Hi all this is my first post on this forum and i am looking for some general advice.
I am getting back into the hobby (had tanks 15-20 years ago as a teen) however much has changed since.
I am looking to setup a 30 gal custom built freshwater tank. Being that this is my first foray into this i have decided to get professionals to build the tank and the stand its self to my specifications. They will be constructing the aquarium and drilling it and installing the bulkheads.
The setup i am looking at is:
-Freshwater, 30 gal
-Fluval 206 Canister Filter, plumbed through the bottom via bulkheads
-Tunze 3155 auto topoff
-Lyric Water Leak detector by Honeywell systems with audio alarm and smart phone alerting.
Yes, I am aware of the pros/cons of sumps vs canisters however the covenant on my condominium limits me to a 30 gal max so i would have to sacrifice tank size for a sump. The auto top off can be arguably be considered not a permanent part of the tank and can easily be removed after the fact if required.
Why run auto top off and leak detector? I Travel frequently as i am an airline pilot. The carrier i fly for mostly does either out and back (same day) or 2 day trips. With occasionally 3 day trips, however the 3 day trips are currently rare for those of us in this base. There are however regular multi day trips for recurrent training etc. I have family 10 minutes away that can check in if alerted/requested.
I am also going to be using a Eheim Auto Fish Feeder.
I live on a Caribbean island, so it can get fairly warm in the summer but at the moment i have no plans for a chiller. i will monitor temps this summer and may have to revisit that. No need for a heater because it doesn't get cold here, just "a little less hot" lol.
The thing about Caribbean islands is speciality / niche items are hard or very expensive to get and amazon does not deliver certain items here. So i am going to be ordering the filter (they only have the older Fluval 205 in the stores on island not the 206 and its 2.5 times the price of the 206 on amazon) and the auto topoff and have it sent shipped to me via freight forwarder. The run of the mill stuff like pvc and bulkheads etc can all be sourced here.
For the build its self i decided to basically mimic the tank setup of the Fluval Roma series that Fluval sells pre-assembled in Europe and the UK with a few modifications. The setup in question allows you to bottom plumb the canister and hide some of those ugly tubes and has the bonus effect of being totally self priming after a power outage.
Attached is a photo of a fluval roma tank (drained) which shows the inflow/outflow pipe positioning.
Also attached is a rather crude drawing made in MS paint of my general plan for my tank. The 3rd photo is of the stand/hood style i am going for. However i am opting for black (instead of white) to match my decor and maybe some nice metal handles on the door, also i like the slightly larger hood as compared to the fluval design.
Not much difference between the fluval plumbing and my own except:
-Addition of shut off valves to the PVC before entering the fluval so that i can shut it off and remove the canister if need be ( fluval canister also has its own shut off valves).
-A "T" junction in the return plumbing with a shut off valve followed by a tap. This is to facilitate water changes if only changing water and not vacuuming. (more on this below)
i will probably extend the length of the PVC just a bit and put in a few unions on each line so that if i want to alter the setup to plug in the chiller that will be easily done.
I decided to place the water change tap on the return line as opposed to the inflow because the filter can then act as a pump. Attach hose to tap, put end of hose in drain, open tap. As long as the water level does not go below the inflow it should be ok. I will have to ensure the standpip for the intake is at least below the level required for 25% change. I am however aware of the risk associated and i am debating the tap into the intake line instead.
The tube for the auto topoff and airline can run behind the aquarium i will probably buy something like the low profile wire concealer/raceways that you can use with electrical wires to discretely hide/manage them.
Small cutout in the back of the hood for the tunze sensor. canopy will be designed to incorporate the eheim feeder.
I will probably also throw in a APC smart UPS which they say work with aquarium equipment as it produces pure sine wave.
I want to go with LED lighting for the canopy but i have not looked too much into that yet, still looking into that but i may let them build the setup with what ever lighting then have in stock then tackle changing that out later. Debating putting an exhaust fan in the hood, i know there are "aquarium fans" you can buy but i have done a few custom PC gaming rigs and i have some corsair SP120 "quiet fans" laying around which i could rewire and re-purpose.
Anyway any thoughts, suggestions or tips would be appreciated.
I am getting back into the hobby (had tanks 15-20 years ago as a teen) however much has changed since.
I am looking to setup a 30 gal custom built freshwater tank. Being that this is my first foray into this i have decided to get professionals to build the tank and the stand its self to my specifications. They will be constructing the aquarium and drilling it and installing the bulkheads.
The setup i am looking at is:
-Freshwater, 30 gal
-Fluval 206 Canister Filter, plumbed through the bottom via bulkheads
-Tunze 3155 auto topoff
-Lyric Water Leak detector by Honeywell systems with audio alarm and smart phone alerting.
Yes, I am aware of the pros/cons of sumps vs canisters however the covenant on my condominium limits me to a 30 gal max so i would have to sacrifice tank size for a sump. The auto top off can be arguably be considered not a permanent part of the tank and can easily be removed after the fact if required.
Why run auto top off and leak detector? I Travel frequently as i am an airline pilot. The carrier i fly for mostly does either out and back (same day) or 2 day trips. With occasionally 3 day trips, however the 3 day trips are currently rare for those of us in this base. There are however regular multi day trips for recurrent training etc. I have family 10 minutes away that can check in if alerted/requested.
I am also going to be using a Eheim Auto Fish Feeder.
I live on a Caribbean island, so it can get fairly warm in the summer but at the moment i have no plans for a chiller. i will monitor temps this summer and may have to revisit that. No need for a heater because it doesn't get cold here, just "a little less hot" lol.
The thing about Caribbean islands is speciality / niche items are hard or very expensive to get and amazon does not deliver certain items here. So i am going to be ordering the filter (they only have the older Fluval 205 in the stores on island not the 206 and its 2.5 times the price of the 206 on amazon) and the auto topoff and have it sent shipped to me via freight forwarder. The run of the mill stuff like pvc and bulkheads etc can all be sourced here.
For the build its self i decided to basically mimic the tank setup of the Fluval Roma series that Fluval sells pre-assembled in Europe and the UK with a few modifications. The setup in question allows you to bottom plumb the canister and hide some of those ugly tubes and has the bonus effect of being totally self priming after a power outage.
Attached is a photo of a fluval roma tank (drained) which shows the inflow/outflow pipe positioning.
Also attached is a rather crude drawing made in MS paint of my general plan for my tank. The 3rd photo is of the stand/hood style i am going for. However i am opting for black (instead of white) to match my decor and maybe some nice metal handles on the door, also i like the slightly larger hood as compared to the fluval design.
Not much difference between the fluval plumbing and my own except:
-Addition of shut off valves to the PVC before entering the fluval so that i can shut it off and remove the canister if need be ( fluval canister also has its own shut off valves).
-A "T" junction in the return plumbing with a shut off valve followed by a tap. This is to facilitate water changes if only changing water and not vacuuming. (more on this below)
i will probably extend the length of the PVC just a bit and put in a few unions on each line so that if i want to alter the setup to plug in the chiller that will be easily done.
I decided to place the water change tap on the return line as opposed to the inflow because the filter can then act as a pump. Attach hose to tap, put end of hose in drain, open tap. As long as the water level does not go below the inflow it should be ok. I will have to ensure the standpip for the intake is at least below the level required for 25% change. I am however aware of the risk associated and i am debating the tap into the intake line instead.
The tube for the auto topoff and airline can run behind the aquarium i will probably buy something like the low profile wire concealer/raceways that you can use with electrical wires to discretely hide/manage them.
Small cutout in the back of the hood for the tunze sensor. canopy will be designed to incorporate the eheim feeder.
I will probably also throw in a APC smart UPS which they say work with aquarium equipment as it produces pure sine wave.
I want to go with LED lighting for the canopy but i have not looked too much into that yet, still looking into that but i may let them build the setup with what ever lighting then have in stock then tackle changing that out later. Debating putting an exhaust fan in the hood, i know there are "aquarium fans" you can buy but i have done a few custom PC gaming rigs and i have some corsair SP120 "quiet fans" laying around which i could rewire and re-purpose.
Anyway any thoughts, suggestions or tips would be appreciated.
