sorry for late reply folks ! Been busy at work, lots of changes in life blah blah 
Here it is, first of all, the L shaped brackets that I was talking about are nothing else than a 4x4 wood screwed perpendicularly to a 2x4 all so that I can know whether the base and the sides of the aquarium are squared ... you'll see on the picture
So now I have a real headache ... because I'm not sure if I can get away without wed dry filter. Let me tell you what I know for sure what I want and if you could advice me on the rest that would be awesome.
So the tank is just a little shy of being a 300gal, I plan on making it look like a "riparium" - it will be filled with approx 150gal of water, the rest will be for the terrestrial, marsh, bog and emersed aquatic plants that will grow attached to the rear wall of the tank right at the surface of water.
Most of the tank will be covered so that I can keep it very humid inside for the emersed plants.
Now, originally I was thinking about keeping stingrays, but then I realized I really want it to be a planted tank. I've always wanted to try discus ( again ) because last time I owned them I knew very little about this hobby ( not that now I'm a pro lol ). That said this will be a planted, riparium style, discus tank.
I really would like to skip wet dry filtration, I had accidents with overflows, sumps in the past so this is what I'm thinking.
150gal of water, planted all on the tank's floor and at the surface + automated water changes ( that can be adjusted, I'm thinking 20 / 30 gals per 2,3 days ) and for filtration I have an FX5 and I have a DE pool filter. Perfectly I wold like to get two old school eheims, connect them together, run them on one pump and other set of filtration, I was thinking hooking up a sand filter + DE filter.
I plan on drilling the tank so that there is no ugly hoses going over the top of the tank. Inlets to the filters will be on the opposite sides of the tank's length, by the rear wall. Outlets also on the opposite sides, one closer to the front wall one by the rear ( so that they circulate the water well )
Didn't decide on the lights yet ( I have 2 x 150 metal halides by coralife, I love the way they look but IDK if they will provide enough, equally spread light ... that's the least of the concern right now.
Substrate will be 100% eco complete ( min 10 bags ... who knows maybe as many as 15 baggies ... )
I really like the 3d backgrounds but I'm worried about something leaking into the water and killing the fragile discus ... I may as well just get some long black planter from my hydroponic store and silicone it to the rear wall for the riparium plants ... idk yet
any thoughts, ideas, advises are more than welcomed !
Here it is, first of all, the L shaped brackets that I was talking about are nothing else than a 4x4 wood screwed perpendicularly to a 2x4 all so that I can know whether the base and the sides of the aquarium are squared ... you'll see on the picture
So now I have a real headache ... because I'm not sure if I can get away without wed dry filter. Let me tell you what I know for sure what I want and if you could advice me on the rest that would be awesome.
So the tank is just a little shy of being a 300gal, I plan on making it look like a "riparium" - it will be filled with approx 150gal of water, the rest will be for the terrestrial, marsh, bog and emersed aquatic plants that will grow attached to the rear wall of the tank right at the surface of water.
Most of the tank will be covered so that I can keep it very humid inside for the emersed plants.
Now, originally I was thinking about keeping stingrays, but then I realized I really want it to be a planted tank. I've always wanted to try discus ( again ) because last time I owned them I knew very little about this hobby ( not that now I'm a pro lol ). That said this will be a planted, riparium style, discus tank.
I really would like to skip wet dry filtration, I had accidents with overflows, sumps in the past so this is what I'm thinking.
150gal of water, planted all on the tank's floor and at the surface + automated water changes ( that can be adjusted, I'm thinking 20 / 30 gals per 2,3 days ) and for filtration I have an FX5 and I have a DE pool filter. Perfectly I wold like to get two old school eheims, connect them together, run them on one pump and other set of filtration, I was thinking hooking up a sand filter + DE filter.
I plan on drilling the tank so that there is no ugly hoses going over the top of the tank. Inlets to the filters will be on the opposite sides of the tank's length, by the rear wall. Outlets also on the opposite sides, one closer to the front wall one by the rear ( so that they circulate the water well )
Didn't decide on the lights yet ( I have 2 x 150 metal halides by coralife, I love the way they look but IDK if they will provide enough, equally spread light ... that's the least of the concern right now.
Substrate will be 100% eco complete ( min 10 bags ... who knows maybe as many as 15 baggies ... )
I really like the 3d backgrounds but I'm worried about something leaking into the water and killing the fragile discus ... I may as well just get some long black planter from my hydroponic store and silicone it to the rear wall for the riparium plants ... idk yet
any thoughts, ideas, advises are more than welcomed !
