Brand new here but have been reading and love the content that I've seen so far.
I'm Jason from Ga and now have a 125-gallon community tank. Thanks to Cory's YouTube video on drilling tanks, I was able to successfully drill and install my 1600gph overflow (Herbie style drain) w/ a 30" weir from Modular Marine with two ¾" Line-Loc returns (one on each end of the tank). I used a 40-gallon breeder tank to build my sump. Within the sump, I have an Aquamaxx AF-1 fleece roller filter in my first chamber along with some lava bars used for bio-media. In the 2nd chamber, the water is fed from the top and flows down through 1 layer of top fin filter floss pad, bagged ceramic rings, 3 sections of graduated filter foam (cut to fit), and then bagged carbon. The water exits from the bottom of the chamber and is then routed back up and into the top of the 3rd chamber. In this chamber, I have 2 liters of K1 media wheels. I have a cheap wave maker in this chamber to agitate this media and I also have a 300 watt Eheim Jager heater. This chamber simply spills over into the 4th and final chamber where my Sicce Syncra SDC 7.0 is located. I also have several pieces of foam in this area to prevent bubbles from forming and also 2 sachets of Chemi-Pure Blue in there. I have the pump running at 57% power as I've found this to be where I can get the tank and sump most evenly operating without sucking the sump dry and blowing bubbles into the tank and also where I can use the gate valve to not have the dreaded sucking sound.
In the tank, I have a massive piece of driftwood that is 20" high and appropriately 65" long. I also have 4 Java Ferns, 2 Amazon Swords, 3 springs of Jungle Val, 6 springs of Giant Hair Grass, and moss on the wood. Also, I have approximately 3" of CaribSea Eco Complete substrate and Black Diamond sand. For fish, I currently have 7 Angles (3 black, 2 koi, and 2 zebra), 2 Green Spotted Puffers (love these little guys! ), 2 Rainbow or Red-tailed sharks, 2 Bumblebee Goby (Tiny!), 4 snails, and I expect to have 20 Cardinal tetras, 6 Panda Corys, and 4 more snails delivered today from Aqua Huna. There is also another generic (cheap) Wavemaker inside the tank blowing from one side to the other. It does a pretty good job and keeping the waste kicked up so that it eventually finds it way to the weir.
I had a 75-gallon cichlid tank about 10 years ago but it seems that I have nearly forgot just about everything that I had learned while keeping the tank for around 4 years. However, i am enjoying relearning the hobby!
