Hi guys! Need some advice and hope u lot can help!
Am setting up my first 180G, with a 40G sump! Planning to house 40-60 African cichlids..pea pebbles as substrate, and rockscape smack in the middle! Tank will be in between 2 common areas, so it needs to be eye pleasing especially both sides!
Bought the tank with 1 drilled hole at the bottom, one corner of the tank! Let's just say this is the left side for easy reference! Underneath exactly is the sump
My plan is to have a standpipe (with 2.5" to 1.5" reducer at the top, toothed, and filled with Japanese mat filter to act as first stage filter) straight up the bulkhead with a 1.5" pvc..this will be gravity drop! Straight down the drain, to a 90°, to a ball valve, then another 90° then into the sump!
Sump setup will be sock > baffle > coarse filter, fine filter > baffle > bio blocks, bio rings, SeaChem matrix > return pump! A running sump is expected to fill about 60% of the 40G! Leaving approximately 15G of space in case of over flow from pump failure!
Return pump will be a 1200gph submersible! Return pipe will be approximately 4ft vertical and 5ft horizontal..if my calculations are right, with few 90° and valves, a loss of 300gph (based on my readings) will occur!
Planning to operate tank at 2" below rim, which water volume will come to 165G..meaning I will have just over 5cycles of water an hour with the planned pump and setup!
Water running into drain will roughly be 1" higher than my standpipe! In case of pump failure, that roughly 1" of water will overflow into sump..1" of water for my 6ft tank is about 7.5G! Sump is sizable enough to hold this amount based on earlier sump size calculations!
Return pipe will be on right side of display tank, attached to a few duckbills shooting upwards for surface agitation..will place a 1200gph wave maker on left side, facing down to sweep clean the substrate from food and fish waste..flow will be circular anti clockwise!
Tank will be at porch area, outside the house..so standpipe noise will not be much of a concern!
I'm not using heater, as I'm in Malaysia, a tropical country..need little to no worries about temperature year round!
On my paper this setup seems possible! Let me know if there's anything wrong with my plan, and if there's anything I can do better!
Thank you!
Cheers
ZZ
Am setting up my first 180G, with a 40G sump! Planning to house 40-60 African cichlids..pea pebbles as substrate, and rockscape smack in the middle! Tank will be in between 2 common areas, so it needs to be eye pleasing especially both sides!
Bought the tank with 1 drilled hole at the bottom, one corner of the tank! Let's just say this is the left side for easy reference! Underneath exactly is the sump
My plan is to have a standpipe (with 2.5" to 1.5" reducer at the top, toothed, and filled with Japanese mat filter to act as first stage filter) straight up the bulkhead with a 1.5" pvc..this will be gravity drop! Straight down the drain, to a 90°, to a ball valve, then another 90° then into the sump!
Sump setup will be sock > baffle > coarse filter, fine filter > baffle > bio blocks, bio rings, SeaChem matrix > return pump! A running sump is expected to fill about 60% of the 40G! Leaving approximately 15G of space in case of over flow from pump failure!
Return pump will be a 1200gph submersible! Return pipe will be approximately 4ft vertical and 5ft horizontal..if my calculations are right, with few 90° and valves, a loss of 300gph (based on my readings) will occur!
Planning to operate tank at 2" below rim, which water volume will come to 165G..meaning I will have just over 5cycles of water an hour with the planned pump and setup!
Water running into drain will roughly be 1" higher than my standpipe! In case of pump failure, that roughly 1" of water will overflow into sump..1" of water for my 6ft tank is about 7.5G! Sump is sizable enough to hold this amount based on earlier sump size calculations!
Return pipe will be on right side of display tank, attached to a few duckbills shooting upwards for surface agitation..will place a 1200gph wave maker on left side, facing down to sweep clean the substrate from food and fish waste..flow will be circular anti clockwise!
Tank will be at porch area, outside the house..so standpipe noise will not be much of a concern!
I'm not using heater, as I'm in Malaysia, a tropical country..need little to no worries about temperature year round!
On my paper this setup seems possible! Let me know if there's anything wrong with my plan, and if there's anything I can do better!
Thank you!
Cheers
ZZ
