Help with plumbing a 240 gallon tank

[Nim Dibbley]

Hey all. I thought i was buying a used 240 gallon tank, but i actually bought a plumbing problem and i am a little confused about how to put it together. My old aquarium is a 55 gallon with a HOB filter and all of the rest of this is pretty new to me.

The tank came with a wet dry filter, a mechanical and chemical filter and what i assume is a uv sterilizer. I am doing freshwater so intend to leave the uv sterilizer out of the picture and i am also doubtful it works. It also came with 3 powerheads and a pump that does not look like it should go under water.

I understand a little about what i am doing from looking around online, but i am getting confused about the predrilled holes on the tank and that is where i need help.

There are three holes evenly spaced on the bottom of the tank and two on the left hand side about an inch from the top.

Will this work:

1. pipe the bottom left hand side hole down to the pump and then through the mechanical and chemical filtration and back up through the right hand side hole.

2. use the two holes at the top left hand side as an overflow and let the drainage go through the wet/dry filter and pump that back up through the center hole.

I wanted to use this tank to house a red tailed gourami and i wanted to leave an inch or so at the top of the tank so he could come up for air.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Dwhilljr]

pics would help but tm thinking option 1 is a no go judging by what you have explained

 

[Nim Dibbley]

pics would help but tm thinking option 1 is a no go judging by what you have explained

actually, i didn't mean those as two separate options, but two separate lines of plumbing. I would be doing both of those things at the same time. i saw it somewhere online termed as "open system" and "closed system."

here is a picture of the holes drilled near the top on the side of the tank:

the other holes are in the bottom and i cant get a good picture right now because the lighting is bad.

My main concern would be the overflow and if i could use those predrilled holes on the side of the tank for that or what i should use them for.

 

[Nim Dibbley]

here is a diagram of what i think i am going to do:

The green line is the open system and the blue is the closed system.

 

[Dwhilljr]

I wouldnt use the bottom holes connected to your sump because if you have a pump/power failure your display will drain all the way down to the level of those holes and flood your sump unless you make a standpipe of some sort. Im guessing those wholes on the bottom are for a closed loop system. If you go closed loop they are generaly for water movement and getting rid of dead pockets in your tank, no need to put any type of mechanical or chemical filtration on it, I guess you could run UV in your closed loop if you wanted to. I would use the holes at the top for your drain to sump and return. But thats me I'm sure youll get some more advice here that will help you out

 

[T.J]

I wouldnt use the bottom holes connected to your sump because if you have a pump/power failure your display will drain all the way down to the level of those holes and flood your sump unless you make a standpipe of some sort. Im guessing those wholes on the bottom are for a closed loop system. If you go closed loop they are generaly for water movement and getting rid of dead pockets in your tank, no need to put any type of mechanical or chemical filtration on it, I guess you could run UV in your closed loop if you wanted to. I would use the holes at the top for your drain to sump and return. But thats me I'm sure youll get some more advice here that will help you out

Hi,

I'd be tempted to do the same, water is will always be at the mercy of gravity and without using a standpipe or similar the whole tank is free to empty via the bottom drain :-(

Also dont be so quick to write off the UV, i keep species sensitive to many meds and run UV to help remove parasites from the water. You'd have to check flow rates etc but why not consider getting a basic canister filter and connecting the UV inline with the return hose, both of these could be be connected to the bottom drains and you'd benefit from both the UV and some extra filtration.

Just realised there are 3 drains, the above ideas would use two of them and the 3rd could just be capped with a bulkhead and suitable blanks.

Cheers
T.J

 

[Nim Dibbley]

I wouldnt use the bottom holes connected to your sump because if you have a pump/power failure your display will drain all the way down to the level of those holes and flood your sump unless you make a standpipe of some sort. Im guessing those wholes on the bottom are for a closed loop system. If you go closed loop they are generaly for water movement and getting rid of dead pockets in your tank, no need to put any type of mechanical or chemical filtration on it, I guess you could run UV in your closed loop if you wanted to. I would use the holes at the top for your drain to sump and return. But thats me I'm sure youll get some more advice here that will help you out

i forgot about good old gravity...ok. so lets say i use the two on the side for my wet dry filter drain and then return.

as for the 3 holes in the bottom i could use two of them for a closed system. i could just cap the 3rd one, but why is it there to begin with? why did the old owner have it?

why not use the chemical and mechanical filter on the closed system?

should i use it on the open and put it after the wet dry filter?

 

[Nim Dibbley]

Hi,

I'd be tempted to do the same, water is will always be at the mercy of gravity and without using a standpipe or similar the whole tank is free to empty via the bottom drain :-(

Also dont be so quick to write off the UV, i keep species sensitive to many meds and run UV to help remove parasites from the water. You'd have to check flow rates etc but why not consider getting a basic canister filter and connecting the UV inline with the return hose, both of these could be be connected to the bottom drains and you'd benefit from both the UV and some extra filtration.

Just realised there are 3 drains, the above ideas would use two of them and the 3rd could just be capped with a bulkhead and suitable blanks.

Cheers
T.J

what is wrong with the chemical and mechanical filtration? i am sure the canister filter is better, but these things came with the tank so i would like to try and buy as little new equipment as possible.

 

[T.J]

what is wrong with the chemical and mechanical filtration? i am sure the canister filter is better, but these things came with the tank so i would like to try and buy as little new equipment as possible.

Hi,

Nothing at all wrong with using the existing filters, was just going on the fact that UV's work better when they have filtered water flowed through them and doubt there is such a thing as too much filtration lol.

having said that what kind of filter is the mech / chem one anyway , would guess if its going to be part of a closed loop system it would be pretty much a canister(ish) type thing anyway? If so there'd be nothing wrong with using that on the bottom drains in conjunction with the UV or indeed connecting it to the return from the wet/dry, in practical terms it doesn't really matter as long s the UV can deal with the flow rates and wont reduce them to much its self.

Anyway think / hope that some of the above makes sense lol

Cheers
T.J

 

[Nim Dibbley]

Hi,

Nothing at all wrong with using the existing filters, was just going on the fact that UV's work better when they have filtered water flowed through them and doubt there is such a thing as too much filtration lol.

having said that what kind of filter is the mech / chem one anyway , would guess if its going to be part of a closed loop system it would be pretty much a canister(ish) type thing anyway? If so there'd be nothing wrong with using that on the bottom drains in conjunction with the UV or indeed connecting it to the return from the wet/dry, in practical terms it doesn't really matter as long s the UV can deal with the flow rates and wont reduce them to much its self.

Anyway think / hope that some of the above makes sense lol

Cheers
T.J

here is the whole deal:

the mechanical and chemical filter are in the middle. The pump that was included is the same manufacturer and appears to have been packaged and purchased together when new.

The UV sterilizer does not appear to be working. either the bulb needs to be replaced or maybe something else is wrong altogether.

I basically purchased the tank and everything else came with it. now i need to figure out how to put it all back together and i would rather use what is there instead of buying any new stuff.