Place the tank on the stand and hook up plumbing components. The main glass tank we used in our setup demo is 210 gallons. We had a custom made using this diagram. Here’s a diagram of how our whole tank is laid out. These are all the components in piping that we used which can look very confusing to someone with little experience. Don’t worry we are here to explain everything.

This is the way we chose to lay out our tank because of the location that it was in. Each aquarium should be set up taking into account where the tank is in relation to the compartments and classes that you have accessed to. There is no one diagram which works for all aquariums. Each space has its advantages and limitations that you must take into account when designing your layout.

For your tank, use common sense in have fun. I like to start with the biggest pieces and then work around that. In this case, the biggest pieces were the sump and the protein skimmer. There was a glass next to the tank that we could just feed our protein skimmer. We wanted the sump as close to the proteins skimmer as possible to allow the water to flow efficiently back into the sump so we put it on the right side under the tank. We put the pumps that would power the water flow and the protein skimmer next to the sump so the water would easily flow out of the sump and into the pumps. This lefts us just enough space to get in the calcium reactor in the UV sterilizer. The CO2 tank would not fit under the aquarium so we had to put it in the closet next to the calcium reactor. We were able to fit the ozonator on the wall next to the protein skimmer which is an excellent place for it since we hooked up the ozonator to the protein skimmer.

The battery backed up so we kept out of the lined area as to cut down an electrical problem. We hang over the sink the RO/DI unit where we got our water from. Of course the lights we hang above the tank and it show that we want to keep away from the tank for heat reasons so we put in the attic that is the layout of our demo tank but every tank is different. Remember, it's good to start with your sump first, then protein skimmer. Everything should fall in to place after those two.

Now, let’s look at the piping. These pipes we installed allow water to flow from the tank into the sump. These other pipes we put in allow the water from this sump to be pumped back into the top of the tank. This is an example of a closed system, as the water circulates between the tank and the sump. All tanks are closed systems as they have the same water flowing through these systems.