I am in the planning phase of setting up my 125g. This is the biggest tank i have owned so far so I am in uncharted territory. I am currently running an Eheim 2236 on my 75g and 46g Euro as well as a 2232 on my 40g. I am leaning heavy towards a Cichlid's for the 125. Not having any experience with a sump what is better staying with what I know or will a sump give my fish a better home?
Sump or Canister for my 125g?
- Thread starter rhite
- Start date
Personally I like anything over a 75g to have a sump.. gives you better volume of water to work with.. and a larger more cleaner setup
No canister can come anywhere close to a sump when it comes to aerating the water. Both sumps and canisters will give plenty of bio filtration. Depending on design and configuration both will have mechanical filtration capabilities. But a sump configured as a wet/dry with bioballs will supply oxygen to the nitrifying bacteria where it is consumed by the bacteria and then add plenty more O2 for the fish inhabitants. Canisters will not add any O2 and the bacteria will consume O2 from the water competing with the fish. This is the major advantage to a sump.
When well designed sumps can also be very easy to maintain. Easy to clean = cleaning more often. If you remove the waste before it is broken down to nitrates you will have much less nitrates to deal with... and have to flush them from the tank with water changes much less often. So when you design your sump (you are a real fish keeper with a 125g now) make sure the mechanical filtration is easy to get to, remove, clean and replace. Either filter pads or filters socks should give you sufficient mechanical filtration. Socks can be washed in a washing machine, filter pads are usually disposed of and replaced.
All in all it takes me about 5 minutes to replace the filter pad in my commercial built wet/dry sump. When I build my DIY sump I am going to try filter socks. It takes me atleast 20 minutes to disconnect my Eheim Pro III. lug it to the kitchen sink, dismantle it, replace the fine mechanical media, rinse the coarse mechanical media, refill with water so I don't have to reprime, lug it back to the tank and reconnect. For my sump I don't even have to turn off the filter to replace the filter media.... which would you do more often?
When well designed sumps can also be very easy to maintain. Easy to clean = cleaning more often. If you remove the waste before it is broken down to nitrates you will have much less nitrates to deal with... and have to flush them from the tank with water changes much less often. So when you design your sump (you are a real fish keeper with a 125g now) make sure the mechanical filtration is easy to get to, remove, clean and replace. Either filter pads or filters socks should give you sufficient mechanical filtration. Socks can be washed in a washing machine, filter pads are usually disposed of and replaced.
All in all it takes me about 5 minutes to replace the filter pad in my commercial built wet/dry sump. When I build my DIY sump I am going to try filter socks. It takes me atleast 20 minutes to disconnect my Eheim Pro III. lug it to the kitchen sink, dismantle it, replace the fine mechanical media, rinse the coarse mechanical media, refill with water so I don't have to reprime, lug it back to the tank and reconnect. For my sump I don't even have to turn off the filter to replace the filter media.... which would you do more often?
Did the tank come with any filtration since that should be a major deciding factor in your decision. When I purchased my 110 off of CL last year I was planning on using a sump, but the tank came with enough canister filtration that I was able to put off that change and didn't need to drill the tank. If either option is the same amount of work then I would go with a sump but if a canister or AC110 is easier than go with that option.
125? Just get an FX5 and call it a day if you don't have the sump already... Unless you want to learn how to do a sump setup.
Agreed! I say run both! I have a sump and 2 FX5s on my 210g and my water is CRYSTAL CLEAR
Thank you to all. I don't have a sump now but I would like to learn about them. I like the using both ideas. I have read you can never have to much filtration on MFK before. My only concern is having to drill my tank. Is there a sump that I don't have to drill the back of my tank?
