The Planted Tank Forum banner

180 Gallon 6x2x2 Community Tank??

5K views 31 replies 15 participants last post by  Nanook 
#1 ·
I am wanting to get an Oceanic 180g tank, oak stand and oak canopy (non-reef-ready). I am wanting to use two Eheim 2128 filters for the tank and have a tank of community fish. I do want to have plants, but not a crazy amount, just enough to make the tank look good and give the fish some cover.

Here are some of the fish I want to keep:

Pearl Gourami
Clown Loaches
Moonlight Gourami
Paradise Fish
Angelfish
Silver Shark
Banded Rainbow
Rummy Nose Tetras
Long Fin Rosy Barbs
Pictus Catfish
Fancy pleco species to be determined

I am wanting to have a nice, large community fish tank with plants, but main emphasis on the fish. I really want the plants for more nutrient control and natural habitat...I do not care for fake plants at all. That said, I don't want to use CO2 or high powered lighting. I am not opposed to using Fluorite for the base, or river gravel and Fluorite. I just don't want to have to trim plants and change water on a weekly basis. I am looking at more of a monthly waterchange with minimal pruning, if any. Can I get your thoughts?

Thanks,

Dave
 
See less See more
#27 ·
:cool: :biggrin:

Thanks for the reality checks! Seriously, reefkeeping has given me a lot of Xenia that I trade in at the LFS for store credit. I have extra goodies lying around just waiting to be used! I guess water changes for drygoods would be a great trade, but getting back and forth from Spain would be costly :hihi:

Also, I forgot to throw this tidbit out there, my tank is 375 gallons, 8ftx30inx30in. I was going to make this tank a reef tank initially, but decided that one big reef (my 5ftx5ftx30in) would be more than I could handle adequately. I was going to buy a 180g tank for this project, but decided to use the 375g tank instead.

So, for lighting needs, would you still recommend the T5's with a 30" tank?

I guess I will pay the $12 to learn about the Estimate Index Method. I guess I need to buy my fluorite and start reading. I have a regular 46x24x24 sump right now with no bioballs...just a plain sump. I was going to have a wet-dry filter made, but I think this sump will suffice.

Thanks for the replies.

Dave
 
#28 ·
Nanook said:
:cool: :biggrin:

Also, I forgot to throw this tidbit out there, my tank is 375 gallons, 8ftx30inx30in...I was going to buy a 180g tank for this project, but decided to use the 375g tank instead.
OK...375G...I've just had to pick myself up from the floor here...triage, please...Incredible tidbit.

Er..um..this is uncharted territory. Certainly no man has gone here before. My gut feeling though is that your 8 T5 bulbs would be perfect for low tech. True, it's a 30 inch depth but remember to subtract 4 inches due to the gravel so the distance to the gravel surface is really more like 26 inches. If you recalculate the wpg, taking into account the extra 50% output of the T5 you get 650w(equivalent)/375G=1.7wpg.

I don't know the geometry of your gear but the only concern is how to distrubute the bulbs properly so that you get more or less even lighting across the 8 feet of Missouri River.


Nanook said:
I guess I will pay the $12 to learn about the Estimate Index Method. I guess I need to buy my fluorite and start reading...
Attaboy, you'll be able to recalculate the nutrient requirements and there are some very informative articles released each month that take some effort to digest but are well worth the effort. There's no other way, read, read, read...

The existing sump should be fine. Some people use sponges but the bioballs would be just as good if perhaps a bit more noisy.

Cheers,
 
#29 ·
I don't think anyone's mentioned it, but a tank that size and that deep (of which, yes, I am insanely jealous :wink: ) could be rather difficult to plant and maintain those plants, no? Try to envision yourself leaning over to reach to the bottom of that 30" deep tank, try to envision reaching to the back of it. Will you have access to it from all sides so you don't have to lean over to reach way to the back? Things to think about before and during setting it up, I'd think. Not meant to be discouraging, as I think this would be awesome if you can pull this off :proud: just things you might want to really consider and plan for before jumping off the deep end (pun intended). Good luck! :fish:
 
#30 ·
Yes, the tank is accessible from back and front. I am in the process of building the equipment room around the tanks, so in effect, they will be in-wall tanks with a decent sized room behind them. I am 6'5" tall and have really long arms too, so I can reach the tank easily with the 4" substrate especially. As it is now, I can touch the bottoms of the tank and pick things up off the glass, but just barely.

Thanks for the insight. I think the Swords would look good on the back, so that just leaves the front and middle areas to work with.

Dave
 
#31 ·
Nanook,

A 375 gal with your goals and requirements can be achieved and successful.
the main thing you will want to consider is CO2.

Adding CO2 does not mean you must trim more and dose more etc.
Plant choice alone can greatly reduce the need for pruning.

I'd suggest a lot of branchy wood with moss, Java fern, Bolbitus, Aunbias etc attached. these grow slow, are tough and folks will buy them as you prune the excess.

I'd use a sump.

I'd also plumb a water change hose in/out for the tank. This, I can promise will make any need for the water change a much less heinous task.

It might cost you 10-30$, but do it.
Have a fill valve you can turn on/off right there at the tank and a drain with a screen on it in the tank.

I routinely change a 350 gal tank each week, takes me about 2 hours a week with high light plants/CO2 etc.

I have two dosing pumps to add the ferts, so I only fill them up once a month or so.

While draining/filling, I trim and prune, wipe the glass.

Most Crypts will get about 20-30" tall, like balansae, spiralis etc, these make good back ground weeds.

You can likely do water changes once every 2 weeks with fairly good results.
EI is not required to do weekly water changes, but folks having troubles or those that want to keep on top of things real well can do it weekly.
With slower growing species/tanks, less light etc, the upkeep is not as critical.

As you gain experience, you can parlay out the water changes.

But.........most folks do better by keeping up on things.
It's a bit more about personal human behavior than the plants.

PPS can be done, it's not an alternative to water changes, nor is EI suggesting you must do weekly water changes. It requires more chemical knowledge, a battery of test kits that need to be also calibrated, filling out your test results into Excel spreadsheets etc.
I did this years ago and do it when I have a question, but I am long since tried of testing as a matter of a routine. I have better things to do with my time.

It's far from simple and when things go sour, you default to EI+ waterr change anyway. PPS does provide a narrow range of nutrients if you test regularly. But you don't gain anything in terms of plant growth rate or health.

Folks use to add nutrients and test prior to EI(maybe 5-8 years ago), many folks had algae problems, few had any clue as to why they had certain species of algae, everyone of them had trouble figuring out how to calibrate the test kits, did not want to be bothered with all that testing, data collection. I use to tell folks to test for NO3 and maintain a range of 5-10ppm. I suggested a K+ level of 20-30ppm, Fe at 0.5-1.0ppm, PO4 at 0.5--1.0ppm and a GH of at least 3-5 degrees. This is not different from PPS. I suggested water changes more than PPS did though. Everyone did this, many had algae issues till they added more CO2, PO4 etc.

I figured out you did not need the test kits at all to hit these ranges.
In order to come up with EI, I had to do the PPS and explore the ranges needed for both the plants and the algae.

So when someone says PPS is new, I tell them it's reinventing the wheel.
EI is new and has helped just about anyone to grow a mean planted tank with minimal skill and chem knowledge and not a single test kit.
Observation of the plants and water changes can solve a great deal and simplify your life.

We have done it in the past for a long time.
Yes , it does work but requires a much steeper learning curve, cost more for the test kit etc.

Basically it's a much harder sell to the public and makes solving your problems much more difficult as well.

That's not going to get more folks into this hobby, that much I can tell you.

Many don't get into the hobby to test, they want a simple way to grow their plants without all the chemistry/testing and associated cost.

EI is very simple. Water changes prevent any build up, frequent dosing prevent anything from running out.
You can test and adjust the EI routine to meet whatever requirements you want, likewise you can test just one parameters with PPS amd do weekly water changes as well.there is no rule about water changes.
I can go a long time without water changes using EI also.
I do not suggest foklks do, but as they gain experience, they can and then use test kits to make sure they get too far off base.
Is that PPS or EI?

Who knows....using test kits is not the exclusive domain of PPS, that much I can assure everyone.

For your tank:
Make sure the overflow spill over in the prefilters is only about 3-4 inches, raise the standpipe spill over to accomplish this.

Seal the dry section so no gas/CO2 or O2 get in/out.

Get at least 3-5" of flourite or onyx sand etc, Discus will likely do a better with Flourite.

Add mulm/peat to the bottom and then cap with the flourite etc.

Plumb the water change valves directly to the sump area.
Add heaters and CO2 reactor to the pump area.
Add CO2 only during the day.

Add about 2 w/gal of light 10-11hours a day.

Let me know if you want to use CO2 or not.

Regards,
Tom Barr

3rd annual Plant Fest July 8-14th 2005!
subscribe@BarrReport.com Get connected
www.BarrReport.com Get the information



 
#32 ·
Thanks everyone for the detailed help in this thread!! I am actually starting to feel like I can do this tank. Although I have a lot of reading to do it appears.

Adding CO2 does not mean you must trim more and dose more etc.

OK, that is good to know. I was afraid that the addition of CO2 would accelerate things to the point of frequent prunings, adding high light to keep things balanced, etc. I really don't want to have green pea soup or experience some of the algae problems I have had in the past when failing with planted setups.

I'd suggest a lot of branchy wood with moss, Java fern, Bolbitus, Aunbias etc attached. these grow slow, are tough and folks will buy them as you prune the excess

OK, I will start scoping out some of the stores for branchy wood. Is it recommended to buy the wood that has the metal or concrete plate on the bottom for stability?

I'd use a sump.
I'd also plumb a water change hose in/out for the tank. This, I can promise will make any need for the water change a much less heinous task.

This is doable! I have a nice 46x24x24 sump with a 3/4" bulkhead towards the bottom that would work fine for attaching a water change outlet.

I routinely change a 350 gal tank each week, takes me about 2 hours a week with high light plants/CO2 etc.

How many gallons are we talking about changing weekly on this "96x30x30" tank, or 375g?

EI is not required to do weekly water changes, but folks having troubles or those that want to keep on top of things real well can do it weekly.

This is encouraging, I will strive for weeklys. I did a little reading on your website and think the EI sounds like the easiest method I have read about so far. I am concerned about the costs of replacing nutrients on a tank this large though, any idea what I could be looking at monthly for nutrient replaceement?

I have to go now, but will come back later with more questions/thoughts. Thanks a lot for all the help.

Dave
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top