6' Planted Tropical Aquarium *Project*

Building - The stand


The stand is constructed from 63x36mm timber based on a design by Joey, "The King of DIY" on YouTube. If anything, the design of this stand is a bit overkill, but at least there's no way of it failing. It seems to be a much stronger version of the designs used in LFS' to build their sale and display stands. This framework was topped with 18mm marine ply surfaces on both the top and bottom levels.


A layer of 2" foam was added to even out the pressure of the base, and the tank was finally installed. I've owned this aquarium for around 7 years, so this was a pretty major step, actually getting it in the flat and on the stand.

Next I got some 18mm furniture boards to make the cabinetry. Fortunately most of this was cut by the store, so it's all nice and square, as well as saving me a tonne of time and mess. The cabinet doors fit directly to the framework using magnetic catches, making every panel easily removable for accessing the sump, inlet filters,  CO2 canisters, and whatever else I keep in there.

Decor
I've just won myself an awesome piece of bogwood on eBay too, I'll be picking it up on Saturday. You can't really see in the image, but it's approx 3' long, should be a good start 

I'm fascinated by the filtration system.

Please tell about the thinking behind the 'refugium'.

I've not come across this concept before. Is this something that's used in Marine setups?

The filter is something a little different. I'd say most tropical tanks use an internal or canister filter, but I thought I'd try something different, borrowing some thoughts from marine systems.

The first stage is something that most people will have in their tanks, a sponge. Ill be using this as a mechanical filter to get the larger bits of crud out of the water. It'll be a large, thick sponge, or I'll have to large sponges of different densities.

The next stage is the fluidised bed. I've seen other tropical set-ups use these, some pond filters also use them. It's basically Kaldnes K1 media which is constantly rotated by air. The K1 has a massive bio area and the beneficial bacteria populate it well and feed on the ammonia and nitrite. The reason to have it fluidised is so that older, less efficient bacteria gets knocked off and young bacteria takes its place; it also knocks off any stray bits of detritus that's sneaked past the sponge(s).

The next stage is the experimental part, the refugium. In marine tanks these contain live rock and clean-up crew, and are used to grow micro-critters that are beneficial to the aquarium but can be eaten by residents of the display tank. I'm using it for similar things, in that I'll keep some shrimp in there, which I could use to boost the shrimp population in the main tank if I need to. It will also be planted pretty heavily and lit on an opposing schedule to the display tank. The thought behind this is that plants use CO2 when lit, but expel it when it's dark, therefore, the plants in the refugium may reduce the amount of CO2 that I'd need to inject, it will also add balance, reducing fluctuations in the water parameters caused during the different photo periods.

The last stage is the heating, waste overflow, and return pump compartment. Other than the waste overflow, this bit is pretty much standard equipment.

Great carpentry skills - the tank cabinet looks really well made. It has to be with the dimensions involved. The whole setup looks impressive.

I may have misinterpreted your excellent technical drawings but will the pipe/tube from the filter pass through the bottom of the tanks? i.e you have to cut the glass and seal it?

Looking forward to the updates.

I understand the fluidised bed but I'm intrigued with the "the Refugium concept" couldn't really get a definitive answer from google, could you explain more? 

I watched the video - Joey seems to make it oh so easy! I've watched some of his videos before - The DIY aquarium. It's like a lot of things a combination of practical skills and confidence. Good luck with it all and keep us posted. 

A little bit of an update. I've got all the wood for the aquarium, just need to find some nice rocks now



And I've bought the return pump to get the water back from the sump to the main tank. It's a DC, controllable unit that has a slow turn on (extends pump life) and a feeding mode. I'm pretty impressed, even with the open 1" outlet in the video it was still chucking a fair bit of water about. I should be getting around 2800 litres per hour taking into account the height the water has to be pushed.

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Lovely wood!

How're you going to stop it floating off Darren?

Wood soon becomes waterlogged.

My biggest piece took two weeks.