tank up, or are you going to basically be changing 60L per day? That's going to get real expensive real fast... RO cartriges and your water bills will not be cheap if you're changing 60L per day