Hey guys a good friend of mine has a father with stage 4 colon cancer who just started chemo and radiation treatments.. unfortunately his father is going threw a rough time bot just physically because of the cancer and treatment but also emotionally and mentally prior to his diagnosis he had hopes to start a salt water tank something he has always wanted to do he bought a tank and stand and was getting ready to buy equipment and start planning the tank when the news broke about his health after the news everything changed and the tank just sat there empty on its stand.. my friend approached me and asked me if I would help him set up this tank for his father so he would have something to be happy about and take his mind off the horrible mess that cancer is. Of course I said yes but honestly the 125 gallon tank is much bigger then anything I have ever worked with and I wouldn't even know where to begin planning .. it's not drilled and he hasn't gotten any equipment yet from what I grasp he wants to set it up to be a reef tank with fish. I am looking for any and all impute and help with things like drilling the tank were to get equipment setting up a sump what equipment to buy live rock sand lighting ect.. any kinda help is welcome and advice is always appreciated my friends on a budget so the tank build will reflect that.
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Tanked for a good cause
- Thread starter Jeremy Brito
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first you'd need to make sure that the glass is not tempered.... you cannot drill tempered glass as it will explode (i've seen it)
Can you move the tank so that you can drill it? if so you can use this template H2Overflow® Drill Kit (Glass Hole Cutter Plus Template) and a garden hose to do it. here's a brs video on it for reference
if you can't, id recommend going FOWLER with a bunch of HOB equipment, a cheap light, and for kicks, you can get some macro algae to give it that underwater feel
Can you move the tank so that you can drill it? if so you can use this template H2Overflow® Drill Kit (Glass Hole Cutter Plus Template) and a garden hose to do it. here's a brs video on it for reference
if you can't, id recommend going FOWLER with a bunch of HOB equipment, a cheap light, and for kicks, you can get some macro algae to give it that underwater feel
If you cant drill put 2 hangon overflows on the tank and pipe it down to the sump
I would consider skipping the tank drill and go with this overflow box.
Amazon.com : CPR CS90 Overflow Box : Aquarium Filters : Pet Supplies
Amazon.com : CPR CS90 Overflow Box : Aquarium Filters : Pet Supplies
how reliable are these I might want to look into one for my tank do they come in smaller sizes?
After having used a CPR overflow, I find that I can not say enough bad things about it. These overflows have several major design flaws and will sooner or later cause a flood. First off, the siphon tends to trap air and fail. To prevent this they must be used with an aqualifter or similar pump which keeps pumping air out of the siphon area. Should this pump clog or otherwise fail the siphon is prone to trapping air and failing.
The other design flaw is the the siphon area in impossible to clean. It can not be removed. Over time various things are going to grow there, reducing flow. Plus, if any of this growth breaks loose and clogs the small pump intake, you have the situation previously mentioned.
The siphon also has very tight corners. this makes it easy for things such as snails to get trapped, blocking flow, and because you can't take it apart, anything is difficult to remove.
I also found the small fitting where you need to connect the pump to be extremely fragile. It's easily broken. It is possible to replace it, but it means drilling the old one out.
Do you self a favor and get something much better.
If you are going to use an overflow that involves siphons, get a Lifereef overflow. Yes, they do cost about double over a similar CPR, but they will not easily fail, don't need a pump, and are built out of much thicker material. You can see Lifereef overflows here - prefilter box, siphon box, overflow box, siphon overflow, Eurobrace, Euro-brace, Euro-tank
If you just find the cost of the Lifereef overflow to be too much, you can consider an Eshopps overflow. I don't thing they are nearly as good, but the siphon tubes can be removed for cleaning and don't trap air. You can see the various Eshopps models here - ESHOPPS | Overflow Boxes For pricing, just do a search on the model you want. Most of the major online aquarium suppliers have them.
I have an Eshopps overflow. Not going to lie, my biggest regret with my tank is not drilling it though. The Eshopps overflow hasn't lost siphon after multiple power outages. The only complaint I have is that it's pretty loud, but I would think that all HOB overflows are like that
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i agree on this, i had a cpr overflow and when they worked, they worked.....but when they didn't it made me wanna push the tank on the floor....also 1+ on the cleaning part of these things as you cannot disassemble for maintenance...i found myself soaking the entire unit in hot water an vinegar atleast every 3-months
Was going to reply but others that used this are responding. Glad I didn't get one if it's that bad. I would think the no tube would be better but what do I know.
First and foremost sorry to hear the news...Do yourself and the family a favor, instead of purchasing external overflow boxes sell it off and buy an already drilled aquarium. Its not worth the risk of having a tank overflow because an external box broke siphon. Nevermind purchasing external boxes for an aquarium of that size can cost you 1/2-3/4 of what a brand new tank will run you. If you decide to go with a new drilled tank call the store im sure I can get one of my suppliers to give a pretty good discount and I can get you tank at below normal cost.
Very nice of you Will.
Most likely we might take his tank to be drilled when he is ready but thank you very much for the offer it was very kind of you
Thank you that's very generous I'll bring his son and him by when we get to that point
If any one has any extra live rock laying around or know anyone selling some cheap please let me know
I have maybe 10 pounds or so which should be enough to at least seed some bacteria in. It is also covered with coralline so it should help seed the tank with that. When it comes to filling the tank I would just try and find dry rock as it's usually 1/3 the price of live. I will be on the lookout if I see any good deals but I believe Tropiquarium has dry rock for about $2-3 a pound
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You can always try letgo or other sites to see if people are selling equipment or rock cheap..
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Hey guys just an update. so today I got a call from my friend who informed me he had started setting up the tank and equipment with a few hick ups over the weekend (I was unaware) and now he needed some help.
So to start the tank is a 125 gallon long tank (basic petco special with glass top lids and two florescent bulb light fixtures) he purchased a large canister filter and a large sump kit from tropiquarium and a HOB overflow box (3 chamber). Premade salt water and sand bed and dry rock added to the tank. he had started plumbing the equipment to the tank but couldn't figure out how to prime the HOB over flow box, so after pulling my hair out reading the instructions that were provided which explained 0 information regarding priming and use of the box and several not so helpful youtube videos I called Trop and said hey guys what the heck... they share with me the secrets of the box and I was able to get it working with a mouth full of sea water to quench the thirst I worked up. I gifted him one of the Jabeo WP25 wave makers I purchased off of mark this week and a old Chinese power head I bought of Ebay which seem to be doing a decent job creating circulation on top of the discharge flow from the canister filter and sump return.
So as it sits now in his living room the tank is now ready to begin cycling, since aside from the live sand he didn't have any live rock to add I advised him to pick up a Bottle of Bio Spira from petco to help the cycling process get moving along he should be purchasing and adding that to the tank tomorrow.
while the tank is cycling I told him id start asking around for Live rock, a protein skimmer and lighting equipment, the over all goal for the tank is to be a reef tank and I plan on helping him as much as possible to achieve this any one that can offer any help or has anything they would like to sell or gift to the cause would be greatly appreciated
So to start the tank is a 125 gallon long tank (basic petco special with glass top lids and two florescent bulb light fixtures) he purchased a large canister filter and a large sump kit from tropiquarium and a HOB overflow box (3 chamber). Premade salt water and sand bed and dry rock added to the tank. he had started plumbing the equipment to the tank but couldn't figure out how to prime the HOB over flow box, so after pulling my hair out reading the instructions that were provided which explained 0 information regarding priming and use of the box and several not so helpful youtube videos I called Trop and said hey guys what the heck... they share with me the secrets of the box and I was able to get it working with a mouth full of sea water to quench the thirst I worked up. I gifted him one of the Jabeo WP25 wave makers I purchased off of mark this week and a old Chinese power head I bought of Ebay which seem to be doing a decent job creating circulation on top of the discharge flow from the canister filter and sump return.
So as it sits now in his living room the tank is now ready to begin cycling, since aside from the live sand he didn't have any live rock to add I advised him to pick up a Bottle of Bio Spira from petco to help the cycling process get moving along he should be purchasing and adding that to the tank tomorrow.
while the tank is cycling I told him id start asking around for Live rock, a protein skimmer and lighting equipment, the over all goal for the tank is to be a reef tank and I plan on helping him as much as possible to achieve this any one that can offer any help or has anything they would like to sell or gift to the cause would be greatly appreciated