A few questions....

[wackydan]

AS I get back into the hobby slowly but surely.... I have a few questions..

1. A member here posted a picture of an "L" shaped aquarium.... Does anyone make these anymore or have corner tanks (triangle/bow front) replaced that style? Any negatives to carner tanks?

2. Substrates.... I've always used a red river bed gravel.. not too small not too big. But I'm intersted in having more success with live plantings... What's the best all around substrate for fresh water that is easy to maintain but might invite some plant growth? I've seen sandy substrates and have heard folks mention clay.......

3. Filters... I'm betting I'll go canister this time around with a biowheel..... But is there any advantage to trying an overflow setup? To me the overflow seems better - easier maintenance, no priming if power goes out???, and increases the water volume overall......But overflow seems more like a mystery science to set up.

4. oh... and what are the advantages/disadvantages of glass or acrylic?

 

[Lady G]

The only answer to your questions I personaly have is, they do still make those l shaped aquariums, I am looking up where I seen them at (I just cleared my history, temp. files and all that today) so I don't remember what site I was at. But I was looking yesterday and seen some cool corner and l shapes and many others at one site!! I had typed in online aquarium supplies and looked at several different sites I'll try that again and once I find the place I'll get back to you!

 

[Lady G]

Found the site

That is where I saw all the cool tanks :thm: If for some reason the link did not come through the name of the site is www.tenecor.com just go there and go to specialty aquariums, I'm sure you will find something. There were other places I went to yesterday too so you may want to do a search yourself for priceing and such, but that will get you a start at least!

 

[wackydan]

That is where I saw all the cool tanks :thm: If for some reason the link did not come through the name of the site is www.tenecor.com just go there and go to specialty aquariums, I'm sure you will find something. There were other places I went to yesterday too so you may want to do a search yourself for priceing and such, but that will get you a start at least!

Tanks@!!

 

[Lady G]

No problem, one thing I miss typed though you don't have to go to specialty aquariums its all there on the left side...but if you went/go there I guess youd figure that part out. I WANT THE 1300/g tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Emg]

I have used Echo-Complete for planted tanks in my planted tanks..with great success..but it is a bit on the high end pricewise...about 24$ for a 22lb bag.

Not sure on the filter question...I've only ever used the HOB filters and internal whispers.

Acrylic scratches easier, but is alot lighter and easier to move around if you have to. That's about the only differences I can think of.

 

[Halo]

1. Dunno about L shaped tanks, but yeah.. that was cool looking! Saw something on here about water bridges, and I'm kinda itching to try that too..

2. Substrate. I use playground sand, washed. Plants root really well in it, and since I vaccume daily with a battery operated stick unit, it's pretty easy to clean off the surface and keep it nice. Clay might be acidic? Not sure about that one.. I'll look around and see what I can dig up. Pun intended.

3. Cannister is good. HOB's are'nt bad either. How much you need kinda depends on your fish and bioload, but there's never a penalty for over filtering. Overflow and sumps are kinda a custom thing for most freshwaters tanks. I talked Wataugachicken into one, because I was curious myself. It's had pros and cons. Harder to set up, easier to clean. I'd recomend a full size bulkhead if you get one, and keep a backup filter in place. Hers is currently down because after a move, her seals will not seal, and she's having trouble finding the right size gasket.

4. Acrylic tanks do scratch more easily, and you can't repair scratches on them. They also cloud up over time, as tiny micro scratches build up. If you keep plecos, they can actually worry at a scratch untill it holes the tank! Takes a long time, but they pick at it. If you can handle the weight, I'd go with glass. Oh yeah.. glass is cheaper :laugh:

 

[Emg]

I have two panda cories in the tank with sand...they keep it well groomed and I rarely if ever have to go in there JUST to clean the sand. So if you're going with sand, toss in a herd of cories and they'll take care of it for you.

 

[TetraBotia]

4. Acrylic tanks do scratch more easily, and you can't repair scratches on them. They also cloud up over time, as tiny micro scratches build up. If you keep plecos, they can actually worry at a scratch untill it holes the tank! Takes a long time, but they pick at it. If you can handle the weight, I'd go with glass. Oh yeah.. glass is cheaper :laugh:

This is really not very accurate.

Acrylic scratches more easily, yes. You CAN repair scratches, even underwater. I have done so myself, and in fact, removed many noticeable scratches from the tank I use now, with Meguiars plastic polish, elbow grease, and a small car buffer. Meguiars is NOT what you use underwater though.

Glass WILL scratch, but it is hard to do so, and much harder to remove the scratches, if at all.

Acrylic will NOT cloud up over time if taken care of properly.

Yes- Some species of Pleco will leave mouth shaped marks on the tank. They can be removed with polishing. I would recommend the Pleco be removed if he starts doing this (not all do)- also, it is important that a Pleco have something like wood to rasp on as well.

Here are the real differences as they pertain to the avg. Aquarium Keeper.

Glass cheaper.
Acrylic is lighter, much lighter.
Glass is stronger- the kind of strength I mean is resisting bowing at comparable thickness to acrylic. This is why acrylic tanks generally have smaller openings in their tops... they need more support against the pressure of the water pushing outward- at the same thickness

Acrylic is actually stronger in many ways. It won't shatter; and the corner weld/bonds are much stronger and leak resistant than glass.

As the tank size goes up, the advantages of Acrylic become more apparent. This is partly why you don't see a lot of small acrylic tanks, unless they are oddly shaped. Most people looking to buy a 10 or 20 gallon tank probably don't want to shell out the money for acrylic, and at the smaller sizes, acrylic's advantages are not as apparent.

Another advantage of acrylic... you (the manufacturer) can much more easily shape it in ways glass is envious of.

The advantages as tank size go up are in direct correlation to the necessity of the material (glass or acrylic) to increase in thickness. Most glass will begin to readily show a greenish tint, unless it is specially made glass -some kind of Iron-something glass has little of this tint- but then the cost of the glass goes up too, which kind of eliminates to soe degree the advantage glass might have over acrylic in cost.

In fact, you can barely see this greenish tint even in smaller, thinner walled glass tanks, such as a 20Gallon. But it is there.

Acrylic is much clearer as it thickens than glass is- clearer in two ways- no tint, and very little distortion compared to glass. If you look at 3/4" glass and acrylic, filled with water, you would clearly (pun intended) see what I mean. The glass has a green tint, and the image of something in the water is far more distorted than that of the acrylic tank.

I believe two people could probably lift a 300 gallon acrylic. It would probably take 6-8 to successfully move a 300 glass. This weight difference can be very important to aquarists who are going to put a tank on a joist floor... your water is about 8.3 lbs per gallon, so even a smaller tank like a 150, if you can shed some weight by using acrylic, it could be worthwhile.

As to Plecos wearing through an acrylic tank, I would like to see that... and then I would like to look at the aquarist who let it happen and say "what the hell were you thinking?"


And no, I don't work for an acrylic tank manufacturer, never have, etc. etc... I just prefer acrylic, where it can be used without being damaged easily, and wanted to set the record straight on this.

 

[wackydan]

Ok... some good answers..... That sawn more questions....

Using playground sand...... ??? When you vac the substrate don't you end up sucking up a bunch of sand too????

Weight isn't an issue as this tank will be on hardwood floor on top of concrete slab.... But I've seen some corner tank designs that I like - and they tend to be acrylic.... though I still like a long rectangle for a tank. Depends where in the room it ultimately goes... the largest tank I've ever had was a 30 gallon long.... and it served me well for many many years until out of paranoid fear of leaking due to age.... I gave it away.

While the 30 served me well, I wanted to move to something with more volume that was longer and deeper and maybe a few iinches taller.

I'm researching all this early as I'm remodelling our dining room with new everything... hopefully done by march.... Then maybe a long vacation before I introduce fish into my life again....

As for overflows.... What did one of you mean by bulkhead???