FX5 or sump for 75gallon tank

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
i dont understand why some many people choose canister filter over sump setup, i wondered if they know anything and how things
to the OP do u have both set-up as right now or do u have to buy the canister filter?
for 75G either one will work just fine, but i would go with sump set-up its just that much better, cheaper and ease of use especially when ur tank already pre-setup for that.
common sense use, u have 30G of available space VS a 5G bucket which is one hold more medias?
 
I have used both. The tanks I ran with canisters run better than those with sumps. The ones with sump that I converted to or added canisters did better after the change.

It is not just capacity. IME a canisters puts the media to work better.

I would take an FX5 over a sump on almost any freshwater tank. If the tank was large enough I would go with a pond/sand filter over the FX5 (once you use a backwash and never have to open up the filter ever again you won't want to go back).

To all the pro-sump people: What canisters have you used? What didn't you like about them? What sumps have you used?
 
Reptileguy- I have had 4 fx5s at one point or another, 4 xp4s and several xp3s. The major difference is the ease of maintenance over a canister. You know how annoying it is to empty and clean an fx5 compared to slipping out a filter sock? You don't even have to turn the pump off!

A sump is way cleaner looking hiding all wires

The media in a sump is just as efficient as canister, nit sure where you get that from

5g bs 30g? Tons more media and if he chooses he can run a pump that moves twice the water of an fx5

Quiet ! My herbie on my 309g tank is seriously quieter than a 29 w an ac70 on it!

I have only used 3 sumps- eshopps w/d w submerged media as well on my 240, a 10 w an acrylic w/d full of bioballs scrubbies and submerged media on my 75 and a 55g DIY w submerged rings and pond matrix on my 300.

No offense to you about your sumps, but something must've been wrong. You also don't need to rely on a pump soley for flow. My 300 only has a turnover rate of about 4x per hr buy internally I have a 1400gph powerhead that moves water. I have the flow just right so that I can feed my rays half a bag of pellets and my tank is clear w in a half hr.
 
Sumps are far superior to canisters. Not to mention it is wonderful having your display water at the same level all the time.
 
But still the best filter is the one you keep clean.
 
Maybe I didn't setup and use sumps properly, maybe you didn't setup and use canisters properly.

Maintenance has to do with how well it is cleaning. If you don't have to clean a given filter as much it means it isn't trapping as much debris.

Again, when a dead silent canister can do the job at least as well, is easier to setup, about the same cost I will go with the canister.
 
^^^^ lol I set up my canisters properly. When comparing a nice setup to a canister, the sump wins hands down anyday. As said sumps are far more superior to a canister if one has the knowledge to set one up properly, which takes very little to do.
 
Not to mention the fact that when a canister clogs the flow decreases, which would contradict your statement about canisters using media more efficiently. For this setup, you could easil find a 10g sump for $10, a rio hf series pump for uround $60 from foster and smith and the cost of PVC would give you a working sump way cheaper than a new fx5. This doesn't include cost of media because the majority of fx5s come w 0
 
I'm gonna bug Creepy Old Guy about running a sump on my 75 gallon
 
I would go with a sump, if only because it adds more total gallons to your system. I personally like running both sumps and canisters on my systems; if your sump pump decides to kick the bucket, your canister would be there to carry the load and vice versa- I like redundancy. I use two heaters for the same reason.
 
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