I am currently in the process of finalizing plans for a new house I hope to move into this Fall. In the basement I would like to have a fish room with some of the tanks featured built into the walls in an adjacent family room. My goal is to ultimately have a 150g or larger tank dedicated to a breeding pair of each Parachromis species (that's one tank for each breeding pair before anyone blows a cog) along with some smaller tanks on a rack to grow out some convict fry or whatever else grabs my attention. Now the bucket brigade maintaining the current 150/58/21 tanks is already wearing thin so I would like to come up with some sort of a central filtration system for these tanks. My understanding is that if there is one large sump, I could effectively change the water in all the tanks by simply changing the water in the sump. I know I would still have to vacuum the substrate in each tank from time to time, but again I am trying to keep it minimal since the tanks are intended for viewing pleasure and not for an additional two hours of work at the end of each workday. Could someone please make recomendations on how this could be set up? I have seen pond filters at local shops rated at 2000+ gph. Or perhaps alternatively I could build a sump from a 180 gallon or so tank. Help!!! I'm kinda lost here. I need at least a rough idea of how I am going to do this so that I can have the architect get the right dimensions for the fish room.
As an aside, I was planning on picking up another 200+ gallon tank this weekend. With what I have in mind should I be looking at "marine" tanks that are drilled for sumps, or am I still fine with "freshwater" tanks that are not drilled? I like the clean looks of the marine tanks without the hoses and heaters and such in the tank. But I don't like how the corner boxes take up so much room. And the undrilled tanks are considerably less money.
Thanks for any opinions and expertise anyone can offer. I should mention that money is not really an issue, although I don't want to throw it away either which is why I am making this post. I've even cleared it all with the boss bless her heart. Thanks again.
As an aside, I was planning on picking up another 200+ gallon tank this weekend. With what I have in mind should I be looking at "marine" tanks that are drilled for sumps, or am I still fine with "freshwater" tanks that are not drilled? I like the clean looks of the marine tanks without the hoses and heaters and such in the tank. But I don't like how the corner boxes take up so much room. And the undrilled tanks are considerably less money.
Thanks for any opinions and expertise anyone can offer. I should mention that money is not really an issue, although I don't want to throw it away either which is why I am making this post. I've even cleared it all with the boss bless her heart. Thanks again.
