FW Sump Questions

[Abhi090585]

Hi Guys,

I was about to setup my first monster tank. The dimensions are 78X20X30 inches. Roughly comes to about 202 gallons. I plan to stock it with an Asian arowana, couple of kelberi bass and a dwarf snakehead.

I am confused between going for Fluval FX6 versus building a sump. I'm assuming sump will be better owing to more water volume and more bio media. Do you guys agree?

Now here's the problem. If I go with a sump, I have space to accommodate only a 25 gallon sump (27X18X12 inches).

Is that good enough? Will it be able to handle the bioload my fish produce?

I will be putting in all juvies to begin with, but I want to start off big and ensure I am able to provide and environment that's sufficient for life.

Thoughts?

 

[joe jaskot]

IMO, a 25 gallon sump is too small for a 200 gallon tank. Not much room in case of a power outage. I would go the canister filter route or a few large HOB power filters.

 

[Abhi090585]

J joe jaskot That's what I thought too. I read its usually recommended to have atleast 20-25% water volume as the sump. Unfortunately though, I just don't have room for a bigger sump.

I usually don't have power outages, since I have an backup inverter running 24*7 for all my tanks. I could also install 2 pumps instead of one, one to input and one for output, so that in case of an outage, there would be no leaks. What do you think? It will also save me the trouble of drilling the tank and buying/making an overflow box. Drilling a tank absolutely freaks me out.

Would a 25 gallon be able to hold adequate biomedia? I plan to use either Seachem matrix or Sera Siporax

 

[joe jaskot]

You don't want two pumps. If one stops working you are screwed. As to your other question, a 25 gallon tank would hold enough biomedia.

 

[Abhi090585]

J joe jaskot Okay, good to know.

If I can't use two pumps, Is there a way I can play around with the plumping to sort of setup a 'trip' in case there is a power outage?

 

[duanes]

Sumps do not need to be placed directly under tanks, cramped into a cabinet, although they need to be placed low enough to use gravity, they can be placed off to the side,, behind a wall in another room, even in a basement below.
I prefer to put my sumps off to the side, as it offers easier access to do maintanence.


Beside being out from under cramped quarters, the open top offers creative options to additions to a sumps, like the fractionating bio-tower in the photo above, that would have been nearly impossible crammed under a tank, in a restricted space.

 

[TexasMFK31]

J joe jaskot Okay, good to know.

If I can't use two pumps, Is there a way I can play around with the plumping to sort of setup a 'trip' in case there is a power outage?

The idea is your sump is large enough to cover the overflow of your tank. Give your tank dimensions, say your overflow is 2" from the surface. In the event of a power outage you'd have 78"x20"x2" of water coming into your sump from draining, or 13-14G. So, if you run your sump at the 50% mark to have submerged media and heaters you would need at LEAST a 30G container for a sump. I am curious how you only have such a small space when your tank footprint is so massive. A 55G IMO would be perfect running at 50% if you had an overflow that only drained 2" of water in the event of a power outage.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Bigger the sump the better. Is the tank already drilled and plumbed for overflows? I wouldnt bother with setting up a sump if thats all the room you have to work with.

If youre a handy type, i would build a new stand to accomodate the biggest sump you can--75 gallons should be a good size. This doesnt come without expenses but if you shop around you can buy all the materials for a stand and a used 75 gallon for the same price as a new fx6.

Or as duanes mentioned placing a sump off to the side can work depending on how your tank is set up.

 

[Abhi090585]

duanes Backfromthedead - I have a huge cabinet placed in my fish room that will house my 6.5ft tank. Now I have equal space below that, however, 4ft of the space accomodates my 55g black nasty grow-out tank with its Ehiem filter. That's why the only space I'm left with is a 29X20X24 inch space. That's where I wanted to fit my sump.

Sure, I have more space in the room. But I want to use that space for a 125g tank that will house the black nasty when he's bigger, along with a 150g Asian Arowana tank & a smaller tank that will house some Tanganyika Shell Dwellers.

I stay in an apartment, so I don't have a basement. I have a huge garden, but I obviously can't break down cement-concrete walls and build my sump in the garden.

You see my challenge?

I'm leaning towards getting a FX6 and a Sunsun HW 304 and cramming them in the space instead of a sump.

 

[soupa2]

A Abhi090585 why not take out that grow out tank underneath that 202 gal and use that whole entire space for sump/grow out tank?? Now with that space you can’t fit a 75 gal (48x18x20h) utilize this as both things. I sometimes through my fish underneath my sump to treat them or heck even for growing them out till it’s big enough for the show tank.