|
An
Article by Francesco Zezza
My first tank,
when I was 13 years old, was a 35 lt. (9.5 US gals), and I still use it as
a fry tank. At that time, even a 100 lt. tank (about 26 US gals), in
my opinion, was a “slice of ocean”. Many years have passed (I'm
now 44!) and during all these years I have kept increasingly larger tanks.
Even when I happened to have no tank, I kept dreaming of bigger ones! The
story ended about three years ago with a new 360 lt. tank (about 100 US
gals). When this tank (which is still running) started to host my cichlids
I thought to myself, “Well, that's a tank!”. After three more
years, and two
trips to Lake Malawi, I was no longer so sure. So, during a rainy evening
last November, about four weeks after being back from my second Lake
Malawi trip, I said to Stefania (my other half), “We DO need a 1000 lt.
(260 US Gals) tank for our growing Fossorochromis rostratus!”.
Amazingly enough, heranswer was “Yes, Dear!”, followed by a shining
smile! I know that many of you are turning green with envy! So
I started to save some money and began to search for a used, GOOD QUALITY
tank. After a couple of months my search ended with the purchase of
a 750 lt. (200 Us gals) tank, which we both considered BIG enough!!!
The purchase has been, until now, the only easy
matter we've handled. To move it, we “simply” used a truck and
four porters. Finally we managed to move it home. Oh my …
it's so huge! Was buying it a good idea? Many more questions (which
are easy to guess) came in our minds. Once settled with the idea of
having it, I began thinking of how to set it up. This is what I
intend to describe in this article in a step by step manner. And I
do hope I will be as clear as possible. The first problem has been,
as said, getting accustomed to its size (cm 180/70/60 – in ft.
Approximately 6/2.1/2!) and the fact that all my experience on technical
supply regarding pump(s) power, heating power, aquascaping, and so on,
didn't fit in this tank. However, the number of quickly growing
cichlids in the seven other tanks pushed us to go ahead ...
Then we decided to proceed step by step. The steps can be
grouped as follows:
Inserting the tank into
its intended environment (Stefania’s living room): At the
beginning, a carpenter was contacted to “dress” it in natural wood
(stand and cover) to match it to the color of the other pieces of
furniture, but his price, in my humble opinion, was really too high!
So, I
decided to do it myself. Measurements of the length, height, and so
on were taken, and wood pieces were cut accordingly by a “cash ‘n
carry” carpenter. Then all pieces were assembled to fit the tank
and stand size. Finally, the construction was polished by
sandpapering, and then the whole thing was painted, starting with a base
paint and then the final coat. It was a long
and painstaking job … I'm a far worse carpenter than a fish keeper!
Anyway, the matter was over … the only pitfall is that the right side of
the sliding doors I fitted is NOT working because of a slightly (well, not
that slightly) “non-flat” floor … too bad!
·
Lighting: Discussions started on the open/closed tank system which
ended pretty quickly, since a closed unit was decided upon. Then
came the lamps: number of units, power of each one, kind of light, light
temperature, color (i.e., whether or not to use blue lamps), lighting
duration, and so on.
· Heating: Number and
power (in W) of each heater in use, where to place them, and target
temperature.
· Filtering: Type of
filters (this has been a sort of “half” question since the tank is
equipped with two internal, three sectioned, biological filters), number
of pumps and their power (in terms of lt./hr. (gal) flow and height to
reach). Filter media: quantity of each one, the layout inside each
unit and so on. This point was ended quickly as an almost predefined
layout drove the two of us to certain choices.
·
Aquascaping: With Lake Malawi species as the target group of fish
to house in this tank, you'd think this is not a point to discuss for
long. The main issues were: sand and its type, size, colour(s),
thickness; rocks (how many, how big, where to put them); bogwoods or not,
plants (Anubias and Cryptocorine from my seven established tanks,
Vallisneria and Ceratophyllum
from the Lake) or not. The bogwood question was raised because I had
decided to keep my two “one foot” pieces: two plecs larger than one
foot each, one of which has been hosted in my tanks since 1985. This
particular fish started it's story in the tiny tanks mentioned in the very
beginning of this article and grew with the progression of my tanks size
growth.
· Service needs: Will
the home electrical circuits stand the extra load? Will the
electrical wiring stand all those added appliances? Will other
sockets be needed? Service plumbing facilities are in need (simply think
of a water change relying on plastic buckets being moved back and forth
…). Anything more?
·
What else: This is the main concern, since this issue is the blind
spot containing all the problems, if any, which we failed to forecast.
PLEASE NOTE: I'll NOT review the
last two points since they are, obviously, related to each particular
system and environment. Therefore, no suggestion of any kind can be
offered as a general rule. ALWAYS keep in mind the latter two
points! After having finished that list, we decided to focus on each
point separately and think about all possible choices. We then tried
to combine two of them into a bigger step and see if it could possibly
work. Then we added the third one, discussed the possibilities, and
then added the fourth
topic and so on … until the end. We then spent A LOT of time
thinking of the whole matter as a single project and finally began to
work. These same procedures will be followed in this article, so we will
virtually build this tank together. We will deal with every part of
the project using text,
drawings and pictures, then separate part of the projects if needed,
examine them (why or why not) as carefully as possible and finally end up
with the working tank.
Sections discussed will be (not necessarily in the same order
- the list not being limiting): lamps (wattage, number, layout), heaters
(wattage, number), filters (number, type of media, and their layout),
aquascaping (even though this part is highly related to each person's
taste and aesthetics) in terms of rocks, roots, sand, plants, service
items and finally … fish, service fish (i.e.: plecos), and other animals
(we are probably going to house some “non cichlids” and even
“non fish” animals from Lake Malawi - see below) in terms of number,
size, sex ratios, mixing rules, tips (I will
do the best possible), etc. At the same time, one must always keep
his eye open for the unexpected! To be as clear as possible, here is
the first drawing showing the general layout of the tank. This
should help you to understand our task and accept some of the choices
made.
|
|
Now
let's go a little into details, beginning with a review of single
topics, one by one:
Filters (number, size), filter media, and sand.
This being the first time
I have faced such a big tank to set up, I must admit I felt a bit
lost in the
beginning. Then I kept thinking, “A tank - no matter its size - is
still a
tank, PERIOD!” The tank was already equipped with a
double biological
filter along the WHOLE back edge. A bit of calculation showed
the capacity
of filter area to be 108 lt. (28 US Gals). This should allow
me to stay on
the safe side, since many of my tanks have an overall lower filter
capacity
and have run perfectly for years. Since the filter area was
further divided
into two separate parts, I decided to use two separate pumps,
combination of
filter media, pipe systems, and so on. This should allow the
whole system
much more resistance to failures, since it is highly unlikely that
both
filters will have trouble with a serious loss of functionality at
the same
time.
From the front, right side (viewer standpoint), the
filter has 6 inlet
holes for water and two outlet (return to tank) holes, while the
left unit
has 7 inlet holes for water and one outlet (return to tank) hole.
For
further security, on the right I decided to use two pumps (each
water flow:
560 lt./hr. - about 150 US gals) while on the left side a single
pump (1000
lt./hr. – about 270 US gals) was chosen. Finally two quick
“fast flowing”
filters containing only sponges were added (each unit as a flow of
1000 lt/hr
– about 270 US gals). These were hung on the internal filter
wall, thus
soaked in the real environment. To summarize, filtering is
performed by:
Item
|
Placed on
|
Pump(s)
|
Flow (lt/hr)
|
Flow (US Gals/hr)
|
Total Flow in Lt / US Gals
|
|
Biological filter
|
Right side of tank
|
2 submersible
|
2*
560
|
2*
150
|
1120
/ 300
|
|
Biological filter
|
Left side of tank
|
1 submerisble
|
1000
|
270
|
1000
/ 270
|
|
Mechanical filter
|
Right side of tank
|
1 built in, submerisble
|
1000
|
270
|
1000
/ 270
|
|
Mechanical filter
|
Left side of tank
|
1 built in, submersible
|
1000
|
270
|
1000
/ 270
|
This,
in the end, means: 4120 lt./hr. of TOTAL WATER FLOW. Or if you
prefer
non metrical units, 1085 US gals/hr. of total flow. I think
this is ALMOST
enough, even if we take into consideration that the fish to inhabit
this tank
will be a group of “big sized” buddies (Fossorochromis rostratus,
Cyrtocara moori, and large “plecs”, only to name a few), and also the fact
that a
certain degree of efficiency loss regarding flow rate has to be
expected.
Fast filters are hung so that their flow will continuously move the
water
surface, allowing a good oxygen exchange rate, since noisy air pumps
are NOT
to be included in this tank. Just in case, there's enough room
for two (or
even four!) more of these units. See pics for details of the
right internal
filter (even if its a bit hidden by central connecting rods) and
fast
internal filters (one of which has been opened to show internal
layout - see
below).
continued
in next page
|
|
[ Back ] [ Up ] [ Next ]
|
|
