So,

Currently our basement is being built and I'm thinking about installing a nice 55g tank. I've been looking at many thread from here and RC, but I don't really understand the equipment/plumbing/maintenance side.

Water Changes are my biggest question. How do you easily change large amounts of water?

What kind of Sump setup would be best?

I think Instead of answering my questions, what are some good journals to look at?

thanks

I perform water changes in my 90 the same way I did them in my 24g.. a ~4' length of 3/4" hose and some buckets powered by Gravity™. I thought about plumbing in a quick water change thing, but after performing a few of them, it seems like you could only get ~5 gallons out before the water level in the tank drops below the overflow.

I prefer a DIY sump. It is cheap and easy to make, and gets the job done. You just need a cheap tank, some scrap acrylic and some aquarium safe silicone adhesive. Some say that you can't adhere acrylic to glass, but it worked fine for me. Just make sure your parts fit close enough before you start. There is a local plastics shop to me that sells scrap acrylic at $1/lb. I paid $8 and only used half of it. You can google melevsreef sump and you should find some good examples. I would just create your water entry chamber (where the drain enters and where you place your protein skimmer) just large enough to hold the skimmer, then two 1" sections as a bubble trap, a refugium section if you want, and a small return section for your return pump. Easy as pie.

My entire tank is DIY except for the tank itself and the lights.

Water changes near a source to dump the water is essential. Nothing like carrying 5 gallon pals around/upstairs to dump water. But the basic principle is the same. You just need a larger mixing container.


I keep my 125 in my basement. It's always cold (no chiller) and don't have to worry about weight issues.

I am in the works of designing a almost automated water change station. Piping the RO/DI to a storage tank and using the tank as a auto top off reservoir. Add 15 cups (30 gallons) of salt the night before and use it as a water mix station with a heater. Turn a high GPH pump on and watch the water fill up quickly.

Draining the tank is just a simple siphon hose to the sump pump. ( I through in a freshwater pal to clear out the salt afterwords)

For sump build check page 1 and I think 2 of my tank thread. Its alot easier if you can find a standard sized tank to fit your sump needs. My floor space did not allow me to fit a glass tank so I had to custom make mine.

how much water are you planning on changing at a time? I change eight gallons because it's easy for me to measure. I mix eight gallons of new water in a little rubbermaid tub, then drain out eight gallons from the tank with some acrylic tubing (into two homer buckets from home depot. the lower rim is at exactly four gallons for easy measuring, and they're easy to carry to the bathroom to dump down the toilet). I use an MJ1200 and the same tubing to pump the new water in. total time, maybe twenty minutes.

well well... I just spend 4 hours today doing my monthly water change. I break down the sump and clean everything. Clean the light fixture, and run a pipe cleaner through the PVC and flexible tubing, and the UV sterilizer.

Water changes are pretty easy for my tank as well. I usually change approximately 10%, sometimes a little more if I have been away and left the tank for 3 days on it's own. I don't have a sump yet, but am working on having one made for me that will fit under my stand.

Basically, if you are going with the 55g, if you know someone who has cats and when they buy kitty litter they get it in the white plastic buckets, ask them to save three of them for you. This is what I use. I cleanred them out and then sanitized them before using. I find them rather convenient as they hold almost 5g of water each. I usually fill 2 of them with water mix 2 inches below the top and leave them for 24 hrs to settle after also adding prime to dechlorinate and remove heavy metals (I use tap water).

Water changes take me about 15 minutes when I do them. I use a siphon to remove the water and get rid of any bad algae, cyano, or other dead stuff. Then I just use 2litre container to the fresh water back in.

Once you get things set up it can take you a good month or so before you find your own rythm for doing things.

Wow, thanks for all the responses, i think im beginning to wrap my head around all this.

From the response in this thread and from other tanks I've seen, I'll probably use a spare 29g tank I have as a sump/refugium and buy some acrylic to make a few baffles.

Can I get an already made overflow, or would I have to build that myself too?

Also, would all of this be hard plum, or would I be able to use tubing?

By the way, the tank would be in my walkout basement, only a hop and a skip from the door, so throwing out water would be no problem.

What would work well as a mixing/holding container for fresh RO/DI water? basically, how large should it be?

thanks

A rubbermaid trash can on wheels.

http://www.barrreport.com/articles/6196-be....html#post40272

on sale Overflows I bought the 800 one a long time ago.

I'm a big fan of hard plumb and using unions for maintanance. You could use flexible PVC tubing but then the tubs just lay around unless you tie them up and out of the way. 1'' drains and 3/4ths returns is a good start.