Not sure how tolerable this community is to freshwater, but I am gonna post anyway and find out 
. I've lurked for a while now and I do appreciate the expertise here on R2R.
After much planning and selling my pool table, I picked up a used 750 gallon (10' x 4' x 2.5') earlier this week.
The obligatory before pic:
It has two center overflows (approximately 2' x 1' each) with 3 drains and two returns in each so I am likely running a dual-bean setup. Would love any lessons-learned from someone who has done similar; in particular I am currently planning to tie the non-siphon drains together and the emergency drains together prior to the sump.
Sump measurements updated 9/29.
Speaking of sumps, it came with an amazing 100" x 27" x 23" acrylic sump (little bit dirty, but I have it about 1/4 cleaned up after last night). Planning 3 x 7" filter socks in the first chamber on the two siphons and the combined non-siphon. First chamber is 17" long and 20.5 tall so I'll stack a bunch of static media in it as well. After that are two narrow baffles taking up 6.25". Next chamber is the big one (33.5" x 16" tall) where I plan to run a fluidized K1 bed as my primary tank bio filtration. 200 liters of K1 should support a pretty heavy fish load. After that is a narrow 12" chamber (water flows in and out at the surface so hopefully the lower section is less turbulent) that I am eyeballing for a small refugium with plants & shrimp. Following that is a 17" excessive section of baffles, then the 13.75" x 10" tall return chamber for two return pumps (maybe four since the tank is already drilled for the returns; any single pump going down would only lose 25% of flow which is nice redundancy).
For lighting I plan to suspend an 8' x 3' extruded aluminum rectangle from the ceiling and mounting 24"/36" led lights to it. Have not decided on which lights yet, but I am looking for something programmable with a cell phone app. Tank will not be planted and is freshwater so I just need to be able to see the fish best and don't need high powered coral lights. I may add a couple small spotlight type fixtures as well to highlight specific spots in tank.
As far as livestock goes, the tank will be African cichlids.
- A colony of F1 Moba Gibberosa/Frontosa as the primary species (starting with 30, hoping for a final colony of 20).
- A group of lelupi for color contrast.
- Some dolphins (cyrtocara moori) (8) and Acei (12) to swim around.
- 8-10 synodontis multipunctatus to control fry/breeding.
- 8-10 inkfin calvus
- Neolamprologus Brichardi because they make me smile.
- a group of julidochromis marlieri (thanks @FishSkedee)
- Will probably add a fancyish pleco or two (blue phantom and/or something interesting).
Catfish approved?
If the Mobas eventually start eating the lelupi and brichardi, I reckon will let them and then add some larger predatory Haps since the tank has already proven inhospitable. I really like the Malawi trout, but he is a definite no with smaller fish.
If this is bad content for R2R, let me know. Otherwise, I will continue updating and asking for help as I go. I in no way think that I am an expert, so I welcome advice and suggestions.
. I've lurked for a while now and I do appreciate the expertise here on R2R.After much planning and selling my pool table, I picked up a used 750 gallon (10' x 4' x 2.5') earlier this week.
The obligatory before pic:
It has two center overflows (approximately 2' x 1' each) with 3 drains and two returns in each so I am likely running a dual-bean setup. Would love any lessons-learned from someone who has done similar; in particular I am currently planning to tie the non-siphon drains together and the emergency drains together prior to the sump.
Sump measurements updated 9/29.
Speaking of sumps, it came with an amazing 100" x 27" x 23" acrylic sump (little bit dirty, but I have it about 1/4 cleaned up after last night). Planning 3 x 7" filter socks in the first chamber on the two siphons and the combined non-siphon. First chamber is 17" long and 20.5 tall so I'll stack a bunch of static media in it as well. After that are two narrow baffles taking up 6.25". Next chamber is the big one (33.5" x 16" tall) where I plan to run a fluidized K1 bed as my primary tank bio filtration. 200 liters of K1 should support a pretty heavy fish load. After that is a narrow 12" chamber (water flows in and out at the surface so hopefully the lower section is less turbulent) that I am eyeballing for a small refugium with plants & shrimp. Following that is a 17" excessive section of baffles, then the 13.75" x 10" tall return chamber for two return pumps (maybe four since the tank is already drilled for the returns; any single pump going down would only lose 25% of flow which is nice redundancy).
For lighting I plan to suspend an 8' x 3' extruded aluminum rectangle from the ceiling and mounting 24"/36" led lights to it. Have not decided on which lights yet, but I am looking for something programmable with a cell phone app. Tank will not be planted and is freshwater so I just need to be able to see the fish best and don't need high powered coral lights. I may add a couple small spotlight type fixtures as well to highlight specific spots in tank.
As far as livestock goes, the tank will be African cichlids.
- A colony of F1 Moba Gibberosa/Frontosa as the primary species (starting with 30, hoping for a final colony of 20).
- A group of lelupi for color contrast.
- Some dolphins (cyrtocara moori) (8) and Acei (12) to swim around.
- 8-10 synodontis multipunctatus to control fry/breeding.
- 8-10 inkfin calvus
- Neolamprologus Brichardi because they make me smile.
- a group of julidochromis marlieri (thanks @FishSkedee)
- Will probably add a fancyish pleco or two (blue phantom and/or something interesting).
Catfish approved?
If the Mobas eventually start eating the lelupi and brichardi, I reckon will let them and then add some larger predatory Haps since the tank has already proven inhospitable. I really like the Malawi trout, but he is a definite no with smaller fish.
If this is bad content for R2R, let me know. Otherwise, I will continue updating and asking for help as I go. I in no way think that I am an expert, so I welcome advice and suggestions.
Last edited:
