I've set up many tanks in the past, but none as large as the 55 I'm planning now. I just started reading on sump type filters and wanted some input on this. Is there a big benefit to using a sump over two hang on the back filters? I'm planning on a freshwater set up with a viper shrimp as the main focus.
Planning a 55
- Thread starter Crunchy
- Start date
Sumps are good to increase water volume, which will help keep water chemistry stable. They're also used to hide heaters/pumps/etc so the main tank doesn't look cluttered. But with a 55, HOB/cannister filters would be easier.
Even on a 55, if you can do a sump, do it. Good luck, let us know what you decide and of course, post pics!!!!
I was looking at HOBs today, and it seems that even with two of them rated for a 75 gallon tank, they would be hard pressed to keep up with a desirable turn over rate. From an equation I found in these forums, it appears a 55 tank with the dimensions of 48 by 12.5 by 21 would need around 530 gph. Please correct me if I'm wrong about my calculations. Most of the HOBs I found barley push it at 300 gph. I understand running one at each end of the tank would be ideal in this situation but I really feel myself leaning toward a sump because of all the wires I would have hanging around from such a set up. At least with a sump, I would be able to also hide the heater. But the big question is how much power would I need to get the water from the sump back into the tank at around 500 gph? Or is this over kill?
To get the flow your looking for I'de lean towards solid HOB/canister and utilize some koralines. Over filtering is never a bad idea. But to do it simply for the sake of water flow may lead to some issues down the road. If you wanna go with the overfilter idea.. I'de def invest in a pre-drilled tank and an overflow/sump set-up. If you don't have a pre-drilled tank w/ overflows I'de really hesistae to get a box. I"ve heard/seen some horror stories with them being not 100% reliable.
The nice thing about the koralines is once the shrimp finds a "spot" to chill and filter feed. It's 99% likely it'll be infornt of a koraline. So you can simply pippette food into the flow for it. Very easy spot-feeding tech I've used with bamboo shrimp at work in the past. very little food goes to waste. and if you direct the flow and set-up a nice spot for it to sit.. You can more or less train it to sit in one spot so it's readily visible more often then not.
The nice thing about the koralines is once the shrimp finds a "spot" to chill and filter feed. It's 99% likely it'll be infornt of a koraline. So you can simply pippette food into the flow for it. Very easy spot-feeding tech I've used with bamboo shrimp at work in the past. very little food goes to waste. and if you direct the flow and set-up a nice spot for it to sit.. You can more or less train it to sit in one spot so it's readily visible more often then not.
Okay, I'm having a problem, what exactly is a Koraline? I put it into a search and came up with too many conflicting answers.