Lake malawi setup with 160-gallon tank and 100-gallon sump

[felix8on]

ok so a few people asked me to do a journal of my 160gal tank with 100gal sump, so here goes.
First off, I've never done a journal before, so bear with me.

setup consists of:
Stand: gonna be metal 84"x24"x32" - still waiting for friend to help me set it up
Lighting: 4' t8 32w x 4 = 128w - seems like plenty for now
Tank: 84"x24"x18" 160 gallon - had some seal issues, but resealed and hoping for the best
Filter: 100gal sump with aquamedic or6500 pump - ~1300gph - retrofitted from a saltwater setup
Media: 5gal 3/4" washed rock, 5 gal 3/4" limestone, 3 gal bio balls, various filter pads, pot scrubbers mixed in with rock - hope it's enough
Substrate: playsand - easy to clean, so that's a plus
Decor: rock (limestone, granite, rundle, river) - still deciding on the layout

Tank overflow is an overflow box siliconed to the rear of the tank with an oval cut along the top of the tank - about 1.5"x 15" to a dual 1.5" intake - pics will come eventually
History of tank/sump -
tank was a saltwater tank at a LFS that was moving and the owner was blowing out complete systems cheap
sump was retrofitted to more of a freshwater setup - my kid helped with the glass baffles, hence the globs of silicone
both tank/sump were full of salty crustys and were a pain to clean - still not done, but getting there
seals on tank were at best 80% complete, chunks missing, loose - cleaned and resealed - first time doing it, so fingers crossed
water testing sump now, sump full for 4 days now - no leaks so far
thats pretty much where i am at now - silicone curing, friend coming over on weekend to put on stand
once all is where it should be, ill start the cycling process with seed media off my community tank
stocking is still in air - had some great advice from forum chat - all i know now is gonna be alot of rock mbunas
pics will be coming as soon as i find my camera - my kid had it last, so prolly under her bed
any suggestions or critiques on anything or ideas will be greatly appreciated.

[_goldfin]

looking forward to seeing this tank come together, sounds like a great setup you've got going on

[felix8on]

Got my camera working after finding it in my kid's room - it was covered in some weird jam-like stuff. That's a whole other story, though.

So, here's an update: I scored two brand new 300w heaters for $5 each at a flea market. They've never been used in water before. I also painted the tank's background and one side a blue color. I've started making my spray bars - one's 23" and the other's 45". The plumbing for the sump to the tank is still a work in progress.

Now, onto some pics - not the best shots, I know. The jam-like substance on the camera was really getting to me.

Front shot of the tank.



The overflow box - it's still dirty and needs a lot of cleaning.



Here's the sump. I had to make some modifications, and the pump moves a lot of water fast - it's rated for around 1350gph. You can see the dual overflow pipe on top of the stand joining together to make one pipe intake.



This is a top-angled view of the setup.

I'm really looking forward to getting everything set up on the stand and fully plumbing it in - hopefully by this weekend. There's still so much to do, and work keeps getting in the way.

[goldfinch]

looking good so far, can't wait to see how it all comes together

[bullion]

Looking forward to seeing this tank come together, definitely one to keep an eye on. Great job so far, keen for more updates.

[felix8on]

Small update on tank setup.

Got the tank on the stand and it's full of water, doing a leak test for the next 48-72 hours. First real snag I've hit - installing the overflow intake pipe on the overflow box. Got a small leak, need to tighten it more, but it's hard to get a grip on the fitting to tighten it. So, I'll just do the leak test and then fix this problem.

Made and painted two spray bars for the outputs, haven't tried them on the pump yet, hope they work out.

A few pics to show the progress:

Tank on stand and full of water. You can see the water on the plywood from the overflow leakage. Seals seem perfect so far.

One of the spray bars is on the edge of the tank.

Spray bar set in position, still need to plumb it in once the leak is fixed. Got a light diffuser on the bottom of the tank to distribute the weight of the rocks that'll be added later.

Other spray bar hanging in the basement after being painted. Also got a black spray bar for my other tank, the fx5.

Small update, but at least the setup is moving along. Not much will be done in the next week or so, got two weddings and a baseball tourney to attend. But stay tuned, one day the tank will be completed.

Any suggestions or critiques are welcome, as always.

[felix8on]

Few days have passed, still got water in the tank and no leaks on the tank itself, but that overflow issue is still bugging me. Think it might just be a cleaning issue, maybe some debris messing with the seal. Gonna drain the tank now and tackle the problem head-on. Updates will follow once I've figured it out.

[illtied]

Looking forward to the final result, should be awesome.

[felix8on]

Finally figured it out, the leak's been solved a couple of days ago. Got the pump all plumbed in now and it's circulating water like a charm. Next step, I headed out and picked up a bunch of rocks - 180lbs worth to be exact. Still need about 250lbs more, but I'll know for sure once I get them all washed and placed in the tank. Here's a pic of the rocks before I give them a good scrubbing,



the pile's about 4' across and the highest point is about 18"

Time to get my hands dirty and start washing and scrubbing these rocks. I'll post some pics once they're all clean and also get some shots of the plumbing setup.

[goldfinch]

Sounds great, can't wait for those pics