Could use some suggestions

[thatkarelguy]

Hey everyone, this is my first post. Just got into the hobby a few months ago and the more I'm learning, the more i'm realizing that my filtration setup isn't so good.

I bought this setup used from a guy in Phoenix. What he had was...

125 gallon tank (now enclosed on 3 sides into homebuilt cabnet-ry)
ocean-view mechanical filter
external pump (not sure of capacity, fairly beefy looking though)
2 large bags of CC

The guy explained to me how he had it set up, so i followed what he did:
There are three evenly spaced holes drilled into the bottom of the tank with bulkheads. A two part plastic grid covered with what looked like stainless steel mesh raises up the bottom of the tank about an inch and a half and on top of that is the two bags of crushed coral. The two outer holes are inlets where water gets drawn from the pump and the center is the outlet where there is some of the jointed tubing to duct it out above the crushed coral. Water from the inlets is pumped through the mechanical filter before being sent back into the tank.

Not only do i have the problem with crushed coral, which i know most (if not all) of you hate, but now all the crap in the water just gets sucked into the coral and the mechanical filter will pick up anything it missed which probably isn't a whole lot.

First step i think is to come up with a way to use a DSB and reroute the inlets somehow so they don't suck sand. I'd like to use an overflow box, but since its built in to a wall there isn't any room to hang anything off the sides. Anyone have any good ideas to improve my situation?

sorry for the long thread, but thanks for reading

 

[Gangstafish]

I would get a wetdry sump that goes under the tank. It's gravity fed .The water comes down into the wd onto a pad which then trickles over bio balls,then is returned via pump back to the tank.

 

[Germanman]

humm....

well u could just plug off the holes and try a self contained sump like the EHEIM wet/dry filtration model 2229. a bit pricey but reasonable and can be fit with tight squeeze. it works like a canister filter and sucks from a inlet hanging on any side if the aquarium and is self contained so it can over flow like regular sumps. i would just plug or cap off the holes in the bottom and put in sand and get rid of the crushed coral and then attach the canister filter u have to the top of the tank like most are designed for. it sounds like u got a bit of a number for a set up but ive seen worse working in the trade ive also seen tanks do perfectally fine with crushed coral substrate.

 

[rohnds]

IF you do decide to go with a sump, skip the wet/dry with bioballs. They are N3 trap in SW tank. Removed the bioballs and place some LRs and create a refugium.

Rohn

 

[thatkarelguy]

thanks everyone

I've been thinking of running a sump, was just hoping there was some way to feed it from the bottom of the tank without having to worry about flooding.