Ideas for new tank

Hey guys.

think of posting some ideas of the tank im thinking of..

dimensions are:

90cm x 45 x 50h =220l dt
sump is std 3ft.. around 100l?

filtration will be though the sump. i dont want any pumps/heaters in the dt.
thinking of 1st compartment having sponges and then flowing through into 40x 30 comparment of hair curlers and then return. any idea how to clean hair curlers? flow will be 1000/lhr.. i could push it to 4000/l hr but think discus wont be happy.

will this keep my nitrates/ammonia at 0? i will add carbon and run phosphate remover 24/7 (unless dosing meds)

fish:

10 or so rummy noses
rams(i like electric blue)/apisto - pair
bristletooth
2 x wild caught discus
2 x captives discus

maybe a panda cory or two.

Not sure on plants. not to clued up. but hygophilla, Vails, etc. javafern and java moss.

lighting is done by 4x t5. 2x coral blue and 2 x 12000k - will need some floating plants so the lighting is not to intense

what u think?

 

Theo,

That sounds like a good set up. This that type of lighting, you could actually do a very well planted tank. Check out the thread HERE on a really easy and fairly cheap way of getting a VERY good under gravel fertilization.

I'm not sure if you have done this already, but investigate that the fish you are wanting to put with the Discus can handle the type of water that you are going to need to keep for the Discus. I believe they need different water, or are more fussy about their water.

Also I would check to see if you could keep 4 discus in a 3ft tank... I would have thought it would be too small for 2 pairs. (I could be wrong... I've never kept of even considered Discus.)

All Cory's should be kept in groups of 5 or more. They are schooling fish, and are much more active and pleasant to look at when they are in a group.

And yes, I think 1000lp/h on the tank will be fine. 4000l/p/h might be a bit high. LOL. (You might find your fish plastered to the other side of the tank!)

 

Sump will be closer to 50-70l due to open spaces caused by baffles.

4000lph is way too much, Discus will not be happy with that flow rate. How did you come up with that figure? Just having the media mentioned will not keep Nitrates at 0, Ammonia/Nitrate possibly. Discus are very messy eaters and they need to be fed very well, to the point of overfeeding. This in turn means high nitrates and phosphates due to poop and uneaten food. Best strategy is constant water changes.

Phosphate remover is not meant to be in the tank constant. The granular ones I have seen are Ferric Oxide ie Iron. Iron leaching back into the tank leads to serious brown algae infestations.

Skip the coral blue and 12000k tubes, great for marine, not so great for FW. Sylvania GroLux and Osram/Sylvania 6500k are good cheap T5 tubes. 4 tubes on a 50cm tall tank isn't intense either, you don't need to obscure the light.

Why a pair of wild cuaght and a pair of tank breds? Why pairs? Do you know how much a guaranteed breeding pair will cost you?

What "bristletooth" are you talking about? Ancistrus? Certain sub species will rasp plants as they need cellulose in their diets. Cory's need to be in groups of 3 or more. I personally wouldn't keep 4 Discus in such a small tank

 

I forgot to mentione about this...

If you don't know the nirtogen cycle, I would suggest reading up on it... but I suspect you know about it. In a cycled tank your ammonia and nitrites will be zero, on condition your filtration is suitable, and you are not overstocked.

Nitrates will always climb slowly... unless used by the plants. Only way to remove nitrates is through the waterchange. Why would you want to run phosphate remover... don't we WANT phosphate in our water for the plant nutrients? I also wouldn't run it 24/7.

Focus a bit more on your bacterial filtration a bit more... add some ceramic rings to the sump, and concentrate less on chemcal filtration. The problem with chemical filtration is that it often get's depleated... and sometimes starts leeching whatever it was taking out back into the tank... and we are none-the-wizer.

 

Thanks for the feed back guys.

phosphate remover has to be changed every 3 months. there will be some phospates in the water, but i dont want to much.

i dont really want a pair of wild caughts, just the captives i want a pair. 4 discus is pushing it, but i reckon by the time they get full adult they will be in a bigger tank.

Ancistrus, yes thats the one. i dont mind if the chow plants, etc.. i got tons. will ad drift wood into the mix too as i know they need that to munch on.

in terms of water. i have an RO machine which i will keep and use for the Discus. all those fish mentioned are/can be soft water fish. especially the cichlids. i think rummys will adjust well

thanks for the feed back. neil, if your breeding pair disappear, dont come looking for me

 

I always had this dream of designing a 3 channel sump. Starting with a trickle filter and then splitting up into 3 separate lanes with each lane containing different filter media.

 

Bruce?

Phosphate remover must not be in the tank for longer than 3 days according the the Kent remover I have. Learnt that lesson the hard way...

Get more Rummy's....

 

yeah mate.

The phosphate im using states otherwise. maybe different brand?

 

What types where you thinking of? Blue Diamond etc?

 

snakeskin or golden

 

busy reading through the fert thread. thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

only thing i dislike about fert substrate is that it can leak out through the silica sand and make ur water brown!

 

I also thought that. But I believe the Prof. says that if it is capped properly, it shouldn't. My problem is that I change my scape so often that the pulling out the plants all the time will remove the capping. So I haven't thought too seriously about this.

 

What do you guys think of the blue face heckel?? thats my plan!?!