Diy Set Up

And round we go again! 

You will not know the exact volume unless you count how many buckets it takes to fill up - and at 6ft long, that could take quite a while! Along with a pen & paper to note down each bucket as you go or you'll lose count!

If you dont want to do that, you can get a fair-ish estimate once the sand and water is in. Measure from the top of the sand line to the water line for the height. You already have the width and depth. Pop the measurements into the calculator and you will get the volume but dont forget to deduct some for decor. Only you can estimate how much the decor takes as only you know what you have. It wouldnt be easy for us to guess from photos or description.

The measurements you give above come back as a volume of 547 litres. Are these measurements the overall size of the tank? If so, then the actual volume will be nowhere near 547 litres. No tank is filled to the brim. Nearly all tanks have sand/gravel and logs/rocks, plants and other decor. You will be amazed how much space is lost from all this. Ideally, you need a fairer "actual volume" to get the filter size needed.

It is generally recommended for a filter to turn the tank five times per hour (ten times if heavily planted). When calculating what size filter you need, bear in mind that manufacturers will quote a maximum performance. Eg, if a filter is alleged to be 1500 litres per hour, then that will be on an empty filter. By the time you add media and the filter starts collecting gunk from your tank then that 1500 PH will be more like, perhaps 1300 maybe even less? There are other debating factors too which make things even more complicated - Sue managed to find a very interesting article about it on the old forum and it pretty much left us all having no clue as to how to work out exactly what a filter would do! The best we can do is go by the 5 times per hour (actual volume) calculation then round it up a notch or three! Having a filter too powerful will turn your tank into a washing machine and your fish will think they're living in a permanent tornado 

Erm, may I ask...... are you a skilled carpenter??? The way you said that its your first attempt..... did you mean your first attempt at a fish cabinet or first attempt at woodwork? Sorry - I couldnt figure out which you meant   

Although at the time it must have been annoying about the 5ft tank, the consolation is that you now have a 6-footer!! 

Chucklett, did you mean the info I pinched from another forum? Some members on there has measured the outflow from their external filters, most of them with mature filters so the media was nicely bedded in. I'll have to go and see if I can find it again.

I've just found the thread on the other forum 

There are two makes that are reputed to give their flow rates with media inside the filter - Eheim and Hydor. Others quote them without media, so the in-use flow rate is lower than stated. Eheim and Hydor quote for brand new, nice clean media so even theirs fall off a bit as the media gets used.

Then there's the spray bar question. Some of the 'testers' measured their filters' flow rates with and without spray bars - and as you would expect, the flow rates were lower with spray bars.

And dirty tubes slow the flow rate too as the muck inside narrows the diameter of the tube.

Some of the 'testers' gave the head height, some didn't; this makes it tricky to work out what effect head height has.


The results showed that Eheim and Hydor showed the smallest difference between the manufacturers figures and those given on the forum - as you would expect since the manufacturers quote the flow rater with media in the filter.
Various Tetratec filters had an 'actual' flow rate of around 75% of the manufacturer's figure.
APS filters came out as 50 to 60% of the manufacturer's figure.



It should be borne in mind that these tests were not very scientific. They measured the volume pumped out in 10 secs, then multiplied the volume by 360 to get litres per hour. A tiny error in measuring over 10 secs would get quite big when multiplied by 360!

hi we went sourcing parts today for the tank /filter/wood.now i dont know whether to use standard bulbs or a led strip light. bright white. aquariums are a long road and changes along the way all the time 

BUT, these cheapo strips are not suitable as sole lighting for the tank. You would need proper aquarium strips as well (eg. T8 or T5 or some such lighting). Again, you would need to research the different lights available to suit your needs.

LED strips would be able to light a tank adequately as long as there are no plants, often the case in the sort of hard water cichlid tank proposed.  However, the tank is huge and would require considerable light, even without plants.  If you have a lot of money, I believe LED lights would be the way to go if you do not have plants.  If you use plants, you will need a second mortgage to provide adequate lighting using LEDs.

LED strips would be able to light a tank adequately as long as there are no plants

Thankyou SteveS - I will bear that in mind for future "advice"