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New Tank Advice


Peter Griffin

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Hi All,

Been keeping Malawi Cichlids for about 15 years, mainly 2 to 4ft tanks, small time I know.

Well now it is time to do it right, I would like to try a Tanganyikan tank maybe Malawi mix.

It will be in my lounge and I know sumps can be noisy, however need advice on some items and setup

6ft by 2ft wide and 2.5ft high, running a 4 or 5ft sump.

1. What are peoples experiences with Absolute Aquarium tanks and cabinets, alternatives?

2. Pumps - what is nice and quiet, LpH I should look at, thinking 5x display volume, multiple pumps ?

3. Plumbing - Hole through back or weir + vs - , best way to plumb to minimise noise.

4. Stock - now the new laws have stuffed it up what Tanga's are available locally?

5. Air / Circulation - air pump recommendations and setup, wave maker vs power head

Thanks for any advice

Pete

 

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1. I've got a Absolute Aquarium cube tank which I use for community fish. I had two holes cut in the back and I use a Mattenfilter with a small aqua one canister filter canister for the curculation. No pads in the canister just bio-media. Its be running for about 2 years, with no need to clean anything.

2. I would use a EcoTech Vectra M1/L1 they are the quietest pumps for the price. Using one on a 500 L tank with Malawi.

3. A Durso stand pipe is an option (https://www.dursostandpipes.com/) these go in a weir. Make sure you have at least two down pipes for safety. A Bean Animal is the best solution but does take more room. (http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx) I have the second best in my display tank. Durso and a Full Siphon very very quite. This can be placed in a internal weir or a hang on the back.

Its very important for noise control that the water only drops about 25mm to 50mm full flow height in the tank to the height the water in the weir.

4. not my area

5. wave makers or power heads all the way. I hate the noise of air pumps and do not like the bubbles that much.

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1. What are peoples experiences with Absolute Aquarium tanks and cabinets, alternatives?

I've never had a problem with them, decent quality and price point is OK

2. Pumps - what is nice and quiet, LpH I should look at, thinking 5x display volume, multiple pumps ?

Vectra's are OK, they are a DC pump so they whine a bit. A cheaper alternative to vectra but just as quiet are jebao/jecod DCT pumps, look at fishstreet for these. Otherwise, lagunas are great pumps, eheims (the old bricks not the new ones) and lastly, aquabee pumps.

3. Plumbing - Hole through back or weir + vs - , best way to plumb to minimise noise.

Either are good when you use a durso standpipe to control the noise.

4. Stock - now the new laws have stuffed it up what Tanga's are available locally?

Plenty of tangs around, with a tank that size, tropheus sp, featherfins would be good fish to keep. depends on what you want to do with the tank, display or breeding.

5. Air / Circulation - air pump recommendations and setup, wave maker vs power head

Go the wavemaker,  check out the jebao wavemakers, i have the rw4, going stong for almost 2 years now, as quiet as a vortech but not as quiet as a tunze. Use 2 or 3 of them and you shouldnt have any problems keeping detritus in suspension.

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DC pumps are very quiet but you pay for the experience, I have a 50w Red Dragon and it is silent with no audible sound from outside the tank cabinet even at max rpm, I have it submersed in my sump though. Vectra's are somewhat cheaper but more powerful, I doubt you will be running the smaller Vectra past 70 percent, so I think it would be on par sound wise to my Dragon.  I run the red dragon at 40watts and it is doing a 7 x2 x2 with ease.

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On ‎13‎/‎09‎/‎2016 at 7:40 PM, PlecoSam said:

DC pumps are very quiet but you pay for the experience, I have a 50w Red Dragon and it is silent with no audible sound from outside the tank cabinet even at max rpm, I have it submersed in my sump though. Vectra's are somewhat cheaper but more powerful, I doubt you will be running the smaller Vectra past 70 percent, so I think it would be on par sound wise to my Dragon.  I run the red dragon at 40watts and it is doing a 7 x2 x2 with ease.

Hey Sam,

thanks for the input, not that I have run a cichlid sump filtration setup and to be honest a complete noob for this size tank, but I was thinking the M1 would be a little stretched. I don't want to run at 100% and if I can get away with it, not any in tank pumps / wave makers. I am revising my plan and may go for a 6 x 2.5 x 2.5  to give me a little more room. Would the L1 be a bit too fast / too much flow for the 4ft sump and tank at around the 75% mark? With the head pressure and reduced speed I worked it out to around 6800 LpH. Too much?

Pete

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I think 6800 is too much but that is the beauty of a dc controller you can always dial it back, I think my red dragon in my 7 x 2 x 2 is around 3150lph at the 40W setting i run it at, that gives me a nice flow and good contact with filter media etc.   I will sometimes bump the flow up to 50W to help clear the tank after a gravel clean etc.. The only problem I can see with an L1 is having to run it at too low a setting which may or may not be out of the toque curve of the motor, not really sure but it may be a question to ask the manufacture.

You may find running an L1 at 37% to be perfectly acceptable if you have to halve the flow, i would not like to go much lower then 15 or 20% but i could be wrong. I don't think you can go wrong with either but the L1 would give you head room and the ability to move it to a bigger tank if that arises, and running at lower speeds 75% will yield quiet results.

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8 hours ago, PlecoSam said:

The only problem I can see with an L1 is having to run it at too low a setting which may or may not be out of the toque curve of the motor, not really sure but it may be a question to ask the manufacture.

You may find running an L1 at 37% to be perfectly acceptable if you have to halve the flow, i would not like to go much lower then 15 or 20% but i could be wrong. I don't think you can go wrong with either but the L1 would give you head room and the ability to move it to a bigger tank if that arises, and running at lower speeds 75% will yield quiet results.

I sent an email to Ecotech Marine asking for some stats on performance at lower settings, and what they recommend for a 5000L turn over with 4ft and plumbing losses, running max 85%. I will keep you posted.

I think the M1 will come very close to those requirements.

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Well I got a prompt reply from Ecomarine and well I was a little disappointed with there response. Basically they said a tank this size I should get the L1. No other information, that's it. I think I will go with L1 and see how it goes, if it is just too big I will just ebay it at a small loss. Thanks Sam for your input, I really appreciate everyone's input here. 

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