Equipments for 8x3x3.

[-賀峰-]

Hello eveybody, i will be setting up a new 8x3x3 planted tank & need advise on the correct equipments to use.

1) Use 2 seprate cannister filter or 1 big filter is enough? How about using sump?

2) How many MH bulbs do i need for lighting? 250w or 400w?

3) Is a 7.5L co2 tank enought? How often do i need to topup?

4) I will be getting full ada substrate additives. Is there any good recommendation other than ada?

I will setting aside roughly $5k for the full setup including tank and cabninet.
Thanks in advance for your kind inputs!

[neon]

3' height and 3' depth will be maintenance nightmare, as you can't possible reach the bottom of the substrate .

[kanguin]

Hello eveybody, i will be setting up a new 8x3x3 planted tank & need advise on the correct equipments to use.

1) Use 2 seprate cannister filter or 1 big filter is enough? How about using sump?

2) How many MH bulbs do i need for lighting? 250w or 400w?

3) Is a 7.5L co2 tank enought? How often do i need to topup?

4) I will be getting full ada substrate additives. Is there any good recommendation other than ada?

I will setting aside roughly $5k for the full setup including tank and cabninet.
Thanks in advance for your kind inputs!

Wow!! 8x3x3 is massive!! You can check with N30 (Weeyang) 96672353 for quote & advise on your tank & cabinet. He is a very nice & friendly guy. I got mine from him & quality is good! After sales service is excellent too.

[Captain Telecredible]

Hi bro,
1) I think sump would be much more ideal for a 8ft..I run 2 2028 on my 4ft and hate doing the maintainence of the filter... sump would also be convienent and more user-friendly if you are going to use it for long. If you are going ahead with canisters, you can try Fluval or Eheim, they are much more solid build if you going for long term usage.

2) I would prefer using 2x 250W with T5H0...I think the light given out will be spread much more evenly.

3) No comments, using 5L... estimate for 7.5 is 3-4months depends on your rate of injection.

4) I would prefer you to stick with ADA Substrate to see the full result. Apart from that, Dennerle have also good base fertilisers, there are more alternatives for gravel, brand such as ADA, Gex, Magic Soil and others.

* I think 5K for a setup would be abit too tight cause Weeyang made tanks are not really cheap even though the quality is really solid. 5K full setup, if you are using canisters, you will easily cross 5K since you need real much of filters for a 8ft. As Recommanded by Bro Kanguin, Weeyang tanks are of solid quality, there are also other tank makers you can check it out. Hope to see you tank soon!

Cheers,
kenneth

[mozesyap]

Is sump a good idea for a planted tank? I thought there will be too much CO2 loss with a sump.

[BFG]

My 2 cents.

I would go for max of 2 ft height for that tank. If you are staying in HDB flat, your tank size would not be acceptable. For a 3ft height, maintenance as well as lighting might be a problem. The choice of plants for that deep tank is also limited and planting them in the initial phase would be quite troublesome.

Filtration, Canister filter.
You will need a few large canister filter such as the Eheim Professional 3 XL Series, which consume only 25w each. A single small canister filter should be use to handle the surface scum found on the water surface attached to a surface skimmer. Expensive to start with due to the cost of owning several pieces at one time. Advantage with using canister filter is that your tank will not have ugly overflow box at each corner of the tank. Using Euro bracing, you'll need to tell the tank maker to allocate some hole on the euro bracing for the canister filter hose and pipes to go through.

Filtration, Sump.
Biggest advantage is cheaper to operate in the beginning. Larger sump are better as it could be divided into compartment to house various media. With additional space, you could employ a compartment housed with floating plants and powered with a few tube of lighting to help with additional filtration. Disadvantage is that your main tank must have an overflow box to transfer the water from the main tank to the sump. If you are anal about aquascaping, the overflow box will be your biggest challenge to hide it from view and would be a big distraction.

CO2 supply.
You might need 2 external co2 reactor for your tank size. A single co2 tank with solenoid is needed but you'll need to have a co2 splitter to provide co2 to the 2 co2 reactor. Get additional co2 tank as spares so that you do not have to rush to top up the co2 tank if it empties itself.

Lighting, 2ft deep tank.
I would employ the use of T5 HO lighting. Depending on the width of the tank minus the eurobracing part is the space you should work on. Use the 4ft lightset. If you worry about electricity consumption, 3ft lightset could be also used.

This is what I can think of for now. Hope this helps!

[koolman]

[QUOTE=-賀峰-;475722]Hello eveybody, i will be setting up a new 8x3x3 planted tank & need advise on the correct equipments to use.


1) Use 2 seprate cannister filter or 1 big filter is enough? How about using sump?

Using sump tank for planted.. CO2 might be lost in the sump.. Suggest that you use cannister filter. You might want to consider adding a chiller to your tank.. Most plant required cooler temperature.

I will setting aside roughly $5k for the full setup including tank and cabninet.

$5k is definitely not enough for a 8ft tank.. Just an 8ft tank already more than 5k.. Unless, you are sourcing for a 2nd hand tank.

Cheers
Koolman

[adeguay]

My 4X2X2 already cost me $6-$7K for the whole system. I think you have to budget $8 to $10K for 8x3x3.

Filter

If i have a chance to change my tank, i will go for slump. Canister is troublesome for maintenance.

Light

I am using 2X 150W MH Plus 2 T5. So for 8 feet, I think you need 4X150W MH

Co2

I prefer using 5 liter cylinder. Easy to carry for refill

[bossteck]

I used AQ's calculator.

Suppose you want a 3-inch deep substrate, it would be 170 litres. So you will need 19 bags of ADA soil.

I think the issue of co2 loss and sump is a little misunderstood.

Very often, hobbyists start off with smaller tanks, say a 3 feet tank, they usually use canister filters with such set up, and they normally inject sufficient (sometimes too much) co2. When they upgrade to larger tanks, they simply transfer their previous knowledge of co2 injection to their new set up. This often result in problems.

With larger tank, the amount of co2 injection is already not comparable, so that has to be factored in. You probably won't have to use solenoid any more but should switch to constant injection 24/7, and you can't simply just crank up the amount because the diffusion won't be fast enough. So very often, sump filteration gets blamed for insufficient co2.

I am NOT saying that sump filteration is faultless, what I am saying is, it often gets blamed for more than its contribution to the overall co2 loss.

Some strategies could be used to compensate for the splashing. You could lengthen the inlet way below the water level in their first compartment, I have also read about people inserting sponge / hoses into the overflow pipe so water will follow a spiral rather than gush into the sump, then there's also glass lid which you could do for the first compartment which would also help. Most of the splashing occurs at the overflow area and in the first sump compartment, address that and you should be fine.

What fishes are you planning to keep? You intend to keep alot of them? If not, why not consider going without a filter? After all, you should have a huge plant mass right?

BFG's suggestion to get more than 1 co2 cylinder is one you should seriously consider because before you know it, it's time to top up again.

By the way, do you stay in high rise buildings?

[-賀峰-]

Thanks for all the advise! Really appreciate it!

Seems like 3ft height is really going to be a pain.
After much consideration & searching other forums, i will most likely settle for a 8x3x2 setup.

1) Sump seems to be a better choice for such a big tank too but i will have to work around to diffuse co2 better. (will do more research on that)

2) I will use MH together with T5HO. Any brand to reccommend? Am i able to get parts to DIY here in SG?

3) Will be getting 2x7.5l co2 tank to place on each side. Maybe connecting to reactor and the other with a normal diffuser.

4) Seems like ADA is the best choice at the moment. Will stick to that unless there is a much better product.

$5K looks like it might not be enough. I will have to save up for another month to increase my budget.
I am not living in high rise buildng but is there a law that you can't have a fish tank in high rise building here in SG?

[-賀峰-]

Oh yes i am thinking of Altum Angels in the tank. Any reccommendations on where to get nice nice altum angels?

[Captain Telecredible]

Oh yes i am thinking of Altum Angels in the tank. Any reccommendations on where to get nice nice altum angels?

Bro, i suggest you to setup your tank first. Altum Angels are secondary cause the main tank need to start running and cycle properly before introducing altum angels as they are sensitive to water perimeters. Anyway, you got to really plan before getting all the equipments cause its really a major project I doubt you can finish everything or get everything ready in 1 day. If you looking for Altum Angel you can try C328, Colourful, Nature Aquarium, Gans Aquarium or Qian Hu. Anyway there is a limit for having large aquariums for HDB. Follow this thread to check out for more details
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ead.php?t=6213
All the best for your 8x3x2

Cheers,
kenneth

[BFG]

Need to know how much the beam on your block can withstand due to that 3 tonne tank. But if you live in a private property, weight might not be a factor but it doesn't hurt to check. But you could built a longer cabinet to spread the weight across a larger area than having an exact size tank compared to the cabinet. Take this advice with a pinch of salt as I am not trained in this matter.

[BFG]

By the way, may I know what's your name? Can't duplicate your nick.

Also, I would make a list of what item you need to purchase. If it's possible, buy everything from a single lfs so that you might receive some discount on your purchase. The lfs owner might remember you on your next visit and might give further discount on your next purchase. You might list down the stuff you need to purchase in this thread.

[bossteck]

I am not living in high rise buildng but is there a law that you can't have a fish tank in high rise building here in SG?

For HDB yes, you need approval for tanks exceeding certain dimensions.

Reminder: Even if you don't respect the law and regulation, you got to respect the load-bearing capacity of your home.

[koolman]

By the way, may I know what's your name? Can't duplicate your nick.

Also, I would make a list of what item you need to purchase. If it's possible, buy everything from a single lfs so that you might receive some discount on your purchase. The lfs owner might remember you on your next visit and might give further discount on your next purchase. You might list down the stuff you need to purchase in this thread.

Hi

Could you do a list of item for my next project too? I am planning to do a 6ft planted tank.


Thanks and regards
Koolman

[BFG]

Hi

Could you do a list of item for my next project too? I am planning to do a 6ft planted tank.


Thanks and regards
Koolman

Koolman, what I meant was for him to do up a list of things he need for his tank and post it here in his thread so that we could go through it. For your case, I would suggest starting a thread for your tank. Don't want to mis-communicate with each other ending up with 1 person buying something they do no need.

[koolman]

Koolman, what I meant was for him to do up a list of things he need for his tank and post it here in his thread so that we could go through it. For your case, I would suggest starting a thread for your tank. Don't want to mis-communicate with each other ending up with 1 person buying something they do no need.

I did start my thread on 6ft planted tank but only one brother reply me.. Anyway, its ok.. Perhaps, I am not popular..

Cheers
Koolman

[BFG]

I did start my thread on 6ft planted tank but only one brother reply me.. Anyway, its ok.. Perhaps, I am not popular..

Cheers
Koolman

Hey Koolman, is this the thread?

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=58525

You post that in the planted section which I rarely look into. Post a new thread in the equipment section. We will need to know more about where you live and where you be placing the tank. This big of a tank, I hope it's not in a HDB flat or a condominium.

[koolman]

Hey Koolman, is this the thread?

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=58525

You post that in the planted section which I rarely look into. Post a new thread in the equipment section. We will need to know more about where you live and where you be placing the tank. This big of a tank, I hope it's not in a HDB flat or a condominium.

Yes, sir.. Thats the thread