Two Fluval FX6's or Custom Sump

[The-Almighty-Zugs]

Two FX-6s would be good for a tank that size. I'd go with the sump given the option, but that's likely to be more setup, noise and humidity if that's a concern. But, likely better water quality and easier to clean.

http://imgur.com/a/EPNOk0M

If one FX6 does 563GPH, does this mean that two FX6's would be doing 1000+?

The site says that for monster fish it recommends 1020gph or 6x flow. So 2 FX6's would do 563 GPH each. So 1126‬GH? Or only 563GPH? If 1126GPH then I only need 2 fx6's to reach 6x filtration. Wouldn't that be more than enough?

 

[freak78]

I run 2 Fx-6s and three aquaclear 110s on my 220g tanks. The reason being tanks are not drilled and I got the tanks and filters for a deal. Definitely black Friday sales for the Fx-6 you'll get them half off.

 

[Uglyknob]

How are you supposed to clean a sump anyway? The reason I am not so sure about a sump is because I'm not very handy and really wouldn't trust something I made. I know someone that could build and ship a 75 gallon sump to me for $1300. The idea would be filling it 1/3 of the way up to make room for more water in case the power goes out. Making it myself I guess would cost me $600. Two FX6's cost about $1000 all together.

What?! If that is how much custom sumps go for, I need to get into that! Is that a typo, or did you mean $130? I got a RSR, so the sump came with it. I know you said you weren't that handy, but used 75g tanks are dirt cheap and you could watch some youtube videos to get a feel for how hard it is. Also, I see a bunch of sumps on Facebook Marketplace local to me that are cheap. Maybe that is one of those fancy ones with different colors and all that.

If you have the overflow right, you shouldn't need that much room for a power outage, I don't think. As long as you have syphon breaks in the right places. I just got a VFG for my tank and I need to drill a small hole for that cause I noticed it likes to pick up syphon lower than the weir.

As for two FX6s. I have one I bought used. I see them all the time for between 150 and 200 on Marketplace. The impeller is 60 bucks I think. I have one as a spare, although mine works great. Since moving to the sump, I wouldn't go back. I loved the effectiveness of the FX6, but unhooking it and taking it outside to clean was just enough of a pain to make me put it off until the microbubbles got on my nerves.

The sump, I just reach in and slide out the filter socks/cups. Heck, with the cups, I just grab the top layer of poly-fill and pull it out. The socks I just swap out for clean and then clean the spares at my leisure. Now, I haven't had to do a thorough cleaning of the sump yet though, and that will be a much bigger pain.

HTH in some way.

 

[Oughtsix]

The sump will airate the water. If you go the fx6 route I would recommend spray bars so you get some oxygen into the tank water. Other than this I would recommend the one that will be cleaned the most often. I believe a FX6 is going to be quite big and heavy.

I would not pay $1300 for a 75g sump. Buy a 75g at petsmart for under $100 on sale and fill it with several pieces of filter foam... Should be plenty good for a sump. Fancy sumps are usually more of a maintenance headache than any benefit they might provide.

For the above sump - turn off the pump. Pull the foam. Rinse it in tank water. Return the foam. Turn the pump back on.

Sump maintenance is really dependent on the sump design.

I would not recommend a sump unless you drill the tank for an overflow.

 

[adamsfishes]

I'm running dual FX-6 and a Tidal 110 on my 180. It seems to be doing a decent job, but I don't think it's in the ballpark of a 75 gallon wet/dry sump though in terms of its ability to clean and aerate water. But the bottom line is this - is there enough filtration to keep ammonia and nitrite at zero? If so, you're good. If not, you need more filtration. If your water isn't dirty enough to warrant needing more filtration then overfiltering isn't helping.

Also consider that the amount of effort needed to properly plumb a quiet overflow system is non-trivial. Some people on here will act like it's the simplest thing in the word, but it's a lot of work, plus you have to know what you're doing. Hooking up canisters is very easy and fast. I've run both, and at this point I prefer canisters because they are quiet and get the job done with little effort needed.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Go with a sump biggest one you can find.

 

[esoxlucius]

How are you supposed to clean a sump anyway? The reason I am not so sure about a sump is because I'm not very handy and really wouldn't trust something I made. I know someone that could build and ship a 75 gallon sump to me for $1300. The idea would be filling it 1/3 of the way up to make room for more water in case the power goes out. Making it myself I guess would cost me $600. Two FX6's cost about $1000 all together.

I'm really curious.This "someone" who said they could "build and ship a 75g sump for $1300". When he said it to you was he rolling around on the floor laughing like a complete madman?

I'd go with a simple sump set up. Hell, you can use a cheap as chips plastic tote. Go on you tube and just look at the masses of stuff on sumps. No need whatsoever for all singing all dancing high tech nonsense.

They're easy to maintain, give you more total volume of water, they can be set up to be very quiet, just all round fantastic filtration.

 

[Backfromthedead]

Agree with lucius you can set up a sump yourself much cheaper. $300, maybe $200 if you can find an old beater 75 on craigslist.

 

[The-Almighty-Zugs]

I'm really curious.This "someone" who said they could "build and ship a 75g sump for $1300". When he said it to you was he rolling around on the floor laughing like a complete madman?

I'd go with a simple sump set up. Hell, you can use a cheap as chips plastic tote. Go on you tube and just look at the masses of stuff on sumps. No need whatsoever for all singing all dancing high tech nonsense.

They're easy to maintain, give you more total volume of water, they can be set up to be very quiet, just all round fantastic filtration.

Is that too high of a price? Shipping to me is $350. It would cost about $600-$650 to build a good one.

And the reason I am considering having one built is because I am not very handy.

 

[esoxlucius]

Shipping???? Go pick it up, it'll cost you the price of fuel.

Build one???? As others have mentioned you can get 75g tanks dirt cheap.

Seriously, you'd have to be mad to spend $1300 on a sump as everyone's already pointed out. You've already said you don't have that much to spend. They really can be very very basic systems. Just do a bit of research on them.

But saying all that, ideally you need to drill your tank for a sump and by your own admittance you're not very handy. So I suspect you'll probably end up with cannisters after all this.