My 1000 Gallon Glass Aquarium (1000+ Gallons for Dummies)
- Thread starter Albertan
- Start date
Well, I just finished reading over the entire thread myself, after returning to MFK after a lengthy absence. So I suppose an update is in order...
First I want to talk about the design elements of the tank itself. I'm so happy I went with glass over acrylic. I do have a couple of small scratches in the tank that are my doing from using a magnetic glass cleaner. But it has held up remarkably well to daily abuse.
The filtration has been everything that I had hoped for and more. My primary goal for this build was to keep maintenance to an absolute minimum, and to make it as easy as possible when it did have to be done. I have *never* touched filter media with this tank. I just backwash the filters into the floor drain in my shop, put the hose in the tank, set a reminder on my phone so I don't forget to turn it off, and I'm golden. Let me repeat that. My entire maintenance commitment in the past 3 years has involved nothing more than turning valves and taps to do water changes. No cleaning sumps and filter pads. No cleaning and/or replacing filter media in canister filters...nothing. Even at it's heaviest loading when the tank probably was overstocked with many adult cichla ranging from 14" to 26", the water was always clear. I intended to set up a drip system, but just never got around to it as everything was working so well. The tank has been a 100% success in the filtration department, and I owe it to Ken...thanks buddy.
The custom aquascaping has also been a success. Not one piece (floor, background, or rocks) have come loose. The tank is like the day I set it up, with the addition of some algae growth I hope my new Prochilodus will help stay on top of as it grows larger. I'm actually surprised by this. I thought for sure something would fail with this setup, especially with the huge temensis I had cruising around the tank. But, like the rest of the setup, it has met my low maintenance requirements with remarkable efficiency.
The lighting has been good, although with new technologies, I would likely look at something else if starting from scratch. It's hard to get enough light into this much water. But what I have works well...it's just that there are likely alternatives that could help keep operating costs down.
So again, I wanted to bump this thread and update it because I/we did things a little differently with this build, and I wanted to let everyone know that everything I did worked out in spades. If you're looking at a similar build, or even if you're just trying to lower the constant maintenance on your 180g, the concepts and ideas employed with this tank worked incredibly well.
First I want to talk about the design elements of the tank itself. I'm so happy I went with glass over acrylic. I do have a couple of small scratches in the tank that are my doing from using a magnetic glass cleaner. But it has held up remarkably well to daily abuse.
The filtration has been everything that I had hoped for and more. My primary goal for this build was to keep maintenance to an absolute minimum, and to make it as easy as possible when it did have to be done. I have *never* touched filter media with this tank. I just backwash the filters into the floor drain in my shop, put the hose in the tank, set a reminder on my phone so I don't forget to turn it off, and I'm golden. Let me repeat that. My entire maintenance commitment in the past 3 years has involved nothing more than turning valves and taps to do water changes. No cleaning sumps and filter pads. No cleaning and/or replacing filter media in canister filters...nothing. Even at it's heaviest loading when the tank probably was overstocked with many adult cichla ranging from 14" to 26", the water was always clear. I intended to set up a drip system, but just never got around to it as everything was working so well. The tank has been a 100% success in the filtration department, and I owe it to Ken...thanks buddy.
The custom aquascaping has also been a success. Not one piece (floor, background, or rocks) have come loose. The tank is like the day I set it up, with the addition of some algae growth I hope my new Prochilodus will help stay on top of as it grows larger. I'm actually surprised by this. I thought for sure something would fail with this setup, especially with the huge temensis I had cruising around the tank. But, like the rest of the setup, it has met my low maintenance requirements with remarkable efficiency.
The lighting has been good, although with new technologies, I would likely look at something else if starting from scratch. It's hard to get enough light into this much water. But what I have works well...it's just that there are likely alternatives that could help keep operating costs down.
So again, I wanted to bump this thread and update it because I/we did things a little differently with this build, and I wanted to let everyone know that everything I did worked out in spades. If you're looking at a similar build, or even if you're just trying to lower the constant maintenance on your 180g, the concepts and ideas employed with this tank worked incredibly well.
Thank you for the bump and follow up. I am going to post a build thread on my 600 next week. Another system design I've never seen deployed before. This is an excellent thread so thanks for posting. Let's see some of those cichla!
Do you do any vacuuming of the bottom or are filters successful at getting everything? I can't imagine the cost on just filtration. Between the biowave and ultimas p,is pumps you're at $3-4K on its own. Any recent pics. Looks like a bunch of the pics are no longer available.
