I have posted my tank picture in water chemistry and I thought maybe it is good to share some pictures of my tank and filter design to those interested. The tank is quite plain with no subsrate. Maintenance is very easy and I have 2 potted plants and 2 plastic plants/ornament to make it look nicer.

Cheers........

WOW!!! Your tank looks amazing!!!!! Your fish are adorable

Lovely tank ranchu man!!! And your fishies look absolutely gorgeous They have such bright colors and they look so healthy!!

How many gallons is the tank?

Thanks for the nice comments and happy that you like my tank. I spent almost 2 months to design the tank from scratch and it works the first time and all the hard work paid off. Machining the suction tube is the most difficult and it took me a day to complete it due to cracks of the arcylic tube.

The tank capacity is 270litres (about 70gal). Some friends of mine said that the water height is too high at 20" and not good for gf but I think it should be OK. The goldies seems to swim pretty well but they always like to stay at the bottom of the tank most of the time (near the filtered water exit tube). Probably the water is fresher and less turbulence in that area. This tank design however is not very suitable for small fishes and fry as the turbulence at the bottom of the tank is quite high and small fish might get sucked in the suction tube.

The color variety of gf in our area is quite limited and they are either gold or white/red or white/gold color. It is difficult to get black ranchus and other color combination. Most pretty ones are imported from China and can be costly.

I think the Japanese gf is the best around but very hard to find and extremely expensive. A Japanese Koi of 1" long cost about USD60.00 and the bigh ones like 12" will cost by the thousands!

My 40 gallon tank is a bit hightoo : 24" long 20" high & 17" wide, so it's more of a sqaure shape rather than rectangle. I keep 2 pearscales and 1 lionhead and 1 ranchu in there. Do you know what filetration or aeration I need to take into consideration for a tank of this shape?

Selena, your tank volume should be around 35gal (133 litres). I think you need not use a very big filter system and a simple hang on back type should be able to do the job well. Since you only have 3 gf, it should not load the tank too much. I have 8gf and therefore need a bigger filtration system to keep the water clean. Make sure the tank is fully cycled or else you have to check the water quality very often. I have this problem after I cleaned my filter media. Betty and Captk is helping me to settle my filtration issue. They are of great help.

For areation, just use a small pump and you can either use a diffuser to make tiny bubbles or a big tube to create turbulence. I used to use a diffuser but creates a lot of water spattering on the lamp reflector. It almost caused a short circuit on the electronic ballast. I now use an airline and it works fine and very quite. Diffused bubbles looks nicer though but both work just fine.

Your filteration is very nice. Great job. The tank is nice and clear and i would like to congratulate you how nice it looks. How does the water return to the tank? What kind of pump do you use and how do you hide the tubing? do you have an airpump?

If you look at the tank picture, you will notice on the left is the suction tube and it goes all the way down to the 1st stage filter. Water is then filtered in both the filter media/bio ball and the last stage on the right is the sump where a pump returns the filtered water back to the tank via a flexible hose, up to the plastic tube on the right hand side of the tank. A pack of carbon is used to clean up some smell in the sump tank. There is no external pipes or hose outside the tank as all pipes/hose are inside the cabinet. This method is more tidy and easy to install and looks neater. You will notice 2 plastic tubes on the right side where the tube behind the tank is the one that transfer the water up and then down again via a transparent arcylic tube. The only hassle is you need to drill at least 2 holes on the tank bottom to fit the pipe fittings. I have 3 holes at the bottom ie. one for suction and the other for return. In the middle is for water change as no shiphoning is required. Just open the valve and there goes the water to the drain via a flexible hose with quick fit connector. Hope you can imagine the description. If not I can post a diagram of the filter. It looks easy but took me a while to figure it out. The pump I use is a Japanese pump, Aquanic 3000 which delivers 1800litres/hr.

As for air pump, I use a twin head electronic controlled pump for areation. It is very quite and powerful. I have since used a straight airline without a diffuser.

WOW! If this were a project that you were being graded on, I would give you the highest score possible! A+++ or perfect 10 or whatever!

Man, with the amount of space for your bio-bugs to colonize, your goldies will never ever know what it's like to have ammonia and nitrites in their tank. I think your goldies are going to be happy and healthy for a very, very loooong time!

Paul

a minimalists dream! Great fish, and the filter is amazing.
bw
cupoftea

I have not been keeping gf for many years since my childhood time and this project was very interesting. The actual fun is building a good system for the tank to minimise maintenance and provide a good and clean place for the gf to live. I started keeping tropical fish like tetras and rainbow in a small tank but after a while, I switched to gf as they are prettier, bigger and more colourful plus very high bio load which requires a good filter. A lot of my friends told not to keep gf as they are very dirty and poops is everywhere and hard to clean and I though this is a challenge to build a good system with minimal maintenance. I then started building this tank and filter. The idea comes the trickle filter used for marine tank and I thought if marine tank can work well, fresh water will be superior.

The filter has some problem with ammonia buildup after I wash the first stage media but it is finally settling down after more than 3 weeks.

Thank you for your advice Ranchu Man. I will have to measure my tank again and check the gallons. I'm sure it was 40 If it is only 35 I will have to move one of my fish as I have 4 GF in there

You have started a very imformative thread, I will have to print it out and put it in my "GF FOLDER"

Great work ranchu man. I believe that the end of the left tube is around an inch under the water level right? So that the water wouldn't drain all out when there is a power outtage. I've seen similar set ups on marine tanks and I'd say your's is the best! Great work!

Yes Mailboxck, thanks for the compliments. The water level is about 1-1.5" above the tube end to reduce noise level during suction. You are correct that the tube is used to control the amount of water going into the filter sump in the event of power failure. You need to calculate the amount of water the filter can take or else you will flood your home!! If the water level is just above the tube end, the noise level will be quite high especially during the night.

Cheers...

It would sound like trying to sip a few drops of your milkshake with a straw! That darn annoying sound

Did you assemble the whole tank yourself? I can see some small pieces of glass glued to the bottom of the tank. Is this used to reinforce the connection of the glass?

The cabinet and hood was make to order and the tank is supplied by the local glass co. The 4 pcs. of glass at the tank bottom is for reinforcement due to the high water level but it was too big which makes the tank looks ugly plus the silicone is just too much but the supplier said this will make the tank last a long time. I was hoping the tank is made more refined.

All the other parts like the arcylic tube milling, suction tube, filter, electrical, lighthing, etc are all hand made by myself and it was fun but consumed a lot of my spare time.

It is beautiful!

I wanted to ask you where you got the stand and canopy but I see you wrote they were made to order. I think your tank is beautiful, much nicer than the typical stand/tank/canopies I've seen in pet shops...I love the wood and the sleek, modern look. Also your sump filtration (is that what you'd call it) is supposed to be the best you can do for your tank. Your fish should have long and healthy lives.

Hi Melle,
Thanks for the compliments. Yes the cabinet is made to order thus not available off the shelf. I got my interior desing decor to make this cabinet and the hood to fit the tank. The tank is odd size at 42" long.
The filter system is called trickle filter which is mainly used in marine tanks filtration. I used this concept cause gf have high bio load and I thought a good filter will keep them healthy and they do. None died since I had this tank except a big ranchu killed by me due to wrong treatment. Apart from the big guy, all are OK.
Cheers.............

Well done, ranchu man! I have seen a smaller tank with a similar concept but it is all built in as one piece and use arcylic (sp?) (clear plastic) instead of glass. I think it is fantastic! Too costly to even think about doing something like this in Australia though.