Tank help- 36x36x12 shallow cube

[Romewhip]

I'd like some filtration ideas on a tank of this size. It's a little over 65 gallons, and would fit into a corner of my living room. There's a possibilty of drilling and plumbing it from underneath, or doing something in the back corner of the tank.
Any and all ideas are welcome!

[small_ranchu]

Most of us prefer sponge filter(largest one) with the help of good air pump follow by large (100%) water change once a week.

[suphi]

You can also go with overflow setup that hangs on the back or side of the tank if you don't want to drill.

As for me, I'd go simple. One or two sponge filter and regular water change via water pump, no drilling required.

[BruceP]

I'd go with a wet/dry sump system.
You can see that we all have our own opinions as to how to do things here. :)

[George Washington]

Hi Romewhip (I'll not ask)
My two-penneth on sponge filters and water changes.

Sponge filters are great and if you use a power head to draw the water through choke it back so the flow is not too great. Goldfish like a slow water movement, They are a specialized pond fish and not a riverine fish. These shops that keep them in tanks where the water circulates like a washing machine should be prosicuted. (it is like keeping a bird flying or a mouse running day and night!)

The main thing about sponge filters is to make sure you use the old water from the tank to squeeze/rinse them out. The sponge is full of helpfull microbes which will be killed off if you squeeze the sponge out in clean new water...... and if they die they will cause problems.

I squeeze the sponges out every day if I am using them in my shed tanks where I feed very heavily but in a house aquarium I squeeze them out with every water change, once or twice per week.

For the same reason I never do more than a 25-50% water change in an aquarium. You don't want to kill off the helpful bacteria in the sponge or the under gravel. If there are problems do the same size water change but more often.

Simple is always best!
George

[Romewhip]

Thank you for all the input!

GeorgeW- my real hobby is Whippet dogs, under the kennel name Rome, which I've had since 1989... sorry, not what you were thinking!

I'm leaning toward a wet/dry with a sump, because I am not able to do a 100% water change every week. More like 50%, and I also am not a fan of full water changes on an indoor aquarium, because I don't like losing all of the beneficial bacteria. Right now I have a 30g bowfront tank where I am looking to put the 67g cube, it has double overflow HOB filters and a bubble wand at one end. No powerheads, no major flow, and my big ryukin seems to like it quite well as set up now. I vacuum the substrate and do 50% water changes weekly, that's about it.

Thank you again-