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Re: Large tank problems
> Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 10:32:59 EDT
> From: SCraig9087 at aol_com
> Subject: Large tank problems
>
> I just bought a 220 gallon tank from a dealer who is replacing his display
> tanks. It is 6 feet long, 2 feet wide and 30" deep. I welcome any
> suggestions for CO2 fertilization, filter, lighting (more than 3 watts/gal
> because of depth?), landscaping, plant selection etc. Has anyone tried
> Flourite from Seachem as a substrate? Thanks!
Yikes, 30" deep (30" high, I presume)! We have a 180 measuring 6 x 2 x 2 high
and it's difficult to reach to the back of the tank, I'll tell you. I think if
we'd made the stand about 3" shorter, I'd be able to reach the back more
comfortably. However, a 40 gal (short) storage tank for water changes is housed
under the stand, so we couldn't have the stand tall enough for the 40 gal yet
short enough for my arms. I just stand on a chair when necessary.
CO2 is done by a 5 lb bottle, DIY bubble counter. Originally, the diffusor was
one of our AquaClear 500s but the noise of the bubbles hitting the impeller
became distracting. Now we use a Lee's wooden diffusor which will, apparantly,
have to be replaced periodically. Because the tank is so long, I've been
thinking of splitting the CO2 line and having two diffusors to hopefully
distribute the CO2 more evenly through the tank (don't know if this is necessary,
though). Also, I'm thinking of splitting it again to have a third line that can
be added temporarily (turned on the night before) to the water storage tank to
match the pH of the main tank during water changes.
For filtration we use 2 AC 500s, probably not the high-tech solution others use,
but it seems to work okay for us. We also added a 4" x 10" piece of plexiglas
beneath each AC 500 output to cut down on the output distubance deep into the
water (that seemed to prevent the fish form using those portions of the tank
directly below the outputs). AC mini filter foams are over the intakes to
prevent (any more) fish from being sucked into the intake :-(
Lighting consists of twelve 36" fluorescent tubes for a total of 360 watts, just
barely adequate, imo, for our purposes. Plants are mainly Echinodoras.
Substrate is 25% flourite 75% gravel and we're experimenting with PMDD.
You can see photos of the tank shortly after the initial setup in April at:
http://cbt.bungi.com/amazonaquarium
However, we recently tore the tank down and have only just this past week set it
up again. I hope to have photos of the new design later in September.
Beverly Wladyka
Edmonton AB Canada
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http://cbt.bungi.com/amazonaquarium
http://cbt.bungi.com/indoorpond
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