130g FOWLR Comm.

A

Artemis JT

New member
Hey guys,

Yesterday I picked up a used 130g tank off of craigslist.
Picture48-3.png


Right now I've decided I kind of want to do a sort of large fish community tank, I would love to have some look downs or a bamboo shark but I'd imagine both those would outgrow this tank pretty fast. :(

Anyways, I'm using my old 55g freshwater tank as a sump... I'm still looking around trying to find some basic sump designs to base it off of- Should i drill overflows in the tank or use an intake pump situated in the sump?

As you can see on the far left the last owner began to scrape the black background- but I think I would prefer to have a black background on the tank. I just planned to stop at home depot today and pick up some paint and cover it up, maybe lay an extra coat on the stand, which by the way, do you guys think it will hold the tank or should I reinforce it a bit somehow?

What would you guys recomend as far as protein skimmers go?

I'm still kind of up in the air as far as substrate goes, what kind of substrate would you guys recommend?? I need something fine since this tank may house my dragon wrasse which is currently in a 72g FOWLR.

Thanks,
Tim
 
no on those fish.

yes drill the back if you know the tank isnt tempered, itll help you out a lot

if you paint it, im not sure if itll look even or not?

not sure about the stand

whats your budget on protein skimmers?
 
Honestly I have no idea if the tank is tempered or not, but the finish on the rim looks as if it's from the 70s. Do you guys think I could get away with a couple canisters or something? I mean I'd love to do wet/dry but... Hmm. As far as protein skimmers, the cheaper the better.
 
By the way, I thought I would go ahead and skin the stand with some .5'' plywood, what kind of wood would you guys recommend I use, I don't really care about aesthetics that much...
 
Here's my .02 cents. If its an old tank,chances are its not tempered, so drill the back and put on an overflow. Don't mess with canister filters. As for your sump, chamber it off into three sections. First a section for your skimmer, second for a refugium and third for return. For a skimmer, don't cheap on it, it will help more then you think and be well worth the money. Try and find something used to save money.
 
AngelAddict said:
Here's my .02 cents. If its an old tank,chances are its not tempered, so drill the back and put on an overflow. Don't mess with canister filters. As for your sump, chamber it off into three sections. First a section for your skimmer, second for a refugium and third for return. For a skimmer, don't cheap on it, it will help more then you think and be well worth the money. Try and find something used to save money.
Click to expand...

Hey, thanks for the input. I'd rather not drill on a hunch, is there a way to tell if the glass is tempered or not?
 
I'm not sure but I can understand not wanting to. Maybe you could take it to a glass shop? You can always just run a hang on the back overflow for the meantime. I'm not a fan of them, had some bad luck but others have been running them for years.
 
alright, i looked at the tank and theres a sticker on the bottom that says "all glass aquarium dec. 25 1989" do you guys know if their tanks from that era were tempered otherwise i think i might just email them. or get a hob overflow thing...
 
Artemis JT said:
alright, i looked at the tank and theres a sticker on the bottom that says "all glass aquarium dec. 25 1989" do you guys know if their tanks from that era were tempered otherwise i think i might just email them. or get a hob overflow thing...
Click to expand...

The bottom is likely tempered, as All Glass normally tempered the bottoms of the larger tanks. They did do some "deluxe" versions of some tanks that did not have tempered bottoms, but without knowing for sure I would assume the bottom is tempered. The walls will not be tempered, so you can drill the back if you like.

Stand looks like it was made fairly solid, but keep in mind I'm looking at a picture ;)
 
billsreef said:
The bottom is likely tempered, as All Glass normally tempered the bottoms of the larger tanks. They did do some "deluxe" versions of some tanks that did not have tempered bottoms, but without knowing for sure I would assume the bottom is tempered. The walls will not be tempered, so you can drill the back if you like.

Stand looks like it was made fairly solid, but keep in mind I'm looking at a picture ;)
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks for the info. I guess I'll drill the back then :o

Anyways, I found this protein skimmer used on craiglist for $40, should I buy it or get a different one, it's $120 new and says its rated for a 150 gallon tank.
 
Artemis JT,
If that were mine I would do a few things. First I would drill the back and do a long overflow using this:
http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx
Since this requires the back panel to be drilled, I would build a new stand that was say 24" front to back so there is a 6" space behind the tank for running plumbing, wires, and the drain pipes. I would paint the back glass black (trust me, blue doesn't look as good as you think). I would consider using a different tank for a sump simply because its easier to work in one that is shorter but has more depth. I would try to find something like 48" X 18" X 16-18" as this will fit in a 24" deep stand.

For a skimmer, go to the Lighting, Filtration, and Other Equipment forum and do alot of research. The one you posted is 20+ years out of date. Personally I like the Reef Octopus line but Vertex & SWC are considered well made. In the end its a personal choice which skimmer to use. I will say that for any skimmer you buy, you want one that is rated for double the total water volume of your system.

For lighting a tank like that, my choice would be T5. With a tank of that height and since you are going mainly for fish, MH are not necessary. LED is an up-and-coming technology but the price is still a little steep for my wallet.

Hope that helps.

RocketEngineer
 
RocketEngineer said:
Artemis JT,
If that were mine I would do a few things. First I would drill the back and do a long overflow using this:
http://www.beananimal.com/projects/silent-and-fail-safe-aquarium-overflow-system.aspx
Since this requires the back panel to be drilled, I would build a new stand that was say 24" front to back so there is a 6" space behind the tank for running plumbing, wires, and the drain pipes. I would paint the back glass black (trust me, blue doesn't look as good as you think). I would consider using a different tank for a sump simply because its easier to work in one that is shorter but has more depth. I would try to find something like 48" X 18" X 16-18" as this will fit in a 24" deep stand.

For a skimmer, go to the Lighting, Filtration, and Other Equipment forum and do alot of research. The one you posted is 20+ years out of date. Personally I like the Reef Octopus line but Vertex & SWC are considered well made. In the end its a personal choice which skimmer to use. I will say that for any skimmer you buy, you want one that is rated for double the total water volume of your system.

For lighting a tank like that, my choice would be T5. With a tank of that height and since you are going mainly for fish, MH are not necessary. LED is an up-and-coming technology but the price is still a little steep for my wallet.

Hope that helps.

RocketEngineer
Click to expand...

Hey,
Thanks for the info! I will definitely look at the link, that's exactly what I was looking for. The tank currently has a black background with a missing part, which i intended to fill in. I have a 72g FOWLR that has a blue background, and I totally agree that it looks awful.

After recent consideration, I have decided to use an old 40g tank for the sump (if that would work... i also can look at the dimensions/measure or it, or just buy a better sized tank/sump)... I do not know the exact dimensions but it is a "breeder" size and is wider than tall...

As for a bigger stand, joc why would a larger one be needed for running wires? I'm not sure I understand where your coming from.

I've actually decided now that I want to gear the tank more towards LPS corals... well actually, i still don't know "exactly" what I'm doing, i change my mind about this stuff often :idea:
 
Last edited:
Artemis JT,
If you look at Bean Animals overflow, the pipes come out the back of the tank. This means that you need space behind the tank which creates a gap between the back and the wall. If you make the stand 6" deeper then the tank, you can fill this gap with a 1X6 and hide both the drains and the plumbing. Since you now have a space between the tank and the wall, power cords for the powerheads and the lights can run in this space. As long as the legs are under the corners of the stand, the back portion of the stand is just a facade.

A 40g breeder would work fine. I have a 40g breeder sump for my 75g build. Lots of surface area with a height thats easy to work in is the deciding factor.
 
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