I recently bought a 300 gallon (96"X24"X30") acrylic tank for my peacock bass. I polished it but dont have any finished pics of it yet. I am in the process of building the the filtration setup for it. Here are a few pics of what I have done so far. I still need to get bio media, build a stand, and plumb it. Designing and building this stuff is lots of fun!
Here is the mechanical portion of the filter. The water enters at one end and flows side ways to the other into the bio tower. IMO this setup seems more efficient than having the water flow from the top down because the waste is not constantly being forced down into the filter pads. There will be two 3" PVC pipes for the water entering the mechanical from the tank, and two 3" pipes entering the bio tower from the mechanical.
I made the Bio tower from a piece of 12" ID corrugated drainage pipe. The drip tray is made out of a 5 gallon bucket lid. To support the the drip tray, I used a piece plastic dry-wall edge with slots cut in it to fit the inside curve of the pipe. I then used rivets and 3M 5200 fast cure marine sealant to hold it in place. The metala on top will hopefully even out the flow of the incoming water.
Here is basically what the setup will look like underneath the stand. The clear rubbermaid box is only used in this picture to support the mechanical filter. I will be using cinder blocks underneath the mechanical filter once the system is setup.
Here is a picture of the tank before polishing it.
I was practicing the polishing process on the back of the tank. You can really tell the difference between the wet sanded look and after a coat of Novus stage 2 polish.
This is a terrible picture of my peacock bass. Dirty glass and lots of bubbles lol
Here is the mechanical portion of the filter. The water enters at one end and flows side ways to the other into the bio tower. IMO this setup seems more efficient than having the water flow from the top down because the waste is not constantly being forced down into the filter pads. There will be two 3" PVC pipes for the water entering the mechanical from the tank, and two 3" pipes entering the bio tower from the mechanical.
I made the Bio tower from a piece of 12" ID corrugated drainage pipe. The drip tray is made out of a 5 gallon bucket lid. To support the the drip tray, I used a piece plastic dry-wall edge with slots cut in it to fit the inside curve of the pipe. I then used rivets and 3M 5200 fast cure marine sealant to hold it in place. The metala on top will hopefully even out the flow of the incoming water.
Here is basically what the setup will look like underneath the stand. The clear rubbermaid box is only used in this picture to support the mechanical filter. I will be using cinder blocks underneath the mechanical filter once the system is setup.
Here is a picture of the tank before polishing it.
I was practicing the polishing process on the back of the tank. You can really tell the difference between the wet sanded look and after a coat of Novus stage 2 polish.
This is a terrible picture of my peacock bass. Dirty glass and lots of bubbles lol
