So the time has come. All the design plans ( and finances--yikes!!) for my new tank are in place. Tank will be 300 gallon acrylic with dual overflows running 1 1/2" drains into socks in a 75 gallon sump. Pump will be reeflo super dart. Sand substrate with 2 koralias moving water at the bottom of the tank.
Originally I though about adding an fx5 for more mech and a little insurance, but now I'm asking myself if I even need to worry about it at all. Being that I'll use sand, the intake would need to be pretty high. Tank will have no plumbing behind it at all.. returns will run back up through the overflows and it will run flush against the wall, so if I dont plan for a canister now, I'll need to cut additional holes later.
I guess the only downside to running one pump is there is no backup, but the price of a second backup pump is only about $80 more than the fx5, so I could just get 2 pumps and always have an extra for security.
I think the look of the tank will he better without any plumbing being visible and I like the idea of one thing to turn on and off, but I've never run a 1 pump( filter) system.
Should I just skip the canister altogether?
Originally I though about adding an fx5 for more mech and a little insurance, but now I'm asking myself if I even need to worry about it at all. Being that I'll use sand, the intake would need to be pretty high. Tank will have no plumbing behind it at all.. returns will run back up through the overflows and it will run flush against the wall, so if I dont plan for a canister now, I'll need to cut additional holes later.
I guess the only downside to running one pump is there is no backup, but the price of a second backup pump is only about $80 more than the fx5, so I could just get 2 pumps and always have an extra for security.
I think the look of the tank will he better without any plumbing being visible and I like the idea of one thing to turn on and off, but I've never run a 1 pump( filter) system.
Should I just skip the canister altogether?
