Thoughts about upgrading tank

[F1 VET]

I have a JEBO 838 that I will use with it but I might get another fx5 if I can get a good price like the last one i got for $150.


Should I add another 300W Aqueon subm. heater? I think mostly likely I'm going to need it. Luckily I have a brand new one just laying around.

I have same heater, love it cuz its not glass, fish can't hurt themselves!

11 nats need some serious filtration, 2 fx5 and a jebo should do.




Go S. Vettel #1 rb8

 

[jp80911]

Not a bad idea jp. Any suggestions on how to cover the top part of the light? It would be really nice to save some bucks on the lights.

Aluminum foil, also helps to reflect light back into the tank

 

[Atfownz]

Thx Jp, af will definitely reflect more light in the tank as well as cover the light. I guess I will definitely need another fx5...I need to some how fit it under my stand... The canister is gigantic! So ugly right next to the stand..

 

[jp80911]

you can always upgrade the filtration to wet/dry when you upgrade the tank

 

[Atfownz]

Honestly, I have no clue how that filtration even works... I've been in this hobby for quite a while but am totally clueless to that. When I hear wet/dry or sump.......my expression looks like this ... Sorry about my stupidity JP!

 

[jp80911]

wet/dry and canister are very similar, major difference is that wet/dry has part of the bio media exposed in air (that's why it's called wet/dry) where in canister it's 100% underwater.
in wet/dry water overflow out of the tank via drilled hole(s) or overflow box, enters a sump (where media, heater, return pump are being housed) then pumps back into the tank. so it's very similar to canister except that in a canister the water is being siphoned/sucked into the filter.
The advantage of wet/dry is that the sump can be customized to your need, you can add more water volume with a large size sump (added water volume helps maintaining water parameters) and add ton of bio media in the sump.

 

[Atfownz]

how do you control the water entering the sump? Wouldn't it overflow ? Sorry JP, I so clueless when it comes to wet/dry sumps.

 

[ballinouttacntrol]

not that jp isn't a wealth of knowledge but if you'd like to start reading/learning inbetween his posts you can check out the DIY section. all kinds of sump/wet dry builds in there....as well as xmas light builds that involves drilling holes into some type of housing and placing the lights in there

good stuff

 

[Atfownz]

I will definitely search through the archives for some helpful threads. I read more about wet/dry in the filter, water, setup section I think one of the sticky. Good stuff imo

 

[jp80911]

how do you control the water entering the sump? Wouldn't it overflow ? Sorry JP, I so clueless when it comes to wet/dry sumps.

the size of plumbing pipes limits the max flow rate of water but the actual flow rate = the return pump's flow rate, so you always want the drain rate to be larger than the pump's return rate, therefore the return pump won't run dry and burn itself.
as for the sump overflowing, it depends on a couple things such as size of the sump, distance of overflow from surface of water (especially if you are drilling the tank). depends on how much water will overflow out of the main tank you'll have to select a sump larger enough to hold all the water from the main tank during power outage. if done correctly there won't be any overflowing issue