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Hi all,
I've just started "constructing" my new 40g freshwater tank. I'll get the glass cut today and gonna spend my evening siliconing it. The dimensions are 90x45x45 cm. Didnt have enough room for even a cm more.
The points I want to discuss are: I had some bars of angle iron at home lying waste. I've got them cut as per my design and my friend will weld a stand out of those for me. Has anyone else tried a steel stand? My friend says it can carry 300 kg easily and for the time being, i'm believing.
The second thing is, I have a penn-plex cascade 400 thats already running in my existing 20g (i had put it there to help me cycle the new tank quickly) I plan to use it with a UGF (im a big fan of UGFs). Is this filtration enough for the tank?
Any suggestions are more than welcome.

Good luck with your project. As far as the stand is concerned as long as your friend constructs and braces it properly (which I'm sure he will) there is no reason why it won't be able to support the weight of your tank.

Your filtration should be fine, however it's never a bad idea to have extra, so it wouldn't hurt if you're able to to get a bit larger capacity HOB.

Are you going to use powerheads to drive the UGF or are you utilizing airstones? I've found that the use of powerheads is much more efficient, greater volume capacity and no need to be replacing the airstones periodically.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

If a steel frame is designed and constructued correctly it will hold far more than that.

Being steel you will have to paint it corectly as rust will set in especially at all the welding joints.

Also when painting use a good primer and a good oil based paint and you should never have any problems.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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Hi Jim,
Thanks for the response. Im not using power heads to drive the UGF but an airpump (40g air/hour, looks to be powerful enough) to drive water through two airlift tubes. The powerfilter is rated at 400L/h and I hope the combination will be good enough for 40g as it will be meeting the standard of 2xtank vol per hour.
I've got another non branded power filter from my LFS for some real cheap price. It is rated at 1600L/h but does not have a compartment for activated carbon. Should I use that instead of the cascade 400? I personally think it would be an overkill.
The second thing is that I want to use silica sand as substrate. Would it do with the UGF or the grain size is too small?

keithgh, thanks for the input. Yes, the angle iron I've found looks quite sturdy and hopefully it will support the weight easily. I've got some water resistant paint and Im gonna paint it this evening.

The good news about this project is that so far Ive spent only 40$ (excluding the cascade 400) and im almost ready to set off

I personally don't care for silica sand as it is rather small and has a tendency to get compacted, which can cause problems with the UGF operating properly. However, if you gravel vacuum it in it's entirety on a regular basis it can work, but you would probably be better off with a standard aquarium gravel.

IMO you should really have around 4 to 5 times turnover on your water per hour, however with the UGF and the HOB you should be doing fine. I don't personally use any charcoal in my filters, and really only think it serves a good purpose when you want to remove medication after treating a tank. It will help in removing any discoloration in your water caused by driftwood, etc., but it's just as effective to make regular water changes and you elimnate the expense of having to replace it every couple of weeks.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Hi Jim,
Thanks again for your valuable input. Well, the stand is ready, the tank has been siliconed and is drying now. I've got the sand and will wash it this evening. Hopefully should start in a couple of days.
Now some advice needed. I put the new power filter in my already established tank. Its been running there for six days now. How much time should it take to establish? As the tank is already cycled and supporting a larger stock without any problem, the bacteria population should be good enough to populate the new filter media quickly. Moreover, Im gonna seed the new tank with plants and rocks from the old tank. This should help cycling quickly. How much time should I wait before starting transferring the fish...
thanks

What type of and how many fish are you transferring to the new tank?

It would be best to start with just a couple of the hardier ones and gradually move the fish over to the new tank over a couple of weeks watching your water parameters to make sure all is going well.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Hi Jim,
Im planning to have these in the 40g...
1. A pair of blue 3 spot gouramis (2-3" each)
2. Iredicent sharks 4" each (2)
3. Bala Sharks 4" each (2)
4. 4" pleco
5. Glass catfish 3" each (2)
6. Rainbow shark 3" (1)
7. Pair of baloon mollies (2" each)
8. A trio of red wagtail platties (1" each)

It roughly make 40 inches of fish..I know the sharks are going get a lot larger, but i'll trade them off when they get more than 6" For the time being, i dont feel like giving them away...Im not using any salt in the tank (catfish)...but the platties and mollies are doing fine without it.

The plan is to move the live bearers first, wait for a couple of weeks and then 1 pair a week..

Please tell me if you see any compatibilty issue with this stock.
Thanks

Sorry for the delay in my response, but I've been unavailable for the most part the last couple of days.

Your tank is going to be way overstocked if you move all of the mentioned fish to the new tank even at their current sizes. Although, you have calculated that you have about 40 inches of fish, you are really not taking into consideration their overall girth and size. I think the best way I could explain it is by example, say take 10 1" neon tetras and compare them to say a 10" oscar.

Really no comparison in overall mass and that's really what you need to be looking at. I would reconsider my stocking and at the very least plan on keeping your smaller tank and spread out some of the fish. But, for the most part many of your fish are going to get way to large for the new tank.

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Hi Jim,
Thanks for the response. Well, as per your advice ive removed some of the fish from the transfer list. Actually Ive decided not to move any livebearer..I'll try to get rid of a pair of sharks too...
Well, the tank is up. Im using the filter from my old tank and some rocks and the plants. I could not trace any ammonia for the first two days as I transferred the first two fish. Looks like the old filter media is going to prove helpful.
Thanks for all your help.