New Tank!!!!!!!

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Hey Guy and Gals,

About a month ago I started a thread about a 55O gallon tank that I was going to purchase. As many of you know that tank was sold before I could get to it.

Well tonight I just picked up my acrylic 340 gallon (78L x 36H x 28W) for a very good price. This tank was an in-wall unit (sides and back are black) with side over-flow and 4 bulk heads on the back. Although it's set up for a wet-dry sump i may just plug the bulkheads and run my 2 FX 5 filters I currently have.

Aside from the great tank, the guy that I purchased it from had an entire garage full of tanks/fish and supplies (just for him). I mentioned one day I wanted to start an african cichlids tank so he walks me over to a tank full of 4-5 inch africans cichlids and says, pick which ones you want. I said what!!!!! So I brought home 7 african cichlids and 2 jack dempseys (I actually picked out 11 but two didn't make the long trip home).

I'll place picks of the fish in the cichlid forum as I need to identify them.

Here are a few picks of my new tank (new to me)-

 

[blert]

Nice!

The last two pics are kind of blurry but, depending where it is drilled, you could plumb your FX5s to the bulkheads instead of plugging them up.

 

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There are 4 bulkheads on the back of the tank. Two toward the top and two on the bottom. There's also one running from the overflow box. I guess I could run the output of the FX5 to the top and input of the FX5 to the overflow box exit. How would I connect the FX5s hoses to the PVC with out air getting onto the system? Would simple clamps work? However, I read that the FX5s were designed to pull the water out of the tank rather than have water forced into it from the tank. Is that correct? Or I could simply run the FX5s hoses over the top and into the tank.

Your thoughts?

 

[blert]

I don't know how the FX5s claim to work but, most aquarium water pumps push water not pull, I believe.

The returns would, of course, go to the two bulkheads at the top. Then you could plumb the intakes to the bottom two. That would leave you with having to deal with the overflow though (remove and plug?).

I'm not sure how it would work out plumbing an intake from an FX5 into the overflow. I guess it should work fine but I would wait for someone else to chime in before I made a decision on that.

Plumbing a canister to a bulkhead should be no problem. Bulkhead to PVC, PVC to standard barb, barb to hose with a clamp. It would keep all the ugly pipes and tubes unseen instead of routing them up and over the top of the tank.

 

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Thanks for the advice. I think I'll plumb the FX5s to the bulk heads after all. You stated to remove and plug the overflow. How exactly do I go about removing the overflow? Or do I simply plug the drain hole and let the water fill in?

 

[blert]

If you were to leave the overflow in then you take the chance of something getting trapped in it if your water line is too high. If it is just siliconed in then a razor blade will make short work of it. If it is welded acrylic then you are out of luck as it will have to stay.

 

[Samzter]

Wow! Lucky you! What's the stock plans?

 

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If you were to leave the overflow in then you take the chance of something getting trapped in it if your water line is too high. If it is just siliconed in then a razor blade will make short work of it. If it is welded acrylic then you are out of luck as it will have to stay.

The overflow is very large, however the slits at the top (were water flows though) are fairly small. The only thing that I can see getting trapped is food. There is however an access pannel from the top of the tank that can be removed to untrap any objects. I have to check and see if it's welded or siliconed. I'll report back later.

 

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Wow! Lucky you! What's the stock plans?

Various African Cichlids (preferably large ones that get along).

 

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The overflow is very large, however the slits at the top (were water flows though) are fairly small. The only thing that I can see getting trapped is food. There is however an access pannel from the top of the tank that can be removed to untrap any objects. I have to check and see if it's welded or siliconed. I'll report back later.

As I suspected the overflow is in fact welded. ****.

 

[blert]

As I suspected the overflow is in fact welded. ****.

Teeth or straight edge? If it is a straight edge you could easily cap and seal it. You could also if it has teeth it will just be a more difficult.

I really see no reason why you couldn't hook one of the FX5's intake to the overflow bulkhead. After all, it is going to return the same amount of water as it overflows. Are the bulkheads slip or threaded? If they are threaded it would be easy to test.

 

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OK I've finally gotten around to starting my 340gal African build. I've cleaned the tank and taken some new pics. I'm still pondering the idea of plumbing my 2 FX5s to the bulkheads. As you will see in the pics there are ball valves on the two outlets that well be connected to the FX5s.

Do any of you think this will be enough to reduce the pressure so the filter will work properly (note: the middle section will be cut out and each side will be run to the intake of each FX5)? LFS tells me that there would be way too much pressure going in the the fX5s, but I didn't tell them about the ball valves.

Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks

 

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Finally done. Here are I few pic. I had a custom canopy and stand built. FX5s and new plumbing installed.