# 5ft Custom Heavily Planted Sumped Hi-Tech (450l)



## jagillham (29 Jun 2018)

New tank time! 

We've just moved house, and I've finally room for a bigger tank. The previous one was 120 (long) x 60 (tall) x 50 (width), so around 360l, with ~40l sump. As it turns out houses are quite expensive these days, I'm very much on a budget for this build. Luckily I should be able to reuse most of the gear:

- 4x 54w T5's (With reflectors)
- 40l sump with Eheim Compact 3000lph return
- Two powerheads
- Two stage CO2 injection set up (5kg FE)
- Jebao Dosing pump (for the EI)

On the old tank I had a semi automated water change set up, which I'll replicate. The old thread on that is here if you are interested (https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/my-diy-automatic-water-changes.39586/)

So, new tank is 150cm x 55cm x 55cm. This will sit on my custom made cabinet / sideboard, which is about 2.5m long.

I've gone with local eBay seller Lush_Lola for the glasswork. The tank all in is £400 delivered, which includes some modifications to my own specification. Mainly the standpipe (back right) allowing me to drain the tank, and also a very low spray bar that comes in through the bottom of the tank itself to aid with flow. Overflow is BeanAnimal style, and front glass is Optiwhite.






The base for the cupboard is 3x 800mm B&Q kitchen units. I chose these as I'm hoping having 6 narrow(ish) doors will make it look less like a kitchen side! The units are really quite chunky, and when all screwed together will be more than solid enough. Units were £33 each too, which is great value.





I've done away with the normal kitchen unit feet too, and will have just a small gap to the floor, again to hopefully look less like a kitchen.

It's quite a beast once all stuck together...





Next step is to source the top for the unit. I'm looking at Oak worktops, with ofcourse sufficient oil. I can also use this to make a lid too. I'm a little nervous about this, but it seems to work well for the AquaOak aquariums, so should be OK!


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## Barbara Turner (30 Jun 2018)

I would add some extra timber to increase the strength and spread the load, espically in the middle. 

My tank (120 x55x60) is sat on a inch thick solid oak sideboard and I still had to reinforce it with some steel. As the doors wouldn't open with the tank half full. 

I've also assembled a collection of kitchen units and broke one standing on it.. 
would I want 8 big guys standing on it, add a safety factor of 3 and you have a foot ball team.. ..Hell no.


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## jagillham (1 Jul 2018)

Thanks @Barbara Turner - have you a picture of the tank?
My current one is a Seabray Dolphin (same dimensions as yours). That is only held up by an 18mm chipboard panel at each end, and a fairly small 2x4 prop in the middle...






This new one is going to have to have 5x ~40mm supports directly underneath the tank, 7 if you include the far ends. Weight spread across the lot via a 38mm solid oak worktop.


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## Marc Davis (18 Jul 2018)

I've got an aqua oak. Great aquarium. Think I will do what you have done for the next tank though. Just build my own for half the price.


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## jagillham (19 Jul 2018)

Doors and tank arrived today!

Had to do the obligatory ‘children in tank’ photo too


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## Filip Krupa (20 Jul 2018)

Love the look of it on top of an oak worktop.
It will look great all lit up with plants inside.

Keep us posted!

Fil


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## Marc Davis (20 Jul 2018)

This looks massively effective. I might have to invest as the naughty step is getting a bit old hat for the boys now...


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## jagillham (30 Jul 2018)

Well that’s been a fun weekend...

Drilled the holes in the worktop. Last tank I did the holes too small, so really stuggled to do the connectors up. Went for 10cm diameter, managed to break my drill bit!

Fitted the tank connectors (all 5 of them!), and 4 of them leaked 

Only a small slow drip, which seemed to be coming down the threads. No idea how, they were all screwed on tight. Ofcourse then they had to be removed, which meant trying to drain the last of the water out. Took the connector out to drain the last couple of cm, which then proceeded to wick back under the tank. Not a great mix with a solid wood worktop!

So we end up with the tank up in the air on wooden blocks, fans going full whack and trying to dry out the surface.

Anyway, round two today. This time still using the rubber washer, but with silicone in the thread, on the nut and all over the top of the connector. If this leaks, I’ll be getting the hammer out!


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## jagillham (31 Jul 2018)

Second time lucky... hopefully!


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## jagillham (1 Aug 2018)

Absolutely gutted - just brought my fish across. Lost all 5 torpedo barbs within the hour, 3"-4" ones too.

Arrggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!


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## Filip Krupa (2 Aug 2018)

Whoooaaa?

Not cycled?


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## ian_m (2 Aug 2018)

jagillham said:


> Lost all 5 torpedo barbs within the hour, 3"-4" ones too.


Not cycled  No dechlorinator . Silicone with mould inhibitor 

A tank like this will be at least 8 weeks to guarantee, no testing required, it is fully cycled. Plants and dirty will help, but patience is the best method.


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## jagillham (2 Aug 2018)

ian_m said:


> Not cycled  No dechlorinator . Silicone with mould inhibitor
> 
> A tank like this will be at least 8 weeks to guarantee, no testing required, it is fully cycled. Plants and dirty will help, but patience is the best method.



Not sure where you got this from?

Silicone is tank safe variant and filter coming across is a fully cycled 45l sump. Losses were within an hour or so, so it’s not an ammonia issue anyway.


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## ian_m (2 Aug 2018)

jagillham said:


> Not sure where you got this from?
> 
> Silicone is tank safe variant and filter coming across is a fully cycled 45l sump. Losses were within an hour or so, so it’s not an ammonia issue anyway.


Dechlorinator. Some people are reporting they are seeing chloramine in their water in the hot weather.

I doubt silicone, years ago (maybe 30 odd) people used to use sanitary silicone to seal their tanks before special aquarium silicone came along and they seemed to keep fish alive.


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## jagillham (2 Aug 2018)

I take the “tap safe” point. Although I used prime within the hour.

What I don’t get is why you saying about filter and incorrect silicone when neither apply to this  build?!


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## jagillham (19 Aug 2018)

Things have settled down a bit with the tank. Managed to make the sump leak along the way (not a massive surprise given I’ve replaced 2 of the sheets of glass on that already!).

Currently everything is sat in a plastic storage container, which seems to do the trick. 



 

Loads of flow along the front glass at a low level... maybe too much judging by the sand being shifted! May have to tone that down, or bring it up higher.



 



 

Some plants have transferred between the tanks. Most the crypts melted being outside in plastic boxes for too long.

Ordered some more sand, next jobs are to fix the sump and start to do the hard scaping.


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## jagillham (9 Sep 2018)

Made a start on the hardscape, and will be using the plastic girds used to protect grass. B&Q has ‘Blooma High-density polyethylene Grass stabilisation tiles’, which as luck would have it are not buoyant. I was able to just about cut them with a Stanley knife. I’m filling them with lava rock to use up some volume, then maybe fill rest with the sand. Not 100% sure, making this up as I go along!


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## Matt @ ScapeEasy (9 Sep 2018)

Should work... you could do another layer on top of that if you want more height. Just leave the front as one layer tall so you build up the slope!


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## jagillham (9 Sep 2018)

Matt @ ScapeEasy said:


> Should work... you could do another layer on top of that if you want more height. Just leave the front as one layer tall so you build up the slope!



Oh yes don’t worry about that, I’ll be 5 or 6 high by time I’m done !


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## jagillham (9 Sep 2018)




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## rebel (10 Sep 2018)

Sorry to hear of the torpedos. Such a quick death could be due to O2?


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## jagillham (10 Sep 2018)

I think it was due to Chlorine / Chloramine poisoning  Possibly increased levels within the supply due to the heat wave.

I filled the tank up from the hose, and I don’t think I added Prime. Brought the first batch of fish across, and into the tank. Second batch, maybe an hour later, which was just a few stragglers I’d had trouble netting. Added Prime then I think, but had total wipe out of the first batch within an hour or two.


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## jagillham (11 Sep 2018)

Redid the lava rock filled mound. The grid stuff comes with a base to it, which was making it difficult to fill up the space without too many gaps. Another evening with the Stanley knife solved that one, along with attacking the rock with a hammer (out of the tank!) it to smaller pieces. I did buy 6kg of lava rock, used about 4kg already now. I’m 3 rows tall now, next rows will be smaller so I can terrace and add some plants.


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## Iain Sutherland (12 Sep 2018)

Be aware that fish and shrimp have a nasty habit of getting stuck in man made gaps.. you'll need to seal up all the gaps to save livestock.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk


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## alto (12 Sep 2018)

jagillham said:


> Lost all 5 torpedo barbs within the hour, 3"-4" ones too.



S denisonii can be uniquely sensitive fish - it’s quite possible you added Prime etc & there were no apparent issues 

They are distinctly sensitive to oxygen levels & this can be more significant in larger fish 
(I don’t recall if you transported these fish some distance or how you matched tank water parameters etc - which shouldn’t be such as issue as it’s quite possible to buy these fish in a shop, transport home etc & lose none in the process)


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## jagillham (13 Sep 2018)

First finished go at the mound done, may need to tweak it. I’m not keen on the horizon slate, but it’s covering the filter return, so I need something there.

Plan is to infill the lava rock with sand, and then plant up.


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## jagillham (2 Oct 2018)

Planted up what I had, and today had a right result on a local Facebook group. Picked up for free pretty much a bin bag full of java ferns and Anubis.

Not great news on the fish front. Went away for a week, and left neighbour feeding fish. Not sure if related, but lost nearly all the Tetra, seemed to be White Spot. Also found out my heater wasn’t working, so had to buy new one.


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## jagillham (31 Jan 2019)

Not really done anything with the tank yet, just letting it get on with it (no CO2, Ferts etc).

I think I'll clear some of the foreground out. Hopefully I'll see some the Cory's that are hiding 99% of the time!


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## jagillham (2 Feb 2019)

Sump started to leak yet again. No surprise there really, I've patched it up many times. Solution... buy a bigger tank to sit it inside! 

Picked up a 90l second hand, think it's a Fluval Roma. Good news is with the extra height I can have enough "spare" water in the sump to restart the system after power off. Like my old tank, the sump overflows into the drain to prevent flood. Also it means I can drain down the tank into the sump for the weekly water changes.

On this new one, I have 2x 21.5mm overflows into a 32mm pipe. On the old one, sometimes the single overflow got a bit overwhelmed and we got close to spilling over the top instead!

Holes drilled in the sump with the aid of a clamped wooden guide to keep the drill bit steady, and make sure both holes level.






Unfortunately the plan to drill a few holes in the old sump to allow it to also fill the new one did not quite go to plan!





So, had to bite the bullet and just remove the whole end panel instead.


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## Costa (3 Feb 2019)

How do you control the water coming down from the DT into the sump when you shut then pumps off during water changes or maintenance?


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## jagillham (3 Feb 2019)

Costa said:


> How do you control the water coming down from the DT into the sump when you shut then pumps off during water changes or maintenance?



I’ve got a double check valve (22mm) under the filter return before it enters the tank.

Have had couple times it’s not completely worked due to an MTS shell getting stuck in it, but I’m hoping having all flow into the sump via a filter sock will stop that issue.


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## jagillham (6 Feb 2019)

Plumbing completed on the sump, ready to go in:





And the sump in place:





Yet another tank nightmare, and another chance to get the floor wet!

So back when I specified the tank, I wanted it drilled for 21.5mm tank connectors. Reason being these are cheap (£3 for a pack of 5 from Screwfix!), on the inside you can use standard overflow pipe, and on the outside it has a standard sized "tap" thread, so a cheap tap connector can fix on the outside allowing you to run standard 15mm/22mm pipework on the outside. Perfect, cheap, available at big DIY shops.... easy!

Tank, much to my annoyance was drilled for 32mm pipework, and these connectors have been causing me nothing but grief since. Tank same supplied with connectors similar to this:





No use at all, as the piece on the threaded end is not compatible sized with anything... it's about 30mm. Their solution was to fudge/mod a connector to fit in this gap. Needless to say, never worked properly. Turns out these big connectors are made from Polypropylene, which is a extremely difficult plastic to bond. I filled down a connector, and tried to solvent weld it. Second time, I tried silicone. Both held to an extent, but both following a knock simply fell out.

If you ever wondered what the flow rate of a 32mm hole in the bottom of a 450l tank is.... the answer is wet! 

So, I still need to sort the pipework out for the sump properly, and I've now had to improvise a solution to hold the return pipe in place. Leaks a little, but seems to be OK for the moment.


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## jagillham (11 Feb 2019)

Opted to solve my issue with some 'Loctite All Plastics Glue'. It's superglue, but comes with a little pen like a highlighter to add to the tricky polypropylene pipe first.

Did a trial run on some spare pipe first. Good news, set very solid.... bad news.... it instantly set before I even managed to slide the parts together!!





Upon further inspection, this piece of pipe was actually not polypropylene. So rather nervously I has to test in the live environment. Either the glue would not work, or it sets in whatever position I can managed to get it in!

What I opted to do was try to superglue the top of the contact area (blue arrow), to hold it in place. But also silicone (red arrow) the base to make the water tight seal. That way I didn't need to reply on the glue to be 100% covering the diameter.



 

And................ so far it seems to have worked 

Finally I might be able to concentrate on the actual tank itself now. Got some Torpedo Line Barbs at the weekend and more Ottos. The wife is keen for some more colour, and is pressing for Guppies. I'm not so sure.... guess will see who wins that one!


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## jagillham (29 Dec 2019)

Been a long time, and the tank was completely overgrown to the point could not see the sand at all with mainly Crypts.

Massive clearout, and found 3 Corys I didn't know I still had! Pleased with the outcome, can actually see the fish. More work to do in rearranging etc, but it's a start. Ordered more sand, got some more tank mates for the Corys (managed to capture 6 in one picture), another Torpedo Line Barb & some Cherry Shrimp. Not seen much of the Cherry Shrimp... hopefully didn't come expensive fish food!


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## jagillham (14 Oct 2020)

Another long time since I posted or did much with the tank. Too much algae on the glass, normally covered in string algae, and nothing is doing much.






Decided will try to give it some love. First things first, trying to gain some height. Was a bit worried about the weight, eventually settled on some old takeaway boxes sealed with water, gaps between boxes filled with pea shingle, and then topped up with sand. Will have to keep topping the sand up for a while no doubt.  Happy with my new mound, will move some of the crypts onto there shortly.


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## jagillham (16 Oct 2020)

Not a great picture, and I also need to sort the algae on the back, but starting to figure out what I want. Next step is some kind of large bogwood piece for the middle(ish) area. I have in my mind a fairly chunky curved log that would bridge from one the the sides. Tonnes on eBay, so will keep stalking there until I find a good one. I have loads of Anubis I can attach to it already.


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## jagillham (9 Nov 2020)

eBay worked, and currently have the below piece in the tank which is about 2ft. Has mostly sank after a few hours which is good news.




I've got some vallis growing which I'll replace most of the stuff on the left with, and tonnes of anubis I'll get attached to the wood.

Once it has sunk I'll get it planted up and get some pictures up


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## jagillham (13 Nov 2020)

I got the bogwood with the idea of planting it up, but I'm not so sure now - seem to lose a lot of the visible wood doing that.

Any ideas for rearrangement or changes welcomes, the tank seems to be a bit of a mess at the moment. I do want to eventually grow big Amazon Swords behind the wood, and have some kind of carpet plant at the front. Maybe that would bring it together better.


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## PARAGUAY (13 Nov 2020)

Just a thought if want to plant up but keep the look, it's a nice piece, how about just two or three areas of moss


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## jagillham (4 Feb 2021)

Had some spare time, and the better half decided she fancies having a small tank in the front room, which gave me a bit of a kick to look at the main tank again. So we now have a 23l Fluval Edge... which is handy as I lost the guppy debate, and now have a sump full of fry!

First job was to sort out the pipe work again, petrified of knocking the return pipe and it falling out the bottom of the tank. The new brace now holds it firmly in place, so even if it decides to try to fall out it would be a small leak, rather than a catastrophic emptying! 





My no return value was also periodically not working due to trumpet snail shells making their way into it. The solution has been to put the entire return pump inside a filter bag, and also install a manual cut off so I can remove the no return valve for maintenance. The pipe work has all now also been jiggled about so it sits above the top of the sump, so that can be slid forward if needed.

Cleaning out the sump was a major pain in the backside due to all the fry I was too kind not wash away. I’ve now also redirected all the overflow pipes into another filter sock. Now I should be able to save any fry, remove the sponges, and then just use the garden hose to flood the sump to wash away all the muck into the overflow and down the drain.



Dug out all the CO2 equipment from the loft, and go the auto doser ready. Just need some bottles now, and I’m ready to EI and CO2 again.


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## jagillham (8 Feb 2021)

CO2 set up today. I’m trying to go for the atomiser in front of intake return pump solution to start with as these are the parts I have already.

Not sure how well it will work due to the limited space within the filter sock. It’s a bit of a design headache, but I have to have the turn pump within the sock to ensure no large debris can get stuck in the non return valve, or the entire tank could empty in a power cut due to the low level filter return within the tank.


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## foxfish (8 Feb 2021)

That should do it although a smaller bottle neck and lower pressure atomiser like a small air stone might give you a more compact arrangement if you need the space.
In the past I have just butted up a bottle neck to the pump and wound electrical tape over the butt joint to hold it in place.


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## Geoffrey Rea (8 Feb 2021)

Know you haven’t asked @jagillham but if you’re looking to replace your hose clamp at some point can recommend these:




Won’t rust like the current metal hose clamp, stronger than a plastic zip tie and easy to remove if you need to 😉


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## jagillham (8 Feb 2021)

Well, that was a failure on 2 counts!

Firstly the bottle created an area of focus on the filter sock, which was quickly blocking itself with sump debris.





I removed the sock, and it turns out the atomiser wasn’t close enough to get drawn into the flow anyway! 




Will have to place the atomiser literally under the intake to get it to pull in.


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## not called Bob (8 Feb 2021)

how much play is there in the pipe, the carbon dioxide will want to go up, so if you can get the pumps intake as high as possible you will be more likely to get it drawn in while you mod up a closer fitting, 

wonder if a squared container like a squash bottle would make a easier angle for the pump to draw, that one seems quite angled


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## jagillham (8 Feb 2021)

not called Bob said:


> how much play is there in the pipe, the carbon dioxide will want to go up, so if you can get the pumps intake as high as possible you will be more likely to get it drawn in while you mod up a closer fitting,
> 
> wonder if a squared container like a squash bottle would make a easier angle for the pump to draw, that one seems quite angled


That bottle is indeed a squash bottle. At the moment I've got the atomiser in the intake itself (kind of being held in place by the suction). Seems to be working OK, and not seeing too many bubbles in the main tank. I wonder though if a better atomiser, placed a little lower, would help with that more.

What I might do next is dial in the required level of CO2 for the tank, and then once that is done I can see how many micro bubble I get with that. If they are annoying, then can look at more options for dissolving the CO2 more effectively.


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## not called Bob (8 Feb 2021)

are, all ours seem to be square, my bad 

have you tried a power cycle to see what happens if you lose power for any reason?  we seem to be having so many brown and blackouts here at the moment, there’s a dope on a rope working the high-power line this evening on the latest failed bit,


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## jagillham (9 Feb 2021)

not called Bob said:


> are, all ours seem to be square, my bad
> 
> have you tried a power cycle to see what happens if you lose power for any reason?  we seem to be having so many brown and blackouts here at the moment, there’s a dope on a rope working the high-power line this evening on the latest failed bit,



It was a square one, although maybe my art skills with the scissors and drill have lost some of the shape! 

So long as the non-return valve on where the low level filter return works... then I've got no issue. If that fails, the tank will drain down (given long enough) to around 3-4 inches of water left. The sump overflows to the drains. So in theory I can't flood the room, or kill all the fish with a complete emptying.


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## foxfish (9 Feb 2021)

Smaller and shorter round bottle would perhaps work better?


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