# 125 Gallon remodel



## sray86 (Feb 27, 2015)

This is my first time posting and wanted to have everyone see what I am up to. Also if anyone can enlighten me on how to post pictures that would make this more enjoyable for everyone.....

To start off I have been keeping fish on and off since I was in 8th grade. Started out with tetras but got bored of them quite quickly. My grandfather told me he used to have an oscar and that was it. When I was in college I got out of the fish game. It was to hard with having to move each winter and summer. I am now married, have a house, and a 125 gallon aquarium with an oscar, common pleco, and a flowerhorn. The oscar is around 11-12 inches and the flowerhorn is in the 6 inch range. The pleco is about 12 inches as well.

I currently have my tank setup with 2 eheim 2217's and a Fluval Fx6. Tank looks nice and everything is in normal ranges. Water is a little stained from the driftwood I have in there though. I love the filters but I hate the fact that my oscar and flowerhorn just go around and knock the intakes and out takes out of place. The heater is never where I put it either. My solution.... Build a sump filter and get rid of clutter. My two eheim filters will go onto a new tank that will go behind the bar in my basement and my brother may be purchasing the Fx6 for his eventual 125 gallon African Cichlid aquarium.

I am not ready to drill holes in my tank so I am going to build these ( 



 ). The sump that I am planning on building will be a 7 compartment sump. 1 compartment for Mechanical Filtration, 3 compartments for bio, and 1 compartment for chemical. The final two compartments will be for my heaters, and a return pump.

I am also planning on upgrading my canopy and lighting. Currently my canopy is a plywood thing built by the previous owner. It is not very well thought out because the only opening in the top is to small to allow me to open my hood all the way. Its a huge pain. My lighting is also garbage. They are two different sizes florescent lights. I am thinking of going with a programable LED light so I can, as Ron Popeil would say, set it and forget it.

Once again I have a ton of pictures to go with this post including my proposed sump and my current setup.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Hi and Welcome to C-F!!!

It sounds you are off to a great start. I have never used a sump but 7 compartments seems a bit complicated to me though this will depend on the size of the sump.

Check out the link in my signature for directions on Posting Pics.


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## sray86 (Feb 27, 2015)

Okay so here are some pics from my previous post.

Here is the full tank.



Here is what the oscar does to the pipes and what not. He also moves the driftwood around like crazy. That doesnt bother me as much though.



Here is where the new tank will go behind the bar. That will be a side project that I may update on this thread as well.



Photo of the proposed sump. I do agree that it sounds like a lot but my though is that if I have smaller chambers I can rinse off each chamber every once in a while and not worry about shocking the tank. Mind you I do not mean clean but just rinse if things seem bogged down. I would seperate my chamber rinsing days maybe weeks apart. I am thinking about even putting a sticker like on your car after an oil change. Rinsed this date, re rinse by this date. Just to keep myself organized. Pipes on the right are intake pipe on the left is return. I am going to use a 55 gallon tank for the sump. The white parts at the bottom are egg crate. The chambers are about 6 inches wide each. I know it looks like I have the water level high but for the overflow that I am going to build I do not think there is a chance for the sump to overflow. Once again I am using the overflow design from the video I posted in my previous post.



And some fish pics. The oscar was not being photogenic today. The flowerhorn is pretty cool. When he gets mad he keeps his color but gets really dark vertical strips. No fatty lump as of yet. Makes me think female??? I have had it for 6 months or so.


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## sray86 (Feb 27, 2015)

So the ball is rolling but slowly. My brother is purchasing a new 120 gallon aquarium and buying my FX6 off of me and trading me his current 55 gallon setup. He is going to have his 120 cycle before he moves his fish over so that gives me some more planning time.

For the pump on the sump I am planning on using an Eheim hobby pump. Something in the 500 gallon an hour range. On the aquaruim I have 2 eheim 2217's currently and want to move them to a new tank but my wife is pretty adamant that I can only have one tank. With that being said I think I may leave the 2217's on my tank but shorten the intake pipe significantly. Maybe 6 inches shorter. I may make the sump filter a mechanical and bio filter only and put my chemical and more mechanical filtration in the 2217's.

Does anyone have any creative solutions for keeping pipes and suction cups stuck to the back of the tank with an Oscar. I thought using a dab of silicone.

I may even make my wife mad and set another tank up and put the 2217's on that but I also like sleeping in my bed so that is up in the air.


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## sray86 (Feb 27, 2015)

I think I may even put in a diy 3d background... I will have 3 large fish in a 55 gallon temporarily though. I am worried that may be to cramped. Does anyone have any experience with 3d backgrounds and how long I can expect it to take if I am going to do styrofoam and drylock. I think I will be able to "hide" the pipes a little better doing this as well. I dont want my fish to have a heart attack though waiting for me.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I also find that filter intake and output suction cups as well as the heater suction cups tend to age and not stick well.

Check out my DIY instructions Here

I now just buy 1/8" acrylic in sheet form, score and cut the acrylic for the particular project and use a heat gun to form the necessary bends to fit the aquarium since finding clear wreath hangers is difficult in the off season.

I don't see why this project won't work for your fishes needs.


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## sray86 (Feb 27, 2015)

Deeda,

Thanks for the advice. That looks like a great solution.

As everyone will see through this thread I am an over thinker and constantly question what goes on. I am looking at all of these diy overflows and have consulted with a physics teacher about a few questions that I had. Don't think I went out of my way to find a physics teacher... I eat lunch with one everyday. The solution that we came up with that may be the easiest and least visually obtrusive is a to drill a hole into the back of the tank x number of inches high and run a pipe into the tank. I know I said I do not want to drill into the tank but if I am going to do a DIY background I will already have the water drained. I just hope the glass isn't tempered.

Cheers


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## sray86 (Feb 27, 2015)

So today I have spent time trying to figure out what I want the diy background to look like and how I am going to incorporate the plumbing. I am going to go with something similar to my sketchup drawing. I am planning on adding a little "cabinet" in the back middle to house the pipes and intakes for the filters. The little corridor is going to be about 12 inches wide, and 3ish inches front to back. It will be about 1 inch from the top of the water level and 3-4 inches from the bottom. In the cabinet will be 2- 1 inch diy overflows going down to a sump and the intake for my fx6 (decided to sell the 2217's instead of the fx6). Everything will then be covered over with a diy Styrofoam and cement background. All of this planning is making me think and rethink so much and my ideas change daily. I am waiting on a 55 gallon aquarium to house the fish temporarily so I can build the diy background and sump. I have a bead on two at the moment... If I can get both my wife said she is okay with me setting up another tank and the other will be the sump. Fingers crossed.

Bottom pic is a top view and the top pic is the front view. The pipes on the side are the returns for both filters. Probably wont be that far out. The lines going across the back of the tank are the 1.5 inch layers of Styrofoam. They will be varying from 0"-4.5ish".


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