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[shane]

Hi people. I'm shane I've bought a 80l small cube tank from aqua oak. I've had it sitting for around 2 months whilst I've been saving and researching what else I'm going to need to get it up and running. The tank is approximately 50x45x45.
I've been debating what filter to get and I keep going back to the eheim 250t. I need something small enough to fit in the small cabinet under the tank along with a soda stream co2 kit from co2art. I did look at other filters half the price but from all the comments I've read through eheim seem to be the way to go. I was wondering if I could get some advice off you guys if the 250t would be adequate for my tank or not. Apparently the turn over is 950lh and I will run a in line diffuser. Cheers for any advice.
Oh I don't want to be starting up new threads everywhere so a quick question about my lighting choice a simple ok or no good will be fine. I'm looking to get a aquaray grobeam 1500nd tile I'll put it directly on the glass under the hood as it is quite small under there. I'll use a dimmer and wanted to know if this single tile will be OK for my lighting choice. Again cheers for any advice.

 

[X3NiTH]

Hi there Shane.

The 250T will likely be fine so will the 1500 tile, but if you put it directly over the surface it will leave you with major problems if you don't dim it, you will need the controller, this tile has two power connectors (two channels) so if you plan on adding any extra aqua ray lights in the future It's probably worth getting the 8-way controller as the smaller (nearly half the price of an 8-way) 2-way controller will be fully populated by one tile! At 100% placed at the surface it will be plant carnage, and algae heaven if you're co2 is not perfect.

To be at the 30ppm level of co2 in the tank a Soda stream cylinder will maybe last you around 20 days before the bottle pressure goes off if using the single stage regulator (bottle pressure drops forcing you to adjust the needle valve to keep the line pressure up, it will force you to change the bottle before it is empty, usually leaving around 100 grams in the bottle). If you have the dual stage regulator it will keep the line pressure up until the bottle nearly completely empties, maybe get you nearer to 30days usage. Your BPS (bubbles per second) will be determined by the aperture size of your bubble counter not somebody else's, what's 1-2BPS for someone else may be 3-4BPS for you. You want the drop checker green (you will need one of these) and you want it to be green from lights on to lights off (if using a pH probe to monitor the pH drop all you need to do is reach the target pH drop at lights on that will turn the DC green). Gas on roughly 2 hours before lights on and gas off an hour before lights off.

Welcome to UKAPS btw!

🙂

 

[shane]

H X3NITH thanks for taking the time to answer my queries. Good need about the filter I'll get that on order ASAP. I won't be running any other lighting there just isn't room under the hood. Being square shaped doesn't help either. If I fit the tile yo the hood it's going to be virtually on the glass anyway so I thought I'd leave it on the glass so it can easily be moved for cleaning and maintenance. I understand that I have to find my own balance to deal with the problems I come across and will be getting the controller with the light. Not to happy with the co2 tho. From what I researched I was under the assumption that I would squeeze about 3 months out of a soda stream bottle. That's a cost I'll have to factor in if it will only last a month I'm looking at a tenner every month on a co2 refill. Yes will get a dual stage I was going to grab a single stage from work for free but thought better of it in the end. Again thanks for you help.