waack's 150 gal discus tank.

**waack** · 12-11-2012, 04:54 AM

Will be buying the wood for the stand this Saturday, this is my planned CAD model of what it should look like when finished.

Eventually there will be a hood and obviously lights on the top as well. Plan on painting the stand and back of the tank black to highlight the fish and plants in the tank. I'm looking everywhere for black sand, the LFS i bought it from originally don't stock it anymore and i can't find it anywhere. The local masters store sell river sand for $6 for 20kg, and it's an even brown colour, as in a single shade of brown which is probably the next best option if i can't find any in the next few weeks.

**fishmommie** · 12-11-2012, 08:33 PM

very ambitious project. Will look forward to photos

check google for black sand. lots of outlets on line and some with reasonable shipping. good luck

**Crispy** · 12-11-2012, 08:41 PM

coming along nicely. btw, some of those filter pads that claim to remove things actually do, so you may be alright there.

**waack** · 12-11-2012, 09:54 PM

I have found a few online places, only issue is I'm in Australia so shipping from overseas for something as heavy as 60? kg of sand is going to be costly. I'm sure the pad will work it's more a question of for what duration, instructions call for pad change frequently. Frequently is pretty relative if you ask me. Also can't find it anywhere in my state and it has to be shipped pad cost $5 but shipping was $15 and i only got it cause i was getting other things. Would prove costly in the long run

**~firefly~** · 12-11-2012, 09:56 PM

Subscribed

I don't think I've seen a FW sump on here before.

**waack** · 12-11-2012, 10:01 PM

If I'm not mistaken bhrino is working with his build of his 'megatank journal ' unless i missed somewhere him doing saltwater:S I don't think he has finalized stock but im pretty sure i saw discus thrown out there.

But my main reasons for using it are i had a few spare tanks, I have roughly 3 months of spare time between university semesters, and then there is the benefit of sumps, extra water capacity, full customization of media and layout, amount of media space available etc etc. People have said there is no benefit over using a good canister but i don't understand that. It has all the benefits of a canister plus more and costs less if you have the time and patience.

**~firefly~** · 12-11-2012, 10:25 PM

Oh yeah, Bhrino's megatank. Two sumps coming up then!

Are sumps noisy?

**jeffs99dime** · 12-12-2012, 12:57 AM

I can't wait to see this thing up and running. Subscribed.

**250Gimp** · 12-12-2012, 01:19 AM

Looking forwrad to seeing this take shape.

Good luck!!

**waack** · 12-12-2012, 04:18 AM

Um well i have been working on perfecting the noise situation last couple of days found a few things to reduce it. Because i am using DIY overflows there is some noise from the breather tube due to the sucking in of air, to reduce this I have added ball valves to control the flow, i found that restricting the flow to the amount of water running through the pipes means no air is getting sucked in hence no noise. Also added a cap on the breather pipe with a single hole drilled to reduce the echo in the pipe.

The other part of the noise is obviously from the trickling of the water, and the splashing of the water into the sump, The current drip tray allows about 2cm of water to build up and remain there at full flow, when i finalize the plumping i plan to submerge the overflow outlets to reduce the splashing noise. To reduce the trickling all i can do is pack the media as tight as possible with padding layers in to muffle the sound. Whole sump will be in a closed cabinet to fingers crossed this will also help.