Sump or Canister for my 125g?
- Thread starter rhite
- Start date
I have a couple of cans I run with the sump. I like the cans as backup... but the sump is a better filter!
I also recommend running both!
I only have a canister filter and an AC110 and my water is CRYSTAL CLEAR TOO, if I removed the HOB, I would still have crystal clear water. Crystal Clear water can be had by any filter so that in and of itself has little or nothing to do with having a sump. I think there may be some benefit to using a sump such as increased oxygen for bacteria and keeping items out of the display tank though it's not much of an issue really. The amount of biological in a simple HOB filter is more than enough to keep the ammonia and nitrites 0. Much of the sump hype we hear is just that hype and personal preference. The pumps used in a sump are more expensive in terms of watts too. Sumps are for people who like to tinker with things and don't mine expensive utility bills. I may build one someday just to see what all the fuss is about. I've read others who switched back to canisters from using a sump and said it wasn't worth it. Personally I think the simplicity of the HOB filter is where it's at, simple is always better.
I actually agee with this . acouple of used LARGE hobs and acouple of LARGE sponge filters will handle a125 .and keep it CRYSTAL CLEAR.alot cheaper and easier on the electric bill
How can you really give an opinion downplaying how good a sump is if you've never had one? I will say that you can have clear water with any type of filter as long as you take care of your aquarium. A sump is easy to clean and silent if setup right. My 180 gallon aquarium has a 40 gallon sump that adds about 30 gallons of water to the system making it a little more stable. Sumps may not make sense on every size of tank, but they do have their advantages. I currently use sumps, canisters, and hob filters. I'm getting rid of the Aquaclear 110s I'm using, because they're too noisy. I think maybe people that don't like sumps aren't very mechanically inclined, so they don't know how to set on up right.
I currently have an FX5 on my 150, but have also tinkered with the idea of a sump. Since I have never had one I can’t give an opinion on the sump but the FX5 is doing the job well on the 150.
For what it is worth...my 2 cents.
The biggest advantage to a sump is that it will increase your water volume. With that in mind, and you going with Africans you can now over load the tank ( best way to keep an African tank ) but....the best thing for any tank is, and will always be a good water change of 20% a week. So with that in mind what ever you choose is up to you.
I have a 300 gallon with 2 FX5 canister filters, and I use the over flows as small sumps before the water makes its way into the filters. I do a 55 gallon water change every week and break down the canister filters once a month. overall time to maintain this tank is about 2 hours a month give or take.
Best of luck to whatever you go with.
The biggest advantage to a sump is that it will increase your water volume. With that in mind, and you going with Africans you can now over load the tank ( best way to keep an African tank ) but....the best thing for any tank is, and will always be a good water change of 20% a week. So with that in mind what ever you choose is up to you.
I have a 300 gallon with 2 FX5 canister filters, and I use the over flows as small sumps before the water makes its way into the filters. I do a 55 gallon water change every week and break down the canister filters once a month. overall time to maintain this tank is about 2 hours a month give or take.
Best of luck to whatever you go with.
I guess I'm a tinkerer and like expensive utility bills
Seriously, I run all 3 setups. My 300 has a 75 gallon sump, my 135 has several canisters and my 60 has 2 hobs. The main reason I went with canisters on the 135 was 1)tank wasn't drilled and 2) I had a bunch of canisters looking for homes after I built the sump for my 300 lol.
I look at it from an entirely different perspective though. Any of the the above filtration styles will work. Some are cheaper, some move more water, but like you said all will effectively "filter' your tank. But once it's setup, it's the maintenance and aesthetic parts of the equation that's most important to me. A clean tank is a healthy tank IMO and the easier it is to maintain, or clean, the healthier your fish will be.
I use xp3's on my mbuna(135) setup. They are by far the easiest canisters I've ever maintained, but it still takes about 20 minutes or so to pull one, move it to the tub, rinse the pads, fill and reinstall. I run 4, so each month that means about 40 minutes of maintenance, as I clean 2 every other month (mbuna are poop factories)
On my 300 with the sump, I run a pair of 7" socks that seriously can be changed in less than 2 minutes for the pair. I change socks at every water change which means 8 minutes of mechanical filtration maintenance a month. For almost 3 times the water volume......and one more important thing to consider if your ocd like I am........the sump setup has no mechanical parts visible at all. A completely clean setup in more ways than one.......
But ultimately my emperor 400's on the 60 are almost as easy to clean as the sump. Takes about 2 or 3 minutes to rinse the pads and I'm good to go. Can't hide the intake tube though, which personally drives me nuts. Even on the mbuna setup with 4 renas, I've found a way to practically hide all in take and outputs so it's pretty clean. Every time I look at my 60 i see the 2 intakes and it just doesn't look natural to me......
So, if I had to do it all over again, I'd always do a sump. Larger area for bio and mech, larger water volume, more room to hide heaters, airstones, etc , and is by far the easiest and quickest to maintain. And with a 50 micron sock, water quality it's by far the clearest.... housing the largest fish.
Over the past 30 years of my fish keeping, this is always a debate in any forum and any pet store you go to really. The bottom line is personal preference to be honest because all of them will do the job that is required of them and that is to clean your water and keep it safe for your fish. There is benefits to both and you can go on all day about this debate, however it all comes down to which "YOU" prefer at the end of the day. My 220 runs a Sump, CFS700 Canister (monster by the way lol) and AC110 at the same time and I never have a problem. I do believe that we all use more bio than is needed in the tank unless you are going to really heavy heavy overstock your tank. Bottom line is go with what you can afford and you will be happy, the hardest decision should be made as far as what name brand you should go with and that is a whole nother can of worms lol. Good luck and please post some pics up when you do get it going.
I would like to learn about setting up a sump, but truthfully they scare the crap out of me.
The thought of the pump going out and the tank emptying is very scary.One power outage and I am screwed.
I dont know enough about plumbing/design to keep that from happening.
The thought of the pump going out and the tank emptying is very scary.One power outage and I am screwed.
I dont know enough about plumbing/design to keep that from happening.
