Greetings all!

I'm growing....or rather my fish tank is. I was able to pick up a 120 gallon tank with stand, lights, hood, etc cheap at PetSmart because they screwed up putting together the stand...and I guess they couldn't get anyone to buy the tank without the stand. I'm handy with clamps and glue, so I brought it home and got it put together. I just put a couple of floor jacks underneath where I've placed the tank, so I"m ready to fill it up and get my fish moved over.

I currently have 2 Clown Loaches, 3 Tetras, and 1 Chinese Algae Eater. 1 Loach was for snail control (24 hours and almost EVERY snail was gone) with the intent of returning him once he did his job, the second one was to be a friend, and the Algae Eater....well it's most likely obvious what he was for.

Now my 30 gal tank is too small for these fish and the Algae eater is starting to get aggressive. I'd also like to have the 120 tank with Clown Loaches, some new Oscars, and the Algae Eater and the 30 gal will take the Tetras. My only problem is, I don't have a pump and filter that can handle a 120 gallon tank.

Anyhow, After cleaning up my basement this weekend, I came across my Aquascape Designs 1000 pressure filter. It's no longer used outdoors because it worked too well and the frogs weren't keen on a clean pond.

So I was wondering, will this pressure filter work ok for an aquarium? I have to buy new foam because my dogs are actually the ones that "found" the filter.... but it does have all of the bacteria media and quite a bit of mechanical filtration when it's running.

I was thinking of combining this with a Poseidon PS3 pump. I frequently keep my house cold, so the 5 degrees or so of heat this pump would put in the water would simply mean less electric for the heater.

I'm hoping someone folks here can tell me if they think this may be a good set up if Oscars really produce a good amount of waste as the pressure filter seemed especially good at filtering out the solid particles.

Hopefully my rambling makes sense!

I wonder how powerful this pump is? it's meant for a 1000 gallon pond. As long as it's not going to be too powerful and I suppose it could be utilized on your aquarium. However, I'm not familiar with this pump so I'm not going to commit myself and give you the go-ahead, we will let other people comment on it. By the way, welcome to the community

which model?


or this?


eitehr of the two model can be used... just adjust the discharge point and
you will be fine.... adding more media could slow down the pressure at the
nozzle.

Hi all! Wow that was fast!

OFL -

The filter is designed for 1000 gal fish ponds, it can filter 750 GPH. I do have the UV version. I always oversize my filters, and try to do it by at least double. Would it be possible to make the water "too" filtered, or are you just thinking about the flow into and out of the tank causing a current that's too strong for the fish?

Paul -

It's the second filter of the two you posted. By adjust the discharge point are you talking about restricting flow back to the tank to reduce the volume of water? I have read to circulate your water 2x per hour, I usually do a bit more.



Since I don't know how much pressure drops off after the pressure filter, I can't calculate the head properly, however the actual head will be about 6', so I'm guessing 4' additional to give me a nice round 10' would be conservative.

Based on these graphs:
www.marinedepot.com/pumps_poseidon_information-ap.html

It looks like I'd be flowing around 600 GPH with 10' of head from a Poseidon PS3. So my tank would circulate 5x per hour. I could restrict the flow to knock that down. I'm sure I'm going to have to add an inline heater (which will knock a little more off), but I'm going to see how much below room temp the tank runs without it first so I can size it appropriately. I was also hoping to be able to avoid using any aeration by flowing lots of water and having the discharge above the water level.

Does anyone have a better suggestion for a quiet external pump that would flow less water...perhaps closer to 360 GPH or so? Price is a factor, of course.

if you are using a UV gadgets, it helps to reduce the flowrate, thus,
by providing a little by-pass pipe direct to the tank will reduce the
splashing but will give you the maximum turn-over of water...

The filter just has the UV built in....I haven't decided if I'll be using it yet though as my Algae Eater does like to eat algae (and he's darn good at it too). Since I can't remove it, I suppose it will still reduce the flow though....lol

I'm not sure I'm following you on the bypass pipe. The filter can accommodate the pump I'm looking at, as even with the "actual" head I'm not going to be pushing more then the 750 GPH the filter is rated for. Is this why you're talking about the bypass, so that I don't push too much through the filter too quickly?

As for the splashing....this will be my first try without an air pump. Isn't the splashing beneficial for aeration of the water? I had thought that putting the discharge above the water and allowing it to splash down into the tank....or spray down....was the best way to aerate if you didn't want to use an air pump.

I do have an air pump available should the need arise, and it is more then big enough for this tank as it used to keep herring alive in a 300 gallon bait tank.

WillW wrote:



actually 5 times an hour is excatly what you should be looking for in an oscar tank......

Cool. Now I just have to decide how I'm going to return the water to the tank. I'm thinking of taking some clear vynal tubing, putting a "T" in the middle, and running it down the tank. Cap the ends, Drill holes in the bottom and let the water spray back in the tank. That should disturb the surface enough for aeration, correct?

Any suggestions for the best type of tube/pipe for the pump intake? I know standard vynal tube will compress, should I use a ribbed tube for suction? Any suggestions on where to find one?

sounds like a cool project WillW. Keep us posted with updates.

This reminds me that I have a pump that is for a sump i believe that came with my 140 gallon. but i have never tried to use it. I need to post it in a new thread and see if anyone knows how I could use it.

well, you already had answer what a bypass discharge is...actually it is an
split pipe discharge to scattered the water flow inside the tank....

in some of my project, i totally remove everything inside and use the
whole assembly as submersible pumps only.... the filtration system was
built 5 meters away and just piped back to the tank.....
similar principle of application


@ cebosound, pls do post pics so that we can chime in for an idea....

Ok, so I just bought the replacement foam for my filter (~$40) a Poseidon PS4 external pump, and I'm going to start out with a 300W Aquarium Pharmaceuticals RENA SmartHeater and see how it does....I'll add a second heater if the temp in the tank doesn't get up high enough.

Hopefully the 1" Vinyl tube from Lowes will work fine. I'll be building my own intake and discharge, so I guess we shall see! Now to pick up the house jacks after work to put under the tank, and it will be time to get the tank filled!