Advice for a new in-wall room divider tank

[sllo]

Hello guys,
I just need your expert advice on what will I need to consider in order to build and equip a new room divider in-wall tank.
Right now I own a 29G tank but we are planning on building a house right now and one thing that I will do is upgrade to a new tank.

I am thinking of these dimensions: 180cm X 70cm X 60cm (200G), planted with pressurized CO2. Main fish will be discus.

The equipment area is a little bit limited.
The tank will be at 70cm elevation and I can have equipment under the tank and on the two small cabinets on the left and right.
I attach a blueprint of the aquarium wall.


What do you recommend as far as filter, lighting, pluming and other equipment that I will need for a tank of this size? Will I need circulation pumps?
I want to have a very low noise of the filter and the other equipments since it will be dividing the living room.
I am thinking of using a swamp as a filter. Is this a good idea for a planted aquarium of this size, and if yes what dimensions should it be for such a tank and what design in order not to have CO2 loss. Are the swamps noisy?
I would like to be as easy and as low maintenance as it can be.
Do you think the tank is too big for easy and low maintenance? I don’t want to spend too much time on maintenance.
I don’t know what plans I will use yet.
Are there any detail photos of similar tanks that I can see so I will get some ideas?

Thank you.

 

[Tom Barr]

The larger Ehiem filters, say the 2260 size, would be ideal given the constraints.

Eheim NORTH AMERICA

I'd use two of them personally, a UV, about 25 W, a built in over flow for one of the Ehiems(cleans th water's surface) and bulk head screened intake about 2" off the bottom for the other(gets the dirt alone the bottom).

I'd like use a lot of brachy driftwood and add ferns and mosses to it.

I think given the fish abnd tank design/placement, a simple U shaped pattern would look great, a mound of wood on each side and open space in the center.

Add some color and/or rocks in the transitional zones.
You could also try a white sand center and use the ADA aqua soil on each side.

The advantage of the design is being able to hide the equipment easily with the decore. The white sand is nice and will be natural if you see their habitat.
Easier to care for than Gloss or HC etc also!

I'd suggest T5's for lighting or 3 x150 HQI's, or both.
CO2, look at the venturi designs folks here have suggested, or use a pair of Rhinox ADA type diffusers in the tank.

I'd suggest a Hydro in line heater also.

Since it's a planted discus tank, you need to plub the refill and the dsrain into the wall. This might seem like a radical hard hassle thing to do, it's not in any way in the long run, do it now, while you have a chance, it will make your life and work on this tank 10X easier week after week.

You can use a long set of hoses from the bathroom for refill and outside to drain if you chose also.

But you are not going to get away with only a few small water changes here ansd there with the fish and size of tank you have planned.


Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[sllo]

I am planning on plubing the refill and the drain of the tank into the wall. However when refilling the aquarium with the refill water being colder that the aquarium water, isnt it going to shock the fish becase of the water temparature change?
I am planning on plubing a hot and warm water supply near the tanks wall but how am I going to regulate the temperature of the new water in the tank?


As far as the filters are conserned. I liked the idea of using two filters one for the surface and one for the bottom but isnt two filters rated at 1500 liters tank size overkill for a 750 liter tank?


Is there any filter that is also suitable on using it as a CO2 reactor, or do you think the venturi designs are more sufficient? If I use a CO2 reactor how many would I need, one or two, and is it better to use an inline or intank reactor?


Lighting: How many T5's will I need?

And finally, what is the best way to keep the glass clean? My concern is that one of the long sides of the tank will not be accesible from that side but from the opposite side. And because the tank will have 70cm hight and 60 cm debth it will be really pain to reach one side from the opposite side to clean the glass.

 

[VaughnH]

"I am planning on plubing a hot and warm water supply near the tanks wall but how am I going to regulate the temperature of the new water in the tank?"

I haven't yet tried this, but one obvious way to regulate the incoming water temperature is to get one of the shower valves that hold the water temperature constant. Those valves maintain the same ratio of hot to cold water, no matter how the water pressures vary. Once you set the temperature the water coming out will always be the same, providing the water heater is not readjusted. I keep hoping someone will try this just to verify how well it works.

 

[Tom Barr]

Vaughn, yes, that works dandy, I do that with several places.

Your hand can tell to about 1-2 F degrees, very close between tank and refill water also.

The filters............no, that's not overkill, you want high flow.
you can reduce it if needed, but adding more is much harder.
I use 2 of these and a 1500gph wet/dry sump on a 350 gallon tank with less fish loading.

It's about right.

The venturis are maintenance free, and very effective.
They will reduce the flow rate down as well as adding a UV etc.

If you want fine mechanical filtration as well, a pair of Ocean Clear canister filters after the Ehiems are also possible. That would give you very well filtered, well polished and sterilized water with lots of CO2.
The Ehiems might need cleaned once every 2-3 months and the same for the OC filters.

I'd clean one a month and alternate each month's cleaning rotation.

Those long handle, 35 inches and 24" Kent Pro scrapers are super for hard to reach glass cleaning. They have several end attachments.
Worth every penny.

Also, a well designed hood that you can lean on the tank, not a 2-6" lip you have to hop over and then down into the tank is also a much wiser design!!!

Make access easy as possible!!!!!!!!
Make water changes as easy as possible!!!!!
Use temp regulation for the refill, a cold/hot as Vaughn suggested.
You can also add a Activated carbon filter runnign into the refill lines to remove chlorine and other imnpurities.


Hide equipment from inside the tank!!!!
Use an over flow on one side, then glue cork bark etc to that and cover with ferns, Anubias etc and that will hide most everything in the tank.

I'd use the flex ball return tubing to allow you to change the flow patterns inside the tank also.

 

[vidiots]

"I am planning on plubing a hot and warm water supply near the tanks wall but how am I going to regulate the temperature of the new water in the tank?"

I haven't yet tried this, but one obvious way to regulate the incoming water temperature is to get one of the shower valves that hold the water temperature constant. Those valves maintain the same ratio of hot to cold water, no matter how the water pressures vary. Once you set the temperature the water coming out will always be the same, providing the water heater is not readjusted. I keep hoping someone will try this just to verify how well it works.

I did this and it works well for controlling the water temp. Just don't make the mistake I did and connect a solenoid valve to the shower valve output to control my water changer leaving the shower valve on and set to the proper temp. This allowed the hot and cold water supply to the house to mix while the solenoid was closed. The wife was very unhappy with me over that little mistake, luke warm water at every tap. In this setup I'd suggest connecting a solenoid to both input lines and controlling them with a single timer. Some sort of checkvalve in line might also work.

 

[vidiots]

If you are getting a new tank anyway, you might want to consider ordering one that has predrilled overflows instead of syphon overflows. May cost a little more for the tank, but I think it will have fewer problems than using syphon overflows.

 

[Tom Barr]

If you are getting a new tank anyway, you might want to consider ordering one that has predrilled overflows instead of syphon overflows. May cost a little more for the tank, but I think it will have fewer problems than using syphon overflows.

I concur, always do this, it'll help in the long run.

You can get one that's bent, so it does not detract from the either long pane of glass.

Say the glass sides are 18", getting a 6"x8" square slotted overflow built in would be perfect.

Glue cork bark to this over flow except for the top 2".

This will not detract from the view in either side and the overflow will be hidden with the bark and can have moss walls added, Anubias, Java fern etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[sllo]

Where should the tank be drilled for the overflow, at the bottom? Since I have never seen an overflow or dont know how it is setup are there any pics that show where the tank should be drilled and how to set it up?
Are the two black ¨towers¨on the left and right sides of the tank bellow overflows?

http://www.barrreport.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=335&d=1170142159

I am planning on aquascaping the tank similar to the tanks bellow. What plans are those in these aquascapes and do you advice to use CO2 or not, and how much lighting for this kind of plants?

http://www.barrreport.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=336&d=1170142199

http://www.barrreport.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=337&d=1170142222

How many Discus should I put in a 650 liter tank?

Thanks