250G High Tech Tank

[Consigliere]

The pump can run both submerged and outside.  I figured submerged would be better for noise reduction plus the space is a bit tight under the tank.

[salvini55]

The scape is fantastic! When I saw the pics of the tank going down the stairs and that hook in the wall bending, I would have been shaking in my boots right about then. 

[Consigliere]

Yeah the move was a bit stressfull.  The first two attempts at lowering the tank down the stairs didn't work and we had to adjust the setup.  The hooks were only rated for 50lbs but those engineers.... always under-promising.  I was holding the tank as it lowered and was definitely not very comfortable.

Question for you guys since this is a pretty local forum for me (I'm in Kingston)....I need to choose a substrate soon.  Obviously with this size I'm going to need a lot and would prefer not to spend a lot.  Any ideas on good substrate?  I've used playsand etc before and it's ok but I'm thinking a darker colour will be better.  Saw Charlie's tank with the Fluval Stratum and it looks interesting but not sure if the grain size of that is too big.  Any suggestions or ideas?

[charlie]

Question for you guys since this is a pretty local forum for me (I'm in Kingston)....I need to choose a substrate soon.  Obviously with this size I'm going to need a lot and would prefer not to spend a lot.  Any ideas on good substrate?  I've used playsand etc before and it's ok but I'm thinking a darker colour will be better.  Saw Charlie's tank with the Fluval Stratum and it looks interesting but not sure if the grain size of that is too big.  Any suggestions or ideas?

Dave what are your plans for the tank plant & aquascaping ?
If you try to use specialised planted substrate for that tank, you are pretty much looking at a good chunk of change despite of brand/type, you can cut it with part play sand & part plant substrate.

[Consigliere]

I'm thinking mostly slow growers at this point.  Lots of crypts for the foregrounds and backgrounds.  Might attempt a crypt parva carpet. Anubias and ferns for the driftwood.  Some blyxa japonica for sure.  Will have some stems in there for the startup but they will probably be culled quickly.  No interest in high maintenance trimming etc.  Might end up with some pogostemon species eventually since they are the best stems I've seen and aren't too bad for growing and can be sold easily.

The tank will generally be heavily planted in the background and corners, the foregrounds will still be dense planting but much smaller.

I'm not hung up on needing substrate with fert properties.  I can dose liquid no problem and slow growers won't need much in that way. 

I'd like something like play sand, maybe a bit larger grains, but don't really want the yellow/white colour.  Want something a bit darker.

[pm]

Club Piscine here in Ottawa has a black (well dark) pool filter sand.  I have not tried it, but I got a sample.  It looked more like very fine gravel, but I ended up not using it as the edges of the "sand" were sharper than normal pool filter sand, and it was magnetic (I feared for my filter and powerhead impellers, but I doubt it would be a problem with your plumbing setup).

I would call around the pool stores in your area to see if any have something like that available.

Please note, I never tested the properties of this sand.  I ended up using normal tan pool filter sand in my small tank.

[Consigliere]

Thanks for the heads up.  Will call around.  The magnetic part is a bit scary though.  Must have enough iron content to potentially be a problem for wildlife.

[Consigliere]

Just had a brainstorm. 

Instead of having a CO2 reactor in the plumbing, why not just install the CO2 tubing into the center of the PVC fitting on the intake of the pump?  Pump should chop up the gas quite a bit for quick diffusion into the water and simplifies the plumbing immensely.  Also saves me about $120 in plumbing parts.

Anyone tried this before?  Thoughts?

[fischkopp]

Instead of having a CO2 reactor in the plumbing, why not just install the CO2 tubing into the center of the PVC fitting on the intake of the pump?  

I did something similar: I branch off some of the return water into the CO2 reactor, from where it flows back into the sump section with the pump. Works well on my system (180+75). I didn't want the return pump chopping the gas up though, rather rely on the reactor to mix it in well. And you won't need an excessive CO2 anyway if you stick to slow growers.

Ahh ja: I like to see how this project progresses. Keep the good work coming! 

[Consigliere]

The branched off CO2 reactor is what I was planning but thought putting the CO2 bubbles directly into the return pump could eliminate a lot of plumbing and equipment but the general feedback seems to be this isn't a great idea.

[fischkopp]

It's just not the most efficient way; eventually you might end up loosing lots of CO2 that reaches the surface before it mixes into the water. And that can be significant on a bigger system. You may also find lots of bubbles distracting in your display. Or you may not, just my thoughts.

[charlie]

I'm not hung up on needing substrate with fert properties.  I can dose liquid no problem and slow growers won't need much in that way. 

I'd like something like play sand, maybe a bit larger grains, but don't really want the yellow/white colour.  Want something a bit darker.

Google" turface" in the planted tank, this might suit your needs & it`s cheap.

[Consigliere]

Been going pretty hard the last few nights on getting this tank going.  The check valves arrived Friday and I got to work on the return plumbing.  I had a last minute change of design and didn't go with a CO2 reactor out of PVC.  Instead I decided to use a 1300 L/h powerhead hooked up to a 36W UV tube.  The UV/powerhead setup will move water from the return pump chamber in the sump to the first chamber after the drainage chamber.  The CO2 will be bubbled into the inlet of the powerhead.  I modified the impeller based on a design I found by Tom Barr.  Should be similar to a needle wheel impeller, hopefully.

Here's a few photos of the finished plumbing setup.  Right now I'm two crimp rings short of being able to fire the tank up.  The water supply from the house system is piped in with pex and there is a termination end with an irrigation manifold for adding drippers.  The drippers aren't installed yet.  Here's the tap and drip supply:

There is also a tap at the top of the tank for directly filling there.

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The return plumbing, UV tube and sump pump plumbing is pictured here.  The sump pump is hooked up to the house drain with a float switch for hopefully automatic water changes.  Also pictured is the Milwaukee CO2 controller.

I also got the first of 3 T5HO light fixtures installed.  Each fixture has two 80W bulbs installed.  The bulbs are Giesmann 4x Midday and 2x Aquaflora.  Total of 480W might be a bit much so I think I will start with mounting them as far from the tank as possible.  Each light will be run independently on timers with I think only about an hour per day will all 3 fixtures on.  The majority of the time I think I will run only 2 fixtures.  I will try and run something similar to a daylight cycle where only 1 light will be on to start and end a day and two on for a few hours.  All 3 on to simulate high noon.

The lights are held on with PVC coated aircraft cable hanging from brass hooks.  I'm going to add some hooks to be able to lower light easily but for now high up is all I need.

Tomorrow I'll finish of the pex water supply and we'll hopefully be able to have our first test run.  Crossing my fingers there are no leaks.

[Consigliere]

So I started the tank up and there is good news and bad news. Good news is the tank and stand are good, filter works great. Pumps, sump pump all function as expected. But 3 leaks in the plumbing that need to be fixed.

Decided to go ahead and cut out the leaking plumbing and start new. Seems to be no method for 100% long term no leaks without installing new fittings.

I'll be simplifying a lot of the plumbing at the time too. Since the leaks were only drips I ran the tank for about 2 hours figuring out the different functionallty and to make sure everything was working well. Everything generally worked fine but I realized there is no need for some of the plumbing features. I'll take a bunch of that out and have a better setup in the end.

I've also decided on substrate. I'm going to be getting 14 bags of Netlea black for the substrate.

[Stussi613]

That sucks about the leaky plumbing, but at least you found out now instead of a year in like me!

[Consigliere]

Yes always a silver lining.  In the end its good.  It will make me simplify things a lot and after some research in how to fix leaky plumbing I've got some ideas on how to improve the system overall in case it has to be taken apart.  Not a big deal, just another night of working on it and breathing in solvent fumes.

[Consigliere]

Got the tank wet again last night.  No leaks!  Will post a full update with pics tonight. On another note looking for some help:


I've got to buy my heaters for this tank soon. Haven't found anything locally that is suitable.

I'm looking for some recommendations for a fully submersible 1000W setup. Anyone have any suggestions for brands?

I've seen the JBJ setups, they look pretty sweet but are pricey.

[fischkopp]

I am using 2x 350W Via Aqua titanium heaters on my 250gal system. I has proven to be more than sufficient to bring the temperature up to 30+ deg celsius.

[Consigliere]

After the first dry run of the tank there were a few leaks in the plmbing that needed to be fixed. There were two that I won't admit to how they happened but let's just put them on me. The other two were because of a bad bulkhead installation. I had to remove the bulkhead, scrape the inside glass free of silicone, re-seat the gasket and re-install the bulkhead. I siliconed it in for good measure. Here's why I don't make a living building aquariums:



To get the bulkhead fixed and get at the other leaks the original plumbing had to have some pieces cut out and new fittings put in. Here's the right side of the tank before installing the new fittings.





and the new setup:



finally holding water with no leaks:



This photo shows the tap for filling the tank and all the lights installed:



and the nightlight shot:



I added the filter media today to get ready to cycle everything. There is a 3" layer of foam on the left and 56 pot scrubbies with some java rock on them to hold them down. I'll add some polishing fill when I get the tank filled again and sump running.



I also got my substrate today.14 bags of Netlea brown. It's a nice grain size, and looks pretty good in the cloudy water...so far.



Before I put the substrate in I had to touch up the manzanita arrangement. Got some rocks under it to tilt it in the right direction, moved a few branches around and also added some rocks where I want to add some depth to the layout.Here's the final layout of the tank before adding the substrate:









Obviously the giant ugly rock in the arrangement won't stay. It's there to make sure the wood doesn't float up on me and ruin the layout.

I've got the substrate in and am filling the tank up as I write this. Here's a shot from a few minutes ago.



Just have to get my heater ordered and my CO2 canister filled up now and the tank will be fully ready to go.  The substrate scaping is going to have to wait until the tank clears up.

[Hookup]

going to look great!