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Sounds like that is the way to go... now just to figure out what a good inner tank would be.

That is what I have now, but my issue is the plants are getting sucked into my external pump. I have installed a T on the bulkhead sticking into the tank, and put some gutterguard material burrito'd into the T to act as a mesh. So far, it seems to block most of the plants from getting chopped and sent to the main display, but flow of water moves the plants to hover over the intake. Just got me thinking on how others might have done it.

Anyone out there have one of those rubbermaid 100g stock tanks and have sectioned it off and made a partial refuge from it? If so, how? pics? TIA, Brian

I am sad I missed it :( Had to do the church thing, and the wife was a little ill, so I had to watch the little tykes. I am glad you got started this thread, we need to keep stuff like this up!

I am still new to this whole gig and would love to see other people's tanks and talk shop. It is one thing to see it in a lfs, another to see someones more personal touch to a tank.

Ouch I have minimized the noise a lot, but there are still a few bubble gurgles coming from the sump. I deadened these by attaching a T at the end of the pipes from the overflows and have them emptying right at the waters surface. That really lessened the impact as the gurgles now go thru both sides of the T's.

I have that exact same tank. I would love to hear how you do the overflows. I have attempted durso and hofer gurgle busters and I haven't been able to quite down the gurgle in the sump. I have minimized it a lot, but there is still burps of air.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but it is pretty much the same question I have. What ATO to get, but in my case, I have an additional question. I live in Manassas and am on well water so I have a booster pump to bring the psi up to around 80 for my RO/DI system, but how do I incorporate all of that into a ATO? From what I gather, I need something that will turn on both the booster pump, the flow to the booster pump, and the pump that moves the RO/DI water into my sump. How would I stop the flow of water into the RO/DI system when it isn't in use? Thanks for any ideas! Brian EDIT - Seeing more posts, it seems that having it direct connected to the house water is a potential source of flooding, so that pretty much answers my questions there. Now just to get a good brand of ATO. I noticed BRK had a system, but I wasn't there for that at the time and don't recall what they had. I would much rather purchase locally than online.

Naw, never did really consider bare bottom. I like the look of that sand on the bottom. Thanks for the suggestion, tho!

Thanks all!! I will be taking this all in and see what I can find. If I find a really good deal, I will be sure to post it here! Thanks again! Brian

Sorry if this is a repeat question. I did a search and didn't see an answer (I am not too great on those search engines). I just finished the plumbing on my 125g tank and now need to start thinking of rock and sand to put into it. Is there any sand sellers locally? With this size tank and 2" depth (good depth?) I am looking at 150lbs of sand! At least according to the sand calculator I found while searching. Also, any good sources for rock? Neither has to be "live". I don't mind waiting for a cycle to happen. It allows me to save up the cash to get a decent skimmer Thanks in advance and again I apologize if this is a repeated question Brian

My one trip into anemone land and he got sucked up into my power head. I thought I would be clever and put the power head surrounded by liverock so you wouldn't see it, but the anemone sure found it! I am not sure if a closed loop system would help in that regard or not.

Thanks for all the feedback. So, I have a AGA tank and bought the AGA stand that goes with it. Seems pretty study. You guys still recommend I use some foam? Now is the time to get it under that tank

Howdy all, It has been a little over a year (lived in a rental so didn't want to set it up, then moved to my new home and it took a while to get unpacked) and I have just bought some pvc pipe to get my tank up and running, but I have a question before I go too far. Is there some sort of cushion material necessary between the tank and the stand? If so what is it and where do I get it? Another question: The pvc pipe under the tank, how do you support the weight? For my application, I have the pvc pipe going from both sides of the tank (the drains) to the middle, where I will have it go through the wall to the sump in the other room. This is a long horizontal run of pvc pipe hanging from the bulkheads and I want to support it somehow. Thanks in advance, Brian

Ya, I had a huge outbreak, and you are seeing the tail end (I hope) of my fight! Thanks all for the help!!

Howdy all, Some things have been going on in my tank and I took a few pictures this morning and thought I would post them and see if anyone had any insight on if I should get rid of them or not. Thanks in advance for showing interest and helping out! The first one is some black bubbles. I know, these can't be good... right? Where the heck did they come from?!!? The second is a red looking coral (?) I certainly never bought this thing... did it come from the live rock and fall onto the sand? A hitch hiker from some snails? Lastly is some green stalks that are growing out of one of my live rocks. Good? Bad?

What that link does not talk about is a hole in the end cap which is needed to vent the system. This guy has a wonderful write up on how it is designed, but his website crashed and he is in the process up recreating it. http://www.dursostandpipes.com/ and this guy (Ken Stockman with a aqua-silencer) claims his design is even better than the Durso stand pipe: http://stockmanreef.com/aqua-silencer_standpipe.htm

Do you have a durso type overflow set up? Not that my tank is full of water, so I can't speak from experience, but from what I understand, this is the way to go. or check out this website (just did a google search for durso overflow: http://www.the3wisemen.net/durso.jpg

So, here is a pic of my soon to be sump in the back room (blue plastic line is from my RO system sitting above): Here is a pic stand and where the pvc will be going through the wall: So, drill some holes in the sump or go for the slight incline and go over the lip? I guess I could just go for the slight incline and if it fails to perform adequately, I can always drill the holes later...

So, here are some pics on my attempt at a closed loop system. Big thanks to FishWife for their build thread! Look good? Anywhere it could be improved? You can see my loc-lines just sitting on the bottom of the tank. Nothing is glued or screwed down yet. Loc-Line is resting on the overflow. Kind of give myself an idea of what the final look will be.