md0u80a2
07-06-2012, 10:57 AM
Hi all,
Well I am moving house - and I will have a garage!!!!
Best yet, the garage shares a wall with my hall.
I kept fish for for 5 years but stopped over 5 years ago. I kept some discus in a 210 litre juwel tank, but was never happy. Because of its small size, I was merticulous with water changes and quality and filtration, but this is inpractical.
So I left the hobby so as not to harm them - even though I loved them!!! Never had fish with such personality.
Now, here is the plan I have always had in my head.
I want a tank in the garage that will be against the hall wall and so viewable through a large opening in that wall - probably inserted into the hole, as I can get the builders to make it to my specifications and plaster around it (although I had concerns about that in terms of water at the join).
Question 1) Does anyone have a tank inserted through a wall and is it relatlively simple to do. Will the tank be ok in the garage - obviously cost more on heaters, but will they be safe? I use to have breeding tanks in garage and they were ok. I imagined having a 120cm length x 60 deep x 90cm height inserted sideways through the wall (see below)
Question 2) I had two thoughts about tank volume. Either, have a large tank and use 3d background or dividers to make the viewable area smaller. That way, I could keep 8 discuss in 600 litres instead of the 400 you may normally. Alternatively a sump or such (although I want to reduce any possibility of problems with siphoning!) Thoughts? Could I keep 600 litres of fish in a 300 litre viewable tank if the actual volume is 600 litres - or will that stress them? Presumably, such a large volume would allow for quite a bit of stability. Does my idea of having it in the wall on its side, so I could partition off with a 3d background at say 60cm deep and have another 60 hidden sound good? Also, would this offer a pefect breeding area, as it would be the same water, but completely cut off and seperate from the tank?
Question 3) I always dreamed of having a header tank of say 150 litres, filling it at the begining of the week, heating it, buffering it and then putting a small pump on timer to come on for say 1 minute 3 times per day, so you get a 7 litre hit of water three times per day, effectively 15% water change per week, but never in one go. I could then put two drilled holes at the top of the main tank so the excess water siphons off down the drain. Any thoughts? I could of course do the same non-automated and still have the pleasure of clean water changes, but does anyone have such a system?
Question 4) I always hated substrate and how difficult it was to clean. What If I mould a bottom layer for the tank, with holes for potted plants, but then cover it with aquarium adhesive and poor fine sand or gravel on it like a childrens painting? I would then have a decorative base that looks like a thick substrate, but is in fact solid and therefore extremely cleanable, with none of the deep dirt I hate with gravel. Any idea?
Question 5) Filtration. Clearly, the best filtration, I feel, is to turn over water and have large volume. I do wonder if I had a 300 litre header tank and constantly fed water, so I did a full water change every 3 days, would I have a wonderful stable tank or a nightmare? If I fed RO water into the header, added buffer by a timer and then had a pump on timer, would it work? Moving on from crazy, never used sumps. I was very happy with external cannister, but seems silly with such a big tank. What would your suggestions be?
so many questions....Any thoughts appreciated.
thanks
Mo
Well I am moving house - and I will have a garage!!!!
Best yet, the garage shares a wall with my hall.
I kept fish for for 5 years but stopped over 5 years ago. I kept some discus in a 210 litre juwel tank, but was never happy. Because of its small size, I was merticulous with water changes and quality and filtration, but this is inpractical.
So I left the hobby so as not to harm them - even though I loved them!!! Never had fish with such personality.
Now, here is the plan I have always had in my head.
I want a tank in the garage that will be against the hall wall and so viewable through a large opening in that wall - probably inserted into the hole, as I can get the builders to make it to my specifications and plaster around it (although I had concerns about that in terms of water at the join).
Question 1) Does anyone have a tank inserted through a wall and is it relatlively simple to do. Will the tank be ok in the garage - obviously cost more on heaters, but will they be safe? I use to have breeding tanks in garage and they were ok. I imagined having a 120cm length x 60 deep x 90cm height inserted sideways through the wall (see below)
Question 2) I had two thoughts about tank volume. Either, have a large tank and use 3d background or dividers to make the viewable area smaller. That way, I could keep 8 discuss in 600 litres instead of the 400 you may normally. Alternatively a sump or such (although I want to reduce any possibility of problems with siphoning!) Thoughts? Could I keep 600 litres of fish in a 300 litre viewable tank if the actual volume is 600 litres - or will that stress them? Presumably, such a large volume would allow for quite a bit of stability. Does my idea of having it in the wall on its side, so I could partition off with a 3d background at say 60cm deep and have another 60 hidden sound good? Also, would this offer a pefect breeding area, as it would be the same water, but completely cut off and seperate from the tank?
Question 3) I always dreamed of having a header tank of say 150 litres, filling it at the begining of the week, heating it, buffering it and then putting a small pump on timer to come on for say 1 minute 3 times per day, so you get a 7 litre hit of water three times per day, effectively 15% water change per week, but never in one go. I could then put two drilled holes at the top of the main tank so the excess water siphons off down the drain. Any thoughts? I could of course do the same non-automated and still have the pleasure of clean water changes, but does anyone have such a system?
Question 4) I always hated substrate and how difficult it was to clean. What If I mould a bottom layer for the tank, with holes for potted plants, but then cover it with aquarium adhesive and poor fine sand or gravel on it like a childrens painting? I would then have a decorative base that looks like a thick substrate, but is in fact solid and therefore extremely cleanable, with none of the deep dirt I hate with gravel. Any idea?
Question 5) Filtration. Clearly, the best filtration, I feel, is to turn over water and have large volume. I do wonder if I had a 300 litre header tank and constantly fed water, so I did a full water change every 3 days, would I have a wonderful stable tank or a nightmare? If I fed RO water into the header, added buffer by a timer and then had a pump on timer, would it work? Moving on from crazy, never used sumps. I was very happy with external cannister, but seems silly with such a big tank. What would your suggestions be?
so many questions....Any thoughts appreciated.
thanks
Mo