Help designing new filtration

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jsodwi

jsodwi

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Jul 9, 2005
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So Im going to be setting up a 180g(6x2x2) with dual overflows and a 120g(4x2x2) not drilled. They will be on one steel stand with the 180 on top and 120 on bottom. Once this is done, I will have no room for a sump. Going next to the tanks are not an option as there is no room next to the stand. The wall its going on is only 7 ft. I cant go on the other side because its a family room. I really want the two tanks running off the same filter and am not a fan of canister filters. If anyone has suggestions let me know. I was trying to figure out how to use the 120 as a sump somehow but also utilize it as a fish tank as well. The tanks will be on a drip system with a hang on back overflow on the 120g doing to a drain.
 
If you're going to use a HOB overflow to drain your drip system you could always just put a pump in the 120 and have some sort of container next to the 120 that would drain into the 120. So you water would drain from the 180 into a container, then back into the 120, then drain out of the HOB overflow. Then just put some HOB filters, or something of the sort, on the tanks for any extra bio filtration you may need.
 
How much distance is there between the top of the 120 on the bottom of the stand? Could you fit a container on top of the 120? Fill the container with bio balls and put a drip tray with a filter pad on top of them. Plumb the incoming water lines from the 180 to the top of the container and let the water flow through the bio balls into the 120.

Put a submersible pump in the 120 to pump the water back in to the 180.

Fill the 120 and 180 with fish!

The slick setup would be to have the filter pad in a shallow drawer so you could pull it out and clean/replace it frequently.

I could see a bio ball chamber covering the whole top (or 3/4 of the top) of the 120 and only being 6 inches or so high.
 
Oughtsix said:
How much distance is there between the top of the 120 on the bottom of the stand? Could you fit a container on top of the 120? Fill the container with bio balls and put a drip tray with a filter pad on top of them. Plumb the incoming water lines from the 180 to the top of the container and let the water flow through the bio balls into the 120.

Put a submersible pump in the 120 to pump the water back in to the 180.

Fill the 120 and 180 with fish!

The slick setup would be to have the filter pad in a shallow drawer so you could pull it out and clean/replace it frequently.

I could see a bio ball chamber covering the whole top (or 3/4 of the top) of the 120 and only being 6 inches or so high.
Click to expand...
Yes. I have thought about doing something like this. The stand is not made yet so I can play with the height. I guess I would have to put a good size overflow box on the 120 for the drip system and in case of power outage to prevent the 120stand from flooding
 
In my opinion I think this would be your best approach. I have seen several posts about over the tanks Wet/dry filters instead of the usual under the tank approach. I think the trick would be to make the wet/dry box look like a canopy/hood so it will be visually pleasing.

You could consider dual wet dry canopies, one on the 120 tank on the bottom and another on the 180 up top. It would be a simple matter of plumbing the return line from the 120 to the canopy of the 180 instead of into the 180 itself.

If you went the canopy approach you could cover the entire top of each tank. Then you could put a 45 degree baffle from the top front of the canopy to the bottom of the canopy. Then put a door in the front of the canopy that you could flip up (or down) for tank access through this 45 degree empty compartment.

Someone did a post of rolls of water proof led lights in the DIY section. You could use these on the bottom of the canopy for tank lighting.

Yes, I can't see how you would get around a decent sized overflow on the 120 as a precaution.

Are you thinking wood or steel for the stand material? You might be able to make the above tank wet/dry out of wood and integrate it into the stand itself? There are many plywood tank builds on here... a plywood sump would be less demanding than an entire plywood tank. You could even consider a plywood sump built into the stand under the bottom 120.

My personal eventual goal is an over the tank terrestrial plant filter. Basically just a sealed plywood box (aka... plywood tank again) on top of the upper tank that would hold growing medium and have a bunch of terrestrial plants in it (ahhh.... strawberries!). I would like to do my over the tank plant filter in combination with my under the tank sump... but most people that venture into veggie filters claim no other filtration is really needed.

Just some thoughts to stir your imagination.
 
Stand will be made of 2x2 steel tubing. I really like this idea. I will get some acrylic and make the filter out of that. It should be pretty cool
 
I am thinking of building a drip tray over the 120.............Lay the drip tray on top of the 120.............There will be a choice of tubing, flex or PVC, that will drain the water into the drip from the 180..............Once the water drips from through the tray into the the 120, it should be cleaned by HOB's and internal filtration....................I would stick a row of 2-3 AC101's on the 120..............Now have a pump inside of the 120 to return the flow into the 180..................
 
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