# 155 g bow front, sump size...



## addicted2cichlid (Apr 8, 2008)

i am planning out how to set up a 155 gallon bowfront with dual overflows. what size container/tank would be good for a sump for a tank this size.... lbs of bio material etc...

i have 2 empty 29 gals i could use on each side of the tank....

would that be enough filtration or would it need a canister or a ac110 to supplement, *** never done a sump system before, but love the fact to hide the heaters in them, as this tank is going to be as natural as i can make it.

thanks in advance.

will be housing a a couple JD's, GT's mabey a jag. just a few large fish


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## IrkedCitizen (Apr 26, 2007)

Ideally you want the wet/dry sump to hold 15-20% of the display tank water volume while running. So for a 155g tank you would want 23.25-31 gallons of water in the sump. Some might say this is overkill but you can never go wrong with more water volume. You could even have a 150 gallon sump on your 155 gallon tank.

You can use one 29 for each overflow that wouldn't be a problem. What might be a problem is maintenance on the sumps. Depending on the height of your stand the 18" height of a 29 gallon tank might not give you much room to gain access to them to clean them.

What some might consider a downside to a dual sump setup is that you would have to use two return pumps one for each 29g. Also you need a hose connecting the two sumps together to equalize the the water within the sumps.

Fmueller has a write up of his 240 gallon tank running a dual sump setup one for each overflow. You can read it here. The sump is located in the technology section under "filtration." The whole thing is a good read though. He doesn't use any bio-media only the micron filter bags which house the bacteria. You can use bio-balls or nylon pot scrubbers as other alternatives but these really shouldn't be submerged.

The 29g sumps should be enough once the media is colonized to handle all of the biological filtration. However, they are not the best at mechanical filtration which pertains to water polishing. So you might not like having things floating in the water column. With what you are looking to stock in the tank those are really dirty fish so you might have a lot of particles floating in the water.

I like wet/dry sumps a lot anyone who has a tank bigger than 29 gallons should consider using one. Not only are they capable of housing a lot of bio-media they add more water volume to the tank. More water volume means more stable water parameters. People have a fear of wet/dry sumps thinking they will flood their house during a power outage or pump failure. But if it is setup correctly this is not a problem and shouldn't need to be worried about at all.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. :thumb: :fish:


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## addicted2cichlid (Apr 8, 2008)

irked- thanks alot man, i am going to try and build a stand that will allow some head room for the 29's... i also have a 4ft 33 gal, only thing is its very short at 12.75". i got some decisions to make.

time to get to work so i can afford another (9th) tank!


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## IrkedCitizen (Apr 26, 2007)

addicted2cichlid said:


> irked- thanks alot man, i am going to try and build a stand that will allow some head room for the 29's... i also have a 4ft 33 gal, only thing is its very short at 12.75". i got some decisions to make.
> 
> time to get to work so i can afford another (9th) tank!


No problems. I am here to help. I especially like helping people setup sumps as I think they are fantastic additions to any tank.

What are the dimensions of this 155g?


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## addicted2cichlid (Apr 8, 2008)

its a 6x2x2... i know thats a 180 gal.... the bow at the middle (longest front to back part is 2 feet). i believe at the front corners its ~18" so thats where those 25 gallons are lost.

just a snazzy lookin tank, black trim and black silicone... its gonna be sweet.

couldnt agree more with the sumps... works as a protein skimmer and adds volume, hide heaters, very customizable... list goes on!

great link by the way man, spent a good portion of the afternoon reading up.


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## IrkedCitizen (Apr 26, 2007)

You should look at building your stand 30-36" tall. Then buy a 75 gallon 48x18x20 off of Craig's List or something and use that as your sump. It will fit right in the middle with a foot let on each side for other things as well as be able to easily maintain it. You can put a media tower on both ends and have each overflow to to their own media tower. This would allow you to have 50 gallons of water in the sump and have plenty of room for the excess water in the event of a power outage or pump failure. This would also mean you only have to use 1 return pump. You could sell those 29's on Craig's List for like 15-20$ each and then sell the 33g long and that can go toward the purchase of said 75g tank.

Well that is what I would do anyway.

One thing that I would definitely do different from Fmueller is that I wouldn't run the USJ with the return pumps from the sumps.


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## addicted2cichlid (Apr 8, 2008)

funny u mention, my JD and Jag are in a 75 right now... only two in there with a big 4" CAE and a bristlenose, both the jack and jag are coming up on 7" so its time to give em a bit more room...

mabey i will try to find another 75, just cause this one i have now i bought brand new in february, and its still mint. man the store i got it from had 1$per gallon sale (up to a 75) and i bought 3 75's but sold the other two to make some quick cash, wish i woulda kept one!

im buying my first home very soon, and will be moving in within the next month, thats when the project will start... just saving money and planning away right now.


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## IrkedCitizen (Apr 26, 2007)

Yeah that's too bad. All the $1 a gallon sale they have here are only up to 55g.

But I got a good price on the 75g I currently have. $40 for AGA 75 with versa glass top and t5 single bulb 48" fluorescent fixture. Brand new. Lol. I won the raffle tank at the spring auction of my local cichlid club.

So after winning that I needed a stand. What I ended up doing was buying a complete 75g with double wrought iron stand off Craig's List for $150. I did it that way because everyone I had found on CL or from other people they wanted $100 for just the stand. I turned around and sold it within 8 hours for $150. I got a credenza that was 60"x19"24" for free off CL and I could have used it for the 75 I just won but I wanted a real stand and one I could put a wet/dry on. My wet/dry on that tank is an "Oceanic model 3+ reef ready sump" it is basically a 40g breeder 36x18x18. I got it with the purchase of another tank which I subsequently sold.

So needless to say I got a 75g pretty much complete for $40. But I have over 300$ worth of fish in there.:fish:


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## addicted2cichlid (Apr 8, 2008)

nice deal man! the store no longer does the $1 per gallon anymore, they said the price of glass has gone up significantly...

and it has, btu they still gotta be making money for getting 75$ for 5 pieces of glass, glue, and plastic...

oh well. 300$ worth of fish! nice


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