From someone who went to SuperZoo:

:thup: :thup: :thup:

Small update, I managed to track down some Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) last weekend and "planted" them in the tank today.

With the sump I replaced one of the lids with a piece of acrylic I had and put some holes in it for them. The roots will grow down into the settling chamber and will help pre-filter the water.

They're fairly new cuttings so don't have many roots, hope they'll take off soon. Might put a small led lamp above the ones in the sump.

For those not familiar with Pothos, they are a terrestrial plant that can be grown with the roots submerged in the tank. They're tough and easy to grow, tolerant of low light, and eat nitrates like crazy! Here's a big discussion on MFK where I got the idea. You can either grow them in a hydroponics basket or with the roots just hanging in the tank.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forum ... te!-POTHOS

Haven't changed water in awhile, nitrates staying steady at 5-10ppm, before they would always hit 40+ in 6 days. Obviously its 35 gallons more water, so about 1/4 more water, n03 should be at 30ppm, man those pothos make a difference!

I have got several more plants, I'm going to plant a few more but will have some for sale shortly, flick me a PM if you're interested!

Could be interested in a clipping later on; making a kind of paludarium for my dwarf cichlids

How hot do your current-usa LEDs get? I'm looking at buying some but do you think its a bad idea to have them installed under a hood? (aquaone tank)

Not sure yet, according to NZPost they're in the country, but haven't made it up here yet. Hovmoller might be able to answer that question though as he has a couple of them.

this tanks amazing nice work :nfs:

Cheers!

Bit of an update on the sump, I gave the Poret foam its first "proper" clean today. In the month-or-so the tank has been running it has only had one light rinse when I had to remove it to install some egg-crate behind it to help support the sheets. It didn't need to be cleaned yet, though the water was building up in the high side about 3-4cm above the level on the low side, showing there is a fair increase in the restriction of flow as it clogs up. Cleaning wasn't too bad, I didn't bother trying to get it spotless, in fact I intentionally didn't clean the last 30ppi sheet very thoroughly as I feel the more clogged it is the more effective it will be at catching fine particles. The first two sheets (10ppi and 20ppi) both had a fair amount of crap in them, so it is obviously doing it's job. The water clarity has been good enough for me, skilled photographers and gin-clear-water-fanatics wouldn't be happy with it, but given the messy fish I have (that are still nowhere near grown!) I am loving having a filter system that doesn't need attention every few days. The settling chamber is working fairly well too, it has been about a week and there's a fair bit of muck in there. I'm leaving it for now to try provide some food for my pothos, so far I have barely been able to get a detectable level of nitrate, nitrite has been zero right through and although I have had a couple of small ammonia spikes (up to 1ppm) they have only been after a heavy feeding of veg for the plecs and didn't last long. I'll take pics to show the accumulation of waste next time I clean it out.

I love it when I see a new update on this build thread :happy2: It is an awesome tank Dave and your thread gives us people who can't fit a huge tank in their homes a chance to "live in your shoes" for a while. Thanks a lot and keep up the regular updates

Cheers!

Bit of an update on the sump, I gave the Poret foam its first "proper" clean today. In the month-or-so the tank has been running it has only had one light rinse when I had to remove it to install some egg-crate behind it to help support the sheets. It didn't need to be cleaned yet, though the water was building up in the high side about 3-4cm above the level on the low side, showing there is a fair increase in the restriction of flow as it clogs up. Cleaning wasn't too bad, I didn't bother trying to get it spotless, in fact I intentionally didn't clean the last 30ppi sheet very thoroughly as I feel the more clogged it is the more effective it will be at catching fine particles. The first two sheets (10ppi and 20ppi) both had a fair amount of crap in them, so it is obviously doing it's job. The water clarity has been good enough for me, skilled photographers and gin-clear-water-fanatics wouldn't be happy with it, but given the messy fish I have (that are still nowhere near grown!) I am loving having a filter system that doesn't need attention every few days. The settling chamber is working fairly well too, it has been about a week and there's a fair bit of muck in there. I'm leaving it for now to try provide some food for my pothos, so far I have barely been able to get a detectable level of nitrate, nitrite has been zero right through and although I have had a couple of small ammonia spikes (up to 1ppm) they have only been after a heavy feeding of veg for the plecs and didn't last long. I'll take pics to show the accumulation of waste next time I clean it out.

Fantatsic news David.

I am glad the Poret is working out so well for you. Its good to know the internal structure is holding out against that massive amount of water passing through it.

I am stoked that you are realistic amount the water clarity. Gin clear water is hard to achieve with such messy fish without it being a labour intensive affair.

The high density 30ppi will only be able to take out a specific size of particulate. If you are wanting the gin clear water you would have to be using a water polisher of some sort.(filter wool, purigen, filter socks.)

I would be dead keen on trying out your aquaponics species. I was growing a multitude of herbs and veggies in our hatchery but due to costing of grow lights I canned the project.

I have since installed clear roofing.

Cheers

Cheers Greg. I have added a sheet of egg crate behind it to stop it flexing with the force of the water pushing thru, but I'm very pleased with the water quality. I'm going to try avoid rinsing out the 30ppi sheet too often as I figure it will get more effective at catching fine particles as it clogs.

I'm just wishing my new lights would hurry up and get here so I can take some good pictures..

Little of topic, where did you get your pvc pipe?

Tank look great by the way, great to see everything come together.

:thup: :thup: :thup:

I reckon! I'll be keeping an eye out on Kensfish for these :dnc1: Good news that you don't have to replace the lights.

Yeah me too!

Bishop, I get all the plumbing stuff from Pulmbing World, unless I happen to be somewhere like bunnings buying other stuff and need a couple of bits. They have a better selection and usually give you a bit of a discount if you're buying lots of it.

Cheers mate, Bunnings and Mitre 10 here only have that expensive Marley stuff and in very limited amounts.. Bit expensive just to cut up and play around with.

It's all expensive...

Waste pipe is cheaper than pressure pipe, but 32mm is the smallest size they make it AFAIK. Plumbingworld also sell the straight pipe by the half-metre too, rather than fixed length pieces at the big stores. I spent around $250 on plumbing for this tank, including the drain to outside, 50mm bulk-heads and ball valves are rather pricey! My accountant (err, I mean wife) will have the exact figure somewhere, she's been keeping track of the total cost of the build. I'm thinking about doing a total cost break-down when it is all done, but it is kinda scary looking at how fast it adds up! I haven't exceeded $5-per-litre yet though...

Good to know mate cheers.

Financial break down, although somewhat private info would be invaluable to anybody wanting to set up int eh near future.

Lights have arrived!! Just got the call to say they've been delivered to work so I'm heading into town very shortly to pick them up. Two more night-shifts so plenty of time at home (albeit in a slightly zombie-like state) then a three day weekend, hopefully I'll have them running very soon!!

Video, or it didn't happen :bggrn:

Lights have arrived!!

:thup: What's the verdict? Nice?

Yeah very cool, just need to work out how to attach them to the aluminium channel and raise them up off the top of the tank. Only downside so far is they don't have the threaded holes in the top to screw in wires for hanging, otherwise it would have been simple. Very happy with the colours and the spread so far.

take them down to your local engineer and get them to drill and tap some hanging holes?

Hurry Up!

take them down to your local engineer and get them to drill and tap some hanging holes?

Easy enough to drill them yourself too and tap, especially since I assume it's aluminum.

Easy enough to drill them yourself too and tap, especially since I assume it's aluminum.

yes, if you have all the bits...

The light units are all of 11mm thick, I'm not going to be drilling anything into them!!