[FuelingFire]

Whats up guy's,
Ok so a Family member of mine bought me a new 240g tank. undrilled, and is now sitting in my living room. All of my tanks have been planted tanks. and this Big tank will be no less. how ever I can't decide on filtration for this tank. I am debating whether to do 2 canister filters, or to do a sump. I run a sump on my 75g RR Blackwater Amazon tank. (going to be redoing the sump after i set up the 240). Before my 75 I ran canisters on my 55g, 40g, and 20g. How ever after giving my 55 and 98% of my plants to a friend along with all my canister filters and most fish, to help him get started in this wonderful hobby, I am debating as to do a sump or run a couple canisters for the 240. To be honest i been kinda Spoiled with the sump. :laugh2: the tank will be a Dirted tank. however I can't decide on doing an amazon tank or a planted community tank. but that will be a thread for another time.
so what would you do for a dirted tank sump or canister. and why would you choose? as i am kind of leaning toward canisters. this is why I am asking you guys, to help me with my inner struggles. lol.:grin2:

 

[astex]

Just finished my 180g dream tank, put a sump on it (my first) and am already in love. There have been various articles about sumps and CO2 loss, but nothing I've read lead me to believe it would be a significant problem since I planned for a dirted low tech tank. Since you already have experience with a sump, I'm not sure I'd even consider canisters as a primary filtration. I used a bean animal setup, and it'd dead silent, tank is in the living room next to my TV chair and I can't hear a thing, even with the TV off.

 

[FuelingFire]

You know I love my sump. even though it is a poorly poorly design rushed sump, and it still does its job non the less. its just with this tank not being drilled and I can't drill it due to where it is and the fact that i couldn't leave the tank in the back of my truck, (and my buddies would only move it once). I had to get it on the stand. so now I am kinda debating to do a sump with my old 40g. But I liked the growth that i got with my canister vs what i get with my sump. (even though i need to redo my sump) I actually been looking at doing a constant water drip from my well. Though i am going to research it a little bit more it might be a good idea. But ain't your tank drilled to have a bean Style? my 75 has a bean style and I can't hear it at all. but the sump is noisy from the splashing i need to fix.

 

[theatermusic87]

You could do a bean animal with overflow boxes. Just as an example depending on how much water flow you need you might need to tweak it a bit..

2 overflow boxes with dual drains. Box 1 has your siphon and trickle drains. Box 2 has a siphon drain adjusted to almost no flow and your emergency drain. Could probably get away with 2 emergency drains in box 2, but I would prefer to keep some water flowing.

Also since most overflow boxes are acrylic you can drill them and add additional bulkheads. Space is a bit cramped but I have seen it done. You can also do a Herbie that ditches the emergency drain with just one dual pipe overflow, should be just as quiet as bean animal

 

[FuelingFire]

You know after fighting with myself over canister filter and Sump, I decided why should I spend the money on a canister filter. when i have everything to make a sump that will not cost me anything. I think i'll stick to the Pvc overflow as i have made them before and they seem to work pretty good. Besides acrylic doesn't silicone to glass very well, even though I could get a 5 gallon tank and take the one long pane of glass off along with the trim, and silicone that in place in the tank and have a over flow box and just repeat on the outside. it's an idea. one i though about doing with my old 55 with tempered glassed.

 

[Immortal1]

One thing the occurred to me regarding siliconing acrylic to glass - why bother? I have built several glass tanks of various sizes and also a bunch of glass lids of various shapes. What occurred to me is I can cut glass pretty good. With that said, why not cut 1/2 or 3/4" wide glass strips out of X thickness of glass. Silicone these strips into the glass aquarium you are using as a sump. The strips would be installed on either side of the acrylic divider. Now slide in your dividers after you shape them to your specific needs. Use some press in place caulk to keep them somewhat water tight. Need to make a change, no big deal - pull out the acrylic, change it and put it back in.

 

[FuelingFire]

It's funny you said that, I actually buy 10 and 20 gallon tanks from petco to use as baffles. It's so cheap and the glass is thicker then finding it at home depot or lowes. its my poor mans solution to baffles. but I have thought about the removable baffles idea.

 

[number1sixerfan]

I have two canister filters on my 90 gallon--Eheim Pro 4+ 600 and Fluval FX6. They are both two really good filters....

That said, I regret not going the sump route. I really, really debated it forever. I just let the idea of something going wrong with plumbing stop me. The two main things that are a pain that sumps alleviate: 1) Hiding of equipment; 2) Ease of maintenance (lugging canisters really becomes a pain); 3)Easy access for dosing and treatment.

Next large tank will have a sump.

 

[theatermusic87]

I have two canister filters on my 90 gallon--Eheim Pro 4+ 600 and Fluval FX6. They are both two really good filters....

That said, I regret not going the sump route. I really, really debated it forever. I just let the idea of something going wrong with plumbing stop me. The two main things that are a pain that sumps alleviate: 1) Hiding of equipment; 2) Ease of maintenance (lugging canisters really becomes a pain); 3)Easy access for dosing and treatment.

Next large tank will have a sump.

you forgot the constant water level in the display tank! that's my favorite part!

 

[RogierFvV]

sump or not to sump

All I can say is the largest tank I ever had was a 125G with fully automatic CO2 and suspended Metal Halide lights, a wet/dry filter and a large Eheim.
If I had to do it over I would do a canister with a fluidized sand bed filter in series and with a sponge pre-filter on the canister, and possibly a secondary sponge filter as backup.

 

[SingAlongWithTsing]

I would just go with the sump and save money on the power bill with a DC pump

 

[number1sixerfan]

you forgot the constant water level in the display tank! that's my favorite part!

Man.. that too! Plus the surface agitation so there's never surface film. Tons of benefits. I said the two main things and listed three lol.

 

[flukekiller]

the tank i currently have is not planted but i have a feeling i will slowly get there. right now i just added some java fern
yesterday. i am running (2) 55 gal drums with K1 media, due to my heavy bioload. this is my first moving bed filter and
i simply love it.. i have seen plenty of moving bed filters in sumps and from now on i will be using them for any future
builds. btw my tank is 350 gal plus 85-90 gals in the filter

 

[Freemananana]

Planning a ~400g after my move in July, definitely going sump. It's hands down the winner for me. For a large tank, it just makes sense. Basic needs in a sump: Bean animal overflow (AKA the three drains), at least two baffles to separate mechanical media, bio media and equipment, DC return pump. Boom baby! The constant water levels is awesome and it's not even up there on the laundry list of perks. Just give yourself vertical space in the stand for the sump. I advise stand height to be twice the sump height. Just my opinion. Furthermore, the bigger the sump, the smaller the headache. It gives you more space for everything from equipment to evaporation. Also, do not skimp on safety equipment.

 

[ichy]

sump:
1. cheap to do
2. easy to maintain
3. constant water level in the tank
4. heater, etc out of tank in sump
5. auto top off easy in a sump

I gotta say, I drilled my last tank, C2C weir to external bean animal. Low tech...I LOVE the ease of this tank!! Finally 90% enjoyment 10% maintenance.

the list goes on...

 

[FuelingFire]

I am with you guys i love my sump on my 75. But I love Canister filters to. I think what really got me is the fact that this is my first real big tank. and So adjusting from small tanks to big ones can be a big change when your use to doing things another way. but I am going to use my 40g breeder for my sump. (wish i could go bigger but ain't going to buy a bigger tank). my stand is 36" high, with foam it just shy of 37" plenty of room in the stand. I will NEVER EVER do a short stand again. the headaches i had with my 40g breeder stand killed me on that. But I don't have to worry about that anymore as its now my sump. and What I Love so much about Sumps is Hiding everything in the sump and not in the tank. Now my Biggest headache is going to be whether to do a 3d background or figure away to paint the glass with it being about 10" from the wall. or throw black plastic against it. I wish i could of painted it before i brought it in the house. but I wasn't going to paint the back glass Black in the back of my White truck. and with no time to do anything but get it in the house. It has limited me on a lot of options. Now what I am thinking for the overflows is just doing 2 pvc overflows and disguising them to hide them. maybe attaching Anubias to it. or making a 3d background to hide them and make them blend. I still might call around to see if i can get someone to drill it. As I will not be able to. (not that i can't but I don't trust my self with something I am heavily invested into).

 

[flukekiller]

not a big deal with the backround. easy fix and can be changed easily.

you can use black poster board or a piece black fabric and tape or hang
along the back... i have done this on plenty of tanks so if i decided to go
a different way you can easily change the back and it is pretty cheap.

 

[ichy]

I'm going to slide a piece of white plexi behind mine and shine RGB LED lights on it to backlight my 50. Its easy and looks nice.
Here is how it looks on a 20l

 

[FuelingFire]

Ichy that is Amazing I love the glow. But Be hard to pull off on such a large tank. and Fluke I use to just use Black plastic. that comes in the roll's but after painting my tanks it like you just don't want to go back. But I think It's what i'll do, I just love the clean look of paint.

 

[flukekiller]

i agree with painting,, but this way you have more options and you can do it with the tank
full and minimal space where it would be hard to paint. i learned that lesson the hard way
when i wanted to paint the tank but was not thinking and set it up before i painted.