Awesome set up there, very professional looking.
Just out of interest, what was behind the decision to do the filtration the way you did it as opposed to putting sumps on the tanks?
Thanks,
For me the key goal was ease of use, then noise level.
When I was in Atlanta I ended up having ~1500 gallons worth of tanks with 2 sump systems and a lot of canister/HOB systems.
The canister/HOB combos tend to get noisy + you really end up having to clean something nearly every week with that many tanks.
You can get really complicated with sumps to ensure you don't have overflow issues, and I do see sumps as the ultimate in versatility. But still they always tend to be nosier than an any enclosed system plus when you do have to clean them out it is a pain. (And you have to worry about topping off the sump, my entire system is geared towards not having a lot of water evaporate.)
The other key was space. I likely could have fit ~4 55's in that room, but this seemed better.
I have it set that I can plumb in a polisher if I want it, but I doubt I will use one for any of these tanks. (Might do a quick polish for photo ops I guess?)
The other good news is I can keep the filtration going, do +50% water change and still not worry about the pump running dry. (I can't tell you how many times I would do water changes and forget to turn back my sump pump after filling the tanks again.)
Anyways I could go on, but the other big factor is that cost really isn't a factor. (IE ease of use for me >> the premium for the filters. Just like the fact that I went overboard with unions/ball valves etc. I have long since learned that spending more now = much happier me in the long run.)
Course you can't really go with this type of system unless you have ~360+ gallons to deal with. Even a short backwash+rinse will chew through ~55 gallons in 1 min. But man the first time I used that backwash/rinse feature I was all smiles. So easy and right now I have it setup that I can do ~150 gallons of water change in about 10 min
(Long run I will have ~400 gallons of 1 day old/primed/aerated water.)