[flyn dutchmn]

I was wondering if anyone ran their Tropheus tanks with an overflow system?

If so, are you happy/unhappy with it? Reasons?

I've found a 100 gallon tank with an overflow and was thinking of purchasing it and throwing a colony of trophs in it. It's a 4 footer, which isn't ideal but I think it'll be alright for a species only tank.

I have zero experience with overflow systems, so I'm not sure if heading this route is the best idea.

Thanks!

 

[swk]

It IS in fact, the best idea. Trophs and sumps are the way to go. Higher o2 levels are the main reason. There's not one thing about a sump that I dislike. Maintenance is a breeze!

 

[713J]

It IS in fact, the best idea. Trophs and sumps are the way to go. Higher o2 levels are the main reason. There's not one thing about a sump that I dislike. Maintenance is a breeze!

+1 - once you have a wet/dry you'll want them on all of your tanks. Set-up is a little more work with all of the plumbing but once it's up and running all you really need to do is wash off (or replace) the prefilter foam when you do water changes.

Oh, and you'll want to use a durso (or some other method) for your overflow stand pipe to quieten it. Otherwise it will gurgle and sound like a toilet flushing.

 

[willz]

I have a 40 gallon sump on my 120 gallon 4' troph tank and it works great. I used 250 micron filter socks and two layers of Poret foam (10ppi and 40ppi) for mechanical. I use 20 liters of Pond Matrix for bio, and a reactor with 2 liters of DeNitrate (low GPH). Then I also put a bag of Phosguard and Purigen in flow for chemical filtration. I still had room to put my heaters and a UV sterilizer in there. I built the overflows myself out of PVC ($30 Home Depot). I use a 1300 gph return pump and tee'd it off so some of the flow goes back thru a Marineland 350 cannister that I pulled the impeller on with the micron filter for additional mechanical. As long as I rinse the filter socks and do my weekly water changes the water stays pristine and crystal clear. The nitrates creep up over 20 by the end of the week, but nothing a 50% water change won't put right. I say dive into it. You won't look back.

 

[flyn dutchmn]

Thanks for the responses, very helpful.

Unfortunately the 100 gallon I was interested in was SOLD before I could look at it.

I'm really interested in switching over my 140 gallon to an overflow system and throwing my FX5 on my 72 gallon. My 140 gallon has 2 holes drilled in it so I'm thinking it's suitable for an overflow.

Going to do more research on it and see how well it should work. For me the scariest thing is building it, I kind of have 2 left hands when it comes to building stuff.....lol.

 

[Bluetangclan]

After being a reefkeeper for more than a decade and switching over to breeding Africans, I cannot imagine life without a sump. Actually I can, my grow out tanks do not have sumps and they are such a pain in the butt. If I were you I would look for supposed "reef ready" tanks. Drilling your own and putting in a bulkhead is a huge pain. I have a 20 gal sump on my 75 and a 40 gallon sump on my 90. Do it and laugh at the people who actually have to do top offs on the main tanks. (OK, to be fair they get to laugh at you when the power goes out and you didnt take proper steps to stop the vacuum on the return)