Boydo
New Member
I have been wanting to share this for a while, so here it is. I have been keeping aro’s for over 6 years and been into the hobby for 12 or so years. I started this comm. In the 230 gal and a few years ago I started the big one since I knew a 230 was too small for what I wanted. I’m no expert, I’m a maniac fish collector that addicted to fish like a crack head to crack. This is what I have built, after being inspired by some of the other crazy fish keepers and their collections. This is the story of my filtration.
This tank is heavily stocked with the following:
2 x XB”s
2 x SR’s
2 x RTG’s
Green and silver
( aro’s are 19-27 inches)
7 x Red neck Severums, 8 x Geo's, 2 x Mono P-Bass, 4 x RT Gourami
Tea Cup Ray, Flower Ray, Motoros Ray, TSN
15 x Clown Loaches, Royal, High fin, Adonis, Goldie plecos
Here it is , 110 “L x 32”W x 40 “D ( 608 gal – overflow = approx 550 gal)
It starts here with the overflow which has 30 gal of bio balls and over 30 kg’s of bio max and like ceramic products, there is a bypass pipe in there aswell in case the media was to plug off.
The sump is 120 gal with 50 gal bio balls and over 50 kg’s of bio media, coarse and fine foam, and 2 x magdrive 24’s for circ pumps. There is a fuval 404 full of ehefi strat media that pumps water through the 36 watt UV sterilizer.
I have elec heaters for back up and use gas heat as the primary. I do this with a Aqua tankless water heater, temp contoller and a pump. Using a aqua medic temp controller, which turns on a magdrive18 which circulates water through the heater ( when it see flow it turns on the burner) which goes to stainless steel coils in the sump to exchange the heat to keep the tank at 84-85 F, the returns still have some heat so I installed a coil in the 230 gal which keeps it at 82F.
Do to the massive bio load I use a auto water changing system, I started with the Kent Hi5 RO/Di and modified it with extra filters to keep up to the demand of changing 90 gallons a day. It continually fills the main tank. The water level rises in the sump and a float switch on a timer controls a eheim 1250 that pumps water to the drain or garden in the summer. There is also high/low level shut downs that can disable the pump or shut off the water supply to prevent spillage.Ammonia = 0, Nitrites = 0, Nitrates = <30.
Using a koi pond feeder I dose the tank with a little salt daily to add trace elements and electrolytes and have a dosing pump with prime incase chloramines get past the filter. The tank stands on a 2" square tube stand and I built the wood encloser around it. The lighting is a coralife 72"er with 4 x 96 w Pc and 3 150 w 10k HQI's, I normally use the the PC's only and have 6700k/colormax in the front and actinic in the back. Two rena 400 for some bubbles and a power head the help the the water moving.
I thought some of you may find this interesting, or may give you some ideas.....
Thanks for reading,
This tank is heavily stocked with the following:
2 x XB”s
2 x SR’s
2 x RTG’s
Green and silver
( aro’s are 19-27 inches)
7 x Red neck Severums, 8 x Geo's, 2 x Mono P-Bass, 4 x RT Gourami
Tea Cup Ray, Flower Ray, Motoros Ray, TSN
15 x Clown Loaches, Royal, High fin, Adonis, Goldie plecos
Here it is , 110 “L x 32”W x 40 “D ( 608 gal – overflow = approx 550 gal)
It starts here with the overflow which has 30 gal of bio balls and over 30 kg’s of bio max and like ceramic products, there is a bypass pipe in there aswell in case the media was to plug off.
The sump is 120 gal with 50 gal bio balls and over 50 kg’s of bio media, coarse and fine foam, and 2 x magdrive 24’s for circ pumps. There is a fuval 404 full of ehefi strat media that pumps water through the 36 watt UV sterilizer.
I have elec heaters for back up and use gas heat as the primary. I do this with a Aqua tankless water heater, temp contoller and a pump. Using a aqua medic temp controller, which turns on a magdrive18 which circulates water through the heater ( when it see flow it turns on the burner) which goes to stainless steel coils in the sump to exchange the heat to keep the tank at 84-85 F, the returns still have some heat so I installed a coil in the 230 gal which keeps it at 82F.
Do to the massive bio load I use a auto water changing system, I started with the Kent Hi5 RO/Di and modified it with extra filters to keep up to the demand of changing 90 gallons a day. It continually fills the main tank. The water level rises in the sump and a float switch on a timer controls a eheim 1250 that pumps water to the drain or garden in the summer. There is also high/low level shut downs that can disable the pump or shut off the water supply to prevent spillage.Ammonia = 0, Nitrites = 0, Nitrates = <30.
Using a koi pond feeder I dose the tank with a little salt daily to add trace elements and electrolytes and have a dosing pump with prime incase chloramines get past the filter. The tank stands on a 2" square tube stand and I built the wood encloser around it. The lighting is a coralife 72"er with 4 x 96 w Pc and 3 150 w 10k HQI's, I normally use the the PC's only and have 6700k/colormax in the front and actinic in the back. Two rena 400 for some bubbles and a power head the help the the water moving.
I thought some of you may find this interesting, or may give you some ideas.....
Thanks for reading,
Last edited:
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