770 Gallon Monster Setup

aldiaz33

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Here's a video of my setup with the new panels and new air pump; running 2 stones in the tank and 1 large 12" stone in the sump.

I noticed a huge spike in how often my heaters came on since I added the air pump. It's been cold at night and running the air stones (pumping air that's in the upper 50s) through the water really cools the tank down. So now I'm running the pump on a timer so that it only comes on during the warmest parts of the day (from around 1:00PM to 5:00PM).

Jake makes a cameo; he's an 80lbs Brown Lab/Vizsla mix. He looks mellow in the video, but he's crazy.

[video=youtube_share;hOGIGeG0JCc]http://youtu.be/hOGIGeG0JCc[/video]
 

LOPAKA

Fire Eel
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Mar 21, 2008
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Alex, I agree with the bubbles are a great addition to the overall look of the tank...... interesting about the cold air being let into the water, never really thought about that but it makes sense. I wonder how much affect that really has on the temp of the tank.....
 

aldiaz33

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Alex, I agree with the bubbles are a great addition to the overall look of the tank...... interesting about the cold air being let into the water, never really thought about that but it makes sense. I wonder how much affect that really has on the temp of the tank.....
Yeah, I love the look of the bubbles, but I think the cooling effect is pretty huge:

2/28/2012 (from 8:00PM to 6:00AM)- Running 3 air stones, heaters used 5KWHrs that night
2/29/2012 (from 8:00PM to 6:00AM)- Air pumps unplugged, heaters used only 2KWHrs last night

The air temp in the room was basically the same for those two nights (maybe +/- 2 degrees)...I think the air pump had to be the culprit. The air pump puts out 15LPM and the air stone in the sump is probably blowing twice as much air as both air stones in the display tank combined. Basically blowing a whole lot of cold air into the water.

I have insulated the tank quite a bit, so before installing the air pump I've been averaging around 4 KWHrs per day to maintain 73F.

Thanks!

That raises the question, if cold air can lower the tank temp then can warm bubbles be used to help heat it? And if so how would you go about setting that up?
Not sure how this would work. I wouldn't want to overheat the air pump, but maybe making a partial enclosure for the pump and running a light bulb inside might add enough heat to negate the cooling effect. In regards to actually using the air to heat the water, I'm not sure about that.
 

aldiaz33

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Start heating that bad boy up and add some tropicals already :)
Planning to buy some cichlids this weekend. I went looking yesterday, but none of the shops in my immediate area had anything that looked appealing. Well, there was a nice texas, but there was a convict in the tank completely covered in ick, so I passed.

I'm planning to grow out some babies though, so you probably won't even see them in the big tank.
 

MaddMaxx

Jack Dempsey
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Jun 16, 2009
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Yeah, I love the look of the bubbles, but I think the cooling effect is pretty huge:

2/28/2012 (from 8:00PM to 6:00AM)- Running 3 air stones, heaters used 5KWHrs that night
2/29/2012 (from 8:00PM to 6:00AM)- Air pumps unplugged, heaters used only 2KWHrs last night

The air temp in the room was basically the same for those two nights (maybe +/- 2 degrees)...I think the air pump had to be the culprit. The air pump puts out 15LPM and the air stone in the sump is probably blowing twice as much air as both air stones in the display tank combined. Basically blowing a whole lot of cold air into the water.

I have insulated the tank quite a bit, so before installing the air pump I've been averaging around 4 KWHrs per day to maintain 73F.



Thanks!



Not sure how this would work. I wouldn't want to overheat the air pump, but maybe making a partial enclosure for the pump and running a light bulb inside might add enough heat to negate the cooling effect. In regards to actually using the air to heat the water, I'm not sure about that.
You should try moving the air pump inside the house and just running the hoses out to the tank, I bet you'd have to use the heaters even less...
 

LOPAKA

Fire Eel
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Mar 21, 2008
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Alex, I know your have a tall tank but how bout giving putting the air pump inside the insulated stand a shot thus eliminating it pulling in cold air..... shooot who knows may even pull some of that humid air from down there... ?? Where is it located now that it has access to cool air being blown into the water ?
 

aldiaz33

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Alex, I know your have a tall tank but how bout giving putting the air pump inside the insulated stand a shot thus eliminating it pulling in cold air..... shooot who knows may even pull some of that humid air from down there... ?? Where is it located now that it has access to cool air being blown into the water ?
I have the air pump on top of the tank. I would be nervous relying on a check valve to prevent any back siphon in the event of a power outage. You think if I run the air line up high enough before going back down under the stand it will be ok?

So I raised the temps in the tank to 80F and bought 27 fish on Saturday. Raising the temp got my goldfish in the mood...they starting breeding on Sunday morning. Goldfish eggs were actually the first snack for my new tropical fish.

Here's what I bought:

(6) 4" Wide Bar Silver Dollars (Myleus Schomburgkii)
(9) 5" Redfin Bala Sharks (Cyclocheilichthys janthochir)
(12) 3" Golden Sharks - no idea what these are

Can somone help me identify the fish in the video below? They were labeled Golden Sharks and I saw a larger one in the shop that was around 8".

They look kinda like scissor tail rasboras. They stay at the surface of the tank. They were only $4 each.

[video=youtube_share;xQaZZIjQuZU]http://youtu.be/xQaZZIjQuZU[/video]
 
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