700 + Aquarium Build
- Thread starter arl
- Start date
cvermeulen;1069868; said:
You mean glass would also make you dizzy if you look at it like a foot away? That was kinda the thing with my older tank there (made of 1/2' acrylic) but if your further its really very nice specially right after cleaning it.
Oh man quite a bit now I tell yasalsa;1069892; said:
wood - 400
glass - 500
goop - 100
nails and others - 300
pond liner - 70
3 abs sheet -90
styrofoam background - 100
Yeah man it all adds up pretty quick. I probably spent already 1,500 to 1,700 Canadian. I'd say another 300 - 500 more to finish it up - piping, lighting, sealing up the room . But I still think I saved alot for a tank this size and the best thing about it.... you great to try out all your crazy ideas.
Oh not to forget my pump, I bought 2 - Mag drive 36 for 160 each plus 40 shipping.............. Maybe the wood cost there is not really that high, I'll have to check, wood prices are not that bad up here.
So What do you guys think of the slanted floor/canal method????? .............. Alright..... I'll save you all the thinking.....
IT DOESN'T WORK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT DOESN'T WORK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All the dirt and food and discus poop just sits in there and doesn't slide down. So there goes the main concept of my filter. Have to switch to plan "B"! Oh yeah I have 1. Plan B was actually my first design I just thought that the slanted floor canal method is cooler and fancier so I have to try it first.
plan B has been a popular thing with cichlid keepers ... they call it Under Gravel jets or something. The idea is to have your return pipe at the bottom of the tank and shoot out water upwards so that it will keep the dirt floating/flying towards the intake of the filter. So I thought why work against gravity why not just let all dirt go down and have the subfloor/raised flooring (like the old school undergravel filter), have only 1 layer of rocks, dirt goes through the rocks and through the bottom floor. On the bottom floor/chamber is my overflow intake and stratigically put the return pipe water jets so that dirt will be pushed to the overflow intake. Do you think it will work?It'd better be cause I won't be trying/experimenting this concept any more. I'll put this concept in my tank and will only know if it works on the day I finish my tank and fill it with water.
So what gives me the peace of mind that I wouldn't be climbing into my fishtank vacuum the dirt with only less than a foot of opening between my ceiling and fish tank?? With the fishes that I am keeping I am required to keep my water clean Discus and Asian aros are one of the higher maintenace FW fish. I'll pipe my returns in such a way that I can put all my 7,200 GPH (at 6' head) into the bottom of half of the tank at a time if I wanted to. That means water can be flushed/returned (all7200 GPH of it) into a 4' X4' maybe 1.5" high chamber/subfloor IF I WANTED TO. I am no mechanical engineer or anything but with that much of water push **** will be moving no matter what. I am not saying that I'll be doing this. I still don't know how much water flow is the right combination but water return distribution will all be controled by valves. Maybe only 200GPH of the return is required at the bottom??? I still don't know. I'll be twicking for the right combination once the tank is done I guess. It wil all be in the plumbing of the returns.
Please feel free to comment/brainstorm my ideas. This is only my 2nd fish tank build so its still preety much trial and error for me 
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.Part of the plan for this fish tank is to have a styrofoam rock back ground at the back and sides of the tank. since silicone doesn't stick to ABS sheet I was going to use goop again to glue the styro to the plastic sheet. I tested goop on a piece of styro and guess what again???? Goop melted the styro . So much for that Idea .
. So much for that Idea .