220 Gallon filtration...and money :(

[Jrob]

Okay so in one week i will be acquiring a 220 gallon tank, 82x24x25.....after doing loads and loads of price matching...and searching around my lfs..i found the Fluval Fx5...which is pretty common around this site.

However, the tank is going to run my 200$...and the cheapest fluval i can find is around 380$...i was wondering if this is a universal price...everywhere...or if anyone has a website i can order it off of??

I kind of wanted to go big or go home on this tank, so i was also curious as to what else people were thinking, because i'm not too rich ...i am a college student making 8$ an hour lol...so w/e i do it will take time...

But a Fluval Fx5 for filtration..
2- 36" strips of T5 HO lighting
Black Gravel substrate---still up in the air..
Loads of driftwood, and a slate cave..
some sort of powerhead...
and i will probably end up making my own stand for it...

My questions being-----
Is a Fluval Fx5 the best option to filter my tank, as in price..efficiency... maintenance......??
how hard is it to DIY an overflow filter for a 220??? and is it worth it...
will a silver aro/ornate poly/and fire eel be able to get alone...im somewhat worried about the poly eating the eel..??
What type of powerhead do you run in your 200+ tank ??

im sure i have more, but there is a start..thanks everyone

 

[Jimmy16]

Make a sump for it. I heard it was cheaper.

Fx5 are $230 on amazon. You're gonna have to buy media for it which is around $30

 

[Jon M]

If you're looking to be cost efficient you can swap out T5 for regular incandescent, instead of doing FX5 you could do a couple sunsun filters, and do PFS instead of gravel. Go big or go home, and budget don't really go together.

 

[Jrob]

Make a sump for it. I heard it was cheaper.

Fx5 are $230 on amazon. You're gonna have to buy media for it which is around $30

also what i heard, but the people at my lfs...although they are going to say that...said the price would be about the same

 

[Jrob]

If you're looking to be cost efficient you can swap out T5 for regular incandescent, instead of doing FX5 you could do a couple sunsun filters, and do PFS instead of gravel. Go big or go home, and budget don't really go together.

i want the T5s because i want some sort of greenery in there...
my buddy said do 3 cascade 300's until i can afford the fx5..
i looked at PFS but i am a bit undecided on whether or not i like the coloring of it... : /
i know they dont lol...but this is a project that i want to look awesome...and is going to take a lot of tiem if i want to go big...haha...
my cousin is going to give me a 110 high sometime soon...(supposed to be last week) but whenever it gets here that will be my cheap tank..

 

[Jon M]

The lfs employees don't know what they're talking about. They just want you to buy their canisters. I built my entire w/d filtration system and plumbed for my 125g for under 70$ (give or take, it's been a while), including media, using CHOMPER's w/d design. I believe the sunsun are cheaper than the cascades when it comes to $ per gph and I believe they are still offering free shipping through koienterprises, AND I've heard nothing but good things about those canisters. Plants are gonna add to cost for sure. Bichir won't uproot plants? Not sure, never had one. I'd think they might though... PFS really looks great with a solid black background but that really comes down to personal preference. Although, if you're going to do live plants you might want to scratch the gravel/sand idea and go with a good plant substrate.

 

[Agliata45]

Yeah I'd go with a sump, 1 fluval fx5 won't be able to handle the bioload of the amount of fish you can fit in a tank that size, you might think you'll only have those 3 fish right now but you'll buy more fish in the future and thats inevitable. So you can either buy a sump or build one if you have time. and you're also paying a great price for that tank. I got my 90g yesterday and with everything including sump, overflow kit, heaters, bio media, ect the final price came out to around $1050.

 

[Jon M]

Yeah I'd go with a sump, 1 fluval fx5 won't be able to handle the bioload of the amount of fish you can fit in a tank that size, you might think you'll only have those 3 fish right now but you'll buy more fish in the future and thats inevitable. So you can either buy a sump or build one if you have time. and you're also paying a great price for that tank. I got my 90g yesterday and with everything including sump, overflow kit, heaters, bio media, ect the final price came out to around $1050.

Holy cow! I'm sure you got a real nice setup but you definitely got ripped off pretty hard... I just sold my 95g 5ft glass tank in perfect condition and a basic 2x4 stand with it yesterday for 100$. That's how much a 90g w/ stand should go for used... For 200$ more you could have done the sump/overflow/media/heater...

And definitely sump. Again, or a couple sunsuns running together. Agliata45 is right on the money with one FX5 not cutting it for a 220g.

 

[rhodes_96]

Yeah I'd go with a sump, 1 fluval fx5 won't be able to handle the bioload of the amount of fish you can fit in a tank that size, you might think you'll only have those 3 fish right now but you'll buy more fish in the future and thats inevitable. So you can either buy a sump or build one if you have time. and you're also paying a great price for that tank. I got my 90g yesterday and with everything including sump, overflow kit, heaters, bio media, ect the final price came out to around $1050.

The fx5 can handle the bio load for that size tank stocked normal to heavy with no issues if your using high efficient media like matrix / substrate pro etc in all the trays with the top tray pre filtered. What will happen is maintenance will increase from normal 6-12 weeks to around 2-4 weeks ona single fx5.

For a 220 I would recommend 2 x fx5's or 1 x fx5 and a sump. Less maintenance and more overhead if a problem occurs. Never rely on single filter to maintain your system. Always split the load between multiple filters.

 

[Jrob]

okay...welllll i guess i need to find a forum on how to make a sump, and where to acquire the materials for one a tank my size....thanks for all the input guys...

and agliata your probably right on buying more fish....i really only want those 3....but once they get boring, lol ...no clue..

yeah i knew the tank was a good price...here in MI they are a bit overpriced too..aka...ppl trying to sell 10 gallons "with full setup" which means lights, hood, gravel, filter...for 80$ or so...so when i seen this i almost went ballistic...