Question for very large aquarium owners (250G+)

[tolstoy21]

Hi all, I'm planning my next aquarium upgrade form my 125G. I'm not getting anything soon, but maybe in the next 2 years. So I have one question for all you out there who own and self-maintain very large, deep aquariums, something 30" or deeper. . . . . .

What is the maintenance like on something this deep? Is a nightmare you regret? Not so bad? Super easy once you get the hang of it?

Just trying to get a perspective on what aquarium depth becomes unenjoyable because of the difficulty of maintenance.

Any shared experience or insights would be appreciated, but please, I would like to limit the replies to being from people who have, or have had, an aquarium like this so we don't get into an overly long thread full of speculation.

[anewbie]

I'm setting up a 450 and 550 in may; and i debated a long time about depth. My 120 is 24 inches deep and i cannot easily reach all portions of the floor of the tank which is important for plants (I have short arms). i know there are people with long arms that are less problematic. The new tanks will be 23 inches deep for that reason (but they are 4 feet wide); you didn't say how you were going to scape the new tank. If rock and drift wood it won't be so bad since you can use 'long tools' to move things close enough to the edge of the tank to remove and you don't have to muck with it as often. If plants i would test your arm length and leave enough room in the back to get behind the tank depending on how wide the tank will be. I would love to have made the new aquariums 30 or even 36 inches deep but my arms are just not long enough to deal with such depth.

 

As for water changes i have no issues with the 24 inch depth - the python can easily reach the back and get into the substrate (in the few spots with no plants). I don't think 30 inches would have been an issue....

 

[tolstoy21]

@anewbie

Thanks for the reply. 

I plan on just hardscaping, no plants. So large driftwood and rocks, substrate that is a mix of black sand and lava rock of various sizes (this is what I have in my 125).

I can't go more than 24" in width and no longer that 76" due to limitations in where the aquarium would be placed, so this limits me to increasing height as the water volume increases.

I really like the look of aquariums that have both height and depth so that the fish are closer to eye-level when viewing and when you are standing you're not looking down at the lid. 

Water changes aren't an issue because this would just be plumbed into my water change system. I was more concerned about vacc'ing, and what the experience with that is as you go above 30" with an upper range of 42".

 

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by tolstoy21

[anewbie]

You must be pretty tall; for me a 24 inch tank on a 32 inch stand is eye level 😉

 

[tolstoy21]

@anewbie Hmmmm, I guess I'm 6'1"-ish. Been a long time since someone measured me. 

Edited November 26, 2022 by tolstoy21

[mynameisnobody]

I had a 125 a few years back and it was as easy to work on as a 75. However, I despised working on the 90 gallon planted. It was beyond annoying. Hope this helps

[gardenman]

On 11/26/2022 at 11:37 AM, tolstoy21 said:

@anewbie

Thanks for the reply. 

I plan on just hardscaping, no plants. So large driftwood and rocks, substrate that is a mix of black sand and lava rock of various sizes (this is what I have in my 125).

I can't go more than 24" in width and no longer that 76" due to limitations in where the aquarium would be placed, so this limits me to increasing height as the water volume increases.

I really like the look of aquariums that have both height and depth so that the fish are closer to eye-level when viewing and when you are standing you're not looking down at the lid. 

Water changes aren't an issue because this would just be plumbed into my water change system. I was more concerned about vacc'ing, and what the experience with that is as you go above 30" with an upper range of 42".

 

 

Siphons will extract water very quickly in a deeper tank. The strength of a siphon varies with the difference in water pressure. If you're siphoning water from a 42" deep tank that's at eye level with a "typical" gravel vac size tube to a bucket on the floor, you'll fill that bucket very, very quickly. It's pretty easy to make a longer gravel vac even with sectional pieces of PVC that will reach the bottom of even the deepest tank, but as you have more water pressure at a greater height, you'll remove water much more quickly.

Since you're not planning to plant the tank, a reverse flow UG filter might be an interesting option for you. A reverse flow UG filter sends mechanically clean water down through the UG plate and floats debris from the gravel up into the water column where it can be mechanically removed eliminating the need for gravel vacuuming. This allows your gravel and substrate to act as a large biofilter also. You just need to have mechanically cleaned water going under the UG plate. You don't want to trap organic debris under there. With a large flow of water rising up through the gravel, any debris in the gravel tends to get elevated and removed by a mechanical filter.  

[tolstoy21]

On 11/27/2022 at 8:34 AM, gardenman said:

It's pretty easy to make a longer gravel vac even with sectional pieces of PVC that will reach the bottom of even the deepest tank, but as you have more water pressure at a greater height, you'll remove water much more quickly.

I plan on using the method I use now, which is siphoning water into a large filter sock in my sump under the aquarium (this sump chamber is also full of floss and sponge should the sock over flow). This way I pull out as much gunk/poop as I can while not affecting the water level or worrying about messing around with sloppy buckets or refilling the aquarium. If the sump get's too full too quickly, that has an overflow in it so it can discharge into a waste line (it's all plumbed into my wall and goes down into a slop-sink line in my basement). If I need to put fresh water into the tank, I remotely trigger a sump pump in a barrel of staged water in the basement (also plumbed in) and that pumps in fresh water. Otherwise the tank will be on a constant, slow feed of fresh water. Been running my 125 effectively like this for 4 or 5 years now. 

My main concern was how hard it would be to reach down with a siphon and what effectiveness of a siphon would be at greater dept, but you answered that pretty satisfactorily. 

I'm looking forward to having a much larger tank, but alas, that will probably not in the cards for about 2 years. But good to have a goal, right?

[anewbie]

On 11/27/2022 at 7:14 AM, Mynameisnobody said:

I had a 125 a few years back and it was as easy to work on as a 75. However, I despised working on the 90 gallon planted. It was beyond annoying. Hope this helps

A stock 125 is 21 inches high; a stock 75 is 21 inches high a stock 90 is 24 inches high; naturally custom build and odd and ends can have different heights.

On 11/27/2022 at 7:52 AM, tolstoy21 said:

I plan on using the method I use now, which is siphoning water into a large filter sock in my sump under the aquarium (this sump chamber is also full of floss and sponge should the sock over flow). This way I pull out as much gunk/poop as I can while not affecting the water level or worrying about messing around with sloppy buckets or refilling the aquarium. If the sump get's too full too quickly, that has an overflow in it so it can discharge into a waste line (it's all plumbed into my wall and goes down into a slop-sink line in my basement). If I need to put fresh water into the tank, I remotely trigger a sump pump in a barrel of staged water in the basement (also plumbed in) and that pumps in fresh water. Otherwise the tank will be on a constant, slow feed of fresh water. Been running my 125 effectively like this for 4 or 5 years now. 

My main concern was how hard it would be to reach down with a siphon and what effectiveness of a siphon would be at greater dept, but you answered that pretty satisfactorily. 

I'm looking forward to having a much larger tank, but alas, that will probably not in the cards for about 2 years. But good to have a goal, right?

Not sure this is useful to you; but what I am doing is putting a hole at the top of the end of my sump and running a tube to a drain. I then use emitters common with sprinkler systems to add a control amount of water ot the than (approx 1.5 gallons an hour); the sump fills up and drains out the hole at the end into the drain.... Usually my planted tanks are such that i can't get to the substrate; but i will occasionally use a python to siphon out the corners where plant matter collect due to sponge filters. Your tank won't be planted to plant matter isn't needed but the drip system is an option if it interest you.

Edited November 27, 2022 by anewbie

[tolstoy21]

 

On 11/27/2022 at 2:16 PM, anewbie said:

Not sure this is useful to you; but what I am doing is putting a hole at the top of the end of my sump and running a tube to a drain. I then use emitters common with sprinkler systems to add a control amount of water ot the than (approx 1.5 gallons an hour); the sump fills up and drains out the hole at the end into the drain.... 

Pretty much describes my current setup 100%.

The only other thing I have added to the setup is that, if needed, I can pump 40 gallons of fresh water from a staging bin (aka brute trash can) I have in my basement.

But yeah, dripworks drip emitters hooked up to a small solenoid on a standard outlet timer. On the other end of my sump is a bulkhead attached to a drain line that goes down into my basement, through the wall, then into the sewer via a slop sink.

Picture below. Ignore the dust (man hadn't realized it was that dusty till my camera illuminated it!)

Edited November 27, 2022 by tolstoy21

[BlueLineAquaticsSC]

Not related to the question but what kind of floor is the tank going to be on? From what I’ve heard 125 is the upper limits on what is “safe” for an unsupported floor. If your in a crawl space like me you would have to brace the floor beneath the tank.

[anewbie]

Why did you hook up the emitter to a drip emitters? Mine isn't setup yet (setup is in may) but i figure i could just hook them directly up to output line with the appropriate psi. In the basement i have filter water and a 500 gallon tank for ro water hooked up to a well pump - there are two faucets in the room one for ro water and one for filtered water. 

[tolstoy21]

@BlueLineAquaticsSC I already have a couple of sturdy floor jacks underneath the existing aquarium. Each of them is rated at about 10,000 lbs. Plus the aquarium sits next to an exterior wall and the floor has some pretty hefty timbers for floor joists.

Edited November 27, 2022 by tolstoy21

[tolstoy21]

On 11/27/2022 at 4:31 PM, anewbie said:

Why did you hook up the emitter to a drip emitters?

Originally, I did semi-manual water changes by triggering a pump in the basement to pump the water into the aquarium via the sump's return lines. 

Eventually I decided to run an RO-line to the tank that has a constant supply of water regulated by a PSI regulator. I also have the RO line hooked up to a small solenoid valve (last pic below) on a timer so it's not dripping 24x7 and instead drips in new water over many small intervals. Between the rating of the drip emitter (2 gallons per hour) and the schedule on the timer, I have a ballpark understanding of how much of a water change I am doing daily. This also allows me to tweak that amount should I need to. 

 

[anewbie]

I sort of see but it is a bit well beyond me how to setup the solenoid - as yours looks home made. I will say that i i did get a low flow water meter so i can measure the amount of water flowing out of the sump to track how much water is being changed.

[tolstoy21]

On 11/27/2022 at 5:49 PM, anewbie said:

I sort of see but it is a bit well beyond me how to setup the solenoid - as yours looks home made.

Yeah I just wired it into a 12v DC plug I scavenged from some old something or other I no longer had. I have a larger solenoid that serves the same purpose for my fishroom (see below).  It's not super hard to set up, but you can also get more pre-made solutions from someone like Rainbird.

Another way to do it would be to use a flow-rate restrictor or gate valve to slow the flow down to desired amount.

The nice thing about the drip emitters is that if I use a 2GPH emitter, then I know if I run it for 5 hours cumulatively I'm putting 10 gallons into the aquarium (more or less since some of that also goes down the drain).

One of these days maybe I'll write up a short tutorial on how to rig up these little solenoids. Like I said, it's very easy and they are low voltage application so you're not going to zap yourself and suffer cardiac arrest if you mess up.

This solenoid below ss connected to a Kasa timer. (This application is a little higher voltage than the little ones, 110AC instead of 12vDC).

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by tolstoy21

[tolstoy21]

Oh, I almost forgot . . . . I also have one tied into one of those hotel light/fireplace timers so that I don't have to worry about leaving my RO unit running and flooding my basement (which I have done waaaay too many times!).

When the timer runs out, both the booster pump and water supply shut off simultaneously. 

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by tolstoy21

[anewbie]

I'm hopeful a basic float switch will work for my ro unit; what I would really like is a water level sensor that could turn the thing off (basically an electronic float switch) but no clue if they make them - i'm ordering the 500 gallon tank next week but the ro unit won't be ordered till march at which time i'll find out if things work or if there is more frustration 😉

 

[tolstoy21]

On 11/28/2022 at 6:55 AM, anewbie said:

I'm hopeful a basic float switch will work for my ro unit; what I would really like is a water level sensor that could turn the thing off (basically an electronic float switch) but no clue if they make them

I have a float switch on a 40 gallon brute trash that works well. And they do make optical sensors. Check out Bulk Reef Supply. 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ro-di-flood-guardian-xp-aqua.html?queryID=2122ec7878a071703b58a7daab8a7e49&objectID=8944&indexName=brs_prod_m2_default_products

If you are also using a booster pump, they make setups that will also shut that down when the water shuts down.

I tend to make RO in 5 gallon buckets which is why I use a timer. When I made it in a 40 gallon brute can, I used a float switch. 

However, mechanical float switches can get stuck, so it's good to have an optical sensor as a backup. This happened to me twice and both times I had no backup shut off and spent the day shop vacuuming water from my basement. 

On 11/28/2022 at 6:55 AM, anewbie said:

at which time i'll find out if things work or if there is more frustration 😉

Honestly, once you get it all dialed in it makes life with a large aquarium MUCH EASIER!

Edited November 28, 2022 by tolstoy21