Tank Upgrade

[Squidward]

Hi All,

So I am in the process of upgrading my tank.

I have a 5 x 2 x 2 (approx 500L) tank on order.

I have a Fluval 305 on my current 240L tank.
Will a 405 (I think it's a 406 now) be big enough for the new tank?

What sort of heating will I need? I think I currently have a 30w (could be wrong with this).

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks
Squidward

 

[fishprotector]

I would go with an fx5 on that tank mate. A 405 will not be good enough. You will also be wanting about 500w of heat.

What you stocking it with?

 

[mike455555]

normally you need a 1W/L of heat so a 500W heater would do 500L

the 305 will do for the tank unless your planning on increasing your stocking the filter in your current tank supports the fish. so it will in the new one as well (or should in theory)

personally i dont have much experience with big tanks

 

[dbanner]

I have a 450 litre 5 foot tank running 2 tetratec ex1200's and they cope very well indeed. I swapped my fluval fx5 for them and overall I prefer them to the fx5. IMO the fx5 is hideous, like a giant dustbin. Actually depressed me every time I had to see it lol

As stated above the general rule is 1 watt per litre of water. I did have 2 300watt internal heaters in my 450 litre for quite some time, but, now I have the tetratecs instead of the fx5 I run a single 300watt external hydor heater along side one of the ex1200's and it copes phenomenally well.

Internal heaters are ok to warm the water but they do take up valuable space in your tank and can be somewhat harmful, say for instance if your fish are like mine and constantly burns themselves on the heater, don't get me wrong you could always buy a heater guard, at an extra cost lol or if you have one of the heaters break by getting rammed by the fish and then your fish die like mine did.

An external heater is outside the tank (obviously lol) meaning less clutter in the tank and safer for your fish. They also work by connecting to your filter outlet pipe so they pump warm water around your tank meaning no cold spots. Like I said I only need to run 1 300watt on a Juwel Rio 400 (5 foot 450 litre) and it's more than capable of keeping my tank at the 27 degrees needed for my fish less cost too

 

[Squidward]

I would go with an fx5 on that tank mate. A 405 will not be good enough. You will also be wanting about 500w of heat.

What you stocking it with?

Would the current 305, and a 405 be sufficient?
Or would there be too many unsightly pipes??

I am thinking 3 things at the moment.
-Expanding my current mixed tropicals
-Discus
-Lungfish. But I am not sure I want to commit a tank that size to just 1 fish.



Mike - think a 305 will be too small?

dbanner - there are cupboards on the stand, so if I do get the fx5, it wouldn't be seen.

 

[mike455555]

it might be i dont know to much about large filters sorry

 

[dbanner]

I think the 305 would be a bit small even along side a 405 but it all depends on what you wana stock the tank with. Bigger the fish, the messier they normally are and the more filtration you will need.

Generally you want to aim for around 4 or 5 times the tank volume. So you would want around 2000lph. The 405 is good for 1200lph with no media inside, that will drop to around 950lph with media. So 2 405's would be good

The pipes are a pain but they tuck away nicely behind the tank so not too much of a problem. Most people including myself use 2 external filters when it comes to tanks 4ft or bigger.