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SC Aquariums 135 Gallon: Custom Plumbing a Sump and Aquarium Filtration

By MASS Aquariums on

Speaker 1:
What's up Youtube, Mike from Mass here on Mass Aquariums. The 135 is plumbed and the sump is hooked up. We are ready to fill it and get it leak tested. I finished up with the last piece this morning. Greg had, after we boxed, he had this all plumbed out and ready to go. I did, in fact, get the custom built sump from SCAquariums. Really, really nice looking sump. Smooth, everything looks gorgeous, it's sealed nicely, not sloppy at all. I'm loving the way it's set up. It's got this nice auto top off here in the back. Looks really, really, really cool. I'm thinking of doing a project with this.

I'm thinking of doing some basic how-to, some informational videos utilizing the sump above a tank. Set it up on a table or a stand and put some fish in it, some plants, put a filtration system on this and allow this thing to show you how a sump works with livestock in it. I think that'll be cool because in the auto top off I can have some breeding Guppies or whatnot a beta. Then some of these other areas I can have fish that like high flow maybe a couple of Plecos in the other place. Put a canister filter or put a hang on back one side, a hang on back over here. Something that'll work and we can mess with and have a great time with shooting videos on a gorgeous sump but not use it as a sump and use it as another project.

We will see. That's cool because you can just fiddle around with it, fiddle around with the filtration and see what happens. It'll all be informational and fun to watch, I'm sure. This sump is done. You've got two unions here. They come from the bulkheads and the two-- would you call them intake bulkheads-- I'm not very savvy with sumps. Then they connect here, right to here and into the first chamber. There is a filter stock in here, not sure how I'm going to utilize that. We'll see what the flow is like. Then it goes into the second chamber with the media baskets and then underneath then into a third chamber, where the pump will pump it right back up here. Can I get the camera? No.

Very simple plumbing, nothing crazy. I know you've seen a lot of saltwater tanks there's tons of ball valves, tons of piping going here, going there. This is straightforward filtration. Water goes over the overflow box, travels down in these two tubes and into the sump, and gets pumped back out. Very, very simple, nothing crazy about this at all, really. Only thing I'm not happy with is this PVC with the outtakes where the return pump pumps out the water. You've got these nice outtakes, move them anywhere you want. This is kind of unsightly. I might actually have to paint it black. We'll see about that or maybe once the driftwood and plants are in this tank you won't even see it.

The plan is to fill it up, leak test it for 24 hours, maybe two days, maybe I'll do 48 hours. Check it every hour because I'm home this week. Hopefully, there's no leaks and I can put the gravel in, put the driftwood in and get rolling on this tank. I'm excited folks. It looks really nice. All done very slow, very meticulously as to not make any mistakes so this tank doesn't just collapse with 135 gallons all over my floor. Hopefully, that doesn't happen. My idea is to get some driftwood in here, real big driftwood that I have that hangs out of the tank.

I'm going to grow some Pothos where the roots are submerged underneath the water and the leaves grow out of the tank, wrap it around the driftwood going out, wrap it around these pipes so just have it growing all over the place. I'm going to paint this wall behind it so it doesn't look so stupid like a basement wall. I'm going to hang a black curtain around like a skirt, around the sump area until I get some plywood and build something more sturdy just so you don't have to look at it and I don't have to look at it. I'm going to have a blast with this thing right here.

I'm actually more excited to just fool around with this sump on top of a display as opposed to underneath where you can't see it. I'd like to thank SCAquariums for donating this tank and sump as well as Custom Aquariums for donating this sump that I will be testing out first. I can't wait to fill this baby up. I'm out.

About MASS Aquariums

Mike chose the Seamless Sump filter system for his 135-gallon black water planted aquarium.

"My channel is all about simplifying the aquarium hobby. My focus is making videos on planted aquariums, reef aquariums and utilizing live streams to educate and excite. My goal is to inspire hobbyists and let them know anyone can enjoy a beautiful aquarium. You will learn, triumph and make your aquarium thrive."

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