Ordered my new tank yesterday

[chrissyoscar]

:D
I ordered my new tank yesterday. It's a 48x24x24 with overflow for sump (450lts or 120 gallons).
I got an unstained pine stand 800mm high, cover glass, foam base, tank and sump for $705. I've put it on layby so should be picking it up in about 2mths. I was originally going to build my own sump but decided that the spare tank I had was going to be to small. I worked out the costs to build the sump I wanted was $50 tank, $100 bio balls, $10 silicone, $20 plumbing from tank to sump and my time of course which I have very little.
Mentone sold me one for $260 complete with bio balls and plumbing so I got it. It's very similar to the picture kalebjarrod posted on my other post except a little longer and I was told it's good enough to do a 8x2x2 tank so it's a little of an overkill for the 4x2x2.
I'm going to use this tank to raise fry to about 5-6cm in size.
Would anybody have a rough idea how many discus I can grow to that size without overloading the tank?
I know it's generally about 1 adult discus for every 10 gallons but I'm not sure about young discus.

Thanks.. Oscar

[kalebjarrod]

hay good buy Chris,

did you gat a pump for that price and is the plumbing installed?

post pics that would be nice.

as for numbers of fry, i'm a one tank man at the moment never had to study the fry thing as yet.

soon i hope.....................................

[happydiscus]

where from??

[chrissyoscar]

Happydiscus I got it from Mentone aquarium in Mentone, Melbourne.

kalebjarrod, no it doesn't come with a pump so that'll be another $70+ to spend.
It does come with the plumbing connections from the tank to sump but I'll have to put it together.
When I get it I'll post some pics.

Oscar

[kalebjarrod]

how big a pump are you planning on useing?

i'm glad you'll get the fun of putting it together, thats half the fun of setting up another tank. Plus if somthing goes wrong later you understand how it went together.

i somtimes get more excited about seting up tanks than i do about the fish i keep...... somtimes :wink:

[kalebjarrod]

how big a pump are you planning on useing?

i'm glad you'll get the fun of putting it together, thats half the fun of setting up another tank. Plus if somthing goes wrong later you understand how it went together.

i somtimes get more excited about seting up tanks than i do about the fish i keep...... somtimes :wink:

[chrissyoscar]

I'll be using a pump that pumps between 2500lt to 3000lt and hour as that's what's been recommended. Do you think that'll be large enough for the tank. As for putting it all together it should be fun as long as nothing goes wrong but it seems easy enough I think :? .

Oscar

[kalebjarrod]

i calculated nothing less than a 1700ltrs per hour.

i'd go 3000ltrs per hour though this is about as big as you can go without blowing tons of cash and i always like to oversize.

bit of a "tim the tool man tailor" in that fashion

whaa hahahahaha......................

[chrissyoscar]

Yeah I was thinking 3000lt would be ideal. I'm like you I'ld rather go larger than smaller just to be on the safe size.

Oscar

[kalebjarrod]

yeah bigger is better,

you get some good 3000lt pumps for $ 65.00 -$70.00 these days.

its cheaper to buy two of them than it is to buy one and a automated protective switch to shut it down in case of a problem.

that makes me laugh :roll:

pics when ready please

[chrissyoscar]

I've narrowed the pump down to two in my price range.
The Sun Sun Submersible Pump HQB-3900 does 3500lts an hour $52
and the Resun King-4 does 4800lts an hour A$75.20

It's a little frustrating with the cheaper brands like these as they don't tell you how much water the pump can pump at different heights.
I've noticed the better brands do and the difference can be quite high.
For exsample here are the specs for the Sicce Suprema Pump at A$161

4000 litres per hour

Approx. Heads
0.6mt - 3600lph
1.2mt - 3000lph
1.8mt - 2300lph
2.4mt - 1400lph

This makes it very hard to buy a cheaper pump as you just don't know how it's going to perform over different heights.
The pump I'm after has to pump the water at least 1.3 meters so I'm guessing a cheap pump would probably only pump half the quoted LPH over that height which is why they don't actually show you the specs over different heights.
Also being a Discus fry tank I can't go to high as the discus wont cope with the current.
At this stage I'm leaning towards the Sun Sun that does 3500lph
Anybody have any ideas?

Oscar

[Chris McMahon]

Here's the info from my Resun SP-6000 ($39)

Power 40w
Total Head 2.5m
Max Delivery 2800L/PH
(then there's a chart - I'll approximate it)
Head (m) - Volume (l)
0 - 2800
0.5 - 2500
1.0 - 2100
1.5 - 1700
2.0 - 1000
2.5 - 300

Most figures are "best case" anyway. If you truly want to be safe, get a bigger pump than you need and put a tap after it to adjust the flow rate.

[chrissyoscar]

Thanks Chris

I've been looking at the Resun SP-6000, 1700 lph at 1.5 height should be just around right. I like your idea about adding a tap to control the flow. I think there are a few models that allow you to control the flow from the pump.

Thanks.. Oscar

[kalebjarrod]

just remember these pumps aren't "presure pumps" thier what you call a "pushing pump" so they don't appreciate valves to much, it'll burn out the magnets in the motor to have them TOO restricted.

just don't buy a really big pump and then reduce the flow by extremes and nver turn of the tap while their running.

[DiscusMan]

I use a king 4 pump here at my house to deliver water from my storage tank to the fishy tanks.

It says 4000 an hour or so but as you rightly pointed out at what head height. It does however work quite well and i have used it for over 12 months with no problems. Spare parts are obtainable as well from Monaco aquariums here in Sydney as they are a distibutor for them.

I would like to say that it may be a bad idea to go to fast on the flow. Just be careful bigger isn't always better but i will also add that i pump my water through a hose with a tap on it and i am always totally shutting off the flow. The pump hasnt complained once since i had it.

Good luck on your choice.

Wayne

[chrissyoscar]

I'll go with the Sun Sun Submersible Pump HQB-3900 which does 3500lts an hour. There's a website that has it for only $52.
When it's all ready I'll let you know how it handles it.
Thanks for all your help guys it's been great appreciated.

Thanks.. Oscar

[kalebjarrod]

i agree and disagree,

over size the filtration does not always mean oversize the pump, extra bioballs and particle filters can never hurt

oversize the pump to an extent, remember pumps over time reduce flow. Just be sensible 2500lts per hour (after head loss) might be fine, 5000lts won't.

having a tap can harm these pumps, i currently run a multitude (last count 14) of pumps through my work and home ranging from a three stage computer controlled grundfos system (each pump is 6ft high) through to a 200lt per hour bunnings peice of turd.

difference is if the impellers break on my grundfos pumps i have a back up sytem that cuts in, if they break on your pump filtrating your discus tank do you? better safe than sorry, turn off the power and then shut the valve don't tempt fate.

[DeKa]

its cheaper to buy two of them than it is to buy one and a automated protective switch to shut it down in case of a problem.

You might be interested in a float switch (http://www.rockaroundtheblock.com.au/categories.asp?cID=37) then - the "DIY" models are ideal for this situation because they have a piggyback plug which you just plug your pump into. They go really well with the Sunsun HQB-3900 pump (http://www.rockaroundtheblock.com.au/product.asp?pID=44) I find.

It appears there are float switches and there are float switches - Italian made ones are excellent and provide many years of reliable service at a good price. Cheaper models don't seem to be able to, so we steer clear of them.

Derek 8)