Tank upgrade

Hi All,

I received my tank & Cabinet from Extreme last weekend so thought id post here and keep you guys informed of my journey as I go. :P

(Wayne makes the tanks but goes through Dalbarb for the cabinets/hoods. Both the tank and cabinet/hood have nice clean lines and are very well made)

Tank Spec’s:
Glass tank – 5.5ft L x 2ft H x 2.5ft W - 760litres, 201 Gallons

Cabinet - I’m a tallish person and prefer the look of tanks at head height so Bec asked Dalbarb to make the cabinet 1.15m high for me. I love it.

Hood – I had a personal battle when it came to ordering the hood. I want to run Metal Halides and needed a hood to hide the light & reduce light spillage into the room. This means a largish hood as I did a DIY MH job and don’t want it ‘uglying’ up the tank with no canopy. The thing is my personal preference is to have a small hood so the tank doesn’t look top heavy. Smaller hoods in my opinion make tanks look more streamlined. In the end, we went for 1.5ft high hood. Although the hood in other people’s opinion looks great (and it is), it still looks a little too top heavy for me. It’s the price I pay for now until I can save up and purchase some nice lights. Until then and when I have a full weekend to take my time, I may shave an inch or two off the hood. :?

Lighting – 3 x 150w OSRAM shop starter Flex core and plug kits. I went for these because of the electronic Ballasts and the ease of globe replacement. I will post pictures of how I made the fittings later as well. I may also be adding 1 or 2 x T5’s to the light fitting and put the overall WPG between 2.5 and 3. I haven’t added the T5’s yet so will post that bit later when I decide plants and confirm layout. There needs to be coverage for Discus if the WPG is high!

Substrate – Yet to get as I’m still deciding but am 85% sure im going with Eco Complete. This will only be in the planted areas. Everywhere else will be sand

Filtration – Yet to get but will be 2 x Eheim 2080’s plumbed into the bottom of the tank (bulkheads/tank outlets). The holes have already been drilled along with a hole for Lifeguards air control kit for the air.

Layout – Well, you will have to wait and see how it turns out. I have what I want in my head but im hopeless at verbalising it. Plus it may change. It involves the possibility of a DIY cave project placed at the golden ratio mark (which may have hairgrass capping the top of it or plants to give it a dark depth feel?), drift wood/roots. The plants are still being researched.

My original intent was to make an Amazonian biotype – minimal plants, river bottom, and black water look. Now im merging towards a semi planted tank that’s simple but effective with heavy Amazonian influences so it’s kind of best of both worlds. If done right will hopefully look great.

I will post pictures tomorrow of the tank and the light so far.

Im excited for you. Look forward to watching your tank progress especially interested in your plant choice.

Hi,

Here are some pictures.

To make the light i used anodised aluminium tubes (cut to size), aluminimum sheets (cut to size and riveted to the A. tubes) and plastic joiners. It was like playing with leggo again but i did overkill the support bracing so in the last pictures you may be able to tell that i ended up taking off the two top braces. This also made it lighter. I havent yet made a lid for the light and i may never, depending if condensation makes its way in there. The hood is open top so i dont think it will but its easy done if needed.

The plastic joiners connecting the frame also has a section for me to extend some T5's off if i need too. I will post again how i do it then.

The MH ballasts will be placed in the cabinet below and to do this i will need to extend the cable to about 2 - 2.5 metres. For this, i will be getting an electrician as i dont want to run the risk of doing it incorrectly and burning down the apartment.

Obviously that first pic is part of the light not the hood.... groan.

The light pics

DOH! :x Oh well. i gather you get the jist even though the names of the pictures are wrong. maybe i should pack up and go home... maybe i shouldnt be covertly doing this at work :lol:

more light pics

looking good mate, sing out if you need a hand with anything.

Cheers jothy. I deffinately need your help with the co2. So parts and setting up. If its ok i will get you to come over to help set up. What are your thought on parts. Dupla?, Sera?

For now - Any tips for sorting bulkheads. I have 35mm holes drilled so im assuming the 25mm bulkheads are the go with 16mm outlets for the 2080 hoses and some strainers. Sourcing the bulkheads are are little difficult. Im thinking dural irrigation. http://www.duralirrigation.com.au/on...igationID=1368

What do you think?

i have a heap of 15mm ones spare if they help (again planning to use with 2080) + some washers that were a pain to find.

I like the sera reg, the only dupla reg i've seen is single guage which i find a pain in the bum.
external dupla reactor no good, internal sera reactor no good LOL.

dural irrigation proably the best bet for parts, let me know when your going and i'll tag along could use a few bits myself.

Ok Great. yeah im thinking dual gauge too. i will check back with you when im setting up.

I was thinking dural so i can order over the internet. hahahaha. Email me what your after and i will order it with mine if you like?

no probs mate, will double check their online catalog

….Did some more over the weekend!
I finished off the light support and tested it out. It held the light no problem. I hooked up the ballasts and fired them up. Light definitely makes the tank look bigger. I’m still thinking about plants/layout. I’m not sure if I will need more than 2.25WPG.

Plumbing – well the 25mm bulkheads I ordered had massive flange’s and the holes drilled where too close together for them to fit so I had to cut them down. I used the Angle Grinder….. :shock: Yep, I highly don’t recommend this one, but I didn’t have a hack saw and was too impatient to go to Bunning’s.

The bulkheads are not made with Poly, they are NyGlass (which is a compound made from Nylon and Fibreglass). The place I bought them from says NyGlass is much stronger than high density poly and almost as strong as steel. So like Brass maybe? Well anyway, by the end of cutting I had melted black NyGlass all over the place. Please excuse my bad cutting when you see it in the pictures. I held the bulkhead in one hand and the grinder in the other…..i live on the edge sometimes. :oops: At least they will be under the substrate.

The tricky bit will be the bulkhead nuts - Cutting them so I am able to screw them on. I will do that next weekend.

The holes in the tank are also right on top of the cabinet cross support beams so I had to do a bit of modifying apart from just cutting the holes in the cabinet lid. I will show pic’s of that later when I’ve finished. It looks a bit messy at the moment. I’m told it won’t take much from the strength of the cabinet and will still hold. One of the beams I have cut completely through so the bulkheads can come though. I will screw in another piece of sized wood once I have the plumbing finished.

Full tank shot! I have about just over 30cm from the top of the hood to the roof.

Firstly congratulations on the lighting hood. Looks great. I've recently completed one too. Its a great feeling when you get it up and running.

I noticed your pipe penetrations are close together, so much so the flange bolts needed trimming to get them to sit together. Couple things to be aware of, the flanges provide the seal between the glass (including hole) and the plastic pipe. I would strongly suggest (if it's not too late) to use lots of silicon particularly around the centre stand pipe in the photo marked 'Left Hand Side Plumbing'. Another thing you need to be aware of is that the glass between the holes is the weakest point in the tank base. If you are going to have the base crack, this is where it'll happen. Last thing you need is 400l though the dining room when you're not home, and dead fish. The holes are cut so it's too late to spread them apart, but I would pay particular attention to how you plumb pipework beneath the tank so that you don't impose bending moment loads on the joints. Over time this could result in cracking between holes. Hope this helps.

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback. :D

Yeah, to be honest. I am a little nervious. I was thinking about spending the money and buying different bulkheads with smaller flanges. I then compared the flange of the bulkheads to Lifegaurds air control unit that im placing off centre. Now that air units flange is quite small. Probably about 7mm wide. Then i looked at my bulkheads and thought that i could cut them down to fit. The cut part will hopefully be supported by the untouched area of the flange. The gasgate of the middle bulkhead is also uncut - so the bulkheads flange on either side will also press down on the centre gasgate. I have not silconed the bulkheads yet but when i do i was going to silcone the gasgate down as well as place a layer around the 3 bulkheads where they finish/touch the glass. Kind of like a border. What are your thoughts on this?

The tricky bit is the bulkeheads Nut. The flange on this will have to be shaved all the way around for me to tighten the nuts. The support beams are in the middle of being modified so that the plumbing does not touch and cause stress on the thin layer of glass between the holes.

Thanks in advance

I can see you've been to some effort with the setup and it looks great, particularly the light. Sometimes when you've come a long way, waiting a little longer can be hard but worth it. If it were me, I would look seriously at getting new holes cut. The recommended seperation between holes in glass like this is about 100mm. For a 1" hole, you can buy the bulkheads from Bunnings for $10each (Hansen). I would look at getting a tank manufacturer to glue glass plates over two of the three holes in each corner and cutting new ones.

I would also be nervous about the setup, particlarly, as you point out, the nuts beneath the tank will need substantial modifications to the flanges just to do up the nuts. Overlapping the gaskets comprimises the seal for the other two flanges as they would not be flat against the glass. To give you an idea what I have done after some research into cutting glass, I have attached a recent shot of the tank I've been doing up.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the feedback

Just to add - the gaskets wont be overlapping. I have carefully cut the outside bulkheads gaskets so that the middle bulkheads travels under the outside with no problems.

I do have 100% confidence in the tank builder. My frame of mind was that if the bulkheads are siliconed and tightened properely (i think hand tight with a extra quarter turn?) then the strength wont be comprimised? :?

The hand tight with the extra quarter turn is my understanding too, but this would be based on the flanges not being modified. If you're going to go ahead with this then for another $20 (3 tubes) I would use lots of silicon on the inside of the tank. Maybe consider half filling the tank with water and check for leaks before you put substrate etc in there and fill it up all the way.

Another thing, I would make sure the styrofoam is new and thick so that any minor ridges in the base of the tank stand (beneath the glass tank) do not impose any point loads onto the glass. The main cause of cracking in the areas between the holes will come from an uneven base resulting in higher load concentrations in various parts of the glass tank base.

Good luck.

Thanks Mate,

Yeah im pretty confident in setting it up now. Ive had a chat and have pondered the plumbing. Silicone does pose a risk as the double gaskets are designed to keep a tight seal and sometimes silicone can disrupt this. The flages although cut, are still longer then most aquarium made bulkheads so the seal will still be tight. In saying this - i plan to use minimal beeding on the nut side of the bulkheads with reinforced silicone on the side of the top flanges. The top part siliconed will be filling any gaps between the flanges and where the flange meets the glass. So it kind of forms a pre seal but the gaskets form another seal.

I will let you guys know how i get on. :D

Well, isnt it hard to buy some Loc-Line in our great land of Oz :? . One place i found that sells to the public (AusFrags) didnt have 3/4" in stock. In the end i thought id stop wasting my time searching around for other places and order it in from overseas. The downside - its costly. :cry:

I wanted loc line for the outflow into the tank. I didnt want to use 90degree elbows as i didnt want the flow of water running along the bottom. I wanted the flow mid way going up to the top. I didnt want my risers going up to far also so to use loc line would enable me to have the plumbing finish low to the substrate and also have the water flow directed across the tank and up. I will be using Y spliters in the Loc line to help me achieve a nice slow current to eliminate any dead spots in the tank.

I have also painted the inside of the cabinet white. I havent used marine varnish as i belive this is mainly for reef tanks that have sumps etc. Im painting the inside white purely to make it easier to see the equipment etc in there. It was way too dark otherwise. It helps a lot.

I also have not yet fixed teh bulkheads. The right side bulkheads are ready for their quarter turn tightening. The left hand side bulkhead nuts were butchered by me trying to cut them down :roll: . They may work still but im not going to trust it. I will be buying 3 more bulkheads with a small flange.

So i received the loc-line yesterday. Its going to work a treat. Im happy with the products and recommend them.

I also ordered and received some reducers etc for the 15mm tails i got for the 2080 hoses. When i received them, the tail thread part was 15mm but the barb was 12mm :evil:. The website just listed it has a 15mm tail so i assumed it was a 15mm tail.
I rang wetearth and the guy was really helpful. He said people in the industry understand why but thats about it :shock:. He didnt really have anything else but then found another product that may work and is express posting it up for me to check it out. Im starting to think finding 15mm tail barbs are going to be difficult. Im about to ring and see what size the 20mm tail barbs are.

...... so the 20mm tail barb is 20.5 while the thread is 20mm. They size them by the thread. All other products are fine so i suggest when ordering tails from any irrigation places to check the barb sizes.

Think i'll go to the pub now.

I ended up replacing 5 of the bulkheads with some from aquamail (i believe they are the Rainbow Lifegaurd brand). These are much better as the flange and nuts fit perfectly. I have plumbed them in using 20mm pipe, PVC ball valve's and then tails for canister hose connection. I wanted the ball valves so i can cut the water when i need to clean the canister hoses and perform any needed maintenence. All's im waiting on now are the 2080's from xtreme so i can pick them up along with the Uv.

Once connected i will start the aquascaping. I want to hurry up and get to this stage already!

Got any photos yet mate?

Yep, Please excuse the camera phone quality. i must buy a camera before i aquascape. :D

1 more for now. I will easily be able to blend the inlets/outlets into the aquascape.

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So im still waiting for the eheim 2080's to come in. I was talking to a mate on the weekend who told me NOT to get the 2080's. He said he was at his LFS and saw 1 of 5 returned (out of 8 sold) because of issues with the Tap Valve and priming function. Has anyone had any issues with the 2080's? He said he saw one that had a clip break in the tap valve. he also said the LFS had problems with the priming function on others leaking. The units head was full of water etc. I would be interested to hear some of your feedback on this. Both users and sponsors. Thank you.

I have started on the aquascape layout. I got the idea of using lawn edging to divide substrates from another site. I called the manufacture to check the plastic is safe, to which it is. Basically i taped the dimesnions of the tank to the carpet and used that to mold the lawn edging. Then i bent it using plyers and cut it down to size using aviation snips.

Im not 100% on the layout but its a start. My intial plan has changed (not making a fake rock cave anymore - maybe down the track) and im thinking of using driftwood and plants to give the same effect. Im looking for rocks and driftwood etc so am waiting to get inspiriation of them before confirming.

2080= Bullet proof, despite my complete neglect(over 9 mths no clean blocked strainer baskets etc) kicking the damn thing several times whilst falling over in my flooded fishroom, droping the connecting head from bout 2.2m as i try and wriggle fittings over my terrible layout, the thing has never missed a beat and still flows well over the 1200l/h its suppose to flow at, 1 in 5 return i find VERY hard to believe. PRO3e'S maybe but not 2080's

I must admit, i think i squealed like a little girl when i heard that. I didnt want to beleive it but couldnt not refer it on. Thanks mate

Got some cool pieces of driftwood at St George Aquarium. I just need to play with the layout, get some rocks and plants and see what i come up with.

Hey AHC,

Wanna fly up to California and do this at my house? I make a pretty good quesadilla. In all seriousness, your tank design is very impressive. I can't wait to see the progress.

Hi Mate,

Thank you so much for the support. This forum has given me so much help and im only too happy to share my progress with everyone. Im glad i can post and get feedback along the way.

HAHAH Im starting to play lotto again so if i win then i will be there in a heart beat. Quesadilla, a few beers and building a tank sounds pretty sweet. I love mexican influenced foods so your offer sounds awesome. :wink:

Thanks again

Awsome driftwood. It all looks great.

Thanks lpiasente :cheers

So a big thanks to Jothy i was able to find a nice sand for my tank that wasnt too yellow and dark. I washed it out and put it in yesterday. I used 1.5 bags but have another 1.5 bags left as i will need to add more as the sand will compact down once its wet. I also changed how the left hand driftwood sits. Cleaning the wood up was kind of annoying as these stringy bits keep coming off.

Im kind of wishing i did a slightly different design now. In keeping with what i want i shouldn't have had the channel (which will hopefully be a cave) going through the golden ratio mark. Personal preference i guess but im kind of over seeing it in a lot of tanks. I put in a picture of what im thinking i should have done. I might keep what i have though as im keen to learn how to make a cave from plants. Your thoughts are welcome.

Aaron, loioking really good. Great bits of driftwood with real character. Can't wait till you get it up and running. starting to get more excited than you are. Congrats, Dwayne

Cheers Dwayne,

Yeah i think im getting more nervous than anything else - May possibly be moving earlish next year so will probably have it running for a little while before i have to pull it down to move. That aside im really enjoying setting up this tank. Its such a great experience.

when you need a hand moving give me a tell mate.

Thanks mate. I definately will. I will be getting some of those glass suckers to help us. Im thinking it may be around April if i have too.

:cheers