125 Gallon filter question

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Smithen

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 27, 2014
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Goshen, Ohio
Hello everyone, I'm Tyler, new to the forum. I have a 125 gallon freshwater setup right now that I am gradually making brackish water. My problem is my filtration. All I have on it at the moment is an aquaclear 110, which has done well for the few small tropicals I have had in it. However I am going to be switching it over to a cichlid tank and am going to need a lot more filtration. I have like to make a lot of my own things. I have read that a lot of people use sumps and love them but my tank is not drilled so unless there is another way to do it I believe that is probably out. I have also heard of people making their own canister filters but I haven't been able to find any good plans for one my size. Any ideas on a good filtration for it? I'm open to any ideas, just trying to stay away from drilling the tank.

Thanks,
Tyler
 
There are many overflow boxes that work well as mentioned. Most diy canisters dont hold up well to the pressure and opening and closing to clean. Sumps are easy to diy but you are going to need to really bump up that filtration for cichlids. Id look for a 55g tank on CL or when petco does the dollar per gallon sale to use as a sump and probably around 1500gph pump
 
Thanks for the fast replies, so has anyone done a diy overflow box? I like sumps, they seem like they keep the tank the cleanest, if I went with a 75g sump would that be over kill?
 
Smithen said:
Thanks for the fast replies, so has anyone done a diy overflow box? I like sumps, they seem like they keep the tank the cleanest, if I went with a 75g sump would that be over kill?
Click to expand...

No suck thing as over kill haha if go with a 55 a 75 would cost more unless you have one laying around you aren't using


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Well I jumped on CL last night and found a 55g tank set up as a sump already, driving back from that up now, got lucky and got it for $30, now I'm looking for a day overflow box and what pump I would need for it.

Tyler
 
Here's a popular overflow option if you don't want to drill your tank:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65yVr7DiDls

Just paint it with Krylon Fusion paint to match your background and it should be fairly unsightly.

Don't know how that sump is set up, but if you can make it work with filter socks, for the mechanical filtration, it would make cleaning super easy.
 
Thanks for the link to the video, I think I'm going to try doing that, if I use a 1500 gph pump how large of PVC do you think would be needed? I was thinking about making a double overflow. I don't think filter socks will work for this sump sadly. I will post a picture as soon as I get a new motherboard for my computer.

Tyler
 
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