Joined: Aug 06, 2009 Posts: 215 Location: Hyderabad
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Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 3:03 am Post subject: New 8 FOOT 2500 liter tank- NEED HELP
Hey guyz,
I'm Dr. Siddharth, from Hyderabad. I was interested in getting a big tank for quite a long time. I have been busy with my studies and was outta town.
I recently passed my M.S Orthopedics and i finally have some free time at home.
I'm planning to have a 8' L x 3' W x 4' H tank that comes to around 2,600 liter volume. Its going to be a freshwater tank with dark rosewood coloured stand and top, black substrate, with a DYI black/brown/green rocky background. With a tank this size i know there's a ton of things to worry about and I'm constantly reading or watching videos to get everything right.
The tank is going to be placed in our main living room which is on the first floor of our house. theres plenty of natural light coming in the room from 20 foot high window panes( 10 ft x 4) and another sunroof at the top and it gets a little warm in summer afternoons.
I still dint completely fix my plans and I'm open to new ideas and changes.
my main concerns are-
1. The SIZE- i have room for an even bigger tank but i dont want to worry about even bigger monthly maintenance expenses. if i think the maintenance might be a problem i might cut back on the width and height of the tank by half foot each to 8 x 2.5 x 3.5, but making it to 1900 liter volume. I want the big size to have a WIDE display to be a feast for the eyes and to house big fish, arowanas likely.
2. The WEIGHT - its gonna weigh 2.5 tons ( i think im right) along with the stand, etc. Can the concrete floor hold all that weight ? ( the tank will be on the first floor of the house )
3. The GLASS - thought id go for the best diamond clear glass, but that costs nearly twice as much as regular glass. Is the diamond clear glass really worth it ?? Im thinking il get the regular toughened glass. Will 18 or 20 mm thickness be enough ?
4. The FILTRATION - this is one im really confused about. Im still new to this. I originally thought of getting a sump filtration, but my local fish store keeper says using multiple canister filters works good enough ( he suggested some german made ones costing 15k a piece. dint go into the power output details). Can you suggest the best filtration i can get, but with low maintainance costs ( electricity bills etc)
5. The MAINTENANCE COSTS - my dad is paying for it right now.. and i dont want the maintenance to be a problem later( ELECTRICITY BILLS). Im looking to invest all the money into a good quality initial setup that has to look really good. Can you suggest me good quality, but not too expensive, filtration and lighting to be used. How much WATTAGE will all the equipment necessary righly be. Monthly Electricity cost ?
I want the lowest maintenance reasonably possible right now and im willing to change or reduce my fish stockings if necessary for that. After a while ill modify the setup to house big fish. For now, Im thinking I'll be ok with monthly expenses upto Rs 4000
6. The FISH - i eventually want to house arowanas with peacock bass or arowanas with schools of striped silver dollars and large schools of small schooling fish or even discus and angels. Not decided yet. Depends on the Maintenance
7. The CLEANING / WATER CHANGES - im willing to invest more in better filtration if it can reduce cleaning needs. the 4 foot high tank must be tough to climb into. might need to buy a new ladder . how often do i need to do water changes and filter cleanings or complete tank cleanings, if suppose its an all arowana tank.
8. The NOISE - i dont want the soud of all the equipment get too loud and disturbing in our peaceful livingroom
and to keep the running costs low, i dont want to use any heaters or sensitive plants in the aquarium
PLEASE help me decide so i can start working on my dream this week :D
Joined: Nov 17, 2008 Posts: 3236 Location: Kolkata, West Bengal, India
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Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 10:46 am Post subject: Re: New 8 FOOT 2500 liter tank- NEED HELP
Welcome TO IAH Mr. Siddharth. Enjoy your stay here.
Well people who own this size of tank surely help you. Just wait for their comments.
From my side I can tell you couple of things:
> Tank size - go for 8'x3'x3' ...it will looks nice. One of my friend have the same size of tank.
> Filtration - I think you should go for sump. Low cost as well as good performance. My friend also have the sump for his 8 feeter. But for the flow in tank he kept one Eheim 2217.
> You actually don't need diamond clear glass. We generally used id for planted tank. Go for normal one.
Joined: Jun 17, 2012 Posts: 551 Location: Bangalore
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Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 10:58 am Post subject: Re: New 8 FOOT 2500 liter tank- NEED HELP
Hi.....Welcome to the world of monster tanks and monster fishes.
Let me answer your questions....
1) I wish that you dont do the 4 ft hieght , it is impractical for cleaning , getting in n out would be herculean. Since this is an all glass tank , chances of damage are very high.
Even if you wish to change your decor or replace fallen decor it is next to impossible with all the water in ( saying this because you mentioned about the arowanas and Pbass )
You have also mentioned natural light coming in , you might run into algae issues if there is direct sunlight falling in.
Your idea of width and length is good. Cheers
2) Weight: I am a little sceptical on this. Are you comfortable the technical way to resolve your doubts , I wish to speak on Load bearing capacity , 9 inch walls and pillars for this monstrosity of a tank.
3) You said this is going to be in your living room ( feast for your eyes and others too )...so, clear glass for the front if I may suggest and the rest toughned 20mm or more.
Have you planned on the build of the aquarium since there will b a tremendous water pressure acting on your glass and also when Pbass and arowanas dart around , pressure on glass increases.
4) DIY your filter , dont go the LFS way , he is trying to make a fast buck out of you . Will tell you in the end why DIY is better if you are willing to invest some time of urs.
5) Lighting ...sorry not my foray...all my tanks dont have lights ...My way of fish keeping.
6) Arowanas and schooling fishes is a nice visual treat I suppose ( experts pls comment ) . The first thought I had was Arowanas rushing to put the shoal into their mouth and now you know what will happen to your decor inside.
7) I do a 10 - 20% of water changes in all my 5 tanks twice a week . Keeps the Nitrate levels down and induces good health among my fishes. Filtration is not the only method to keep the fishes happy , water changing schedules are though.
8) If you can do a fully submersible pump for your filtration , sounds are very minimal. The water pumping capacity is also higher.
There are many more for you to worry about , lets take it step by step .
My smallest tank is a 2 ft * 1 ft and my biggest is a 8 ft * 3ft * 3ft with a DIY filter ( very cost effective and fine tuned )
You can call me if you wish to speak in detail.
I have a post on my 8ft tank build in IAH just for visuals.
Good luck and let us all know on your progress......
I'm planning to have a 8' L x 3' W x 4' H tank that comes to around 2,600 liter volume. Its going to be a freshwater tank with dark rosewood coloured stand and top, black substrate, with a DYI black/brown/green rocky background. With a tank this size i know there's a ton of things to worry about and I'm constantly reading or watching videos to get everything right.
it will be much more than that. glas alone will be around 550kg + 2 to water + sand, gravel, background, lights, stand
...+ 10 people standing in front of it and dreaming about having this tank at home
Joined: Aug 06, 2009 Posts: 215 Location: Hyderabad
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Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 12:49 pm Post subject: Re: New 8 FOOT 2500 liter tank- NEED HELP
thanks a lot for the reply guyz
Mr. Vinod, even im considering to go for an 8x 3 x 3 tank after giving it a lot of thought
And u have the same size tank right? thats really great to get some input from you
im really interested in learning as much as i can. can you tell me how to go about the sump setup (the type of pump and capacity needed) ? can you tell me roughly how much the monthly expenses will be.
im goin to start working at a hospital next week, so im worried i might not have enough time to put into this. So im planning to research on all aspects of the tank and guide my LFS guy to build it for me. And i might make my DYI background and instruct the LFS guy to do my sump filtration with me guiding it.
Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 12:50 pm Post subject: Re: New 8 FOOT 2500 liter tank- NEED HELP
@ Siddharth,
A warm welcome to IAH.
You have detailed all the aspects that you need to get to your dream project.
As a first step, I would request you to contact a Civil engineer guy who can inspect your room where you want to keep the tank. Based on his opinion on whether the room could bear the weight of the tank, then you can go ahead with the plan.
If there are no beams underneath the room where you would be keeping the tank, then I dont think that the floor would be able to take the weight of the tank. So if that is ruled out, then you can start planning on the tank and the other factors related to the tank.
So first consult the Civil eng guy and then carry forward with your project.
As a first step, I would request you to contact a Civil engineer guy who can inspect your room where you want to keep the tank. Based on his opinion on whether the room could bear the weight of the tank, then you can go ahead with the plan.
You have detailed all the aspects that you need to get to your dream project.
As a first step, I would request you to contact a Civil engineer guy who can inspect your room where you want to keep the tank. Based on his opinion on whether the room could bear the weight of the tank, then you can go ahead with the plan.
If there are no beams underneath the room where you would be keeping the tank, then I dont think that the floor would be able to take the weight of the tank. So if that is ruled out, then you can start planning on the tank and the other factors related to the tank.
So first consult the Civil eng guy and then carry forward with your project.
Joined: Oct 09, 2011 Posts: 1854 Location: hebbal,banglore
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Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 2:11 pm Post subject: Re: New 8 FOOT 2500 liter tank- NEED HELP
Wow....you have got the right person to start up with.......
But with arowanas is there any small schooling fish that can live.....
If there is then it would be awesomeeeee.
Any ways angels and discus in my opinion(not experiance....I have never kept monster fishes) would directly fall in arowanas stomach. Even silver dollars wont live long ......... I think Kaya's tank had them but eventually arowanas had them...
Here is Kaya's post you will love to read
Joined: Aug 06, 2009 Posts: 215 Location: Hyderabad
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Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 3:07 pm Post subject: Re: New 8 FOOT 2500 liter tank- NEED HELP
that would be grt Mr. Vinod
im gonna visit a few LFS here for some ideas, then ill ring u up in the evening if possible
for my fish stocking i always had the idea of housing huge schools of small fish in a big tank with a gentle giant around that encourages the smaller ones to school
i guess its not possible with arowanas in the tank.
actually i always wanted to get a red arowana. that will still take some time to acquire i guess. i might house one or two arowanas with schooling medium sized fish like silver dollars, barbs etc. i have seen hundreds of videos of arowana tanks with some fish i have in mind.
Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 5:51 pm Post subject: Re: New 8 FOOT 2500 liter tank- NEED HELP
Great project
Regarding size , you can reduce the height of the tank as it becomes difficult to clean . As others suggested, 8' x 3' x 3' will be your best bet. Glass thickness should be 20MM minimum for this kind of size. If you can afford, go for clear glass but i think its not that much needed as you can spend remaining amt in some other decorational stuffs.
Regarding filtration, go for the sump type (4' x 2' x 2' minimum)which is economical and efficient at the same time and spend maximum best you can afford since filtration is very essential. I will leave the rest since many more experts are here to suggest you in detail than me.
Regarding lights, A normal aquarium light or T5 will do. If you wish to go for arowana (esp red), I would recommend LED lighting like Aquazonic LED and arcadia arowana LED lamps for tanning.
Regarding Livestocks, I will suggest you to add clown loaches , siamese tigers and some Emperor blue hooks and red hooks and if possible ray pups but adult rays need a pond like dimensions to grow.
Good luck to your project . Eagerly waiting for you updates
Regarding Livestocks, I will suggest you to add clown loaches , siamese tigers and some Emperor blue hooks and red hooks and if possible ray pups but adult rays need a pond like dimensions to grow.
Good luck to your project . Eagerly waiting for you updates
ya im definitely going to have clown loaches and emperor blue hooks in there.
the disc tetra/ black-barred silver dollar actually the same emperor blue hook, i just found out - Myleus schomburgkii
Joined: Aug 06, 2009 Posts: 215 Location: Hyderabad
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Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 11:21 pm Post subject: Re: New 8 FOOT 2500 liter tank- NEED HELP
Ive been to a decent LFS store today who finally understand my needs and have good experience and knowledge bout big tanks. im going to get my setup done by them.
Im planning to go for the best filtration possible.
thinking bout a 6' x 2' x 2' sump underneath the tank with 4 partitions and two powerheads- one for suction and one to pump. suggested by the lfs guy
can u guyz suggest what power output will be really good for the filtration. i still have to read more bout this stuff.
Im thinking to go big and not compromise on what i have always wanted.
ill got for the 8' x 3' x 4' tank.
so il get the best filtration possible to reduce the cleaning needs, stick to once a week 10-20% water changes and sump media cleaning once in one or 2 months and if the tank needs a thorough cleanup ill pay the LFS guy to get in there and clean it up for me but how often will that be.. every 6 months or once a year ?
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and to house big fish, arowanas likely.
?? Im thinking il get the regular toughened glass. Will 18 or 20 mm thickness be enough ?
with a gentle giant around that encourages the smaller ones to school
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