Alternative ways to filter a 300 gallon tank ? And, good water change routine ?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
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Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jul 29, 2011
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New England
I know that many of you have mega tanks - but the question is, do any of you keep them clean WITHOUT sumps, drip systems, canisters, or overflow/bulkheads? If so, what do you run?

I do not like any of the above - they are messy, too much work, and are not a good match for me. I have various filters (HOB's) and various water pumps to toy around with.

I typically do a 75% water change in ALL of my tanks once or twice a week, but obviously that won't happen with this tank - so what would be a good routine? I will ATTEMPT to keep it lightly stocked. (LOL)
 
Sumps are like the easiest. Setups and canisters if u wont jus change the pads every now and then and do a water change how do i exspect to keep up a aquarium that large. U gonna have to change water and pads.
 
I would say run a wet/dry with micron pads on it wash them once a week when u change the water easy clean and fast
 
Obviously I will be doing water changes - that is why I asked what a good routine would be. 25% ? 50% ? How often?

Again, I do not like sumps, or canisters. I'm asking if any of you have big tanks WITHOUT these "usual" methods of filtration.

Thanks for the wet-dry suggestion - I like that. How would I go about building one? a 5 gallon bucket on top of the tank with a pond pump feeding it???
 
For above tank that would take 2 pumps. One pumping up into it one pumping out but with all thay access space being takin up and crazy look of it. Honestly ik u dnt want canisters or sump but that is the best wau to go on a tank that size if u wanna keep the maintenance down jus make a small sump using a 25 micron filter sock and u can change it every other week and jus do a water change.i do 80% every Wednesday but im sure 50% would do fine.
 
Only testing for n03 can determine your bio load and wc schedule! Prlly 40-50%/week if mildly stocked.

You can run a few big sponge filters, and a couple ac110s with a big circulator fan, that should work if you stack the ac110 with polishing and bio.



Go S. Vettel #1 rb8
 
First off, congrats on the new pick up...there is nothing like your first really big tank. Secondly, If it were me with your stock I would start with maybe 4 aquaclear 110s and the same amount of big sponge filters as well as a few strong powerheads(on the sponge filters). I know it sounds crazy but filtering these big tanks is a whole nother ball game. It is much harder to get enough flow to pick up the waste on the bottom than it is with smaller tanks.

Another reason why people use sumps on big tanks is because it costs too much electricity-wise to run multiple hobs or canisters as opposed to one pump for a sump. I know it wasn't what you asked for but it might help if you plan on looking for other options in the future. I used to use hobs/canisters/individual sumps on all my tanks for a long time but I recently started getting tired of cleaning cleaning all those filters and began to look for other options. Now I use 1 5800 gph hammerhead gold pump to run 2 300 and 2 120 gallon set ups. It is a closed loop system with a 150 gallon central sump(stock tank) filled with lava rocks/ceramic rings and 2 50 gallon drum homemade sand filters. I've been experimenting with different setups for a while now and this is by far the cheapest to run and does the best job. It did take a bit of work to put together and I did have some epic fails but I don't regret it. As far as maintence, all I have to do is stir up the lava rocks, back flow the sand filter and top off the water. I have a drip system as well so water changes aren't really an issue. I don't even have to get my hands wet when I perform tank maintence which is a nice plus. No washing filter pads or anything like that. It takes me about 15 minutes a week to maintain 1100 gallons of water(and some big fish) and I don't even get my hands wet haha. I know that is more than you were bargaining for but I just thought I'd throw it out there for another perspective.

Good luck however you decide to proceed and let us know how it works for you.
 
bassfisher91 said:
First off, congrats on the new pick up...there is nothing like your first really big tank. Secondly, If it were me with your stock I would start with maybe 4 aquaclear 110s and the same amount of big sponge filters as well as a few strong powerheads(on the sponge filters). I know it sounds crazy but filtering these big tanks is a whole nother ball game. It is much harder to get enough flow to pick up the waste on the bottom than it is with smaller tanks.

Another reason why people use sumps on big tanks is because it costs too much electricity-wise to run multiple hobs or canisters as opposed to one pump for a sump. I know it wasn't what you asked for but it might help if you plan on looking for other options in the future. I used to use hobs/canisters/individual sumps on all my tanks for a long time but I recently started getting tired of cleaning cleaning all those filters and began to look for other options. Now I use 1 5800 gph hammerhead gold pump to run 2 300 and 2 120 gallon set ups. It is a closed loop system with a 150 gallon central sump(stock tank) filled with lava rocks/ceramic rings and 2 50 gallon drum homemade sand filters. I've been experimenting with different setups for a while now and this is by far the cheapest to run and does the best job. It did take a bit of work to put together and I did have some epic fails but I don't regret it. As far as maintence, all I have to do is stir up the lava rocks, back flow the sand filter and top off the water. I have a drip system as well so water changes aren't really an issue. I don't even have to get my hands wet when I perform tank maintence which is a nice plus. No washing filter pads or anything like that. It takes me about 15 minutes a week to maintain 1100 gallons of water(and some big fish) and I don't even get my hands wet haha. I know that is more than you were bargaining for but I just thought I'd throw it out there for another perspective.

Good luck however you decide to proceed and let us know how it works for you.
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+1 well said!
 
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