Post by kayte on Apr 22, 2016 19:33:10 GMT -5
Hi All -
Carl suggested I posted here with my questions so here I am! I was asking very specific questions about filters but I think I might just post what I was initial thinking my options are in for this new aquarium set up and hope for suggestions that improve on it. My entire goal here is to create an aquarium that needs as little maintenance as possible but yet is very ascetically appealing. This aquarium is in my apartment living room and the biggest piece of furniture I have so I want this to be a show stopper of a fancy gold fish tank. Please don't worry about the weight load when this tank is filled. I live in a basement apartment and the aquarium is up against an outside wall so I know all is well. Below are pictures that inspired this aquarium build:
I recently found myself the new owner of a 225G acrylic tank. I am currently renovating it. I am sanding/polishing out the scratches and repairing a crack on the bottom. The crack on the bottom is about two to three inches steaming from one of the drill holes. I am gluing/welding a 3 black pieces of acrylic that are 1/4 inch thick. Before uncovering the crack after I bought it from the previous owner, my intention was to paint the outside of the bottom black. So hence why I fortifing the entire bottom instead of just placing one peice over the crack. I just think it will look better especially since this will be a bare bottom tank. Once I have repaired and fortified the bottom with the pieces of 1/4 inch black acrylic, I am going to drill in the holes that I just covered. The configuration of the drill holes are pictured below. The yellow circles depict where the water was removed from the aquarium into two canister filter below. The orange circles is where the filter water re-entered the aquarium.
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So now I need to replumb everything as I have been told the pipes are brittle. Thank goodness I have a friend who is a very handy man and is as crazy about fish as I am. He is going to help me with all this. I do have a SunSun HW403B that the previous owner was using. I am sure he purchased off amazon but we shall make it work.
My friend had his tank crash, I kid not, just yesterday. So I gave me the other filter the previous owner provided. It is the least I could do since he is working with me on this massive tank project. So if I am going to overstock my tank with beautiful fancy goldfish, what do I now need to buy? I was thinking of doing a DIY trickle filter made of plastic 5 drawer organizer and a 20 gallon tank that would sit aside to the right of the stand you see in the picture below. I also want to place two aquaponics plant filters on the top of the aquarium and fill it with Pathos plants to add some greenery to my apartment and to remove nitrates from the water so that I can minimize water changes
Note that this is what the tank looked like in my apartment about a week ago after my final pass with a 2000 grit wet/dry sand paper on the outside of the aquarium. The tank is now on the floor and I am slowly working on the inside. I'll finish removing the silicone from the bottom seams tonight. This weekend's project is fixing the crack with weldon 4, gluing/welding the three black acrylic panels to the bottom with weldon 40, and resealing the seams with weldon 16. When I am done I am sure I will be as high as a kite from the fumes.
Then, next week, I will finish sanding the inside of the tank with power hand sander using 400, 600, 1500, and 2000 wet/dry grit sand paper and finish by polishing the inside and outside with the Novus Polish Formulas 3, 2, and 1.
I digress a bit so here are my questions I would like all of you to ponder with me. I have read the various articles on Carl's website, I am rethinking the trickle filter and perhaps even the aquaponics filter. I think maybe I should buy a SunSun HW404B and the AAP/TMC Fluidized Sand Bed Filter(FSB) model #1000. I can use the FSB filter and see how effect it is at removing nitrates. If it doesn't keep my nitrates at 0 then I can add the aquaponic HOB filters with pathos plant. I can hook up the new filter to the FSB filter. I also was considering a UV sterilizer and hooking it up to old canister filter, the SunSun HW403B. I was thinking I could save up for either the TMC Pond Advantage UV-25 or the more expensive Emperor Aquatics Smart UV 40 Watt.
What do you all think of this set up with the two canisters? The DIY trickle filter would be the cheaper option but will it be more difficult to maintaining than the canisters? With the trickle filter will I have to do more water changes to keep nitrates down. Should I still consider the aquaponics HOB filter regardless of what I do beneath the stand for filtration? What if I did the trickle filter and an algae scrubber for nitrate removal? Would that be more effective that the pathos plants?
There is just so many different ways to do this that I am overwhelmed. I would really love everyone to weigh in on this and give me suggestions. Please keep in mind that I am trying to keep the cost down as much as possible. And again... I want this to be BEAUTIFUL to look at and not have it look like a fish farm in my living room!
Cheers,
Kayte
Carl suggested I posted here with my questions so here I am! I was asking very specific questions about filters but I think I might just post what I was initial thinking my options are in for this new aquarium set up and hope for suggestions that improve on it. My entire goal here is to create an aquarium that needs as little maintenance as possible but yet is very ascetically appealing. This aquarium is in my apartment living room and the biggest piece of furniture I have so I want this to be a show stopper of a fancy gold fish tank. Please don't worry about the weight load when this tank is filled. I live in a basement apartment and the aquarium is up against an outside wall so I know all is well. Below are pictures that inspired this aquarium build:
I recently found myself the new owner of a 225G acrylic tank. I am currently renovating it. I am sanding/polishing out the scratches and repairing a crack on the bottom. The crack on the bottom is about two to three inches steaming from one of the drill holes. I am gluing/welding a 3 black pieces of acrylic that are 1/4 inch thick. Before uncovering the crack after I bought it from the previous owner, my intention was to paint the outside of the bottom black. So hence why I fortifing the entire bottom instead of just placing one peice over the crack. I just think it will look better especially since this will be a bare bottom tank. Once I have repaired and fortified the bottom with the pieces of 1/4 inch black acrylic, I am going to drill in the holes that I just covered. The configuration of the drill holes are pictured below. The yellow circles depict where the water was removed from the aquarium into two canister filter below. The orange circles is where the filter water re-entered the aquarium.
So now I need to replumb everything as I have been told the pipes are brittle. Thank goodness I have a friend who is a very handy man and is as crazy about fish as I am. He is going to help me with all this. I do have a SunSun HW403B that the previous owner was using. I am sure he purchased off amazon but we shall make it work.
My friend had his tank crash, I kid not, just yesterday. So I gave me the other filter the previous owner provided. It is the least I could do since he is working with me on this massive tank project. So if I am going to overstock my tank with beautiful fancy goldfish, what do I now need to buy? I was thinking of doing a DIY trickle filter made of plastic 5 drawer organizer and a 20 gallon tank that would sit aside to the right of the stand you see in the picture below. I also want to place two aquaponics plant filters on the top of the aquarium and fill it with Pathos plants to add some greenery to my apartment and to remove nitrates from the water so that I can minimize water changes
Note that this is what the tank looked like in my apartment about a week ago after my final pass with a 2000 grit wet/dry sand paper on the outside of the aquarium. The tank is now on the floor and I am slowly working on the inside. I'll finish removing the silicone from the bottom seams tonight. This weekend's project is fixing the crack with weldon 4, gluing/welding the three black acrylic panels to the bottom with weldon 40, and resealing the seams with weldon 16. When I am done I am sure I will be as high as a kite from the fumes.
Then, next week, I will finish sanding the inside of the tank with power hand sander using 400, 600, 1500, and 2000 wet/dry grit sand paper and finish by polishing the inside and outside with the Novus Polish Formulas 3, 2, and 1. I digress a bit so here are my questions I would like all of you to ponder with me. I have read the various articles on Carl's website, I am rethinking the trickle filter and perhaps even the aquaponics filter. I think maybe I should buy a SunSun HW404B and the AAP/TMC Fluidized Sand Bed Filter(FSB) model #1000. I can use the FSB filter and see how effect it is at removing nitrates. If it doesn't keep my nitrates at 0 then I can add the aquaponic HOB filters with pathos plant. I can hook up the new filter to the FSB filter. I also was considering a UV sterilizer and hooking it up to old canister filter, the SunSun HW403B. I was thinking I could save up for either the TMC Pond Advantage UV-25 or the more expensive Emperor Aquatics Smart UV 40 Watt.
What do you all think of this set up with the two canisters? The DIY trickle filter would be the cheaper option but will it be more difficult to maintaining than the canisters? With the trickle filter will I have to do more water changes to keep nitrates down. Should I still consider the aquaponics HOB filter regardless of what I do beneath the stand for filtration? What if I did the trickle filter and an algae scrubber for nitrate removal? Would that be more effective that the pathos plants?
There is just so many different ways to do this that I am overwhelmed. I would really love everyone to weigh in on this and give me suggestions. Please keep in mind that I am trying to keep the cost down as much as possible. And again... I want this to be BEAUTIFUL to look at and not have it look like a fish farm in my living room!
Cheers,
Kayte
