New to "monster" tanks, setting up a 175 gallon acrylic.

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R

rancherlee

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 22, 2008
43
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Northern MN
I currently have an All-glass 55 gallon tank setup with a AC300 HOB filter and a 10 gallon sump with hob overflow setup. I picked up a 175 gallon Acrylic off Ebay for 122.50 :D plus about 50$ in gas to pick it up. Its an odd shape but looks to be well built. Its sort of a corner type looking tank thats 44" long, 36" deep and 34" tall. I'm planning on setting it up as a "Minnesota lake shore" theme with coarse sand, drift wood tree stump, and moving my 3 Bluegills, 1Pumpkin seed, 3 crappies, and 1 crayfish over from my 55 gallon to this new tank. I also plan on using my current 10 gallon sump for now until I get a 30 gallon tank to fit under the 175 (the 55 won't fit as its too long). I'm wondering how much surface area I need for an overflow? how close to the top should a make the over flow? How should I setup the water return? do I need to build an undergravel filter with powerhead to circulate the water? should I setup the return water to reverse flow through an undergravel filter pushing water up through the sand. Any other tips would be appreciated.
 
Welcome to MFK! Wow, that's a lot of questions, lets see if I can help answer some of them...I'm not positive on the amount of surface area a sump should be in relation to the size of the tank (I've actually been wondering that myself - so thanks for asking!). However, the height of the overflow should be no lower than your sump can handle in the event of a power loss. So, if you put your overflow 2" below the current water level, compute out the volume of water that could potentially drain out into your sump (44"x36"x2"/231=13.7 gallons). As for setting up your water return, that is more a personal thing. I prefer spraybars, others use reverse flow, others use the standard return line from canister filters. I guess it would depend on the amount of surface agitation you want. If you want a lot of water and oxygen movement in the tank, go with a spraybar and an undergravel filter with several AC 70 powerheads.

Very cool choice in tank setup and fish selection!
 
Welcome to the club!!! Personally I'll skip the undergravel filter and just stick with a wet/dry sump and canisters. Killer buy btw. Under $1 a gallon for acrylic, can't beat that. Good luck.
 
CHOMPERS;1908392; said:
If you have gravel in the tank, you may as well have circulation through it.




Here's one of my setups. Many of your questions & curriosities will be answered here:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69943
Click to expand...

I think I'm going to go with an reverse flow undergravel like yours, that exactly how I was thinking of plumbing the return like to prevent sump overflow too! I might Tee off the top and add maybe add a jet or 2 for making a small current.
 
Whaaaa???Where did this tank come from? I was just up in Minneapolis the week before last and I believe I saw this tank in a LFS. They told me they wanted 1K for it. The goofy dimensions stick out like a sore thumb.
 
DB junkie;1914702; said:
Whaaaa???Where did this tank come from? I was just up in Minneapolis the week before last and I believe I saw this tank in a LFS. They told me they wanted 1K for it. The goofy dimensions stick out like a sore thumb.
Click to expand...

Got it off ebay, Picked it up In Woodbury which is east of St.Paul. The guy had 2 listed on Ebay and ebay screwed me on the first one (It confermed my bid at 200$ but someone else won it for 156$ :screwy:) but I got the second one cheaper (and I really only need one but for the price both would have been nice). Its used with some scratches on the inside, I'm going to reinforce one corner that has a decent chip, and i need to drill one of the holes bigger in the bottom for an overflow that can handle ~600gph (has 4 smaller 3/4" pipe threaded holes right now). It also included fairly new 510gph little giant inline pump and 2 huge "ocean clear" cartrage style canisters.

2608981864_4924d34574.jpg
 
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