# how the hell will I filter this tank.



## polerz (Jan 23, 2006)

ok here it is
http://members.iinet.com.au/~polerz/pics/

Now let me explain a few things.
This piece:
http://members.iinet.com.au/~polerz/pics/IMG_0202.JPG
its hollow and heavy.
it goes here:
http://members.iinet.com.au/~polerz/pics/IMG_0203.JPG

Theres about 20cm of clearance inside that green part ontop of the tank. That already contains 2 power points a flurescent tube and an air pump. No way you'd be able to fit a cannister in there.

I was speaking to a friend of mine and he said run two pipes straight from the tank into the roof (that gap is about a metre high), then left a metre (inside the roof), then down a metre in the room beside it.

I have drawn it here:
http://members.iinet.com.au/~polerz/pics/IMG_0203s.jpg
might be a bit hard to follow heh.

THe bottom line is, for a cannister, it'd have to sit in another room, the water flow owuld have to travel a metre up, a metre left then a metre down. Is that possible? I dont think a cannister will suck the water out of the aquarium, I think they rely on gravity for the water intake and a propellor which spits the water back out.

The other thing is, gravel vacumming. How the would I vacuum that gravel ? haha.

What about a sump tank? I've been reading up on them, but can only find examples for salwater based aquariums.

It'd just involve a pump gathering water from my aquarium, into some sort of smaller tank which would contain the same filtration media as whats in a cannister?

Another thing I was thinking of, is getting a pump to pump water into a smaller tank, which would have a separating wall in the middle of it. Putting a cannister to draw water from one side of the wall, and pumping it back into the other side. Then the pump would take that new clean water and pump it back into the aquarium.

Suggestions please!!

This tank is a nightmare. My stupid old man got me it


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## LittlePuff (Jan 17, 2005)

Internal filter is all I can think of. The tank is also way too tall. Understock it. There isn't much surface area for 02 exchange.



Kim


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## Jonno (May 22, 2005)

What about an Undergravel filter? but i would have no idea how to clean the tank because its so tall.

- Jonno


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

Make it a reef tank and just use liverock


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## polerz (Jan 23, 2006)

reef tanks need massive filtration dont they?

arent they a ***** to keep clean?

Under gravel filter wouldn't work, there'd be no way to clean and replace it. Once its in, its in.

What about my suggestions ? :/


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## fnesr (Jan 25, 2006)

You could leave about 2-3 inches water clearence at the top of the tank and run two internals on opposite sides with spraybars pointing directly down. Something like the larger versions of this filter (resun magic flows, or modified king 2L or a similar make) ... http://s14.invisionfree.com/RECICHLIDUS/index.php?showtopic=11 ..This method would give you high g/lph but direct flow downward as you don't have enough width to run an internal with much flow rate (max head distance).

Alternately run a canister. 



> I think they rely on gravity for the water intake and a propellor which spits the water back out.


Get a self priming canister and it will pull the water no problem in my opinion. The impeller in a canister works to both push the water back into the tank and draw the water from the tank (through syphon but not relying on gravity). 



> It'd just involve a pump gathering water from my aquarium, into some sort of smaller tank which would contain the same filtration media as whats in a cannister?


A sump set-up is gravity fed and would work on a tank like that well except is going to look pretty ugly sitting on your floor seeing as there's not much space to house it anywhere else (like within the stand on a normal tank). Lot's of people use them on FW tanks and have written DIY's on different set-up's. If searching for idea's on the net search 'freshwater wet dry sump' and you'll get a heap of plans.



> The other thing is, gravel vacumming. How the would I vacuum that gravel ?


You could get the longest grav. vac you can and then electrical tape a plastic rod/stick to the main cylider of the vac to give you something to hold allowing you to move the vac around and push into the gravel easily without needing 3 foot long arms  .


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## polerz (Jan 23, 2006)

THanks for that reply, what about my idea of having a seperate tank, which would take water from the aquarium, then a canister hooked up to that tank pumping the water back into the aquarium.

Another thing, do you know which canisters on this site http://www.theaquariumshop.com.au/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=21&cat=Canister+&+External are self priming? So that it could draw water out of a tank as well as pumping it back in?
Thanks again


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

polerz said:


> Another thing I was thinking of, is getting a pump to pump water into a smaller tank, which would have a separating wall in the middle of it. Putting a cannister to draw water from one side of the wall, and pumping it back into the other side. Then the pump would take that new clean water and pump it back into the aquarium.
> 
> Suggestions please!!
> 
> This tank is a nightmare. My stupid old man got me it


It would be difficult-to-impossible to get multiple pumps coordinated. If each one didn't pump at EXACTLY the rate, it would overflow. A normal wet-dry, sump filter, using syphon action from tank to filter and a pump return would work-if you could get the syphon going to start with.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

3 meter hoses make for a lot of water resistance, and that would slow down your pump and eventually possibly even burn it up from overwork. Not a great idea.

If it were me, I would either build some sort of box onto the wall next to the tank which would hold & hide the filter, or make a new top for the tank which was a lot bigger and able to hold & hide the filter within it.

Oh, and ron v called it; never, ever try to rig up a system which uses two or more pumps to move water through it. It's impossible to get them to STAY coordinated once you finally do get them coordinated, and before you know what happend your room is flooded and your tank is drained.


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## IloveCichlids (Jul 11, 2005)

Neat tank but a bit impractical, I like TOS's idea of building some thing on the wall to hide the filter. That is a great tank for a colony of Angels. Good luck cleaning it though. Let us know what you come up with. How tall is it and how many gallons does it hold?


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## IloveCichlids (Jul 11, 2005)

I would also think you would need some internal powerheads situated on the bottom to move some stagnant water to the top.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

How about an air powered sponge filter. Hide it behind a rock or something. This tank would be a great focal point in your room. The bubbles from a sponge filter may even add to the looks. The "footprint" is small. Looks like not much bigger that a 10 gal. So stocking would need to be lite. Maybe a single angelfish or a pearl gourami and a colony of corys.


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## fnesr (Jan 25, 2006)

> Another thing, do you know which canisters on this site http://www.theaquariumshop.com.au/s...er+&+External are self priming? So that it could draw water out of a tank as well as pumping it back in?


Both the aqua-one's and fluval's will draw as well as return. If you were worried about obtaining the height on the return you could allways sit a canister on something so it sits around the same height as your stand. Most of my canisters though are positioned on the floor which means the return runs about 1.5 - 2 meters in an upward direction so you wouldn't have a great deal of problems in my opinion. The aqua-one canisters aren't bad and a lot cheaper then fluval. I run some similar canisters 'pro-aqua 15's' and haven't had any problems with them.


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## MYGOBYRULES (Dec 31, 2005)

sell it on aquabid. Buy another tank with profits.


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## polerz (Jan 23, 2006)

after doing a heap of research and many nights thinking about it, I've finally purchased a cannister filter and managed to place it so it doesnt look _that_ bad around the tank.

My last concern is, should the intake be at the bottom of the tank, and the output at the top? or does it not matter where the input/output tubes return to into the tank? Atm I have them sitting pretty much side by side at the same level in the tank (coz I dont have anymore tubing to extend it further). I have drawn it here, along with my other filtration equipment currently in the tank (two fluval 4 internal power filters, and two air stones at the bottom of the tank).

Diagram below:
http://members.iinet.com.au/~polerz/pics/untitled.jpg
Thanks for all your help guys, I couldnt of done it without you!


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## IloveCichlids (Jul 11, 2005)

How tall is this tank? How many gallons does it hold?


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## polerz (Jan 23, 2006)

bout 5ft, and about 450L


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## IloveCichlids (Jul 11, 2005)

I would suggest a powerhead or two in the bottom to get stagnate water to the top where you intake is.


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## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

ron v said:


> How about an air powered sponge filter. Hide it behind a rock or something. This tank would be a great focal point in your room. The bubbles from a sponge filter may even add to the looks. The "footprint" is small. Looks like not much bigger that a 10 gal. So stocking would need to be lite. Maybe a single angelfish or a pearl gourami and a colony of corys.


I think a tall tank holding a gourami OR corys is a bad idea.

Gouramis generally live in the middle and bottom areas of the tank. But gouramis have to go to the top to get air for their labyrinth organs. It would be a pain for them...

plus the cories go to the surface and swallow bubbles of air too..


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## Guest (Feb 9, 2006)

Actually I would slap an undergravel filter in that tank run a LONG one inch lift tube up to the top and whip a strong (say 800 gallons per hour) power head on it. I think that would work fine. Also you can order a long syphon tube from Python products, I know I had them send me a 4 foot tube to me once to clean this beast-


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

micstarz said:


> I think a tall tank holding a gourami OR corys is a bad idea.
> 
> Gouramis generally live in the middle and bottom areas of the tank. But gouramis have to go to the top to get air for their labyrinth organs. It would be a pain for them...
> 
> plus the cories go to the surface and swallow bubbles of air too..


....I agree. Bad idea!!!!


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