sump or canister

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Fire Eel
MFK Member
Mar 2, 2008
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Thailand
I’m doing a build (or pricing it) and my tank will be 243gal or 924 liters.
I know I can get The Elhiem big boy or the FX5 as canisters for a tank of this size.
They’re not easy to come by here but there are lots of other brands, mainly from China (O.K you’re hearing warning bells going off now.)
To my none expert eye the best one is about 160$ U.S and can handle 1800ltr tanks.
I think it was a Jebo, but they all look the same.


Now sumps, obviously locally made, hard plumbed in and, yes you guessed it Chinese return pumps.
I’ve been told different stories of both being better than the other.
Canisters are quieter and less smelly; sumps are more reliable and easier to clean.
No need to drill the tank with a canister.
While pricing up the canister motioned above and a sump came to about the same price, I just can’t make my mind up.
Personally a canister would seem better because I have little ones which cant be watched all the time, the base of my tank stand (for a while) is open and made of box steel.
So can I have input from both sides (and even all angles)!
 
on a tank that size i would do a sump and a canister...thats what i would do for any tank over 150 gallons. eheim has the better bio filtration but fluval better mechanical
 
would you be kind enough to tell me why?
I'm also thinking about other canisters than eheim and fluval, i'm in asia and almost everything is Chinese.
 
Further more to the answer above, if you'd do a sump and a canister(i'd still like to konw exactly why.) would it not be better to do 2 canister that have a combined capacity of 3600ltr filterage for the 924ltrs of water, presuming you mean more is better?
 
Sumps have better gas exchange capacity, as well as increase overall tank volume. Canisters have the ability to run quiet and don't take up allot of space. Both have benefits / drawbacks. If you run both, the canister is an excellent mech filter and the sump is an excellent bio.
 
well the good news is most of the stuff made in china that stays in china (or area) is normally pretty good but the stuff they make for over seas is pretty crap...
 
Mattyou;1824892; said:
Sumps have better gas exchange capacity, as well as increase overall tank volume. Canisters have the ability to run quiet and don't take up allot of space. Both have benefits / drawbacks. If you run both, the canister is an excellent mech filter and the sump is an excellent bio.
Click to expand...

thats pretty much why, unless you have a micron back in the sump. my 135 is running on two canisters but if i went bigger i would do a sump and canister.
 
if I were to run the Big canister the sump wouldn't need to be too big right?
About 20gal or bigger?
 
I would shoot for 30+ gal on the sump simply because when power is out alot of tank water is going to drain into the sump until it equalizes. As long as the sump you use wont overflow, the size IMO is not all that critical. Alot of people think 1/4 tank volume, but I feel, as long as my floor is dry, it is big enough.
 
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