kind of filter for 170 gal

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USMCtanker

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Dec 9, 2005
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Hay I am geting tank made by http://www.glasscages.com and it 170 gal. What kind of filtation and heating system should i use. It will be a freshwater tank with atf and a gar and some channel catfish. There all small for NOW. But if any of you guys have some cool ideas for this tank setup let me know pleace. :woot:
 
I can get it drilled. Is it better do do that?
 
Ultimately it is up to you. If it were me, I'd just get 2 canisters (XP3) and 2 HOB's (AC110). That way the overflow box wouldn't be taking up swimming space.

On a larger tank I would say go with the drilled tank for ease of maintenence and b/c lack of space isn't much of a concern.
 
drilled if you are planning to use a wet/dry system. I would say no because if you decide to switch to wet/dry you can always buy a hang on overflow but if its already drilled you would have to plug it up if you're not going to use it plus its a pain. I like mix match filtration. I had 2 ac500 a eheim 2260 and a diy wet/dry on my over stock 240 and it work perfectly. Also, I recommend titanium heaters. for a 170g tank I think 2 300 watts heater should be good or 1 800 watt.
 
I like Won Brothers titanium heaters. On our 150 we use 2@ 350 watts. One of the heaters has the biig digital Temperature display which we love because it it is pretty accurate and you can see at a glance, from across the room if you want, what the temp is.
 
In my opinion I would get the tank drilled and go with a wet/dry - sump setup. Should be cheaper than hang-on or canister filter setup. a good pump for the wet/dry should be around $100, and then your heaters. you can have glasscages make you a sump and drill it also, that way you can get the exact size you want. Or you can get a stock tank and have it drilled if needed.

the wet/dry will give you a lot more filter area and surface area for the $$$. also all your equipment goes down there, so while the overflows take up a little space out of the tank, you don't have heaters, filter tubes, etc...in the viewing area.

I would advise against the HOB overflow box, the can be a headache to keep in turn or primed all the time. if the power does go out, or you shut it off for cleaning or anything it can be a pain to restart. built in overflows will not have this problem. Also the built in overflows should be much more $$ than the HOB overflow box would cost.

if you go with a drilled tank and overflows you will probably want to use the durso standpipe design, or something like it. you can find hundreds of designs, just search here or reefs.org for "durso"

hope that helps
 
One canister: Eheim Pro 3 :thumbsup:

HarleyK
 
wet/dry
 
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