Going bigger

Quick update. The tank is home.



Bulkheads. 2" on the inside. Holes in the tank are 3"s.

wow aaron congrats on that good deal ..i saw it on MFK's and i was thinking ( dreaming) for a min too ..thats a really nice tank and a good price too , did u get all the fish too or just tank and stand and filter?

The plant filter concept is sound, but the choice of plants matters.  The other thing is, to ultimately get the nitrates out, you need to trim back the plants.  Thats what you do in salt tanks.  Otherwise, the plants die and the nitrates are released back into the tank.

One sump, as many pumps as you wish.  I like two in big tanks.  Thats how I rigged my 180s when they were briefly running prior to my move.  If you have more than one sump, and a pump fails you will flood the room and then likely burn out the other pump too. 

 

The key to a good sump is to make your life easier.  Big slabs of foam don't fit the bill IMO.

Its a big tank, the stand is big, so I would go with a large sump. Standard wet / dry rigging with partially submerged media is a great solution.  Very easy (2 times per year) maintenance.  It will cost you a little more, but it will make your life simpler.  DIY may not be the right solution for a 300+ gallon. i would stick with acrylic over a glass tank if possible.  While a 75 gallon would be ideal, its a little tall and glass can crack a lot easier than glass.

If you look on craigslist, or reefcentra.org, there are always a few guys selling sumps.  It might take a while, but what is the rush?

I dont think the foam idea will be as easy as you would like.  Heavy wet slabs of fish **** will make a mess.  Little slabs in 10 gallon tanks might make sense; big slabs not so much.

Depending upon the number of returns, I would most likely use 2 pumps.  Quiet one makes some great pumps www.jehmco.com/html/water_pumps___powerheads.html and they are available at jehmco.  I am sure there are others out there, but quiet ones have never given me any trouble even when abused. The Quiet one 400HH is a great pump and two of them will turn your water in excess of 5X.  Big tanks with big fish will do fine with a little less turnover than the experts say.  10x (who makes up these numbers anyway?) would look like a hot tub.

call me for more.

There are two returns and two intakes(not sure if that's the correct lingo).  They are pretty massive.  I'll get some measurements and pictures.  Would it be better to run one or two sumps? or a traditional sump and a refugium?

Anubius is a slow growing plant. You would use a plant to take up (convert) the nitrates into vegetation.  I have used anacharis in tubs outside to slow algae growth and this would probably be a better plant to use.  You would need a grow light on the tank (high wattage) and you would need it on a lot.  To manage your nitrates, you are probably better off just using big water changes like you would on a smaller tank.

Refugium is mostly to help with water quality.  I don't plan to completely abandon water changes.  I was thinking anubias only because I have a lot of it and it doesn't require very much light or maintenance.

Aaron-

Shawn is a plumbing Wizard, but when it comes to refuge's

The Dude is the man you would want to yell at, he is a H2o Chemist after all, and the system he had before the move was immense.

Did you move? Where are you going to plant this monster?

Nuthman~

Definitely need advice with plumbing.

I am up sizing to down size, so I am basically going to just run this monster and some fry tanks.  It'll be a lot easier to maintain and I'll get to enjoy it more.  I am going to try my moba in with my kelberi to start.  I don't foresee any immediate aggression issues in a 330.  If and when the kelberi pair up things may change.  Moba may become targets.

I don't know much about refugiums, but I did build a wet/dry sump for my 125.  I use a 75 gallon tank and an aquavia pump putting out around 750gph.  I wasn't as lucky with my quietone pump as most people seem to be.  The added benefit of the 75 is really two fold.  One it increases my water volume, which makes tank maintenance easier.  Also I use it as a grow out tank.  Sometimes I divide it up, sometimes I don't.  If you were to go with a 75 gallon size sump you are talking about 400ish gallons of water.  That isn't going to get huge spikes unless you drastically overstock.  I do like the idea of two pumps.  There are some decent articles on DIY sumps on cichlid-forum.  That is where I got my ideas.

Aaron-

Shawn is a plumbing Wizard, but when it comes to refuge's

The Dude is the man you would want to yell at, he is a H2o Chemist after all, and the system he had before the move was immense.

Did you move? Where are you going to plant this monster?

Nuthman~

I just saw the refugium idea. 

Maybe sound, may not.  Not a typical fresh water idea, more likely a salt idea.

Anubius is a slow growing plant. You would use a plant to take up (convert) the nitrates into vegetation.  I have used anacharis in tubs outside to slow algae growth and this would probably be a better plant to use.  You would need a grow light on the tank (high wattage) and you would need it on a lot.  To manage your nitrates, you are probably better off just using big water changes like you would on a smaller tank. 

The key to a good sump is to make your life easier.  Big slabs of foam don't fit the bill IMO.

Its a big tank, the stand is big, so I would go with a large sump. Standard wet / dry rigging with partially submerged media is a great solution.  Very easy (2 times per year) maintenance.  It will cost you a little more, but it will make your life simpler.  DIY may not be the right solution for a 300+ gallon. i would stick with acrylic over a glass tank if possible.  While a 75 gallon would be ideal, its a little tall and glass can crack a lot easier than glass.

If you look on craigslist, or reefcentra.org, there are always a few guys selling sumps.  It might take a while, but what is the rush?

I dont think the foam idea will be as easy as you would like.  Heavy wet slabs of fish crap will make a mess.  Little slabs in 10 gallon tanks might make sense; big slabs not so much.

Depending upon the number of returns, I would most likely use 2 pumps.  Quiet one makes some great pumps www.jehmco.com/html/water_pumps___powerheads.html and they are available at jehmco.  I am sure there are others out there, but quiet ones have never given me any trouble even when abused. The Quiet one 400HH is a great pump and two of them will turn your water in excess of 5X.  Big tanks with big fish will do fine with a little less turnover than the experts say.  10x (who makes up these numbers anyway?) would look like a hot tub.

call me for more.

I am planning to do some sort of sump.  I am noob for sumps.  What size pump will i need?  I am thinking of doing something that seems really simple.

Aaron-

Freaking awesome! What are the dimensions? I wish I was closer to give you a hand....

Nuthman~

It's 84" x 30" x 30".  It's pretty big, should house nearly any cichlid comfortably.  The one fish that still might be too big would be boulengerochromis microlepis.

leave the ***** fish where they are and go get some petrochromis - they are DESIGNED for big tanks like that.

I am up sizing to down size.  With work, classes and a wife it'll be easier to take care of less tanks.  Also this is the kind of tank I envision just staring at.