Hey hows it going all.
So I have lived away from home for the past 5 years and since Im stuck back in one place I have decided to treat myself to a 180 Gallon tank thinking it might make living back at home a bit more bearable. Its been quite some time since my last tank and this is a pretty large leap in size for me from my old 55 gallon tank. Where I am at right now... I have the 180 Gallon tank with double overflows and its stand in place. I have an intricate Manzanita Trunk with sprawling roots in transit along with individual branches for tank decor... Im making progress but still a far ways away. My main concern was my filtration options. I have done some research and many in my position have opted for the Fluval Fx5 canisters. For some reason I had my mind set on plumbing my tank drains into a 55 gallon sump. Ive seen freshwater sumps before with filter media such as bio balls and the ceramic rings and such. But one video I watched showed a freshwater sump with a miracle mud refugium. It sounded like a good idea because the plant life does great things for the quality of the water. I was considering plumbing the main tank down to my sump and flowing the water out of the plumbing and through a filter sock in the first section then passing through baffles into the second section where the water would flow through baffles into bioballs. Then I was considering having the next section for the freshwater miracle mud refugium after which the water would flow into my return section in which I was considering using 2 mag drive 9.5s with gate valves to separately return the water to both overflows. I would restrict return flow a bit with the valves considering my drain bulkheads are an inch which limit my drain flow to about 600gph each overflow (1200gph). I was also going to get 2 power heads in in the back corners of the tank to eliminate any dead spots due to tank size. I have a long ways to go but what I am looking for is opinions on what I have in mind and if anyone has used freshwater miracle mud in their sump. Maybe I shouldn't even be using a sump...If I am making things far too difficult for myself thats why I am here. Be honest with me.
So I have lived away from home for the past 5 years and since Im stuck back in one place I have decided to treat myself to a 180 Gallon tank thinking it might make living back at home a bit more bearable. Its been quite some time since my last tank and this is a pretty large leap in size for me from my old 55 gallon tank. Where I am at right now... I have the 180 Gallon tank with double overflows and its stand in place. I have an intricate Manzanita Trunk with sprawling roots in transit along with individual branches for tank decor... Im making progress but still a far ways away. My main concern was my filtration options. I have done some research and many in my position have opted for the Fluval Fx5 canisters. For some reason I had my mind set on plumbing my tank drains into a 55 gallon sump. Ive seen freshwater sumps before with filter media such as bio balls and the ceramic rings and such. But one video I watched showed a freshwater sump with a miracle mud refugium. It sounded like a good idea because the plant life does great things for the quality of the water. I was considering plumbing the main tank down to my sump and flowing the water out of the plumbing and through a filter sock in the first section then passing through baffles into the second section where the water would flow through baffles into bioballs. Then I was considering having the next section for the freshwater miracle mud refugium after which the water would flow into my return section in which I was considering using 2 mag drive 9.5s with gate valves to separately return the water to both overflows. I would restrict return flow a bit with the valves considering my drain bulkheads are an inch which limit my drain flow to about 600gph each overflow (1200gph). I was also going to get 2 power heads in in the back corners of the tank to eliminate any dead spots due to tank size. I have a long ways to go but what I am looking for is opinions on what I have in mind and if anyone has used freshwater miracle mud in their sump. Maybe I shouldn't even be using a sump...If I am making things far too difficult for myself thats why I am here. Be honest with me.
