Marine Fish Tank For Disabled

[LavaBeard]

Hi, I am new to the forum and this looks like a friendly place and I hope to be an active member as time allows. So here is my deal, I grew up on the coast, fishing, snorkeling and diving. I love everything about the Oceans and even wanted to be an oceanographer until I started school and realized I not not good at math and science. So through my 20's and early 30's I settled for having Marine Fish and Marine Reef tanks to enjoy. Technology has come along way since then, things have changed, and to be honest I forgot most of what I knew and am starting over re-learning about the hobby.

Here is my special catch, I am pushing 50, and physically disabled in my back, knees and hips. The only reason I mention this is because this is why I have questions here today; I am trying to setup the easiest and low maintenance fish only aquarium possible so that I can care for it in my condition.

So my setup is 36 gallon bow front, Fluval C3 Power Filter, Fluval Tank Heater, Fluval C3 Powerhead Circulation Pump, Finnex 1 Gallon Hang On Refugium, basic lighting on tank and refugium and a battery backup surge suppressor to power it all. Inside I have put 50lbs of Pink Fiji live sand, 25lbs Life Rock, and salt water. It has been settling for 2 days.

So my thoughts are while my hangon filter isn't as great as a sump or canister, I can get to it way easier to service and clean without having to bend, the refugium is to eventually have some plant life and to grow a little food for a dragonet, but mainly the extra filtration from it should lessen how often I will need to change the water, movement is very painful and hard for me. So what flaws have I overlooked with this system for maintenance simplicity and what advice or suggestions do you more experienced Marine Hobbyist have?

 

[EmdeReef]

Welcome to R2R! Very friendly place and you'll get lots of good advice and meet great people!

I think it's possible to run a successful tank with a HOB filter and without a sump. I've done this for 5yrs after a friend of mine left me his 75g tank which I thought would get decommissioned in weeks.
I would recommend getting a HOB skimmer and not overstocking. The only other advice is not to rush with anything in this hobby.

#reefsquad

 

[saltyhog]

Welcome to R2R!

I think your approach is good for your situation and very doable. With a FOWLR you've got lots of options and there's nothing wrong with your current solution. I would mention that cleaning a sump is not something that has to be done very often. If it's difficult for you to do it's not out of the question. If it's impossible for you to do you would have to have help for that. The advantages of a sump are adding more water volume, giving a great place to put equipment, improving the appearance of the set up and allowing a larger refugium.

 

[cracker]

Welcome Lava beard ! I'm also hurting with illness &can't do things I could just a few months ago. I can't climb a step latter, or lift a heavy box of salt any more. The low down is My tanks are not getting the care they deserve.
I hope You stick around & we can share idea's on how to get around these obstacles . Good Luck Friend .

 

[LavaBeard]

Welcome Lava beard ! I'm also hurting with illness &can't do things I could just a few months ago. I can't climb a step latter, or lift a heavy box of salt any more. The low down is My tanks are not getting the care they deserve.
I hope You stick around & we can share idea's on how to get around these obstacles . Good Luck Friend .

It does indeed make it difficult, one thing I found is some smaller 2.5 gallon collapsible jugs on Amazon for water mix and carry. I too can't support any additional weight on my hips or knees, so smaller containers were a must and they worked great for mixing and small enough to shake around to get a good dissolve mix with my salt.

 

[ndrwater]

Welcome to R2R first off, you'll like it here.
2nd, has nothing to do with disability, but I hate hauling heavy jugs/buckets of water around, so my work around is having a couple of barrels, and a cheapo submersable pump with hose attachment.
I make RODI which fills one barrel, pump water into the other for salt water and never lift anything heavier than a bag of salt.
I pump water out of the tank, and pump it back in.
Hope this helps even a little. There are a 1000 ways to skin a reef. A little ingenuity goes a long way to whatever obstacle stands in our way.
Best of luck in your salty adventure!!

 

[Katrina71]

Why not do a display sump with a fuge? Put it on a stand. I'm sure something would be do-able. Let's face it, some sumps are a work of art.

 

[cracker]

I find a hand cart very useful.
Also a sump doesn't have to be sitting on th floor , Just lower than the display .

 

[Katrina71]

I find a hand cart very useful.
Also a sump doesn't have to be sitting on th floor , Just lower than the display .

Exactly what I had in mind too!

 

[LavaBeard]

Welcome to R2R first off, you'll like it here.
2nd, has nothing to do with disability, but I hate hauling heavy jugs/buckets of water around, so my work around is having a couple of barrels, and a cheapo submersable pump with hose attachment.
I make RODI which fills one barrel, pump water into the other for salt water and never lift anything heavier than a bag of salt.
I pump water out of the tank, and pump it back in.
Hope this helps even a little. There are a 1000 ways to skin a reef. A little ingenuity goes a long way to whatever obstacle stands in our way.
Best of luck in your salty adventure!!

My aquarium is in my living room so not sure how I would get the barrels in and out sight but I do like this idea.

 

[Katrina71]

My aquarium is in my living room so not sure how I would get the barrels in and out sight but I do like this idea.

Why not DIY something attractive?

 

[ndrwater]

My aquarium is in my living room so not sure how I would get the barrels in and out sight but I do like this idea.

My barrels are in my garage. I have a dedicated 50' hose I use to move water in/out. Depending on how far you have to go, it still might be an option..

 

[cracker]

ndrwater has a good idea !

 

[Rick.45cal]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I designed my current tank so I would never need to pick up a bucket of water and carry it for any tank maintanence. I’ve got 2 storage tanks for water, one for deionized water for evaporation and a large one that I mix and hold saltwater in. Both tanks are attached to my RO/DI so all I do is turn it on and switch a valve depending on which one I want the RO to fill. Both of the tanks are hard plumbed. The saltwater tank has a line that runs to the display, and the DI tank has a line that runs to my ATO reservoir. I basically turn on a pump and open a valve to move water. I’ve also incorporated a perstaltic pump (a neptune DOS) that one head removes water from my aquarium and sends it to a drain while the other head of the doser moves water from the saltwater storage tank to the aquarium. I’ve got it set to change 1% of my tank volume everyday over a 24 hour period. When I need to make saltwater I fill my storage tank back with DI water and then turn its pump on (made to recycle the water within the container) and dump my bags of salt in. No stirring, bending over, straining. It’s worked very well and over the last 3+ years I have never had to carry a bucket of water to or from my aquarium. Let me know if I can help you in any way.

 

[ndrwater]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I designed my current tank so I would never need to pick up a bucket of water and carry it for any tank maintanence. I’ve got 2 storage tanks for water, one for deionized water for evaporation and a large one that I mix and hold saltwater in. Both tanks are attached to my RO/DI so all I do is turn it on and switch a valve depending on which one I want the RO to fill. Both of the tanks are hard plumbed. The saltwater tank has a line that runs to the display, and the DI tank has a line that runs to my ATO reservoir. I basically turn on a pump and open a valve to move water. I’ve also incorporated a perstaltic pump (a neptune DOS) that one head removes water from my aquarium and sends it to a drain while the other head of the doser moves water from the saltwater storage tank to the aquarium. I’ve got it set to change 1% of my tank volume everyday over a 24 hour period. When I need to make saltwater I fill my storage tank back with DI water and then turn its pump on (made to recycle the water within the container) and dump my bags of salt in. No stirring, bending over, straining. It’s worked very well and over the last 3+ years I have never had to carry a bucket of water to or from my aquarium. Let me know if I can help you in any way.

THIS^^^^ is what I would do if I weren't so lazy...

 

[Rick.45cal]

THIS^^^^ is what I would do if I weren't so lazy...

Haha, I did it so I could be lazy! (I totally understand/relate to what you mean though)

 

[cracker]

Wrong thread sorry

 

[Skydvr]

Laziness takes work. Set everything up in the beginning to minimize effortand time spent later down the road.

Utilizing a service company to come in and do deep cleanings a few times a year to make up for what you can’t get to might be an option.

A rolling cart for water changes will help if you can’t set up a more permanent mixing station somewhere. One bucket for old water, one for new.

If you have limited mobility, using a small canister filter will allow you to take longer to vacuum the dusplay as the water is being filtered and returned instead of only removed from the tank. There are cheap $20-40 canister filters for tanks under 10 gallons.

It looks like you aleady have something set up, but a shallow tank that allows easier access or a stand that will allow you to sit down next to the tank while performing maintenance might be easier on your body. I know most people advocate larger tanks for stability and success, but a smaller tank that you can do nearly 100% water changes on with a fairly minimal sandbed might make things easier on you if you can manage weekly water changes.

 

[Mical]

Exactly what I had in mind too!

That makes 3 of us. I'd put a sump behind the tank at same level. Sure it would be a wide stand or on a table, but behind it you'ld have similar access as you would to your tank. Just a suggestion.

 

[Lukas75]

Laziness is the mother of invention, but in your case it is not a matter of laziness but necessity. Mine is laziness. One thought is that, especially in a fish only system, a large refugium can drastically reduce the need for a water changes. It's not a perfect solution, but may help with reducing the number of waterchanges you need to do.