Sump or canister for tropical

[Gaz111]

Apart from a the tropical I’ve got now I’ve always had marine (15 years) my tropical currently is an ex marine tank with a sump.

I’m upgrading to a 3-400 litre tropical tank. Most people use canisters but I like my sumps can easily make one and put everything in there.

What I’m asking is the real pros and cons against eachother. (I’ve never had a canister)

 

[Colin_T]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What sort of fish do you have?
If you have fishes that come from slow moving or calm water, then a canister filter might provide too much water movement for those fish. A big water pump in a trickle filter (sump) can also be too powerful. A lot of sumps have a T-piece and tap to adjust the flow back to the tank and this will allow you to reduce the water flow if necessary.

Trickle filters/ sumps are great filters and if you already have one, stay with it.

Canister filters are generally a bit quieter but not much. They can be small or large and do the job.

If there's a power failure, the bacteria in a trickle filter will live longer without power compared to the bacteria in a canister filter.

Trickle filters lose water to evaporation and you need to top them up, that doesn't happen to a canister filter.

A well designed trickle filter is easier to clean than a canister filter.

 

[Gaz111]

Tank size is still up for debate it will be 4 or 5 ft long I don’t like that tropical tanks are like 15-18 inches so looking for a wider version if possible. Fish wise got rummy nose tetra, cardinal tetras and red phantom tetras with kuhilo loaches. I’m going to go with large shoal 30+ of small fish rather than having large fish my water is soft.

I have a tmc 4000 l/h on the lowest setting on my current 250l was higher for when it was a marine tank but kept pump.

Having always had a sump I feel I can make one and have it the way I want for probably not much difference in buying a canister

My heater is a d-d titanium with heater and cooler plug depending on temp

 

[MaloK]

Stay with what you love...

A sump.

While it's often louder in operation, It has a much higher filtration capacity, holds a lot more water, has a lot more gazes exchanges and customization possible. They also can run extended periods without maintenance.

You can see what is going on inside, not in a canister... Sounds stupid, But it's a big difference.

You could make yourself a mini-Sump filter, also there's commercial HOB Sump filters you can consider like EcoSystem, If you want to save some space.

 

[Gaz111]

Stay with what you love...

A sump.

While it's often louder in operation, It has a much higher filtration capacity, holds a lot more water, has a lot more gazes exchanges and customization possible. They also can run extended periods without maintenance.

You can see what is going on inside, not in a canister... Sounds stupid, But it's a big difference.

You could make yourself a mini-Sump filter, also there's commercial HOB Sump filters you can consider like EcoSystem, If you want to save some space.

Cheers this was the way I was going unless everyone came here to tell me different my tank to me is all but silent ( compared to when I had a protein skimmer)

 

[Gaz111]

Plus I get to make a sump which I’ve done on the past and enjoyed going to do some plans for it as it will be for a tropical tank this time

 

[Uberhoust]

I have a fluval 407 canister for my 75 gallon. It is super quiet and seems to do the job well, I am slightly overstocked with angels but I still only have to service it every 3 or 4 months. It has been running continuously for the last 2 years or so. It is better than the Aquaclear I had on the tank previously.

That said I do like the idea of a sump, more water volume and more personal control.

 

[MaloK]

I have a fluval 407 canister for my 75 gallon. It is super quiet and seems to do the job well, I am slightly overstocked with angels but I still only have to service it every 3 or 4 months. It has been running continuously for the last 2 years or so. It is better than the Aquaclear I had on the tank previously.

That said I do like the idea of a sump, more water volume and more personal control.

I have a very old AC running at the moment, It's true that it's a higher maintenance rate.

But whatever the mess I create while playing in the tank... It's always cleared in 20 min.

 

[MuddyWaters]

I love my Fluval FX4- it's on my 75 gallon tank which is overstocked and heavily planted. It does a great job, makes water changes easier, and, as mentioned above, only needs maintenance about every 4 months.

Having said that, if I could do a sump I would. All I see about them shows more flexibility- a lot more bio-filtration (especially if you put the media in a chamber where it rolls around a lot- there's a term for that, but I can't remember what it is.

Either way you can't go wrong as long as it's big enough to handle the load.

 

[Colin_T]

Tank size is still up for debate it will be 4 or 5 ft long I don’t like that tropical tanks are like 15-18 inches so looking for a wider version if possible. Fish wise got rummy nose tetra, cardinal tetras and red phantom tetras with kuhilo loaches. I’m going to go with large shoal 30+ of small fish rather than having large fish my water is soft.

The tetras are from slow water so less water movement is better for them. The loaches aren't fussy and hide most of the time anyway.

 

[madmark285]

I prefer a sump with just an air powered fluidized bed with K1 media and filter socks which can be cleaned in a washing machine.

The fluidized bed is self cleaning and tossing filter socks in the washing machine is so easy. Sumps using huge foam filter blocks are a pain in the a** in my opinion. In this case, a canister filter is the better option.

For freshwater sumps, I would make the water return chamber big as possible. For water changes, just drain the sump and refill with cold tap water. Let your heater warm it up before turning on the main pump.

 

[MuddyWaters]

fluidized bed with K1 media

That's the term I was looking for- that's where the media rolls around in the water rather than just sitting while the water flows through, right?

 

[madmark285]

Yep, I call them bio-macaroni.

 

[Gaz111]

suppose one down side is drilling the tank which I’m not keen on doing

 

[Colin_T]

You can buy prefilter surface skimmers with an auto syphon that you hang on the back or side of the tank and connect some hose that goes to the sump. No drilling required. You can also make them out of pvc pipe.