# About flow in my 530l tank



## Rasmusm (1 Jan 2011)

Hey all
And happy new year.

Im new to this site, but I've been around for a while 
I recently bought one of the Akvastabil Mark II 530l aquariums (I am from Denmark)

Here is a small video 2 days after I filled it with water.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afCNgRw3qiw

I have the Eheim Pro3 2080 filter, and a Koralia Evolution 2800l/h power head.
But I was thinking, as you can see the inlet tubes for my filter is in both sides of the tank and the outlet is up front. Is this good or would it be better to change the position of the inlet tubes for the filter?

I'm asking because a week after I setup this tank my water still isnt clear like it use to be :/ (I had this filter on a 250l tank) Maybe its to little for this size of tank?

Could I place my powerhead more 'strategic' instead of where it is now, to like drag stuff into the filter or what will you suggest?
I havnt read much about cirkulation in a tank, other than having a big powerhead.. 
Its worth mentioning that I didnt rinse the gravel/sand or what you call it before filling the tank with water, wasnt much dust anyways from that.
I also have like 15kg of Red clay, I think thats how its spelled + 15liters of sphagnum. But its under my sand and not getting up in the water.

About the fish, theres around 20 red neon tetras and 10 corydoras sterbai, 5 otocinclus (dwarf suckers) and 2 apistogramma cacatuoides thats it.

The tank is suppose to be a planted tank (not much scaping) and not many plants yet, and only running 120w of light atm 4x30w tubes from my old aquarium, since my 4x80w T5HO tubes for my Ati power module hasnt showed up yet ..
Im running pressurized co2

Have a nice weekend,
Regards Rasmus


----------



## ceg4048 (2 Jan 2011)

Hi Rasmus,
                  Would you be kind enough to indicate your City/Country by clicking on "User Control Panel" on the upper right corner, and then clicking "Profile"?  This helps other to give you advice (or to request advice) which is appropriate for your location.

From the video, it appears that you have good flow in the tank, but then again, you hardly have any plants in there either. It's difficult to say exactly what to do until the tank is fully planted and has hardscape such as rocks or wood.

530 litres is a large tank so I really wouldn't worry too much about the lack of clarity for now. That will come in time. It doesn't help if you choose not wash your substrate.

The placement of the intake pipes will not have any real effect but the outflow has a big effect. Again, you seem to be linking placement of the pipes with water clarity which I feel is a big mistake. The placement of the pipes affect the distribution of nutrients and CO2 in the tank and that is what you should focus on not clarity.

It also appears that you have a pH controller. If this is controlling your Co2 injection then you really should think about disabling this feature as you can easily trigger algal attacks, especially if you intend to use higher lighting.

In any case you really need to get more plants in that tank as it looks like a virtual dessert. You're living in Denmark, which is the home of Tropica, the worlds foremost aquatic plant supplier. It's the UKAPS equivalent of living in the Holy Land, so this is, quite frankly, inexcusable. 

Cheers,


----------



## Rasmusm (2 Jan 2011)

Thanks for your reply ceg.
Ye its kinda empty atm. I ordered a few plants though.
Tropica had some arrangement back in november, I took a lot of pictures from there. But I was told that I shouldn't show them online  Shame because it was absolutely awesome to see the production of plants. And then to buy all the species they had hehe. Maybe the best aquarium / plant related arrangement I've ever been to! I live like 45min from them.

I dont quite get why you would disable the ph controller? Its a GHL profilux plus II. My ph value is constant at ph6.9 - 6.95 between there. And my co2 indicator is light green
Duing the nights it goes to ph7.1 - but you can say the co2 is running 24/7 with a little break at night.
My plan with the GHL computer was to be able to control the co2 injection and my light, Im thinking that I should start on 30% of light when my T5 tubes arrives. I also wanted it to control my Fertilizer.

I understand the thing about clarity, and you are right. Should focus on getting nutrients and co2 around in the tank.
Thats why I was thinking about my powerhead. Right now I moved both my intake pipes down under the outflow pipe. I like to believe that this is good. But im not sure where to place the powerhead then..

And I'm sorry for my english, its not that good.
Heres a few pictures of my old tank,
Theres some algaes on the glass because I moved in my own apartment while the tank was running back home.










It was like a jungle hehe..

As for the co2 distribution this is the reactor Im running: http://www.niersbachtal.de/CO2-Zubehoer/Aussenreaktor-mit-Bypass-bis-ca-3000L-komplett::129.html


----------



## ceg4048 (3 Jan 2011)

Hi mate,
           Your English seems very good to me.  

Ph controllers can be used with success, however, we need to understand what the pitfalls are with the controller in order to avoid getting into trouble and to use it effectively. Click this link for more details:Advice on a pH controller

The important point is that in a planted tank, we don't really care about pH stability. Neither plants nor fish are affected by the pH swings that occur throughout the day. But CO2 stability is an important issue as this relates to plant health.

Cheers,


----------



## Rasmusm (3 Jan 2011)

I understand yea 
And thanks for your posts, was very helpfull to me. Theres some pretty neat info around on this site 
I was thinking of buying another eheim 2080 and another reaktor and then a T or Y piece to fit on the Co2 tubing so I would get co2 out in both ends of my tank. I think that would be pretty good and for better distribution of co2 around the tank in general


----------



## ceg4048 (4 Jan 2011)

Yep, for that size tank I would definitely suggest this method. I would also suggest you think about using extended spraybars across the top of the back wall to get better distribution. Check the sticky thread at the top of this section.

Cheers,


----------

