Need lighting advice for HUGE tank

[julescity]

hiya, as i'm renovating my new house, manage to get permission for a built-in tank to hide one of the pillars in the house. My ID is gonna give us a 1.9m(length)x0.8m(tall)x0.6m(wide) tank, with wooden cabinets at the top and bottom.

this means i get to let go my 2ft planted tank and start BIG!

shopping around for suitable lights giving me quite a headache now, at NA, was told I need 8x55w PL lights to sustain plant growth -- the lights will cost me $500! (customade setup with e-ballast n reflectors)

is there any alternative, for my lighting req? would pref to have the lights (like the juwel ones in lfs) mounted on the underside of the upper cabinets...

know where to find?

[vinz]

First of all, nice sized tank you got there. Consider an arowana planted tank. See my old one.

But, I have the following advice:
1. Big tanks require a fair bit of work. Can you spare a few hours every week or two? Changing a quarter of the water alone can take close to an hour, depending on the flow rate in your house.

2. Big bills... water and especially electricity, due to the number of filters/pumps and amount of lights you will need to run on them.

3. 80 cm tal and 60cm wide tank... very hard to maintain as it's hard to reach the bottom of the tank. And i'm talking about the front only. It'll be very hard to reach the middle of the tank. If the back of the tank is against the wall, good luck reaching the back of the tank. My biggest problem with the 60cm tall and 60cm wide tank was that I cannot reach the back of the tank with my hands while looking thru the front glass. Usually you need to look through the front glass to see what you are doing. The water surface will be rippled by your arm movements and you will see nuts.

4. Make sure the lights can be individually controlled. Else you will be tanning your back under the MH (or whatever light) while bending over the tank, or working in the dark. With individual control, you can turn on adjacent lights and keep the ones on your back off. Besides, you'll be blocking it anyway and the hard shadow will hamper you too.

5. Deeper tanks need more light. The deeper it goes, the harder for light to penetrate. Bigger bills, and less choices of low growing plants.

6. Flexibility... you might not need the brightest lights for the whole tank. If you design your tank scape first (i.e. focal point, where the light-needy plants are, etc), you can decide which are will need the brightest lights. the rest can be low or moderately lighted.

7. Big tanks like this do not use the 3WPG rule. That rule does not scale to very big tanks nor very small tanks well. I think a safe bet is 150W of MH per 60cm run. Which works out to about 6 3 MH in your case. Get the ID to get home lighting ones (i.e. not specialised aquarium lights). Those are much cheaper. Build them into the upper cabinets... remember to ask ID to consider ventilation. These things run HOT.

All in all, it's an expensive endeavour... the initial set up and the monthly bill. Don't forget about gravel, fish, plants, etc. With MH, you might want to consider a chiller... a large one... then ventilation and placement of the chiller is anther issue to consider.

IDs love to do these HUGE tanks, but very few have the experience to tell you what you're in for and what you need to consider. Many will tell you, can lah, or can do this lah, can do that lah... but seriously, YOU are going to live with it, You are the one whose gong to setup and maintain the tank, not them.

There are much more to consider. I'll be more then happy to chat with you about it (I'll PM or email you) and there a few other members who will gladly share their experiences with you.

I'm not wanting to discourage you (I would love a chance at such a large tank again), just that you need to start it right and know what you'll be facing, else you're gonna face a fair bit of problems later. Frankly, I would love to see you succeed.

I can tell you though... large tanks are more stable "ecologically".

[Justikanz]

Ah Gong, remember to allow space for cooling to take place, i.e. don't cover up everything. Think that was discussed previously...

You got to bear with the pain and spend all you need and not be tempted to take it slow. Vinz had experience with a big tank... You should talk to him...

And yes, big tanks are more stable and allow for mistakes.

Perhaps we can meet up when you are free. Its been a long time, anyway.

[yappeyap]

Good advice from Vinz!

Hi julescity, i'm in the mid of completing my 5ft x 26" x 26" partition tank, i don't whether you called it large but if you are interested you can add me to your mns, i'm most willing to share my experience, issue faced, equipment sourcing and costing management

It's a long road but you never walk alone!

[AquaObsession]

0.8m tall, doesn't that call for a 150-400 MH? Just asking. the FL or T5 will not do right (from previous discussion here)

[julescity]

hey vinz, yap, thanks for the advice! i will have a chat with youse one of these days...in the middle of major workload here rite now, so can't even supervise much...

thank you sir thomas! lets see when we can have a kopi-session...

julian

[julescity]

Good advice from Vinz!

Hi julescity, i'm in the mid of completing my 5ft x 26" x 26" partition tank, i don't whether you called it large but if you are interested you can add me to your mns, i'm most willing to share my experience, issue faced, equipment sourcing and costing management

It's a long road but you never walk alone!

wats mns?

julian....

[Goondoo]

wats mns?

julian....

I guess its MSN.....

[BFG]

Julescity, keep the lighting setup as simple as possible. Especially during tank maintenance as the lights must be easily moved aside or to the back or somewhere else when you need to do some plant pruning.

[yappeyap]

wats mns?

Heee paiseh....mate! It's MSN - [email protected]

Meanwhile it's good first to drawn out plans on paper, such as

Tanks - size width height thickness
How you want the system to run
Tank cabinet - design, width, height
Whom to build your tank, cost, material, design etc
Types of equipments needed, chiller, lights ,filter & etc

Suggest you do intensive search in forum not only planted but can also pop by other marine forum for ideas.

By the time you finish all this work, seat back relax and then start think about matching up the information you found, then start to put them into different design package.

Model A - List of equipment, design, cost
Model B - "
Model C - etc

Thus these process help you to understand why you want it & how does it contribute to the tank
Post questions if you feel uneasy about making decision. There will be many whom faced the issues you faced before, thus you wouldn't make the same mistake again....

Take your time - Don't Rush!
Remember read more = Less mistake
Enjoy the process of making a dream come true!

[vinz]

LOL.... you can talk to Yap about the pre-process. You can talk to me about the post. LOL. My MSN is in the profile bit above my post.

[aquarius]

For me if i get the chance to have a tank your size, i'll keep tanganyika fishes or plecos cos it's easier when it comes to maintainance. You just suck out the water and top it up. Don't need to worry about algae issues, trimmings etc. And the best part is they are very interesting and beautiful fishes to keep!

As most of us are working, IMO it's best to keep things simple and hassle free. Better to spend your weekends doing a half an hr water change than to spend 2hrs or more maintaining a planted tank.

[medicineman]

The size kinda similar to my two 1000L tanks, here is one :



I use 3 x 150W of metal halide and additional T5/T8 lighting to even up. Love the ripples! Chiller is also used because using fans is a pain in topping up.

80cm height is quite a pain, for regular asian guy to reach the bottom... you'll wash your armpit and some shortie will even never reach while soaking one's face.. LOL.

[julescity]

For me if i get the chance to have a tank your size, i'll keep tanganyika fishes or plecos cos it's easier when it comes to maintainance. You just suck out the water and top it up. Don't need to worry about algae issues, trimmings etc. And the best part is they are very interesting and beautiful fishes to keep!

As most of us are working, IMO it's best to keep things simple and hassle free. Better to spend your weekends doing a half an hr water change than to spend 2hrs or more maintaining a planted tank.

hmmm... good suggestions... less work better

but whats the attraction of plecos or tanganyikas?

[vinz]

Tanganyikans -> pretty fishes... look up Malawi and Tanganyikan cichlids, South African Cichlids. Almost as pretty as marine fishes. But you'll need lots of rocks and coral sand. They are terriotorial and many grow really big, so you got to choose carefully.

Hmmm... consider arowana? You can still do a low light simple planted.

[aquarius]

hmmm... good suggestions... less work better

but whats the attraction of plecos or tanganyikas?

Plecos are very cute and beautiful fishes. I like them best during feeding time cos they'll become more lively and will push and sharf each other to get at the food. I started with 2pcs and now i have at least 12pcs!

As for tanganyikas, i'm currently keeping tropheus in a 3ft tank and they are always sooo lively! It's really interesting to see them interact with each other. I have 1 planted, 1 plecos and 1 tropheus tank and i must say my all time favourite is the tropheus. I just never get tire watching them. With a tank your size it'll definately bring out the best in these fishes.

Go look up on books to see the different varieties and their requirements before making your decision.