Low maintenance setup

[grungefreek]

Hi all,

Been a long time since I have delved into freshwater since turning to the dark side (marines) but I need a bit of advice.

I have been approached by a friend who wants to set up an aquarium in a high care nursing home. There have been study's highlighting the benefits of aquariums in these environments but they are generally avoided due to the intensive maintenance. This is where I come into it....

Basically after viewing my marine tank and me detailing how I have automated most things she thought I might be able to come up with a low maintenance option for them, this is where your advice comes into it.

We live in a country location so marines are out of the question as automation or not they are still very labour intensive. So my next thought of colour and movement is a cichlid tank.

The goal is to have the most ultra low maintenance tank possible. My first option would be to pay someone to maintain the tank, but there are no services like that out here. Closest pet shop is 50km away and I live over 70km away so not easy for me to do it either....

Budget for the build is not bad at ~ $5000. Again I would rather have most the budget go to paying maintenance but It's not going to happen unfortunately.

plan so far;

Basically larger water volumes, low stocking rates and over filtration.

Tank - 4fter of some description. I havent seen the space yet but probably something like a 4ft x 18inch x 20inch tank. I think 4x2x2 will be getting a bit too large.

Filtration - I cant decide whether a large cannister filter or a sump set up is going to be less maintenance. Cannister would be good but I am worried about topping up evaporation loss. I will also be aiming for redundancy so possibly two cannisters might be the go. Something like 2 x Eheim 2217's

Stock list - I am aiming for colour and ease of keeping, so common african species such as Elec yellows etc. Our water is groundwater so is hard but a pH of ~6.8. Not ideal for africans so I might have to run buffer's to get the pH up. Any suggestions appreciated.

Lights, scaping etc will all be pretty standard; t8 fluoro's and then stacked holey rock.

I will also be getting a good aqarium controller. Something that can issue sms alerts for high water,low water plus do all the regular controlling of lights feeders etc. Probably auto water top offs etc.

I am out there ~every 2 months so I wil probably take onthe task of WC's and cleaning filters so they need to last that long nearly unattended. All unpaid incase anyone thinks I am looking for commerical advice.

Any opinions or experiences would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

[grungefreek]

and 3 or so posts down...

http://www.aceforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=56728

[frankenstrat]

the 4ft you described would be good but I reckon a sump just as big hidden in a cabinet would be the way to go, that way you can cram it with heaps of biological filtration(marine pure spheres, ceramic noodles, coral rubble) and might get away with 4 weeks between water changes if stocking and feeding is done carefully. and a few layers of filter wool as a pre filter on the inlet to the sump

and coral rubble would help your ph come up

[Buccal]

Coral rubble would do the job nicely.

In case your not thinking of it,,,, day light through windows will let it get algae scum.

A UV sterilization light will keep a lot of things in check between two month periods.

The biggest problem you will have is feeding frequency by others,,, most important thing is choosing one feeder and well educating them on the matters,, and hiding the food with the chosen feeder access only.

Maybe a quality auto feeder.

Choose mbunas as sera flora vege diet is minimalist in pollution, and cope well with slight under feeding.

Pile holy rock up in the center to the surface leaving substrate space in a thin strip around out side.

Under the pile of rocks,,, place a small 5w power head facing upwards,,,,,, this will keep any crap from collecting under pile.

At the draw back of a 1800 l/per hr pump being in tank,,,,, a large pond canister filter will take that tank to almost a year with no cleaning.

It has a superb backwash turn handle to release the buildup,,, so you really don't have to pull it apart for ages.

I'd massively recommend a

Pondmax PF 9000UV.

Pressure filter/uv clarifier.

This is not guessing,,, I've done these set ups before with 100% success.

Most of them go for a good year with only a water change every 3 months needed.

It's the nube minimalist approach for the nube basically,,, lol.

[FullyYellow]

Might take some time to intially setup but im sure it will save you time in the long run. http://www.thefishcave.com.au/diy/waterchangers.html

[grungefreek]

Thanks for the replies.

I have never had anything to do with pond filters, but they look to be just a cannister filter without the internal pump?

I know you said Pondamax, but would the Laguna be just as good? http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/catalogue_products.php?prodID=4356&catID=79

I will try get all stuff from one place, and Ben at AoA is always my preferred supplier as I have had nothing but great dealings with him.

How were you maintaining evap topup's? I would have an automatic setup for this, which is harder without a sump. Well, not harder just can be prone to problems.

I would probably get something similar to a neptune which will control everything, have web access, sms alarms etc etc. I could probably also get it to do water chanegs with Peri pumps.

http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/catalogue_products.php?prodID=6800

Fish feeder- I have had good luck with http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/catalogue_products.php?prodID=6725&catID=61,

I just have to decide which setup (Sump or ext filter) is going to be the most fail proof. I personally have never had issues with my sump set up's, but if something does go wrong, they aren't the easiest of things to figure out for the non fish people. But the Ext filter while simpler is more limiting in regard to coral rubble, etc.

decisions decisions...

[Buccal]

Well, I'm using the pondmax,,, and used others before.

Nothing else works like this little sucker.

Unless one I haven't tried is as good.

You would be surprised how much evaporation reduction can be achieved by tight fitting lids and sealing of apparatus entry.

Spend big on biggest pond filter,,,, it will take things very far.

With my advice I have given,,,, I'd bet both my hangers on it ,,,,, lol.

[Matthew]

G'day

I would suggest 2 x Eheim 2260's. (Way way too much filtration) These are fantastic reliable filters that just keep on going. Cannister filters will ensure the water is well filtered and not too much water is lost due to evaporation, compared to a sump being used.

An automatic fishfeeder should probably be employed. This will hopefully prevent overfeeding.

I cannot assist with automation electronics, but a UV unit may be a reasonable precaution to take.

Texas holey rock and/or crushed marble will assist in buffering the water up for many years.

Run 2 x 200 watt high quality heaters.

Hope this helps a little.

Cya

Matthew

[Pharmlou]

Two 2217's and a power head to move detritus from the substrate will work well in a 4x20x14. I have this set up in a 4x2x2 that is overstocked with mbuna and it works well. I wouldn't go with the t8 fluoros as your biggest enemy will be algae. A 2 ft strip of LED you can buy on eBay works very well. Maybe some dwarf mbuna like Saulosi because they are dimorphic , some Synodontis lucipinnis to keep the substrate clean and a few bristlenose to keep your glass and THR clean. Tank would need to be somewhere that doesn't get much direct sunlight!

Good luck