I am partially new to the hobbie of fish keeping (1.5 years into it.) I keep seeing people talking about sump filters and I have looked into them. Why would you have a sump/wet dry filter instead of a power filter like a whisper hang on tank one? I just dont see the advantage of buying a $200+ peice of plexi glass that costs $20 to make. I havent had any problems with my hang on tank filters so why should I get one?
difference between sump and mech filter?
- Thread starter graham
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graham said:
that all depends on tank size
wet-dry are great for larger tanks, which powerfilters just dont have the horse power to pump all that water.
and wet-drys hold more media more bio, mechanical and chemical filteration media.
I'm not familiar with the Whisper Hang on filter, but to answer the original question - a mechanical filter basically 'strains' the water and removes most suspended solids and particles. A biological filter uses bacteria to feed on the nasty chemicals in the water that result from fish waste. You need both kinds in a healthy aquarium as they do totally different jobs. A canister, depending on the media it contains, does both mechanical and biological also.
A wet/dry sump filter needs some form a mechanical filtration before the water gets to the wet/dry biological part. Usually a filter pad or foam of some kind before the biological part is sufficient mechanical filtration for a sump
Sumps have the advantage that they can hold a LOT more media, they can have a wet/dry trickle area which is a very efficient form of biological filtration, a sump is also very flexible in that you can house heaters in them, put your water additives into the sump to avoid dumping concentrated chemicals into the main tank, I can change media around in my sump and I dont even need to turn the pump off!
A wet/dry sump filter needs some form a mechanical filtration before the water gets to the wet/dry biological part. Usually a filter pad or foam of some kind before the biological part is sufficient mechanical filtration for a sump
Sumps have the advantage that they can hold a LOT more media, they can have a wet/dry trickle area which is a very efficient form of biological filtration, a sump is also very flexible in that you can house heaters in them, put your water additives into the sump to avoid dumping concentrated chemicals into the main tank, I can change media around in my sump and I dont even need to turn the pump off!
a sump holds more water meaning more fish and the extra bio support also means a bigger fish load but of course if your tank is under 100g a good hob a canistor will do the job well..
fishnutham said:
adding to what he said
it also adds more water volume
creating a more stable water parameter
why do they cost so much though. i saw one on ebay and it looked home biult but it was going for over $200! what is with that? no pump, so why the cost?
graham said:
because most sumps/wet-drys are made from high quality acrylic
but also they take alittle more skill to put together than a regular acrylic tank
different media chamber must be made and installed
graham said:
oh and that wet-dry your talking about is probably some ******* trying to make a quick buck by overpricing a peice of crap like that
i got my wet-dry ( for my 40 gal) for 125 bucks at marinedepot.com
and its up to tanks for 120 gallons
its a very nice peice of equipment
personally i dont like making my own wet-drys
id rather buy one, (quality is what you pay for
)