240g Asian Arowana Tank - Modified River Tank Manifold & Hard-plumbed FX5's

Albertan

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Those of you who have followed my 1000 Gallon Glass Tank Build Thread will recall that project had humble beginnings after I happened to stumble across some peacock bass at a LFS while travelling for my kids' hockey. I always joke that a few $20 fish wound up costing me over $20,000. You'd think I would have learned the first time around...

While travelling for hockey, I dropped by a LFS which had just received a shipment of ten or so Asian arowana from Sing Arowanas in Singapore. With the recent passing of my favorite fish, a jardini arowana, only a few weeks earlier, these fish really caught my attention. Not knowing a lot about the fish, I returned home and started doing the sort of obsessive research the internet facilitates to learn as much about the fish as possible. In the end, I have purchased a gold-base MerLion crossback arowana from Dreamfish, another arowana farm in Singapore. The fish is due to arrive in approximately three weeks. I was also able to secure eight 7" clown loaches for the tank, and plan to add six or so Myleus spp. silver dollars as well.

Now I needed to figure out how to accommodate all of these expensive fish. Fortunately, I was in the process of buying a 240g for my jardini when it passed so I found myself with a brand new tank ready to accommodate the fish. More research indicated the loaches like current and I came across the River Tank Manifold setup commonly employed by hardcore loach-keepers at loaches.com. I loved the idea, but didn't want all the piping running through my substrate. So I decided to make some changes to the design to try to establish current near the bottom of the tank for the loaches without imparting too much current up top for the arowana. I also wanted to hard plumb some extra FX5s I had lying around to take care of the filtration. I came across lots of pictures from people who have done it (some better than me), but couldn't find any real details.

That's where this thread comes in. Primarily, I hope it will help people gain the confidence to hard-plumb their FX5s for better filtration. I think the corrugated hoses that come with them are horrible. I also thought the River Tank Manifold concept was a neat one that could have lots of applications for MFKers. I hope you enjoy, and comments are always welcome. On with the show. :)

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Albertan

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Supplies & Tools Needed

There are lots of ways to accomplish the same thing I have done on my tank. You may not have access to the exact same parts I did, you might find some better deals, or there may be flaws with my design that necessitate changes as the project moves forward. All of the parts other than the pipes themselves are in the picture below. I'll try to describe each part as I go. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

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PBassJoe

Feeder Fish
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Dec 25, 2013
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Loved the 1000g tank thread. I will definitely be following this.

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Albertan

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Intake Side

The biggest change I made to the River Tank Manifold was to separate the intake and output sides of the manifold, as I am using canister filters instead of powerheads. The originator of the manifold recommends against doing this as the components tend to move around when they are not tied together. I don’t think this is going to be an issue, but will report back in this thread if I find otherwise.

I built this run from the intakes back to the filter, after deciding to locate the FX5’s at the other end of the tank to keep the return run as short as possible. The first step was to lay the pieces out in the tank to check for fit. For my 24” deep tank, I found four intakes to fit best as pictured below.

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Next I figured out what width of PVC I would need to connect the T’s and other parts of the intake. I settled on 2 3/4”, as shown below.

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I decided to glue things as I went, test fitting along the way. I soon found the PVC primer I was using to be a hideous purple color. I decided to continue to glue the intake as it will be buried under the sand anyways, and just test fit the rest of the run until I could pick up some clear primer.

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Next I carried the 1” PVC over the top of the tank and back down to the stand behind the glass. I also put two sponge filters on the intakes to make sure I had everything aligned to keep the sponges up against the glass where I wanted them.

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To carry the run to the filters, I plumbed the PVC pipe just below the top metal bar on the stand. I drilled the stand and used zip ties every 6” and self-tapping stainless steel screws (I still drilled pilot holes…my stand is metal) to support the heaviest part of the run. A preliminary tug suggests this will be more than adequate.

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Now things get a little more interesting, tying the two FX5’s into the run. First I used a 1” PVC slip fit to threaded adaptor. This I threaded (don’t forget the Teflon tape) into a 1” PVC T which is threaded on all three ends. The other ends used 1” threaded to barbed fittings. These are more or less the same size as the fittings for the FX5’s fittings. I connected the run to the filters using 1 ¼” OD X 7/8” ID dishwasher hose. I had to heat it with a heat gun and then everything went together nicely. I finished it off by placing hose clamps on all the barb fittings.

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All that’s left to do is glue everything once I get the proper primer tomorrow. On to the output side after I do the driveway.

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shookONES

Casper... the not so friendly ghost
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I'm a sucker for neat, hard-plumbed PVC, but I can't help but wonder why? With a black background, the standard FX5 drains and returns all but disappear. This style is a bit of an eye sore, no?
 

Albertan

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Nice, but why not power heads at one end of the tank?
Well, a couple of reasons. First off with power heads as shown in the River Tank Manifold setup at loaches.com, the only filtration provided would be the sponges on the intake end of the manifold. So I would need to run the canisters separately anyways to get adequate filtration. This would just make the whole system more complicated, more expensive, and less esthetic with more plumbing in the tank. Secondly, I think using a spray bar rather than power heads will give me more control over the flow and therefore the current. Power heads aren't the most precise units and may need to be raised a fair bit off the substrate to not blow it around. I'm hoping by adjusting the number and size of the holes in the spray bar, along with it's vertical placement, that I am able to tweak the setup to get the best flow along the substrate while keeping the top of the water column fairly calm. Having the intake right down by the substrate should help with this, at least in theory. And the third reason I alluded to is cost. I have four or five FX5's laying around (including one NIB). So for me this is a fairly cheap D.I.Y. project/experiment on a tank that will be used as a temporary growout for the arowana.

There are lots of better ways to skin this cat I'm sure. I'll likely get to the end of this project and not be totally happy with it...hopefully I'm at least satisfied. I'm not much of a D.I.Y.'er. But if it gives people some ideas for their own builds, mission accomplished. ;)
 

soupa2

Plecostomus
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Jul 18, 2007
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nice built.. FYI Stainless steel screws with metal don't mix.. eventually the s.s. screws will rust because the 2 metals are not made of the same material.. i understand you don't want those self tapping screws to rust...
 

Albertan

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Jan 28, 2007
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I'm a sucker for neat, hard-plumbed PVC, but I can't help but wonder why? With a black background, the standard FX5 drains and returns all but disappear. This style is a bit of an eye sore, no?

I've never been a fan of the standard FX5 tubing. It does blend in with a black background more than the white PVC, but it's still there IMO. Then you have to accommodate two large intake "cages" and two outputs that never seem to stay where they're directed. The stock tubing is a lot busier and less effective than PVC IMO. Some people complained about the white returns in my big tank. They don't really bother me. Another person could choose to paint them black. And finally, the use of PVC lets me create current along the bottom more effectively than the stock tubing ever could.
 
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