Mario Brothers, Here I Come

I suppose it's about time to do some real work. I've been thinking about the design of the plumbing pretty much since I decided to set up a big tank like this. As I've stated before, I want pretty much all equipment to be inline. That includes inline pH probe, co2 injection, heaters, and co2 injection.


Originally I had planned on three filters: 2 Eheim Pro II 2128 Thermofilters and a Magnum 350 for water polishing. However, I decided to drop the "Thermofilter" part and go with 2 Eheim Pro II 2028's. I've had several Thermofilters and I've basically come down to the conclusion that they should be avoided. A standard filter plus a Hydor inline is a better alternative. The reason is that the cost of the standard Pro II and Hydor combined is a little less than the cost of the Thermofilter, and if he heater portion of your filtration fails, it's a lot cheaper to replace the Hydor than the internals of the Thermofilter. I also decided to drop out the Magnum 350. Instead I'm putting in a Mag Drive 7 pump powering a co2 reactor. If I need water polishing I have a  diatom filter or I can put the Magnum 350 back in some day.

After a lot of discussion between different members of different forums, discussion with my wife(the engineer), and some deep thought on my part, this is what I've landed on: