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joey13 - 5ft In-Wall Setup


joey13

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Well I finally got it up and into place.

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Lights don't actually look that blue in real life. It's much more balanced.

I ended up having to cut out the glass ledges at the top of the media tower to get my drip plate in. They don't really have any structual purpose since the tower isn't designed to hold water. I siliconed some plastic angle strip as a ledge to hold the plate.

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New acrylic drip plate.

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Drip plate in place.

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Return pump arrived. Went with the Laguna 5,000LPH.

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Not too sure mate. I haven't filled the tank up yet. I was actually going to ask you the same question.

These are 4mm holes and there is 195 holes.

How many holes does yours have and what size are they?

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  • 2 weeks later...

All plumbed up.

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Well that was fun...NOT! Plumbing did my absolute head in but I'm glad it's done. I ended up putting a T in the return with another ball valve and fitted a 18mm quick fit hose connector which I plan to use for water changes. Once pumps are off and tank has drained, I'll switch the main ball valve closed and open the other attached to the quick fit connector with a hose running to front yard. Flick the return pump back on and drain to the desired level.

You will also notice that I put in a couple of barrel unions on the main drain and emerg so that I can break the lines easily for servicing. If I hadn't of done this, it would have been difficult or impossible to get the piping away to get the drip plate out.

Return goes back up the weir box and across to the opposite end to circulate water right around the tank.

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10ppi 2" thick, 20ppi 2" thick, 30ppi 2" thick Poret Filter Foam, 300 bio balls and then 14L of SeaChem Pond Matrix in the submerged section. This thing is overkill but I don't care, it's awesome in my eyes!

All up and running now. ran into a bit of a drama as I was filling it up. the water line was 10mm different from the other side. Began panicking and checked everything with the level and it all seemed fine. Couldn't work it out before I realised the arc on the viewing side was out causing the difference. So I have to rip that off and do it again next week. It wasn't an issue I was expecting but I'm glad it's not the frame and the tank is still sitting level. I was expecting leaks from the plumbing but thankfully it was perfect. I got a small drip from the return bulkhead but I quick nip with my hand fixed it. Still need to fine tune the durso. The plumbing into the drip plate is noisy as.

Just got the temp up to 28deg. Added Chlorine and Chloramine remover, added my African Cichlid DIY Buffer to get all the parameters up and I have started dosing with Clear Ammonia today for a fish less cycle.

Using a temporary light at the moment until I order in my Dalua Mantra LED when it comes back into stock. Pictures don't do it justice and it really isn't that blue.

Let me know what you guys think.

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With regards to sump pumps i would be inclined to avoid a particular brand starting with an A and found in most pet shops, i purchased one that was supposed to capable of 2400l ph, my tank sitting on the garage floor, water had to climb 600mmover tank lip to garden bed, timed it and to drain entire tank contents (450liters), it took just shy of 18mins, so needless to say when the tank was on stand flow was significantly reduced, already had the 4800lph pump spare same brand, does a lot better but rather noisy out of the box, my personal experience hasn't been to good with this brand, my brand new 300w heater had 2 inches of water in the bottom of it after 2 hrs in sump, was no reference in manual to not using it fully submersed... Anyway had my whinge.... over and out Ps your tank looks awesome

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Looks great Joey!

Love the sump setup too you'll have to keep us updated on how that poret setup goes.

Looks like a winning combo with the matrix as well.

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Thanks guys!

Having issues with the laguna 5,000LPH. Vibrates like hell and I can hear it when I'm sleeping. If you out your ears against any of the walls, you can hear it vibrating. I'm not sure if that's because the frame of the tank is attached to the house or what but I thought these things were quiet.

I suspect its because I only have 20mm pipe running for the return and there may be to much back pressure on the pump. I'm thinking about changing over to vinyl tubing with a bigger diameter and maybe setting it up externally so it doesn't resonate in the sump?

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I already had a piece of poret under it but didn't seem to work well.

Well what a PITA that was! Removed 20mm bulkead and replaced with 25mm bulkhead. (Although I had only tightened the previous bulkhead by hand, you think I could get the damn thing off??)

Replaced all the 20mm PVC with 25mm Pond Flexi Hose the entire way through! Note: Flexi Pipe is the worst stuff I have ever worked with! The pipe is extremely difficult to get onto the fittings!

Result: MUCH MUCH QUIETER! After the first ball valve, there is absolutely no vibration in the pipe at all. I cannot hear it anymore when I'm in bed either. It's still a little noisy though and I think I can get it quieter. I've had to use a suction cup for now to hold the pipe against the side glass in the sump and that is causing some vibration but nowhere near as much. I realised that the "19mm" vinyl tubing I had at the start of my previous setup was much smaller internal diameter and I suspect that coupled with the 20mm PVC was causing a lot of back pressure.

Anyone no where I can buy some rubber matt cut to size that is safe to use in the sump (inert)? Might wrap some foam around the body of the pump as well. Wish they came with a better cradle to sit them.

Must have changed the flow rate because my weir level was fluctuating and started rushing periodically. Backed the drain off and now I have a nice quiet trickle whereas before it was way loud so solved two problems and no it's flowing perfect.

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Thanks guys. Water is flowing nicely...very quite steady trickle. I'd say its the same as yours Shak. Yours might be a bit quieter because you have a softer drip tray but I'm happy with the noise. The pump seems to have "settled in" and is real quiet now.

Fishless cycle doing my head in (1st time) but I'm staying determined. Realized I was making the mistake of adding ammonia daily after my initial dose and it went too high.

Did a 30% water change last night and got it back to 4ppm.

Visited a friend today and got about 1 1/2 liters of matrix from his 2 year old established tank. Just put that into my media tower now so hopefully that will kick start the bacteria growth!

Decided to go all male peacock tank.

Just purchased:

I was there today. He's a difficult bloke to deal with. I got my hands on

Aulonocara steveni blue neon

Aulonocara baenschi benga

Aulonocara stugranti maleri chidunga rocks

Aulonocarq mozambique hueseri

All adult size.

Also picked up 2 labidochromis caeruleus males. Once my tank is cycled, I'll go pick them up and get them in.

Put in an order with grant for some German imports as well!

Can't wait!

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I think the cycle is progressing. Ammonia still hasn't zeroed out but over the past 2-3 days its slowly gone from 3ppm-1ppm and nitrites have slowly risen to 2ppm.

I thought it was a sudden drop but obviously mine is going slow.

Testing my patience I tell you!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Day 27 of the fishless cycle and I am happy to report the decline of nitrite has began. Was/has been off the chart for some time but has just tested between 0.5-1ppm.

I had an incling it might be on the way down last night. When I tested it, it took longer than usual to turn to the deep purple colour.

Fingers crossed should see fish in by the end of the week.

*Does happy dance around room!*

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