stacked 120s

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joey02

Piranha
MFK Member
May 22, 2007
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Canada
thekingofdiy.com
I recently purchased a couple of 120gal tanks(4x2x2) I purchased them on the grounds that i would get rid of my big tank, so i would have a reason to build an even bigger one sooner than i had planned. A bit backwards, i know, but i would have had a few years befor i needed to upgrade my 5x3x2, so i would have never really gotten around to getting a bigger tank for a long while, and i want to do it now!

So in the meantime, i wanted a way to connect both 120's, have them not take up much room, and have great filtration on them. I wanted a wet/dry, FX5 and a smaller canister filter, a couple of heaters, and a drip system on it.

So i decided to stack them. but i couldnt have what i wanted in terms of filtration on a regular stacked tank setup.

So heres what i did;

I built a basic double stand for the tank and made it a bit longer than needed. And then the top tank was pushed to the edge of the stand to allow a bit of room for a wet/dry, and a small cabnet to house all other filters. That was basically it.... not much to it. lol

heres some pics to do the explaining:

full tank shot....

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other side

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top tank

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bottom tank...oscar is only there until the my arowana is ready to go in.

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Inside the cabnet... FX5 filters the top tank as that is where the heaviest mechanical filtration is needed. filled with bio max and sponges only.

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another smaller canister for the bottom tank as not as much mechanical is needed. filled with bio max and sponges only.

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three 1 inch overflows that supply the wet/dry with water, also in the pic is the drip of fresh water from the drip system

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overtflow for extra water from the drip system... this leads to a drain close by.

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to construct the wet/dry, i ripped apart a 25gal, cut it up and made a tall box out of it that measures 19x8x12...

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I used a couple of strips of glass and siliconed them into place to hold the drip plate up

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drip plate

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with prefilter

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The wet/dry holds a little more than 7 gallons of bio-balls. I also drilled the bottom of this tank, and a 1inch bulkhead leads to the bottom tank. That water is then pumped back up to the top tank, and some goes back threw the wet/dry.

The top tank will house my rays until there new tank is built and ready.... they should be fine for a while but NOT for life, this size tank is not ok for motoro rays for life(in case someone gets the wrong idea)

The bottom tank will house my new Panda Gold arowana that i purchased along with the tanks. He is currently in my 90gal discus tank awaiting transfer.

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And of course, the rays....

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Very nice setup!
 
This is really cool, I like it. I always see free 10 & 20 gallon tanks in my area on CL. I may start actually getting them and make a bio tower like that. It's very cool how you did that. Any better pics of how you plumbed your drip system? Wanting to do one really bad.
 
JK47;3504790; said:
This is really cool, I like it. I always see free 10 & 20 gallon tanks in my area on CL. I may start actually getting them and make a bio tower like that. It's very cool how you did that. Any better pics of how you plumbed your drip system? Wanting to do one really bad.

The wet/dry was an idea i came up with to still have one, but not take up alot of space and not need a sump for the water to collect and be pumped back to the tank. It is still very quite, the only noise is the sound of the mag-drive's vibration.

I bought a Drip system meant for a garden. I only paid $40 for the kit and it comes with every thing you need:

Pressure regulator(25psi).
50 feet of 1/2inch tubing
50 feet of 1/8 tubing (like air line tubing)
Drip emmiters (1-10 gph)
connectors, adaptors

I connected the Pressure regulator to a faucet, and connected hose adaptor to the regulator. This allowed me to connect the 1/2 inch tubing to it. I added a 3foot long piece of 1/2 tube to the adaptor and capped it off. I then pierced the 1/2inch tubing with a 1/4inch barb that allowed me to connect my smaller 1/8" tubing that runs water to the tank. At the end of the 1/8 tubing, a drip emmiter was installed. this emmiter is over the tank.

You also need a way to get all the extra water added to the tank a way to over flow to the drain. I drilled my bottom tank for that purpose.


Faucet with 25psi pressure regulator, hose adaptor and 1/2 tubing. Faucet only turned on slightly as i dont need alot of pressure.

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3 feet of 1/2 inch tubing that is attached to the facuet connections, placed over drain and capped. The smaller tubing that brings water to the tank taped into by way of a barb fitting.

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That smaller tubing leads to the tank and the emmiter is on the end of that which allows me to control the flow of water. I have is set at 4gph, which is 96 gallons a day.
 
now that is what i call amzing loving the rays
 
Thanks, no i dont have any pics of the stand build, thats a boring part i find. Its a basic frame though. Same as i always make them.

I still have the tank i built, but its for sale. Should be gone soon. when it is, im going to start a new tank. Going with a full acrylic tank this time. 6x3x2
 
joey020283;3505467; said:
Thanks, no i dont have any pics of the stand build, thats a boring part i find. Its a basic frame though. Same as i always make them.

I still have the tank i built, but its for sale. Should be gone soon. when it is, im going to start a new tank. Going with a full acrylic tank this time. 6x3x2

That's a shame that you are selling it, it's an awesome build. If I was closer and was looking for a tank I would take it for sure.

....but I'm looking forward to watching your new build.
 
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