# In tank planted sump filter.. It's finaly happening..



## zozo (18 Jan 2017)

Since i'm a huge fan of planted filters, because in the garden it has prooven to me many times they are unbeatable without a doubt.. I'm kinda brainstorming quite some time how to make this work indoor with an aquarium.. And this with the least of fuss and as eastheticaly as possible.. Till now i only could come up with ideas enough but all would be external setups taking up space and constructional addaptions.

Now lately i saw a video from tha King Of DIY dude from Canada.. And he shows how to make an in tank sump filter at the side panel of the tank as you would do with a matten filter setup. But different.


The idea is realy briliant at least for tanks of demensions allowing this space to be taken. Anyway for people into using matten filter principle this is something realy worth looking into and to consider..

But this made me think of using the backside of the tank instead and than make it a planted sump setup. It doesn't need to be a very wide area depending on the pump size used i guess 10 to 15 cm will be more then enough.

So i made a little simple drawing to give the idea an image. Constructionaly it is excactly the same as in the video.



 

If you look at the image and the water buffer compartiment, this will actualy be the one fluctuating in water level.. This way with keeping the water level as low as possible in this compartiment it also can function as a kind of wet and dry filtering.. In my idea (front view) i placed a dividing wall as overflow in the planted bio media compartment to keep water standing bellow in the media only put drainage in the low left corner, where it drains into the water buffer compartment.. I think like this the media will be used as optimaly as possible.

But it is this what i'm yet not sure about.. I'm kinda convinced this idea will work.. What i'm yet not convinced about, is what is the best way to drain the biomedia compartiment..

If i triggered you curiousity and fantasy with this emersed planted filter idea.. Please share your thoughts.. How would you contsruct this? Or change my idea?


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## ian_m (18 Jan 2017)

This is exactly what the AquaOne Nano (55 litre) does. It has x10 pump (550l/hr) pump located in rear of tank perfect for CO2 injected high tech.

http://www.aquaone.co.uk/aquanano.php

Many people here have used these tanks. If I had more time this would be my shrimp tank of choice.


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## zozo (18 Jan 2017)

Indeed, no you say so i remember seeitn these tanks before from front view.. Never realy bothered to search for a backside look.

This is an aquanano 60.. It is the same principle..  Thanks for sharing that ian_m..   And for people wanting open top with emersed growth it's ideal with soem addaptions to sufficiently use it and pimp it to the max.. Instead of hanging all kinds of bathroom soap holder stuff as planted substrate containers in the tank.


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## BettsBP (19 Jan 2017)

What plants and substrate would you use in this system


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## zozo (19 Jan 2017)

BettsBP said:


> What plants and substrate would you use in this system


Anything inert an porous would be ok. Used different types over the years. Last summer i used sintered (fritted) glass in a planted pond filter outdoor and it grew plants like a charm. I had rotala's, cyperus, lileaopsis, hydrocotyl in it and all grew very well.. Indoor i would put plants in it growing all year long without much trouble.. Hydrocotyl, lileaopsis, echinodorus, hygrophilla, cyperus and pogostemon does, at least these i still have growing emersed above the aqauriums at the time.. I beleive there are many more i haven't tried yet..  Best guess, if a plant capable of growing emersed does easy in low light submersed, it probably will do good emersed all year long.. For example Rotala is flaged as medium and indeed i grew it all summer long emersed and it hates the winters low light and withers away. All tho must admit pogestemon stellata prove me wrong, it is flaged as advanced and still is growing happily emersed right now, so there definitively are exeptions.


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## zozo (18 Feb 2018)

My best friends daughter wants a new, bigger and open top tank preferably with a lot of emersed plants, with a complete new hanging LED fixture above it. And of course Uncle M is victimized to make it all happen. Well ofcourse i can't help also thinking a bit what's in it for myself and taking advantage of the situation .. Proposed this concept and without much tought i got a enthousiastic green light to go for it.. 

It will becomme and 80cm (L) x 48cm (W) x 35cm (H) Optiwhite glass aquarium with the above buildin planted sump filter at the back. Low maintenance low energy setup. Had enough time since opening this thread to think about the final design of the plant holding area. And changed a bit..

It will get an overflow drip pipe above the planted filter area and a complete perforated bottom. This to optimize the wet and dry capacity.






For the lights i decide to go on with these 12 volt COB LED units..
https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/cob-led-alu-mecanno-style-light-stand.50248/
ALready in use since June 2017 on my test setup and prooved beeing worth wile. She already has the TC420 running, so that's half the work. It will be simmular, with aluminium and acrylic and hanging instead.. 

Interested? Stay tuned, starting soon..


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## webworm (18 Feb 2018)

Be interested to see how this works out. I know Innovate marine do a similar 'sump in the rear' design

http://www.innovative-marine.com/nuvo-aquarium/sr-80.html 
http://www.innovative-marine.com/nuvo-aquarium/sr-80.html


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## zozo (18 Feb 2018)

webworm said:


> Be interested to see how this works out. I know Innovate marine do a similar 'sump in the rear' design
> 
> http://www.innovative-marine.com/nuvo-aquarium/sr-80.html
> http://www.innovative-marine.com/nuvo-aquarium/sr-80.html



Thanks for sharing.. There definitively is something to look into..


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## zozo (14 Mar 2018)

Ordered the glas today at the shop.. 8mm Optiwhite. Cost € 117,-  cut to size. That's a pretty price for such a dimension 80x48x35cm tank. That almost equals a standard Green aqua 90P going for € 300,- But that would need to ordered in eastern europe. The rest i can find goes €400 and plus local pickup by yourself.

So for a DIY + €10 kit i can be pretty happy.. Tho it's non polished sides, i lookad at a showroom display show case that was polished and it actualy is a minor improvement.. Cost would €10 p/metre for polishing, counting all sides that would be 5 metre polishing. making it €167 polished.. But i decided to safe this €50.

Kitted a few tanks by now and if done properly it's all over less than an hour work for a non professional. That's 10 minutes applying masking tape, 12 minutes kitting and 5 minutes test filling and 40 minutes cleaning 24 hours later.

Not a bad profit for an aquarium builder averagely sold for € 400. Building a tank a day with that is quite a nice monthly wages..


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## sciencefiction (15 Mar 2018)

The problem with planted filters is that the plant roots can clog the media and cause overflow. I did it twice on my trickle filter in the past. I'd rather have the plant rooted in a pot that you can easily remove for maintenance of the main media, or at least make sure the filter can't overflow, as it will happen eventually...I love the general idea though.


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## zozo (15 Mar 2018)

sciencefiction said:


> or at least make sure the filter can't overflow



This..  Is always a pre whit any kind of sump, planted or not.

All tho i do not realy see that happening that fast.. Since looking at my own sump how and where the water flows and drains down the media. Most if it, what overflows into the media and is not trickling, runs along the side down.. And actualy there are 4 sides 360° around.. roots do not attach to glas or acrylic. So there will always be a drain capacity along the sides where plants do not attach roots. It's playing with flow and drain capacity.  Since this can be unpredictable dynamic it surely will a prevention needs to be build in, that indeed the diagram above doesn't show.

In this one it does, red arrow..


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## Edvet (15 Mar 2018)

Should word. Will it be on a separate pump ? or will it be all the filtration?


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## zozo (15 Mar 2018)

Edvet said:


> Should word. Will it be on a separate pump ? or will it be all the filtration?



I'm not exactly sure what you mean. But this as drawn will be all the filtration there is. The sump principle but build in the tank.. Should be sufficient.. Roughly calculated  it will have about 10 litre planted biomedia. +/- 50 x 10 x 20 cm is the planted buckets dimension. For a total 134 litre volume that should be more than enough..  Also tossing the largest part of filter sponge go for a filter sock.


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## Edvet (15 Mar 2018)

Was wondering what the speed through the sump is, i think you'll want to keep it slow.


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## Gill (15 Mar 2018)

I like these in tank sumps. Had one on a Nano Dymax cube. And found they work really well. And can be modded to your needs. Have fun with this, will be interesting to follow.


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## zozo (15 Mar 2018)

Edvet said:


> Was wondering what the speed through the sump is, i think you'll want to keep it slow.


Looking at my current sump design i have in use bellow my low tech, it actualy runs at 2 speeds so to say.. And i took the same design for this.

I'll try to explain, the second chamber in the diagram has a trickle pipe (spraybar) connected. Obviously this trickle pipe has a X l/h volume pass through. this pipe will trickle the water over the media over several outlets over it intire lenght..

What this pipe doesn't swallow will overflow over the top of the baffle from the media compartment and run down along the side of the media down into the buffer zone, like a waterfall. This way i'm not realy flow restricted to the pipes capacity. And the water still also will constantly trickle at the given speed the pipe allows. The pipe wont be glued in, so i can take it out and modify it on the fly to tune it's best speed. So yet i have no idea about the best hole diameter should be.. I think i strat with a 6mm and can make it bigger if needed.

Still waiting for the glass to arive, so building the sump part is still far away and still brainstorming about design possibilities. Might create extra baffle in the biomedia part. Someting like an area where that so called waterfall will run to place a ceramic ring or bioball compartment to create a faster flow through. Than it has a fast flowing turbo coarse media compartment and slow trickling planted fine media compartment.

In diagram it would look like this.




Anyway in this principle water turning over 24/7 finaly all water will finaly equaly trickle slow as fast flow over the baffle. Since it is actualy masively oversized with 10 litre biomedia to filter a 134 litre i have plent of room to play. And for 134 litre low tech i think i go for a 600/1100 L/h Eden pump. And guess at the slowest speed 600L/h  is likely enough. But if i can make swallow the total 1100L/h trunover wouldn't be bad even tho likely wont need it.. I have to see how the overflow from tank to sump performs, that's my limiting factor.


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## zozo (15 Mar 2018)

Here i made a small video with narrative explaination and how the concept works real time. This way it possibly is easier to understand... So the above is not a theory, i have something simular already succesfully running quite some time.

Excuse my Dunglish and beer with me it's my first time ever narrating a video.

Anyway this is how it works, the above will work with some minnor improvements and of course lots bigger emersed plants.


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## zozo (13 Jun 2018)

Slowely but steadily getting there.. Building for my mates daughter and daddy is a bussy Yuppy, wants everything but laks the time.  So it took him about 3 months to find 30 minutes time to help me to kit the darn tank together. Unbelievable!!.. Anyway it's glued yesterday and looking good.

80x48x35 x 8mm optiwhite




2mm minimalistic kit beat in the corners.. Still need to clean the outside spils with a razor. It's better to wait a few days to cure the kit. Cutting fresh kit makes a mess..




The dimensions are actualy pretty nice.




But it's going to loose about 8 to 10 cm width for the build in filter at the back.. Still is about 80x40x35cm volume left, still a nice dimension to work with.. First a few days curing, a test fill, of which i'm not realy afraid.. Than it's time to get the black 6mm thick acrylic panel and pieces to build the filter part.. I ordered some excisting filter stuff from Inovative marine Aqua gadgets filter parts doing exactly what i want it to do.. The filter sock and the filter gaurd to protect the overflow from suking in critters. So no need to reinvent the wheel..  To give you an idea where i'm going with this, i taped it to the glas.





On to the next step.. If you ask me, can't be soon enough, realy excited to finish this project. And actulay see it work from a technical aspect. But having a yup as helping hand definitively delays things. Sorry for that..


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## Tim Harrison (13 Jun 2018)

Not bad at all; a very neat job


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## zozo (13 Jun 2018)

Tim Harrison said:


> Not bad at all; a very neat job



Thanks you Tim..
Well to be honest, there is one little flaw i'm not happy with. I didn't show.  Lukily, it's the backpanels bottom corner at the bottom panel.  I fixed and it aint a problem it's mainly aestetic looking awfull. But when it's finnished nobody will ever see it. It's to the wall behind the filter panel.


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## zozo (13 Jun 2018)

Another issue i'm not yet decided about is the filter gaurd i'm planning to use.. It hooks to the backpanel.. But is designed for 4mm panel.





Now i'm bit in dilemma, i wanted t make the filter panels out of 6mm acrylic.. And in doubt if 4mm would be enough, if it isn't i have a problem.. If i use 6mm i need to think of something to get this 4mm hook to a 6mm panel.. It's made rather minimalixtic, can't route the hook any bigger.. Still brainsorming about that one.. Might need to route the panel at the top side to 4mm thiknes so the hook fits.

Every negative has a possitive, a yup with little time for helping, at  least gives me time to think and find the best solution....


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## tam (13 Jun 2018)

This is very cool. She's very lucky to have such a skilled builder on hand! I was thinking of a tank with a row of HOB filter/breeder boxes on the back to use as planters to avoid having them in the tank overhanging, but this is much neater.

On your hook, I'd just take a saw to the back vertical piece and then add my own extension.


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## zozo (13 Jun 2018)

Thank you Tam..  


tam said:


> On your hook, I'd just take a saw to the back vertical piece and then add my own extension.



That could be an option i thought about. There is black plastic corner profile to find in some hardware stores.. Or drill a few 1mm holes and and pin (dowel) it.
But still in dilema if i should go for 4mm acrylic panels instead.. The filterguard is a professional gadget from excisting builds, they use 4mm too. So  might be just paranoia with the idea it aint enough..  The 6mm idea alsi is more aimt eastheticaly, i have the idea 4mm will look to flimsy on the 8mm glas. 



tam said:


> I was thinking of a tank with a row of HOB filter/breeder boxes on the back to use as planters to avoid having them in the tank overhanging, but this is much neater.


Have you ever seen these? It might just be what your looking for.. With some minor modifications or depending tank size it could be placed on top instead of inside.


 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-6-Grids-...m=352244963959&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851


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## zozo (13 Jun 2018)

tam said:


> She's very lucky



And btw, that's both sides of the coin, i'm equaly lucky. Having guinea pigs at hand i can experiment and test drive my crazy idaes on without it costing me a dime. Even better i'll get a free dinner out of it as well.  That's a win win for both. Daughter happy, i'm happy, daddy is paying..


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## zozo (19 Jun 2018)

look before you leap... Most interesting job in the project.. 8 x 48 holes..  I'm holestruck.. The worst of all, nobody will see it when its done..


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## lazybones51 (19 Jun 2018)

zozo said:


> look before you leap... Most interesting job in the project.. 8 x 48 holes..  I'm holestruck.. The worst of all, nobody will see it when its done..


Couldn't have been much fun doing all of those holes freehand!


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## zozo (19 Jun 2018)

The first 100 are a pain, feeling like an endless task.. But than autopilot and routine kicks in.. The majority is 3mm, than i could kept the drill running and with a sharp wood drill bit the drills weight was enough to push through. Looking at the clock is still did it pretty fast... But for now i'm done with holes for a while, feel like a robot and need a hole break..


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## lazybones51 (19 Jun 2018)

zozo said:


> The first 100 are a pain, feeling like an endless task.. But than autopilot and routine kicks in.. The majority is 3mm, than i could kept the drill running and with a sharp wood drill bit the drills weight was enough to push through. Looking at the clock is still did it pretty fast... But for now i'm done with holes for a while, feel like a robot and need a hole break..


Do you know anybody with a pillar drill you could use, would make it a lot less tedious if you've got more to do.


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## Edvet (19 Jun 2018)

Building a new DIY LED?


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## zozo (19 Jun 2018)

lazybones51 said:


> Do you know anybody with a pillar drill you could use, would make it a lot less tedious if you've got more to do.



No actualy i don't..  But than again if i have to drive an hour back and fort to the pilar drill than i'm faster by hand as i did now. But i definitively need one, especialy if drilling holes verticaly straight is required. Did this also by hand, can be done, but sometimes i slip. I have been looking around to buy a used one myself. They are not that expensive, but i'm still waiting to find the time to make room in the shed.  My problem is i suffer from collecteritis, i guess i need room for another shed.. 



Edvet said:


> Building a new DIY LED?


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## lazybones51 (19 Jun 2018)

zozo said:


> No actualy i don't..  But than again if i have to drive an hour back and fort to the pilar drill than i'm faster by hand as i did now. But i definitively need one, especialy if drilling holes verticaly straight is required. Did this also by hand, can be done, but sometimes i slip. I have been looking around to buy a used one myself. They are not that expensive, but i'm still waiting to find the time to make room in the shed.  My problem is i suffer from collecteritis, i guess i need room for another shed..


I also suffer with a serious case of collecteritis, you can't move in my shed, garage... loft


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## Djoko Sauza (19 Jun 2018)

Is that the drainage for the bio-media compartment? Are you going to silicone the acrylic together or use cement?


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## zozo (19 Jun 2018)

Diogo Sousa said:


> Is that the drainage for the bio-media compartment? Are you going to silicone the acrylic together or use cement?



Yes that's the bottom panel of the planted media compartment (The 50x9 in the bellow diagram.. I'll solvent weld (cement) it in place and since i can't make a tryout for checking if the welds are water tight i also apply silicone kit in the corners as sealant.  I need to kit it to the tanks glas back and bottom panel anyway..




The measurments listed are what i ordered. I need to cut some to proper length and need the spares for other purpose. Need to glue in a few bumbers for the filtersock to stay in place.


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## Djoko Sauza (19 Jun 2018)

Looks great, once I have time I'll build something very similar, only for a tall tank, perhaps 35x35x45.

I'm totally sold on the built in planted sump. Probably I'll try to cut an overflow weir on the acrylic instead of using a guard+filter sock. And then water would flow straight into a coarse sponge. Just seems like it wouldn't clog so easily, but I don't really know since I never used filter socks before.

Keep us updated, this is great!


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## zozo (19 Jun 2018)

Diogo Sousa said:


> but I don't really know since I never used filter socks before.



Me neither i have no filtersock experience.. It's a 200 micron i'd put it under the tap to check and the through flow is pretty strong. Tap fully open and the water runs through as if there is no restriction.. Ofcourse it slowly will clog and reduse and thus do build in a prevention. The sock has a plastic square holder to hang it in the sump. It's 12.5 x 8 cm.. Thus i make the overflow compartment 1 cm wider 9cm. In case the sock aint replaced on time it has a 10mm gap at the top back to overflow the water if the sock ever clogs..  

If it doesn't work out as expected, no harm done, the sock can easily be replaced with a sponge..



 

It's a mater of routine and getting to know your sump when it's time to switch the sock, therefore i have 2 socks.. Switch 'm out and drop the dirty one into the washing machine. With sponge it's actualy the same, these also clog over time and need to be cleaned out. The sock probably a tad sooner since it has less surface arae..

We'll surely find out one day..


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## zozo (20 Jun 2018)

The overflow hole is cut..  No more turning back...

Placed it 5cm bellow the tanks top rim.. I only can make it bigger now.. Still have a 10mm vertical rim on the filter if needed i can use that to trim it a bit.
A bit of sanding and filing to smooth it up and it's done so far.. I actualy can not remember the last time i used this oldschool jig saw. Had to search the whole shed back and fort for it to find it. But in a way i prefer this over the electrical stuff.. It has more feeling to it, also more feeling of having adchieved something when done. 


 

First i thought should i make slids instead of 1 hole.. Next to all the extra work of drilling and sawing several slids i thought why? Do i realy need a guard behind a guard it's not building fort noks!?.. And 2 guards are 2 clog risks, so one hole it is.. I hope i made the rights choice.. Still have a second gaurd as replacement, they are only sold in sets of 2. So that comes in handy as well.




Next step glueing the bafles/deviders.


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## zozo (21 Jun 2018)

Everything welded together..  And i must say myself.. it fits like a glove.. Perfetly....



 
It has a 3mm gap all around, to inject the kit into.. And still need to buf up the vissible cut marks on the top rim.. Than it's ready for a test run.. Moment supreme, see how much flow i can push trough it.. I enthousiaticaly start with a 600/1100l/h pump to see where it ends.. I guess 600l/h shouldn't be an issue..

The trickle tube is just an example, i still need to make it.. There are also 2 x 10mm open hole behind the trickle tube, in case the 25mm trickle tube alone doesn't provide.. If it does, i can decide to plug the holes or make 'm a tad bigger.. All tis is a mystery for now.. Have to test run after it is kitted in. 




Snap shot of the welded acrylic, held it against the light and there are 0% gaps.. But still since i have to cut open a tube of kit anyway i'll place a kit seem internaly as well. Can't hurt.. And once its completely kitted in it's not accesible anymore..





Actualy funny, it shows that black actualy doesn't excist as a color, it always is a very dark pigment of brown, blue and in this case green. I already noticed with drilling that the drill chips had the same dark green color. It probably was the temperature pulling out the true pigment.. And also the welded seems the solvent used did the same, in the camera's flash light the melted acrilyc looks green. Under normal ambient light it looks just black..


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## zozo (23 Jun 2018)

All is kitted in and ready for a test run!!...

Without filtermedia it is extrmely noisy..  But it shows the concept working a lot clearer.. Pump choise is the Eden 126 800/400 l/h and it runs full power.. With an effective 100 litre aqaurium 8 x turnover for a low energy is nice..

Anyway a vid says more than a 1000 words.


So far mission accompliched..


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## zozo (25 Jun 2018)

Test run No.2  All running as expected, so i glued in the filtersock bumbers and added the media.. The choice of media is <VDL pond substrate>
The bag has an English product description, but i ddn't find ny english language website/shop about it. But it's a mix of Fritted glass granule and some other porous granlule that looks like a backed clay to me. It's developd as a pond substrate with lots of bio filtering capacity. Using it already for some years in my pond plant baskets and it's has prooven to also be a perfect plant grow medium.

Part 1 was the noisy test run, Part 2, quiet as a mouse...


I'm not the naritive type, i'm afraid i'll sound to much like Loui van Gaal  And than i would need to do all in one take or spend a lot of time edditing video's. i tried and it's definitively not my hobby.. And i also do not like to show myself in public on internet. (I do not want to startle the public with my gorgious looks ). So why all the bablling and explain things that are already explained a thousand times on youtube.

Last step, is to cover all with a black foil.. Actualy my least favorite part.. All the work and nobody will ever see it again.. ...
And than it is ready to be shipped to it's new owner to be planted and scaped.. That''ll be somewhere next month.. I absolutely try to comeback with that and show it.

Some feedback on the things a ran into and learned myself during this build.. Hilighting the little flaws and my take on how it to prevent it.  So not only myself but also you can learn from my mistakes. Would be unfair to shroud my flaws and only take the glory of the compliments. 

This was my first 8mm optiwhite glas experience.. And now i learned why these tanks actualy are so expensive if professionaly made.
Glas needs to be cut, but actualy it is more like broken than cut.. We've seen it all make an initial cut and snap the piece off. Now when it comes to glas ticker than 6 mm the chances it will snap off diagonaly are rather great. It might result into this.



Since we have 5 panels in the tank with 8 cuts in view, than we need to puzzle a bit which panel to put where and in what direction to hide it all a bit away. In this case i was lucky i could place this panel corner at the backside. The rest is rather straight. Later on a plant will hang over it anyway. And discussed the issue with the final owner and we both decided it's peanuts.. But it's definitively something to take into account before you decide to DIY a 8mm glas tank.

Preventing this, the glass cutter needs to grind and polish the edges.. Over all the pricce aint realy in the glass, the glas cut in size is about €120 to €140. That's actualy pretty cheap for a optiwhite in this dimension. But the grinding and polishing, than they need to cut the glass panels larger ofcourse and the grinding and polishing process depending on the glass shop is machine or even partialy hand work.. Time consuming and a price added per unit.. In my case per metre...

Next issue.. if you run a finger over a non polished glass edge thicker than 6 mm the cut is not only potentionaly diagonaly it's also rather bumpy.. It can have some nooks and cranies, not realy big ones but never the less a point that needs extra attention. See the first picture again it''l show if you look for it.. The glass needs to be spot on clean the tiniest speck of greas is the kits worst nightmare. Running a cloth with degreaser over a irregular surface you might not notice that you missed a small spot in a cranny.. Running over it but not in it.. . The issue is, you don't see till you applied the kit.. Once you kitted it's to late. It's show as this..


  
Again i was lucky the only corner having this is at the back panel.. the glas to glas connection is just for structural strength.. The few airbubbles in the connection don't realy weaken it. The seam making the tank waterproof is in the corner kitbeat.. So it's absolutely an easthetic flaw.. But still a nasty one.. Nothing else to do that let all fully cure and cut it all apart again and clean it and kit it all over again. Lucky break it's at the back, no one will ever see.. If it was at the front i would be realy unhappy.. How to prevent it? Simply thorougly clean the sides if necessary use a cotton ball inspect and feel the surface and find each tiny cranny and clean it out.. Or give the order to grind and polish the edges. than all will be straight and smooth and this likely will not happen.

That's why flawless professional 8mm optiwhite tanks are so pricy.. If you don't want to take risks the preparing work is quite a lot.. Taking machine/man hours that need to be paid.


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## tam (25 Jun 2018)

Looks great - those little flaws will be well hidden once setup! Amazing how quiet it is with media added - that first test would have worried me it was going to sound like a waterfall.


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## zozo (25 Jun 2018)

tam said:


> Looks great - those little flaws will be well hidden once setup! Amazing how quiet it is with media added - that first test would have worried me it was going to sound like a waterfall.



Thanks you Tam..  Yes the back and the filtersides in view will be covered with black foil. This hides everything anyway.. And indeed without media it was awfully noisy.. The girl that gets this tank on her bedromm said the same, the noise worries me.. i told she needs to get used to it or sleep in the cellar..  She yet hasn't seen the second test run. I guess till now she aint realy happy.. 

But with media added and the water level in the last compartment hiegh enough it is absolutely quiet. The trickle tube will be bellow the planted media later on. It still needs plants and it will get a top layer of those hydroculture clay pebbles. Still looking for something preferably black.. Do not know if it excists only seen them in terracota color. 

When water evaporates it will not show in the tank.. The last sump compartment will lower it's level. So once you hear water falling you know it's time to add water.. That comes in handy than you do not have to check all the time.. You'll hear it..


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## tam (25 Jun 2018)

zozo said:


> But with media added and the water level in the last compartment hiegh enough it is absolutely quiet. The trickle tube will be bellow the planted media later on. It still needs plants and it will get a top layer of those hydroculture clay pebbles. Still looking for something preferably black.. Do not know if it excists only seen them in terracota color.



Grey maybe - would make sense as some clay is grey? Otherwise would black lava rock work?


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## zozo (25 Jun 2018)

tam said:


> Otherwise would black lava rock work?



Probably..  The isue is more like availability.. You know young girls, now the end is in sight she's dancing in anticipation and it needs to be up and running, preferably yesterday.. So i guess i have to go with what's available in the local stores.. Ordering only a handfull/small bag via interent the shipping cost spoil the fun..  The only shop i know selling coarse fuji sand, thats black lava gravel.. Is in Germany.. 5 euro for a bag 14 euro shipping..

The possitive is, she has to like it, not me..  But if it were me, it needs to be black..

Maybe a layer of peat litter will do as well.. The trickle tube will be bellow it anyway..


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## tam (25 Jun 2018)

What plants do you have in mind? If they are sturdier ones you could cap with something more decorative. Slate chippings are fairly widely available from garden centres/DIY stores, well they are here: https://www.homebase.co.uk/blue-slate-chippings-midi-pack_p369423 some places you can buy by weight so very cheap for what you'd need. I think most plants would push through that ok; they are often used to top dress terrestrial plants.

You can get black glass pebbles in homewear stores (sold for putting in the bottom of glass flower vases) but I don't know if they would be aquarium safe.

Like you say, though, as long as she likes it


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## zozo (25 Jun 2018)

I already have an adiantum fern, a syngonium and a bog pimpernel as creeper.. Depending on what's available in the garden centre.. If they have in store a Spatifilum, anthurium, a parlor palm, maybe a ficus benjamin.. And possibly depends on the trends they might have some bambino fern in store.. Very small young on small pots.
And a hydrocotyl would be nice hanging over into the water.. The pimpernel does this also.. I actualy have to see the plants, find me a tray in the same dimensions 50 x 9 cm and essamble some to get a beter picture the composition possibilities and looks. I tend always to see it larger than it realy is, than i likely come home with way to may plants.

But thamx for the suggestion.. something to thinka about.. I was thinking peat t give mosses a beter chance.. But fanely, the girl is the boss.. She decides what looks best to her..


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## zozo (26 Jun 2018)

Finishing touch.. The the black window foil..  No see through what's seen from the back panel. The light above is the actual one it is going to get.




And the sides covered.. The tank that stands behind it i'm going to strip down.. And donate the light, all the plants and fish to this tank.. That will make a good already transitioned starting basis.




Even the spray bar is (partialy) DIY.. It is made actualy from several sunsun filter inflows.. This one.. Took 2 apart and modified it a bit and had to make a fitting cap at the end from the same material..



The nice part is one comes with 2 seperate tubes fitting in eachother. i drilled the holes in these..




Used 3 pieces, that can be positioned seperately spraying up or down or straight.


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## Edvet (10 Oct 2018)

Updates??
Should be running perfectly by now


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## zozo (10 Oct 2018)

Edvet said:


> Updates??
> Should be running perfectly by now



Haha.. Nope it yet isn't running at all.. The girl i build it for is a friends 16 year old daughter.. We installed the tank in her badroom a few months ago.
But girls in puberty!? And we all know puberty time is the time when parents start acting difficult. She isn't complying  to household rules at the time and making a mess.. Daddy is using the aqaurium as leverage because he's paying for it.. 

I'm still waiting for who's going to win this battle. If she looses the tank will be installed downstairs in the livingroom instead.

I do not interfare i'm just a spectator..


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## Edvet (10 Oct 2018)




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## Filip Krupa (15 Oct 2018)

zozo said:


> But girls in puberty!?



Thats another level of complexity no DIY job needs 

Good luck.
Fil


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## zozo (28 Jul 2019)

Almost forgot about it.. As said this tank stands in the bedroom from my best friends daughter. No easy access to take randowm snapshots. Few months back it was stil dry starting. These pictures taken by phone were send to me.









By now it runs flooded for 2 months.. She is yet not a champion growing plants, she kills more than she grows.. But the sump system works like a charm so far..  Next time when i visite them, i try not to forget my camera and take a few shots myself from the flooded tank..


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## Andrew Butler (11 Aug 2019)

zozo said:


> Next time when i visite them, i try not to forget my camera and take a few shots myself from the flooded tank..


I look forward to seeing it (maybe hearing it too)


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## zozo (11 Aug 2019)

Andrew Butler said:


> I look forward to seeing it (maybe hearing it too)



Look at the test run videos further up in the thread.  You can't hear it run, it's awfully quiet.
Since this tank stands in the Bedroom of a friends daughter i have yet no idea when or if i ever get the access and chance to make a video of it as it is running now.
I don't visit every day and most of the times when i visit i don't think about asking about the aqaurium. Alzheimer light i guess. The last time i saw it, it still runs perfectly as expected. Another thing is, its a teenagers bedroom, it looks most of the times as if a bom exploded in there, i guess the last thing she wants me to do is run around with a video camera and show th eresults on line..


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## Andrew Butler (7 Apr 2020)

@zozo as you know I've been messing around with an AIO for a while now and although not the way you've set about it I'm starting to think things over a bit more and wondering about filter socks and how they've worked out? Figure this could be less messy than pulling a snug fitting sponge out providing they don't block too quickly.
I've started a thread and hopefully more people have experience to share of using filter socks in a freshwater system etc.


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## zozo (7 Apr 2020)

This aquarium is not set up in my house, it's in use by a friends daughter. But afaik running great and the filter sock doesn't seem to be any problem.





They have one issue you should definitively address, it is prone to clogging if they are not cleaned properly or often enough.
And you should create an extra overflow space behind the sock, incase it slowly clogs and flowthrough restricts the water can flow freely over the sock. Lets name Emergency Overflow that takes over in case the sock clogs up, this shouldn't happen if maintained correctly but never say never.

In diagram, i made it like this. The green block is a coarse filter sponge




As said again, i'm not using this setup myself i only build it and tested it shortly. But since it is running for over a year now and i hear no complaints i assume it works like a charm..


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## Andrew Butler (7 Apr 2020)

zozo said:


> This aquarium is not set up in my house, it's in use by a friends daughter. But afaik running great and the filter sock doesn't seem to be any problem.
> 
> View attachment 133309
> 
> ...


Thanks Marcel,
I knew you weren't running it but thought you might be privy to some info.
Do you know what they see as 'often enough' - I know stocking etc makes this broad but just interested if you know of their experience.
I do wonder whether it's worth the trial and error or just go with foam and not bother faffing about, especially as there's not really any around with a very coarse grade to them - I know it's a product aimed at marines. One to think on maybe


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## zozo (7 Apr 2020)

Andrew Butler said:


> Do you know what they see as 'often enough'



No i actually don't, i never asked.. And as long i'm not asked i assume it runs as OK and as should. Tho the last time i seen it in person i noticed the sock was pretty dirty but didn't really mention it. I just thought the emergency overflow obviously works just fine.

I know from previous and personal experience in other setups that such an emergency overflow is a good thing to install. Because as you say it is broad i can not give a number. Not only stocking but also the type of sock used in Microns that go from 100μm up to 1000μm and the sooner it might clog. Amount of turn over, high flow tanks have more tiny particles in the water column. Age of the aquarium, it gets dirtier with age. All things that can make a difference.

It simply trial and error to find out per specific setup.


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## Andrew Butler (8 Apr 2020)

zozo said:


> No i actually don't, i never asked.. And as long i'm not asked i assume it runs as OK and as should. Tho the last time i seen it in person i noticed the sock was pretty dirty but didn't really mention it. I just thought the emergency overflow obviously works just fine.
> 
> I know from previous and personal experience in other setups that such an emergency overflow is a good thing to install. Because as you say it is broad i can not give a number. Not only stocking but also the type of sock used in Microns that go from 100μm up to 1000μm and the sooner it might clog. Amount of turn over, high flow tanks have more tiny particles in the water column. Age of the aquarium, it gets dirtier with age. All things that can make a difference.
> 
> It simply trial and error to find out per specific setup.


I'm thinking the most sensible thing is to stick to my original plan of foams which I can chop and change grading's until I find a balance.
Maybe just wishful thinking something could be (almost) as easy as the Fluval G6 filters I'm used to and rinsing the pre-filter weekly when I carried out a water change and that couldn't have been more straightforward.

To be honest I've no idea how often do clean sponge type filtration!?!?!? 

I'm very much an err on the side of caution man when it comes to things like this so simply getting foam cut to size and sitting it on some shelves isn't exactly hard work to rinse through.
Thanks Marcel


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