New Tropical Tank With Sump Good/Bad Idea Why?

[ozzyboo]

Having had to give up my angling due to some medical problems with my back and knees, I have some cash to put into a new tank. At least one hobby I can continue with, but I need to make this tank as maintenance friendly as possible due to above mentioned medical problems.
Right on to the new tank it is going to be 72x24x24 or 84x24x24, I already have a juwel Rio 400. This new tank is going to be in the front room as a centre piece so I want it to look as good as it can, not to many pipes in the visible viewing area. I also have a problem lifting the 2 eheim 2028 filters that are running on the Rio 400 when they need cleaning as they weigh a fair bit with media and water, considering the above I am thinking of trying to use a sump. Has anybody used a sump on a tropical tank are there any pros or cons to the sump over the external filter. Some of the questions I have may be better asked in the marine sump section but if anybody has any experience of using a sump with tropical tank I would like to hear from you with any advice or do’s and don’ts. I am hoping to order my tank in the next 2-3 weeks and if it needs drilling for use with a sump is one of things I need to sort out before order.
Thanks in advance Joe

 

[Egon]

Welcome to MFK! You came to the right place, we can help you.

Yes, sumps are common for "tropical" tanks, fresh water. I think for your situation a sump will be ideal. Also sumps are easily adaptable for a trickle water change system. No more water changes ever!

Good luck

My advice: Go with the largest tank you can get. That 8X2X2 sounds good. Go with Acrylic if you haven’t made a choice yet and don’t care either way. Have it built/drilled for an overflow with a sump system. It should come with an over flow and sump. Then I would set up the trickle system. Do a search on here or look at my 450 thread and that explains the whole concept.

If your having the tank built and you want a trickle system you may need to ask them to add an extra hole in your tank and sump. Or you can do this yourself when you receive the tank, it’s easy. I can explain this in detail if needed. You may not want, or it’s just not possible, to plumb a water/drain line to the tanks location in your house so the trickle system might not be possible for you? You have some stuff to think about and research to do to see what’s best for your situation.

 

[ozzyboo]

Thanks for the reply,sumps on tropicals dont seem to be very popular in the UK.I have been on some of the UK forums and had very little response.
Was thinking of going with the bigger size just need to convince the wife it is a good idea, I think it is going to have to be made of glass as the cost of an acrylic tank in the UK is almost silly money,to get it made from glass with cabinate and hood with all the drilling and sump is going to be around £1100.
The idea of no water changes was the sort of thing I am hoping to include and auto top ups as I really need this to be as maintanace friendly as possible,as quite as possible,ideally it also has to be as flood proof as possible,the holes all need to be in the base and all the pipe work needs to be within the cabinate as i has to be flush with the wall,although it would not be a problem with a drain and mains feed coming through the side. So yeah there is a fair bit to think about and research before ordering the tank hopefully within the next 2-3 weeks.

 

[Egon]

Bigger is better for a few reasons, most of them obvious. The big thing for me (lazy) is the larger the water volume the slower things can happen. For example I had a heater fail in the on position in my 450 with two 55 gallon sumps, 500+ gallons of water. I have 4 small heaters in the tank and I noticed the temps were up by 4 to 5 degrees. That little heater could not over temp the water to be dangerous to the fish. So you get a little break with a large water volume. Of course you get a much larger choice of fish and so on. My advice: get the largest sump you can fit under your tank just for the added water volume. I would use two of the same kind of pumps on your sump for redundancy and I would get one more as a back up for a quick swap out when one of the pumps fails. When one of your pumps goes out (it will for whatever reason) the fish and the beneficial bacteria will be fine for a while until you notice a problem the next time your feeding or sitting there with a beer. This hobby is a blast if you eliminate or minimize the potential for catastrophic failures and keep the maintenance down. Buckets and hoses are old school, just gravel vac every once in a while and change out a filter sock, open a beer and relax. J