Plywood aquarium filtration

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The tank will be 48×48x maybe 36 i havent decided on height yet because of kids and top accessibility. That estimates to about 360 gallons so I rounded up too 400 which is never bad. It is also going to have substrate and alot of rocks for caves and plants. So 360 gal. just decreased by 10 gallons just with substrate alone...but anyways back on track.
So an open sump is pretty much the lack of baffles/chambers correct?

Sorry about that, me and Amazon got confused with all the different pump sizes and numbers and not to mention 150 web pages lol..

Why is carbon not necessary?

I think the reason most diy canister filters leak is because they have the pump before the can. therefore pressurizing it and causing chaos not to mention straining the pump, if the pump is after said can. it should create vacuum inside the can. and shouldn't ever leak water, only air if it did leak.
And yes even though cost isn't necessarily an issue I see no reason to buy 3-4 fx6 at $336 a piece without plumbing when I could damn near build another aquarium and filter it for the same price.

Is the jebao/jecod a good brand? Alot of mixed reviews everywhere about them
 
With a 400 id take a serious look at a bead filter like an ultima. Higher up front cost but will be very valuable with big or heavy stock.
 
J village hobo said:
The tank will be 48×48x maybe 36 i havent decided on height yet because of kids and top accessibility. That estimates to about 360 gallons so I rounded up too 400 which is never bad. It is also going to have substrate and alot of rocks for caves and plants. So 360 gal. just decreased by 10 gallons just with substrate alone...but anyways back on track.
So an open sump is pretty much the lack of baffles/chambers correct?

Sorry about that, me and Amazon got confused with all the different pump sizes and numbers and not to mention 150 web pages lol..

Why is carbon not necessary?

I think the reason most diy canister filters leak is because they have the pump before the can. therefore pressurizing it and causing chaos not to mention straining the pump, if the pump is after said can. it should create vacuum inside the can. and shouldn't ever leak water, only air if it did leak.
And yes even though cost isn't necessarily an issue I see no reason to buy 3-4 fx6 at $336 a piece without plumbing when I could damn near build another aquarium and filter it for the same price.

Is the jebao/jecod a good brand? Alot of mixed reviews everywhere about them
Click to expand...

Yes, open sump has no baffles. An open sump will definitely be your cheapest option for filtration. The ultima will probably be a bit more expensive, but their backwashing feature makes maintenance and water changes a breeze.

As far as the 50 gallon difference, it is a minimal difference that doesn’t have much effect on the setup I mentioned earlier.
 
I have run several tanks for many years with nothing more than a couple of sponge filters. 6x turnover might be a good rule of thumb for some people but it is far from required to have a healthy aquarium.

Unless you have an extremely over stocked aquarium your substrate and decorations will most likely provide all the surface area needed for bacterial colinization and proper bio filtration. Bagging some bio media and putting it in a sump will assure you plenty of bio filtration.

There are several facets to proper water filtration. Bio filtration, mechanical filtration, cleaning your mechanical filtration frequently, water oxygenation / off-gassing, doing regular water changes, vacuuming the substrate... etc. To say that 6x turnover is required for a healthy tank is short sighted. I would rather have a tank with 3x turn over that has its filters cleaned frequently, a wet dry stage for oxygenation/off-gassing and water changed regularly than a tank with 6x turn over that is neglected.
 
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Oughtsix said:
I have run several tanks for many years with nothing more than a couple of sponge filters. 6x turnover might be a good rule of thumb for some people but it is far from required to have a healthy aquarium.

Unless you have an extremely over stocked aquarium your substrate and decorations will most likely provide all the surface area needed for bacterial colinization and proper bio filtration. Bagging some bio media and putting it in a sump will assure you plenty of bio filtration.

There are several facets to proper water filtration. Bio filtration, mechanical filtration, cleaning your mechanical filtration frequently, water oxygenation / off-gassing, doing regular water changes, vacuuming the substrate... etc. To say that 6x turnover is required for a healthy tank is short sighted. I would rather have a tank with 3x turn over that has its filters cleaned frequently, a wet dry stage for oxygenation/off-gassing and water changed regularly than a tank with 6x turn over that is neglected.
Click to expand...

Were any of them near 400 gallons?
 
And i greatly appreciate your help Travis. The filtration systems seem more overwhelming than they actually are when you realize you don't need 10 baffles of different kind of BS..

So my plan is.
4'x4'x3' with 2x 55 gallon tanks for open sumps with a jebao/jecod DCT12000 pump in each one..
Then I'll transfer my cichlids from my 75 gallon to the 400 gallon and transfer my S.A. puffers from their 55 to the 75 and build either a sump or a diy canister filter for them along with a HOB filter because they're messy eater and need some extra current and filtration.
 
I did some rough figuring and 2 dct1200's would run about 85w total with each pump at 50% to meet the 6x turnover rate
The 2 dcp1500's would run at around 84w total with each pump at 40% to meet the 6x turnover rate...
So is one better than the other or is one quieter than the other? Or are they similar and I should just get whichever one has the best deal?
 
The DCP pumps are the newest model. They are far more adjustable than the DCT and are supposedly quieter, though I’ve never had a DCT to compare. I love my DCP pumps and they are completely silent. My LFS has also switched over to DCP pumps after I brought them to their attention.

As for the two 55’s, you will have to somehow plumb them together or else the flow into one will be slightly faster and you will end up overflowing it. There’s absolutely no way around plumbing them together. They will need to each be drilled in the side and have a bulkhead installed so you can install a pipe between them.
 
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