[ahud]

I'm debating plugging the overflow on a 65g 36x18x24 or going with a sump. The tank is a marineland reef ready, with a corner overflow. As for stocking, the tank is going to be a species tank for Brichardi.I like simple and clean tanks, I don't want to have to worry about topping off once a week.

Let me know what you guys think.

 

[fmueller]

If you do your regular water changes, topping off should not be necessary :wink:

For a show tank that size, I'd use a filter like an Eheim 2217 or comparable models from other manufacturers. A sump is a lot more work to set up, a lot more can go wrong, and to me the hassle is not worth it for a 65G tank. On the other hand, a sump can significantly increase your total water volume, and a well setup sump provides filtration second to none.

In German there is a saying that goes something like: he who has alternatives also has anguish :lol:

 

[ahud]

Fmueller,

Both points you made are what I am considering. I am worried about the sump because I leave my apartment a lot for weekends and I don't want to have to worry about leaks, malfunction, ect.

But if I decide to skip the sump then I will have to remove the overflow which brings in its own problems.

 

[fox]

We have a 65G RR and it is as small a tank as I would sump. We have a 20 gallon sump onnit and could have gone larger but it works out ok and has given us very little to be concerned about.

If it weren't drilled already I prolly would have put a can onnit.

 

[Heyguy74]

I would go with the sumps since its already drilled. I have the same tank in my office and it goes all weekend without anybody there. Just make sure all your connections are solid and you should have not problems. Even canisters leak and have malfunctions.

 

[prov356]

Sump it. Just be sure of your connections just as you would a canister. And agree with Frank, rather than topping off every week, a weekly water change would deal with evaporation.

 

[dwarfpike]

Sump indeed. I know I'm in the minority here, but I detest canisters. They are a pain in the arse to clean compared to nearly every other filtration type known to man. But as mentioned, when it's predrilled like yours is, the effect to make it whole again is rather alot.

 

[Valous]

Why would he have to make it whole? you can use the overflow box with a canister. you would still hook it up like you would a sump but run the lines up into the tank. But I do vote for a sump as it adds water volume. but a little extra care is needed with cleaning the substrate if the returns leave any dead spots in the tank. Although the same can be said for canister or any filters at that.

 

[ahud]

Seems like a pain to deal with the sump. If I go with a sump, how would you do the filtration?

I can see the benefit since a Brichardi tank will be a pretty big bioload in a few years once fry start maturing, but I am not convinced yet.

 

[Heyguy74]

I find it much easier to take care of my sump than any of my canisters. I only touch the micron pad with each water change. Only once a year do I rinse off the bioballs in tank water. My canisters rarley last more than a month to 6 weeks before I have to clean them out. I also grow out fry in the sump. You can use it also to isolate a fish for whatever reason.

 

[Dragonetti]

Sump indeed. I know I'm in the minority here, but I detest canisters. They are a pain in the arse to clean compared to nearly every other filtration type known to man. But as mentioned, when it's predrilled like yours is, the effect to make it whole again is rather alot.

Amen! I hate canisters and don't like HOB sitting on top and require the tank to be 4"ish off the wall. You can get sumps with trays for carbon or any media you can dream of. If you use and change prefilter/filter floss as you should your biomedia should never need to be removed to rinse.

 

[ahud]

Alright so I'm sumping it!

Guess I can do some reading on my own so you guys don't have to answer questions that have been asked a million times.

Basically, I can make a multi level tray out of egg crate and put bio balls on multiple levels and make my drain run water through the trays right?

 

[ahud]

How does this sound:

I will use Tupperware containers with holes drilled in the bottom for my trays and fill them up with mechanical and biological filtration. I will just plumb the drain to run into the trays.

Then I can use Poret Foam like Fmueller does to separate the return pump. On one side of the foam I want to keep cherry shrimp, on the other my return pump.

Simple and easy. What you think?

 

[cantrell00]

Simple is better... It really doesn't require much to create a very robust bacteria colony assuming you have plenty of water movement & air.

I have read that cheap pot scrubbers work ver, very well as bio media... Filter floss also.

 

[fmueller]

To gain a general understanding of the workings of a sump system, you can do no better than read this article. As for how to use a sump to provide filtration for your tank, there are a million ways to do that. Today most people who use a sump will install a wet/dry system in it. That kind of setup is so popular that many newcomers think the terms 'sump' and 'wet/dry system' are synonymous. In a wet/dry sump water trickles over various layers of media until it reaches a reservoir at the bottom of the sump, from where it is pumped back into the tank.

There are many advantages of a wet dry system, the main one being that the bacteria can directly draw oxygen from the air. In my opinion that's a non issue, because if you are using a Durso type drainpipe oxygen levels in your water will be at saturation levels, and the bacteria will get more than enough oxygen out of the water. The main disadvantage of a wet/dry system are that the sump can not be filled all the way with water. This means valuable system volume is wasted. In addition, the tricking water produces quite a bit of noise, making such a system considerably louder than a good canister filter.

In the sump design I am using for my 240G, the bacteria can only draw oxygen out of the water, meaning it is not a wet dry. That allows the sump to be filled with water as far as possible. You need to have some spare capacity for water that rushes into the sump when the pumps are turned off, but that's another story. At any rate, the design I am using maximizes total system volume, and is as quiet as an Eheim 2260.

It consists of a simple sheet of Poret Filter Foam that sits in the sump container as a divider. The drainpipe releases water into the sump on one end, and the water needs to flow through the foam sheet before a pump on the other side picks it up, and returns it to the tank. Since the foam will take on the shape of any container, irregularly shaped sump containers like cheap plastic totes can be used. There is no need to install baffles. For my 240G I am using two 45G plastic totes, adding a whopping 90G to the system. Each tote has one Poret Foam divider, making for a total of two approximately 2'x2' sheets. Even with a heavy stocking level in a tank of this size, I don't need to clean the sheets more than twice per year, and they provide the entire bio and mechanical filtration for the tank. There is no need for bioballs, filter floss, carbon, or any other additional filter media.

Because my sumps are a tight fit in the cabinet and there are two of them, the process of draining them, taking them out of the cabinet, cleaning the whole mess, re-installing everything, and filling it back up with water takes me almost half a day.

 

[ahud]

Well if you put it that way,

Why don't I grab an old 29g (I have one), throw some Poret Foam in the middle. Stick my shrimp on one side and my return pump on the other and call it finished?

 

[cantrell00]

Anything similar to this would work...

Yes - the 29 would be great.. I just modded one for my 180 build... Using filter sock & a wet dry trickle filter.

Here is the build thread. It goes into photographic detail how I constructed it.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=225411&start=0

 

[ahud]

Here is what I am thinking, rough diagram:

 

[matthew1884]

I have the same tank and I went with a 29 gal sump, I used a 3 tier sterilite storage system, it has three drawers and I drilled out each drawer one drawer is a drip tray the next is poly-fil and then bio balls I have the drawers in the 29 gal so it fits under my stand and the drawers make changing media very simple.

 

[cantrell00]

Will work.

To increase the surface area for additional bio load - you could place two foam sections in with a space inbetween them..