New 8 FOOT 2500 liter tank- NEED HELP

[doc_siddhu]

Hey guyz,

I'm Dr. Siddharth, from Hyderabad, India. I was interested in getting a big tank for quite a long time. I have been busy with my studies and was outta town.

I recently passed my M.S Orthopedics and i finally have some free time at home.

I'm planning to have a 8' L x 3' W x 4' H tank that comes to around 2,600 liter volume. Its going to be a freshwater tank with dark rosewood coloured stand and top, black substrate, with a DYI black/brown/green rocky background. With a tank this size i know there's a ton of things to worry about and I'm constantly reading or watching videos to get everything right.

The tank is going to be placed in our main living room which is on the first floor of our house. theres plenty of natural light coming in the room from 20 foot high window panes( 10 ft x 4) and another sunroof at the top and it gets a little warm in summer afternoons.

I still dint completely fix my plans and I'm open to new ideas and changes.

my main concerns are-

1. The SIZE- i have room for an even bigger tank but i dont want to worry about even bigger monthly maintenance expenses. if i think the maintenance might be a problem i might cut back on the width and height of the tank by half foot each to 8 x 2.5 x 3.5, but making it to 1900 liter volume. I want the big size to have a WIDE display to be a feast for the eyes and to house big fish, arowanas likely.

2. The WEIGHT - its gonna weigh 2.5 tons ( i think im right) along with the stand, etc. Can the concrete floor hold all that weight ? ( the tank will be on the first floor of the house )

3. The GLASS - thought id go for the best diamond clear glass, but that costs nearly twice as much as regular glass. Is the diamond clear glass really worth it ?? Im thinking il get the regular toughened glass. Will 18 or 20 mm thickness be enough ?

4. The FILTRATION - this is one im really confused about. Im still new to this. I originally thought of getting a sump filtration, but my local fish store keeper says using multiple canister filters works good enough ( he suggested some german made ones costing 15k a piece. dint go into the power output details). Can you suggest the best filtration i can get, but with low maintainance costs ( electricity bills etc)

5. The MAINTENANCE COSTS - my dad is paying for it right now.. and i dont want the maintenance to be a problem later( ELECTRICITY BILLS). Im looking to invest all the money into a good quality initial setup that has to look really good. Can you suggest me good quality, but not too expensive, filtration and lighting to be used. How much WATTAGE will all the equipment necessary righly be. Monthly Electricity cost ?

I want the lowest maintenance reasonably possible right now and im willing to change or reduce my fish stockings if necessary for that. After a while ill modify the setup to house big fish.

6. The FISH - i eventually want to house arowanas with peacock bass or arowanas with schools of striped silver dollars and large schools of small schooling fish or even discus and angels. Not decided yet. Depends on the Maintenance

7. The CLEANING / WATER CHANGES - im willing to invest more in better filtration if it can reduce cleaning needs. the 4 foot high tank must be tough to climb into. might need to buy a new ladder . how often do i need to do water changes and filter cleanings or complete tank cleanings, if suppose its an all arowana tank.


8. The NOISE - i dont want the soud of all the equipment get too loud and disturbing in our peaceful livingroom

and to keep the running costs low, i dont want to use any heaters or sensitive plants in the aquarium

PLEASE help me decide so i can start working on my dream this week

Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[doc_siddhu]

2. The WEIGHT - its gonna weigh 2.5 tons ( i think im right) along with the stand, etc. Can the concrete floor hold all that weight ? ( the tank will be on the first floor of the house )

The house is built of concrete and the floor is marble

 

[Squirtle919]

Just my opinion...

1. I would go as big as possible for arowana you will want as much width as possible.

2. Depends on many factors, best to get it checked out.

3. 20mm sounds about right, due to the height I would add as much bracing as your willing to have, base and top with wide bracing on the base 20cm or so, Not sure what diamond clear glass is? if its the lower iron content glass, just do the front panel and sides etc no need for the back/base to be done this will save $$$ for the extra bracing or filtration etc.

4. I would personally use a sump, you can get a pump large enough to run the tank using 80-140Watts which is quite decent. (Laguna, Wavelines well any DC pump everyone makes them these days)

Some members used pool sand filters with glass media (could be wrong) they seem to do a good job also, power wise I have no idea. I imagine it would require a stronger pump so may have a larger draw but how large no clue.

5. Depends. Heating is the main cost imo, so a good proper insulated room is a good start then everyone will suggest different methods, you can run copper coils into the sumps heated by gas and controlled by a thermostat in the sump, heat the room with a heat pump , hydronic under floor heating placed under the tank and sump, good old aquarium heaters (tanks not so large so these may be best)

else India is hot all year around you sadly will need some form of heating else you keep gold fish.

Lighting - Leds would be my choice, they also produce the best light. Brand options are endless also I love the cheap 120 piece ones from china.

Monthly costs cant say, my bill now that my fishrooms insulated and heated with the heat pump has only jumped 80-100$ more then before (quarterly billed) I had this fish fetish or tank fetish cant figure it out yet.

6. Sounds great, I have seen arowana with discus and angels before but I dont think it normal works out so maybe have decent read on mixing the 2 before you try it.

7. Sump would be my choice, maybe a 7x2.5 x 2 bigger the better. You can drill the sump and setup a drip system (automatic water changer) this will mean you only have to siphon the pop out, with enough flow you maybe able to get away with vacs depends on you I guess ultimately. I have a 2.5ft gravel vac for my larger tanks, connects to a hose makes it quite easy with a step ladder.

When small Id be aiming for 2 water changes per week 10% when larger (10-12inch) 30% per a week.

8.Depends which way you go with filtration. For a sump there are many options some work better then others you can get them pretty silent but a closed loop will also be more quite imo else its running a loud pump

I hope this helps you, look forward to seeing the tank =D

 

[Siddons11]

^ I agree. Go with the 4' wide and 3' tall. Itll be less expensive since the acrylic would be less thick.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note II

 

[David R]

Welcome to the forum, there are many people with big tanks on here so plenty of good ideas for you to consider. Have a look thru the forums, there are many different ways to do things.

Glass thickness; http://www.theaquatools.com/building-your-aquarium
with the dimensions you're talking about you're going to want 25mm/1" thick glass to have a reasonable safety factor. Or toughened glass. Talk to your tank builder about what he recommends, it won't be cheap though. If you're interested in keeping arowana think about swapping the width and the height (ie go 8x4x3' instead of 8x3x4'). Not only will it give your arowana more room for swimming, it will help spread the weight over a larger area of your floor, and will also make a huge difference in the thickness glass required. LxWxH, 240x120x90 cm with 19mm glass has a safety factor of 2.7, 240x90x120cm with 25mm glass has 2.2 (19mm glass would be 1.3, which is a huge risk!).

Filtration; I opted for a large sump for my tank, and the only other option for a tank this size [IMO] would be a large bead filter like an Ultima. Both have their pros and cons, and there is no reason you couldn't run both if you really want to. Consider how often you will have to clean it and how heavily stocked your tank will be, and also how much power the pumps will use. They certainly aren't all created equally! If you're worried about noise then think about locating the filter elsewhere. If you look at my thread below you can see how I've plumbed it through the wall so the sump and all the noisy stuff is in the garage and the room with the tank room is nice and quiet.

Laguna pumps and LED lights are good options for energy-efficiency.

As for the weight on the floor, you're really going to have to talk to a local engineer about it. Different countries have different building codes, putting 2.5 ton of glass and water on the second story is a pretty major ask of the structure, IMO it would be foolish not to consult someone qualified in such things and rely on a bunch of us on the internet!

 

[doc_siddhu]

Thanks a lot for the replies guyz

UPDATE

1. ive talked to my engineer bout the weight of the tank and luckily theres a beam running under the wall right next to the place where the aquarium will be placed.
So the weight problem is cleared

2. ive discussed with the lfs guy, carpenter, metal worker about the build etc,...

The tank size is going to be 8 foot L x 3 foot W x 3.5 foot H
with 19 mm toughened glass. With bracing in the tank and metal bracing for all the edges. hoping it will be enough.

the sump size is 6' L x 2' W x 1.5' H

MY QUESTION is about the type of filtration setup.
all over the internet it shows the sump is overflow type with a single powerhead for the return.

My sump, as suggested by the LFS guy, will have suction pipes going to the bottom of the tank in a corner leading to a POWERHEAD in the sump which will suck the water from the tank into the sump. after passing through partitions ( total 4 )filled with biomedia, another POWERHEAD pumps the water back to the top of the tank. (hes not drilling any holes in the glass) This system uses 2 POWERHEADS instead of one as in the overflow type. but i think will lead to good water current circulation throughout the tank.( in overflow type theres very little circulation at the bottom of the tank). Sounds like how a canister filter works ???

Is this setup good ? the lfs guy says he installs the same kinda sumps in all his marine tanks. So im thinking to trust him on this...

BUT HOW MUCH FILTER CAPACITY DO I NEED

MY TANK - 96" x 36" x 42"
Volume= 96" x 36" x 42" x 0.00421 = 611 gallon ~ 2400 Liters

the internet says its good to have a minimum full turnover of 3 times the volume per hour( some tanks have upto 10 times )

Filtration = 3 times turnover minimum = 611 x 3 = 1833 Gallons per hr ~ 7000 Lit/ hr

Is this mandatory ? or can i do with less. i will go for it if it doesnt cost too much. BUT since i have 2 powerheads, does each need to have to the capacity of 7000 liter / hour ??

SUMP -- 72" x 24" x 18" = 131 gallon . if half filled with water --- 66 gallon

Can u guyz tell me how much wattage such powerheads will be ?
like i said im looking to keep mainenance costs low.

Also, i wont be using any heater in the tank. Im from India. its gonna be pretty warm all year round and i can change the fish stockings if necessary.

PLEASE HELP

 

[Nova 8]

Two pumps is a bad idea, they wont be pumping the same amount of water and you will most likely over fill your sump and flood the house and drain the tank. People use overflows as it is a safe method to removed water from the tank as it can only remove the amount that is added from the sump. I think your sump is big enough at 1/4 the size of the tank but I would go for a larger turn over, 5 times an hour would be my personal minimum and ten times would be my maximum for a sump, internal filters or a high flow canister can be added to boost circulation and mechanical filtration leaving the job of bio for the sump. Check on eBay to see what sort of power consumption you are looking at for your pump, search around and find one that meets your needs.

 

[Joao M]

Hi,

My tank is 10´x4´x28" and I addressed the same concerns so I´ll give your my thoughts

Thanks a lot for the replies guyz

UPDATE

1. ive talked to my engineer bout the weight of the tank and luckily theres a beam running under the wall right next to the place where the aquarium will be placed.
So the weight problem is cleared

I would double check. Even with a beam, one thing is to have that amount of weight sometimes a different one is to have it always. I am not an engineer though so I cannot answer that technically.

2. ive discussed with the lfs guy, carpenter, metal worker about the build etc,...

The tank size is going to be 8 foot L x 3 foot W x 3.5 foot H
with 19 mm toughened glass. With bracing in the tank and metal bracing for all the edges. hoping it will be enough.

I also wanted a high tank at around 3ft but in the end opted for a 28"high and was able to do it with 15mm glass with a security coefficient (SE) of 3,6.
According to the calculations made, if I went to 2,5H, in order to have the same SE I would need 19mm. At 3´H I could not keep the same SE with 19 mm glass (it would drop, if I´m not mistaken to 3,2 or 3) and i would need 2 lays of 12mm.
I think it would be safer not to exceed 3´H and in fact you don´t need a tank so high and it is an hassle to work with.
You could reconsider and perhaps changing W and H, meaning having 3,5W and 3H. Or making a 8x3x3

What I wthe sump size is 6' L x 2' W x 1.5' H

MY QUESTION is about the type of filtration setup.
all over the internet it shows the sump is overflow type with a single powerhead for the return.

My sump, as suggested by the LFS guy, will have suction pipes going to the bottom of the tank in a corner leading to a POWERHEAD in the sump which will suck the water from the tank into the sump. after passing through partitions ( total 4 )filled with biomedia, another POWERHEAD pumps the water back to the top of the tank. (hes not drilling any holes in the glass) This system uses 2 POWERHEADS instead of one as in the overflow type. but i think will lead to good water current circulation throughout the tank.( in overflow type theres very little circulation at the bottom of the tank). Sounds like how a canister filter works ???

Is this setup good ? the lfs guy says he installs the same kinda sumps in all his marine tanks. So im thinking to trust him on this...

I don´t think this is a good ideia.
It´s much better to drill the tank, overflow to the sump by gravity and have one return pum to send the water from the sump to the tank.

BUT HOW MUCH FILTER CAPACITY DO I NEED

MY TANK - 96" x 36" x 42"
Volume= 96" x 36" x 42" x 0.00421 = 611 gallon ~ 2400 Liters

the internet says its good to have a minimum full turnover of 3 times the volume per hour( some tanks have upto 10 times )

Filtration = 3 times turnover minimum = 611 x 3 = 1833 Gallons per hr ~ 7000 Lit/ hr

Is this mandatory ? or can i do with less. i will go for it if it doesnt cost too much. BUT since i have 2 powerheads, does each need to have to the capacity of 7000 liter / hour ??

A 7000 lt/h pump is enough IMO. That is what I have in my tank and it operates very well.

SUMP -- 72" x 24" x 18" = 131 gallon . if half filled with water --- 66 gallon

Can u guyz tell me how much wattage such powerheads will be ?
like i said im looking to keep mainenance costs low.

Also, i wont be using any heater in the tank. Im from India. its gonna be pretty warm all year round and i can change the fish stockings if necessary.

PLEASE HELP

Depends a lot on the brand of the pump. Expect it to use between 80w and 200w.
Usually the more efficient ones are more expensive though. So it´s an option between investing more at the beginning and saving long term vs the opposite

Hope this helps

Take a look at my set-up. It mauy give you some ideas: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...he-wall-quot-625g-150g-side-by-side-(project)