180 gallon project

[Ash02]

Howdy folks,

I'm in the planning phase of a 180 gallon south American tank. My tank is an aqueon 180 with dual overflows built in. I want to use a seamless sump (sock tub, baffle tub, refugium tub) for the primary filtration. Are any of you familiar with this sump? Any tips or warnings to be aware of?
Additionally, for those of you with large tanks, do you use a submersible pump for water changes as opposed to a python? My concern is that a python would be slow and wasteful of tap water.

Lastly, I'm hoping to solicit some LED lighting recommendations for this tank. Primary fish will be a severum and group of geophagus.

Thank you!

 

[Backfromthedead]

I use a "bare-bones" sump setup on both my display tanks. I think all the baffles are just too complicated for my tastes. Water runs into a filter sock on one end, through all the bio media to the pump on the other end. My 40 gallon sump just has three big bags of lava rock piled on top of the pump.

My 75 gallon sump only uses half of the tank for filtration, the other half being a sort of refugium which holds all my extra media and sponge filters, heater and occasionally an ornery or beat up fish.


As long as your tank is somewhat high off the ground, say 3 ft, gravity siphon should work just fine, especially if you have a large diameter hose to work with. A pump can save you time but also may be an unnecessary expense if youre not in too big a hurry.