Planning...

[justahannah]

Sometime in the next few months, I'll be moving into a house. I don't know which house yet, but my husband and I are on the market, and my two big musts are a big yard for gardening and a concrete foundation so I can have a large tank. I'm thinking 150-250 gallon range (I want it to be at least 6 feet long), and I want it to be a well planted rainbow based community. I've been scoping out big tanks on craigslist, and most of them have holes drilled in them for sumps and overflows and to be honest...I have no idea what those are or their purpose. I've never owned a LARGE tank, so I'm not sure what I need to be looking for. I know I love my simple AC110, but I know I'll want something other than HOBs when I upgrade the tank. I know canisters are often recommended for planted tanks, but would that be enough on this large of a scale? I'm coming here for help understanding what options there are and what works best as far as an efficient, simple, dependable filtration setup for a large, heavily planted FW tank goes. Also of the utmost importance, I need to know whether I should stay away from tanks with holes or if those holes are going to make my life a whole lot easier and why. Thanks!

 

[Mgamer20o0]

well there is two ways to go.... tell you what to do which people like.... or the harder not a real answer... is it depends.... just like anything depending on what you want to do will dictate the kinds of filtration.

do you want just a planted tank or do you want something higher light co2 type set up? if your going to ever want to go the co2 road i would use canisters only. a couple of the lager filters what ever brand you like if not you have a few options.....

hobs are nice but dont have much filter media..... canister more filter media more options...... 3rd often under rated in fw is sumps. great thing they add a lot of water volume plus so many media options.... only draw back is its more diy type of system....

 

[justahannah]

Well...I'm going the HOB/DIY CO2 route on my current tank...and everything's happy and healthy, but...

I want to go all out on this new tank. It'll be used via Craigslist (unless I get ungodly lucky and find a new one really cheap), but the idea of appx 200 gallons to play with has me all tingly inside. I'll be going pressurized CO2 and 3-4wpg. I don't mind DIY on a sump as long as it'll be easy to hide and I can find reliable instructions to follow. And if I understand how it would benefit me more than sticking with canisters....which is where I'm not so clear on. And what I would do with pre-drilled holes.

 

[oscarluvr]

no problem, if you dont want to go sump, just cap the holes, a threaded pvc cap should do it

 

[SchizotypalVamp]

A sump will gas out a lot of C02

 

[jm1212]

get 3 C-360 canister filters for a 250 gallon

 

[PuppyFluffer]

I'm reading this with interest as i just bought a 180 with overflow and holes drilled and I am clueless as to what to do with it. It was too good a deal to pass up so I figured I'd learn later when I was going to set it up.

Are their any good info sites on DIY sumps. I looked around and found a lot of info for salt water. Is the set up the same for freshwater? Different media I am sure.

 

[caitylee]

This is very interesting. Maybe it needs some pictures for illustration purposes?

 

[IsaacMTSU]

I have a 90 Gallon FW with the entire back being a ~20G overflow it works nice! I have a lot of polyfill and bioballs in there along with my heater and some mesh bags of carbon.

 

[Notophthalmus]

FW sumps are essentially the same as saltwater, but slightly simpler. SW sumps often include water conditioning stuff that you won't need. Biomedia and mechanical filtration are the main things you want in your sump.

Some sump designs include a refugium. This could be good for a planted tank- keep some fast-growing plants or macroalgae (e.g. Spirogyra, Cladophora, Chara) there to help remove nutrients that would otherwise encourage algae in the main tank. You can also keep scuds and other small inverts in there- they will speed breakdown of detritus, and occasionally be sucked through the filter to provide a treat for your fish.

As for CO2 loss, there's no reason you couldn't set up your sump's outflow as a submerged spraybar or similar that would minimize surface agitation.

This sounds like it will be a gorgeous tank. Are you considering a biotope? I'm not sure how many other New Guinean/ tropical Australian fish are available, but it might be worth looking into.