168 Gallon Custom Tank. Need Ideas

[raywagner88]

I'm starting the plans to a tank that I am looking at building. I have a pretty good foundation of what exactly I want to do and have done quite a bit of reading on RC over the last few months. I currently have a 40 gallon FOWLR tank that I tore down due to moving. I sold and gave away all my living items in the tank and am ready to start from fresh.

I like the clean looking aquariums and want to really promote that within my build. My main tank size is going to be 36x36x30 i plan on having a built in overflow that extends 6" beyond the display tank dimensions. Within this overflow I want to house 2 vortech mp40's. As you can see from my rough drawings I have incorporated 2 sealed compartments that will house the dry side of the vortech's.

I'm really stuck on what equipment I will need for this. My 40 gallon that I had for 2 years used 2 Hydor Koralia 2's and a HOB marineland emperor filter running only carbon. I relied mainly on water changes. This is a big step and a huge learning curve that I'm undertaking and from all the reading I've done on various threads I feel confident that I can complete this. Below are some sketches of my started ideas.






Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[TriggerHappyDude]

You really want to waste that extra display tank area just to house two dry docks for the VorTech's? Why not have an external overflow, and then just mount the MP40s to that back wall in the same spots as where the dry docks you have designed? I'm not sure I'm understanding your thoughts with this design, can you explain more? I read you like the clean look, will that back side of the tank be up against a wall or out in the open? Is that open area in the back of the tank where the overflows are going to be kind of like a sump area? This reminds me a lot of the Solana tank, but sounds like you took that idea and added dry docks to it, as a lot of Solana users were trying to create something like that. Is that your inspiration? Not a bad idea, I'm just not sure I like wasting that much space for two dry docks, when they can be mounted on the back wall if desired, if you design the overflow right.

 

[raywagner88]

Yes, The tank will be up against the wall and the back area will will be full of water that will drain down to a sump and fuge that will be in the stand. Sorry my pictures do not show the pipes lets see if I can explain a bit better.

The rear area of my tank has 3 1 1/2" bulkheads. Two of them will be drainlines that will lead to the sump. The third bulkhead will be for all my electrical wiring for the VorTechs and lighting so that all the wiring is concealed and nothing is showing on the outside of the tank. That kind of what I'm trying to acheive with this no visible plumbing wiring ect. There is also 2 1/2 return lines that will come up from the sump next to the wiring tube. I hope this explains a bit more of what I'm trying to accomplish.

Also my main display tank is 36x36 and the rear overflow box which will contain the dry side of the VorTechs and my return and drain lines is 6x36. I so its can be somewhat considered an external overflow I guess.