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500L room divider aquascape

Willage

Member
Joined
3 Apr 2021
Messages
34
Location
Cambridge
So, as my steel stand turned up this morning for my rather exciting new aquascape room divider project, I thought I’d start a journal to share the joys and pains of this journey.

The aquarium is currently under construction by Aquariums4life and will be 1750mm l x 750mm h x 400mm w.

My thought was to keep things relatively low tech.

I’m just in the process of ordering the filter systems to get all the pipe work in place prior to the aquarium arriving.
I currently looking at options, however current thought is:

1 x APS EFX 2000L/H
1 x APS EF2 1400L/H
1 x APS additional canister
1 x APS 24w UV steriliser
1 x 500w JBL inline heater

I’m still looking at lighting.

So far the stand is ready to be painted:

91B6000A-62CA-4E51-BFB6-10E15C2DB039.jpeg
 
Nice heavy duty stand looking forward to seeing this one come together

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That's going to be a pretty impressive build.

I think even if you stay low tech, moving the water around a tank that size will require some nifty foot work. Is there a particular reason you're optting for a 2000lph and a 1400lph filter rather than the ballance of two of efx 2000's.
 
That's going to be a pretty impressive build.

I think even if you stay low tech, moving the water around a tank that size will require some nifty foot work. Is there a particular reason you're optting for a 2000lph and a 1400lph filter rather than the ballance of two of efx 2000's.
In relation to the filter, there is some rationale here for having the varying units, the additional canister unit is only compatible up to a 1400 L/H unit. In addition, I believe that pushing the water through the UV with a slower throughput should gain better results.
Overall those combined should be cycling the water approximately 7 times an hour.
Although that’s just my thoughts at present, obviously very happy to hear opinions on this!
 
Sounds a reasonable enough explanation to me, and obviously you've given it some thought.

I've no idea if you plan on linking the pumps or even how you plan to distribute the flow into the tank but will definitely be watching this one with interest.
 
I did a very similar setup for Olympus is Calling and found fitting twin Maxspect Gyres solved many a flow issue, plus reduced the maintenance time in cleaning also ;)
Thanks for this! That might be a good option.
just to pop this out there, I’m trying to keep both visible areas clear (a majority of the 1750mm), however I am able to set up for the inlets and outlets at either end of the aquarium (pipes hidden by stud walling either end)
I was hoping that would assist with the general water flow.
 
Gyres mean no piping, piping soon cost quite a bit, then you can use any filter and outlets as then filter doesn't need to do the flow/turnover in tank. With gyres in a well planted tank it begs the question 'Do you need a filter at all IMO'
 
Gyres mean no piping, piping soon cost quite a bit, then you can use any filter and outlets as then filter doesn't need to do the flow/turnover in tank. With gyres in a well planted tank it begs the question 'Do you need a filter at all IMO'
I guess the question is what proportion of our filtration is actually done by the filter media. I guess very little. If that's the case the filter basically just becomes a heating and co2 injection loop..
 
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I guess the question is what proportion of our filtration, is actually done by the filter media. I guess very little. If that's the case the filter basically just becomes and heating and co2 injection loop..
Plus something else to clean and break down
 
Exciting project! Keen to see this develop. Have you given much thought to what kind of scape will work well with the dimensions given it is view-able from two sides?
 
Rather slow progress at present (due to the room being boarded ready to be skimmed).
However stand is now levelled and fixed in place and the boarding is in place on this side, so starting to look more like it should!
Both ends are infilled and creates a ‘window’ through between both rooms.
2E3A2D36-BC03-4DC7-B243-2E26AF77A31B.jpeg
 
I feel this may warrant it's own thread? Would you considering going filterless?
Sorry I completely missed this! To be honest I think will need to filter this one (just from a general maintenance perspective), however I’m considering popping a smaller aquarium in another room so would consider a filter free environment
 
have you monitored how much sunlight will hit the aquarium at different times of day/year as I can see the nearby bifolds?
 
have you monitored how much sunlight will hit the aquarium at different times of day/year as I can see the nearby bifolds?
Yes that’s a really good point. Those doors are south facing, so the sun passes from left to right, so it gets very little / if any direct sun at any point luckily, funny enough that’s why we ended up with it in that location, to try to limit the amount of direct sunlight it would get.
 
Yes that’s a really good point. Those doors are south facing, so the sun passes from left to right, so it gets very little / if any direct sun at any point luckily, funny enough that’s why we ended up with it in that location, to try to limit the amount of direct sunlight it would get.
Hopefully not an issue for you then. The reason I mentioned is my smaller 240l ‘divider’ is south east facing and it gets direct light at differing times of the day. This caused lots of experimentation with the co2 times and levels. I’ve cracked it but was an initial pain in the backside!

this also might not be the common consensus on this forum but I believe indirect / reflected light to be significant.
 
Hopefully not an issue for you then. The reason I mentioned is my smaller 240l ‘divider’ is south east facing and it gets direct light at differing times of the day. This caused lots of experimentation with the co2 times and levels. I’ve cracked it but was an initial pain in the backside!

this also might not be the common consensus on this forum but I believe indirect / reflected light to be significant.
Sorry just re read your posts and I see you are going low tech - I think the indirect sunlight won’t be such an issue, I was actually referring to balancing the Co2 if you were going high energy, so ignore that!
 
So the aquarium turned up this morning and I can’t help but feel disappointed. So first things first, the delivery guys were great, helpful, friendly, really nice guys - so a great thumbs up to them! But that’s about the only positive thing I can say about my experience with Aquariums4life overall. Generally quite bolshy communication, they’ve managed to finally deliver it one week past the maximum delivery date quoted, then a threat of charging £20 per week for storage if we couldn’t take delivery with literally 2 days notice (as an earlier email in the week stating they wanted to deliver it today went in to my junk mail), no apology for the delay in build. Messy silicone over the glass (pic below), overall not a particularly happy customer.
 

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So the aquarium turned up this morning and I can’t help but feel disappointed. So first things first, the delivery guys were great, helpful, friendly, really nice guys - so a great thumbs up to them! But that’s about the only positive thing I can say about my experience with Aquariums4life overall. Generally quite bolshy communication, they’ve managed to finally deliver it one week past the maximum delivery date quoted, then a threat of charging £20 per week for storage if we couldn’t take delivery with literally 2 days notice (as an earlier email in the week stating they wanted to deliver it today went in to my junk mail), no apology for the delay in build. Messy silicone over the glass (pic below), overall not a particularly happy customer.
If you don't mind me asking, what was your quoted lead time?
 
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