# My new build (6 20Gal longs)



## tous (Jun 22, 2017)

I have run a few tanks over the years, with varying degrees of success, and I want something different.

I have a 90 gal, and I've come to hate how tall and deep it is, and its just too much space. God I love the water volume tho, I could let this thing go for months and it would be fine.



I have a 5 gal mr aqua RCS tank, and Im tired of filling it up every 6 hours.

I have a 10gal with dirt (just dirt) that I'm in love with. This thing runs on 2 1$ LED lightbulbs and just grows mad.

It started like this...


And a few months and almost no work later looks like...


So my new build is gonna be low tanks, originally when I conceived of this idea is started as 3 40 longs, but eventually fell in love with the idea of 6 20longs instead, just for diversity interests.

My brother also runs a marine tank, and I'm jealous of his sump. I hate my heater and EQ being in my tanks.

So... this is what I am building, parts ordered, gonna be a while in the making im sure, but yea.



6 Tanks, 1 of them a sump, plumbed in a daisy chain. I thought long and hard about running them each to the sump separately and it just always came out too complex. This will not have a crazy turn over rate, and each tank will have its own sponge filter, driven by the return pump. My hope is the rather slow flow combined with the overall shallow incline makes this fairly quiet, and I really think the risk of a pipe clogging is minimalized bu the T inpipe.



My plan is to use the sponge as the primary overflow, with connecting to a T, allowing the water to overflow in should the sponge ever become plogged. Top of the T ofcourse will have teeth and a grated lid just incase.

I love the idea of breeding, but only easish in the tank breeders.

The 5 tanks will run

(Hillsteam loaches + White cloud minnows + RCS (if the white cloud will allow) + Rabbit snail, the motife -white sand, large round river stones, glosso or sagittaria mini between the stones, high flow)

(Emptorer Tetra+Assasin snails, Orange dwarf cray -flourite over soil, large piles of lava rock, red ludwiga with a dark green marsiliea carpet-).... not sure about these tank mates. Almost thinking of letting my sump be the cray home!

(Guppy+BlueRamSnail+Green Dragon Pleco+RCS)... Motife -Algae/grow moss/big green balls of floating plants. Maximum fry+RCS cover-

(Apisto+Red Pleco+Assassin snails - Dirt tank, staurgene rapns carpet, Blynx and lots of "fluffy" green") - basically a larger version of my 10gal!

(Pleco Fry growout + RCS + Panda Corys - black sand or black humate soil, lots of large crypts that thin out at the base like wentii - ) I love panda cories, and a large colony would make me very happy.

Refugium doubling as a holding tank for propagation.

One other key, in the return chamber of the pump, there will be a max water line with an overflow, this will lead to a drain or (If the system will take that much water) a large terrestrial plant system. The tank will be on a constant .5gph drip, fed by a large carbon filter. This will mean the tank will constantly be getting a small water change. @ 120gal, that means a 10% change per day(less when we count evaporation. I'd also like to supplement the tanks with some sort of dosing system down the road, my fear is that I will essentially be flushing what I dose every day though.

In line C02 AND 02 with diffusers on the return, glass lids sealing the 5 grow tanks to combat evaporation

Excuse the spelling it's late, I'll clean it up tomorrow.

Thoughts? Am I mad man for plumbing it this way? Stocking issues? Should I just say fk it and run 6 normal tanks on a rack with some air sponges like a rational person? Let me know!


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## Fisheye (Jan 13, 2015)

Hi tous!

What an ambitious and well thought out project! I'm sure you'll get great feedback on the technical aspect of things.

Are you building the tanks and stand as well? Where in your home will this setup go? Did you mention lighting plans and I missed it? Curious what your thoughts are on that.

What design program did you use-the graphics look really clean. 

Will be following this thread mosdef. Best of luck with everything!

Jackie


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## Nebthet78 (Aug 21, 2017)

Wow, ambitious design. I love the idea and can't wait to see this come together. Please post lots of pics as you go through the process!


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

I'm looking forward to seeing this project.


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## tous (Jun 22, 2017)

Part of the goal here is also to show that you dont need to spend crazy ammounts to have something nice. Im planning to use cheap as dirt gu10 lights, 4$ bags of soul and just in general cut costs however possible (cause frankly the livestock prolly wont be cheap).

My lfs has the 20 longs on order for me at 37$ each.

Enough gu10 6500k 15w lights to flood every inch of this thing will be under 100 off ebay. 

The big expenses are gonna be the plumbing (12x bulkheads, atleast 4 unions and some valves) and id like poret foam (3grades) to form one of the sump baffles. Im betting close to 300 to plumb, and another 150 for all the foam and sponges. I really want to make it ultra low maintance (apart from trimming) and i think the drip system and sponges will accomplish that well.

The stand is be 2x4s, hoping some nice red cedar the only tricky is i want the front corners of the tanks exposed/floating by a few inches, so that presents some structural challenges. This bad boy will not be a pennisualla so im trying to think about how i will get at the back too. Ive started designing the stand and will try and get some pics up to tonight. Id like to make the levels modular so they can come off or add more down the road.

Hope to recoupe that by selling off my other 4 tanks as this comes together.


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## Dis (Apr 16, 2010)

Poret foam is perfect for the sump, you will only gave to clean it once a year at most. I use it in my sump for my 220 gallon and really like it. Mine took some time to setup because a few baffles already existed but the poret is holding up well. I have 10, 20, and 30 ppi

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk


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