Guess who's getting a 700L for Christmas this year :)

[Dave+Amy]

So thought it was about time to upgrade my discus to a larger home..getting a 6footer built, going to go for the seamless look (no hood) on top of a pine stand, wanting to have a couple of 3foot double light ballasts hanging above the top of the tank...decor will consist of white silica sand, lots of skinny driftwood in background (will attach java moss/xmas moss) and have big bold green swords (assorted). I have some questions concerning practicality issues etc:

1. can anyone suggest how I can have these ballasts hanging without drilling holes in the roof (don't think mum will approve...)

2. is it necessary to have lids? Are discus prone to jumping?

3. how do people manage frequent waterchanges in a tank this size?

Suggestions would be greatly appreciated

[Brennos]

If you can't drill holes, you might struggle with hanging lights. You should be able to attach hooks for hanging lights, and just do a 10 min fix if/when you move out. Little bit of filler, and some matching paint. Job done.

[smidey]

lids also stop thing getting into the tank, got a cat?

[Dave+Amy]

No cats, just a dog I'll leave the lids on then, but really keen for the lid-less look and have plants grow out of the top of it

Was thinking on the line of having a couple of steel rods (painted black) attached to the back of the cabinet and attaching the ballasts to it, so light hangs over tank?? Has anyone tried this before?

[spoon]

http://www.projectaquarium.com/plantedA ... stand.aspx

heres a link

plenty of people do this looks nice

[A-town...]

my discus are in an open top planted and are fine. the only fish to have jumped out was a flying fox during a waterchange

[Dave+Amy]

thanks Spoon, I'll print this pic off and give it to my tank maker since he's got easier access to stainless steel than I.

Also - what is the chemical people get to rid of snails? I'm wanting to dip everything in my tank (short of fish) with that before they go into the new tank.

[David R]

3. how do people manage frequent waterchanges in a tank this size?

Don't use buckets!!

I'd recommend looking into a continuous drip system if you can plumb it in tidily. I take it this is going to be a display tank in the lounge or something? If you can't do a drip system then because you're keeping sensitive fish like discus I'd recommend investing in a 200L barrel (www.bb.net.nz), with a heater and a pump to pump the water into the tank. Fill the barrel a couple of days before the water change, dose it with prime or whatever you use, leave it to warm up, then once you've drained the tank use the pump to pump it back into the tank. Even if you do more than 200L at a time, at least the majority of the new water will be warm and the drop in temperature won't be as great. I usually do 3-400L weekly on my 800L loach tank and 220L is pre-heated and treated from the barrel and the rest comes straight out of the tap.

Also make your own extra long large-diameter siphon so you can hang it out the nearest door/window. Mine is a piece of 20mm PVC pipe with about 2 metres of similar diameter clear tubing on the end, you can't use it like a traditional gravel siphon, but it works well for sucking crap off the top of the sand.

[Dave+Amy]

Thanks David R I thought it would be very impractical doing large 50% waterchanges for a tank that size, however I don't have anywhere where I can put a barrel that size, this tank will be the focal point of the living room and it's carpeted so buckets don't sound safe, hanging the siphon out the window sounds like the best option - I'll be doing 20% waterchanges DAILY (instead of 50% every 2/3days), will it be too much water for the front lawn to absord? 'Cos I'll be in the crud with mum if I turned the front lawn into a mud pool...

What size heaters do people use on large tanks? Will a single 500W do?

[phoenix44]

2 300W jagers.

[Aquila]

so how many people will you need to get to carry that thing in?!

[smidey]

it will weigh around 145kg depending on glass thickness, what are the dimensions?

[ryanjury]

I learnt something the other day, glass weighs 2x the thickness per square m.. Ie if you have a piece of 10mm glass that is 1m x 1m (1 square meter) then it will weight 25kg.

So to figure out how much your tank would weigh you would need to figure out how big it is and how thick the glass is.

2 medium guys can carry my 5x2x2 in 10mm glass which is 540L that is just a simple lift and drop if you want to do things like go up or down stairs around tight corners or carry for a long distance you would need more people.

[Aquila]

I might also be upgrading my tank and when I was thinking of the logistics of getting it to and into my house plus if I wanted to re-adjust the position it just made my head hurt

Dear lord. Can you hold them up vertically at all when bringing down stairs or is that a no-no.

I also have to consider floor strength.... It would be on the bottom level of the house, which i'm pretty sure is a solid concrete foundation. Can the weight of a full tank of that size crack a concrete floor?

(sorry Amy for hijacking your thread)

[WTM]

Concrete pads can take a lot of weight typically, if it's on piles, you "may" want to ask a builder or engineer to come give their opinion on whether the floor will take it.

[David R]

Thanks David R I thought it would be very impractical doing large 50% waterchanges for a tank that size, however I don't have anywhere where I can put a barrel that size, this tank will be the focal point of the living room and it's carpeted so buckets don't sound safe, hanging the siphon out the window sounds like the best option - I'll be doing 20% waterchanges DAILY (instead of 50% every 2/3days), will it be too much water for the front lawn to absord? 'Cos I'll be in the crud with mum if I turned the front lawn into a mud pool...

If you're going to be doing that sort of volume then you seriously need to sort out a drip system. Is it really necessary to do that much? Surely not if its planted and not heavily stocked. What happens if you go on holiday or get sick?

[henward]

I hd a system for this situation, where youc an flick a switch, and no lugging buckets, no spills.

It worked very well. Extremely well before i had my auto water changer

Here is goes: Its a simple rudementary system, but works well.

In teht ank you have your inlets for filter.

Take note of the level of that.

then go to your lfs, buy a Submersible internal pump,

Via aqua makes good cheap and very reliable pumps, impeller needs replacing after 2 to 3 years, costing only 19 dollars. OR you can splash out on eheim and never replace anything:D up to you.

Just a small one, but a big one would mean it will cut down your water change time.

Then you use suction cups, mount the pump just where your "%" line is, so say you wanna do 2x 20% water change a week, put the pump just at teh 20% line..... take a fitting that points up, and attacha hols out the top, maybe out a window or something, the house can be as long as possible.

Then when youw anna do a water change

just flickt he pump switch, it will drain quickly and the water will automatically go out the window or somehwer you take teh hose out to, this is a permanent fixture in your tank.

Then whent he water is drained to where you want it - so you jsut leave it pumping for 10 mins.

then you just take a hose straight into the tank!

done!

[Mcculloch]

I like the constant drip system idea and will definitely do it once I get a tank big enough to warrant it. This frontosa tank has a good system and information on it: http://www.fmueller.com/home/aquaristic/240g/

[LYNDYLOO]

Woohoo Lucky You Amy :bounce:

This is the Setup I use to do my Water Changes, not sure if the idea will be any good to you or not.

Obviously this end goes in the Tank

And this end goes on the Tap, depending on if you have one of the newish taps that is.

Takes me about 10 minutes to change 100 litres, of warm water, this is only for refilling the Tank, I use my Gravel Cleaner to syphon the 100 litres out of the Tank with the waste water going out the window onto the lawn.

[Dave+Amy]

I'm not really techno-savvy so won't know how to set up a drip sys - I'll get David to read over this thread and do it for me the funniest thing was when we were having a new kitchen put in and the plumber seeing how long it took me to do wc's he was trying to set up a pipe that went directly from my tank to kitchen sink - Lyndyloo I might get dave to do that so I no longer need to carry buckets for filling

the good side about using buckets is gaining me strong biceps