Canister vs sump for large cichlid tank

[mudbuttjones]

When talking canisters v sumps don't forget the time investment aspect. With a canister you do a little bit of research on which is best or best for your needs, you buy it and you put it together. With a sump you need to learn to make a complex canister filter basically in addition to all of those steps. There's a lot more time invested to do a proper sump from R&D to implementation to maintaining. To some this is the enjoyable part of the hobby while others may see it as a tremendous drain on their personal time. Something else to take into consideration when weighing the two.

Thats a great point. It can be as complex or simple as you want it to be. My 90g/40b african cichlid tank was massively over engineered. The next project is a 125/75g Oscar tank.. I'm going to keep it simple.

Realistically you can just use tubing instead of hardplumbing if your ok with lower flow rates. Get some filter socks, get some bags of media, forget the lid on the sump. Forget the baffles. Call it a day

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[ragin_cajun]

That's true. When I say "I built a sump", I built a very simple sump. Just like you describe -- filter socks, matrix in bags, no lid, and no baffles. And it STILL took me alot of time to plan the flow rate/pumps/drain size. And I spent days cutting and gluing PVC. But now that it's built, I spend less time on a 540 Gallon with a sump than I do on my 125 with canisters. I don't even do water changes anymore. The fish are big so I feed less often. I don't move the fish because there's no place to move them to. I just sit and watch, change filter socks once a month maybe. Change chloramine cartridges every 3 months. Sometimes I move the powerhead in the sump?

 

[Jc1119]

My vote is sump all day long. Hate canister maintenance even on the easiest to maintain cans. Sump maintenance on our 4 large sump systems takes about 2 minutes a week to change socks. Occasionally I shake the bio bags and that's it. My wife will even pull them, but wouldn't think of doing canister maintenance

I also travel for a living. We've plumbed our sumps to be silent, floodproof and our drip system keeps evaporation a non issue. Even on our one non drip tank weekly water changes are all that's needed to address evaporation...... But I don't run wet drys which are more susceptible to varying water levels.

Our 300, the quietest tank we operate moves around 2400gph through dual Herbie drains and you can't tell its on. Our studio 135 plumbed Beananimal style and is nearly as quiet. I track vocals and music in there so silence is a must.

Takes more planning to address the noise issues initially but it's nice seeing a display with nothing cluttering the viewing window. No hardware, heaters, nothing.....


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[TRENT]

My vote is a sump too. I run a 120 gallon sump on a 300 gallon tank. Fill with bio media and done. They are quiet and a good place to put heaters and all the extras, even a naughty fish or two.

 

[HarleyK]

Whatever you do. Don't get the professional 3.
The 2262 is a 2260 with a 1262 pump installed.


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