Looking for new tank

[Nimrod]

I am looking into getting a new tank. I haven’t had a tank in quite some time. I am looking at a 180 or 210 gallon tank. I am going with fresh water and I really like the tanks with the overflow built into them. I plan on using canister filters. My question is will the overflows work fine with the canisters, or should I be looking at a tank without the overflows. I like the clean look of the overflows and I am thinking maybe I can hide things like heaters and such in them. I am looking for any and all advice. I had a tank in one configuration or another for about 30 years. The biggest tank that I ever had was 55 gal. I always had aggressive fish, but now I am going to do a planted, community tank. The aggressive fish make a mess, and I don’t feel like chasing down feeder fish all the time. Thanks, Joe.

 

[Andy Sager]

I am looking into getting a new tank. I haven’t had a tank in quite some time. I am looking at a 180 or 210 gallon tank. I am going with fresh water and I really like the tanks with the overflow built into them. I plan on using canister filters. My question is will the overflows work fine with the canisters, or should I be looking at a tank without the overflows. I like the clean look of the overflows and I am thinking maybe I can hide things like heaters and such in them. I am looking for any and all advice. I had a tank in one configuration or another for about 30 years. The biggest tank that I ever had was 55 gal. I always had aggressive fish, but now I am going to do a planted, community tank. The aggressive fish make a mess, and I don’t feel like chasing down feeder fish all the time. Thanks, Joe.

I suggest if you go the overflow method where the water flows into a sump, keep that and you can either use your canister filter in the sump if you don't use other material to filter or in the tank itself. Personally, I prefer to use them in the tank as a "polisher" while the major filtering is done in the sump. As for placing a heater inside the overflow, you are not really getting the best results this way since the water is leaving the tank from there not going into the tank. You could heat the water in the sump so that warmer water is coming back into the main tank or place the heater near the outflow of the return to the main tank so that the water is being dispersed throughout the tank.
if you are using an overflow where the water doesn't leave the tank to a sump, there probably won't be enough room in there for a heater since it will be taken up by filtering pads, return pump and sponges. You can still place the heater near the return for the same reasons as I mentioned above.
The good news with large tanks is that you can incorporate decorations to hide things like airline tubing, heaters, filters, etc. Only you need to now they are hiding things.