Wet/Dry vs Canister

[Burto]

Unless your tank already had a weir built into it and you like tinkering with plumbing, I'd definitely go canister/s over a sump. Unless you are keeping species of fish that actually need some decent current to swim against, you absolutely do not need 10x turnover rate.

I recently acquired a 600 litre tank which came with a 4' sump and 6000lph return pump, you can read about why I changed the sump for a canister here: http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=370975

The sole filtration on my tank is an FX5, it's turning my tank over about 4x an hour creating a decent amount of water movement, I think mainly because of the bi-directional nozzle rather than diffusing that current through a spray bar. Measuring water parameters with samples taken from the bottom of the aquarium, there's 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and about 10ppm nitrate. As my stock grows I will probably add a second canister filter 'just in case', but at present, adding more filtration isn't going to keep my ammonia and nitrite at anything less than 0.

 

[Burko]

"is it possible to run BOTH tanks off of one sump? ... "

Sure, both or more, lots of people do this.

 

[importracer]

I've searched the threads and although came up with a lot of good ideas and opinions, I figure this would be a better way to get a more definite answer to the question I have. Any ....................................................and never know it was a posibility.So I put it forth to everyone here. If you had the room underneath, which would (or did) you choose for your filter setup, Wet/Dry Sump under or a Canister setup?

DIY wet dry filters are the ultimate filter.......You save money.........

 

[insanity0x1]

just save yourself the hastle, as you sound pretty set on mega flow, and spend the extra $ for an Eheim 2262. come on..its an eheim..expect years out of it, and pristine water, and INCREDIBLE flow..and you dont have to worry about flooding (if you dont know how to prevent it).. also if you dont watch wet/drys they can become a nitrate factory.. just go with the 2262, its awesome.

 

[LD50]

There are pro's and cons to both, here is my opinion and outlook on both.

Canister pro's:

Easy to set up, use and maintain.
effective for mech and bio filtration
usually nice and quiet

Canister cons:

Nitrate factory
lots of large water changes and filter cleanings to keep NO3 down.
cant stuff your heater and other gear in a canister.

Sump pros:

you can use whatever media/design you want in there
Fuge with plants to naturally reduce or eliminate NO3/PO4
great place to hide all your other gear (heater/uv)
easy acess to clean or swap out new mech/chem media
Increased water vol. for a more stable system.
good place to put an injured fish if need be.
also a good place to house/grow live food

Sump cons:

PITA to set up and run plumbing
space under the tank gets really tight
loud if not set up with a silencer, and even with one it will be louder than a canister.

As far as flow rate goes 10x + turn over is excessive unless you go marine, and depending on what fish you keep it can even stress them out.

just my 2c, good luck!

 

[FlorabamaTrigger]

Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking. The pros out-weigh the cons going with a wet/dry system.

Here's my only concern with the setup I've ordered.
Rather than having pvc piping, this setup (although rather large) uses flex hoses. Since it's my first time with this I'm not going to kid myself in thinking that this will be easy, and not the ongoing learning process for a very long time that I'm sure will actually be the case. But, hey, that's half the fun ain't it? Anyways, I'm thinking if this works as well as I'm hoping it will, I'll make more permanent piping using pvc pefore I'm done.

Here's another question, I see the majority of people's setups using pvc piping. But I know it would seem the easier option would be to use flex hoses. Is the reasoning behind using PVC piping mainly to prevent a hose bursting or is there another reason?

 

[jcardona1]

loud if not set up with a silencer, and even with one it will be louder than a canister. Not true at all. With a combination of a Durso and a Herbie pipe, it will seem as though the water is just standing still.

As far as flow rate goes 10x + turn over is excessive unless you go marine, and depending on what fish you keep it can even stress them out.
This isn't the case either. My 57g has a 1,017gph pump, that's about 18x turnover. You can hardly tell there's any current in the tank at all.

Here's another question, I see the majority of people's setups using pvc piping. But I know it would seem the easier option would be to use flex hoses. Is the reasoning behind using PVC piping mainly to prevent a hose bursting or is there another reason?

I hate using hoses in my setups. I avoid it like the plague. For me, PVC is the only option. Heck, even my little 23g rimless tank that I'm working is plumbed with PVC. For me, hoses look messy, kink easily, and build up all sorts of gunk inside, even more than PVC piping. Plus, I like the bullet proof and permanent PVC setups are.

 

[jcardona1]

See, my little 23g rimless future planted tank. Canister filter, but plumbed high-tech style

 

[Sonny503]

Somebody shoot me! I exchanged my sump and pump for a canister filter. Now having remorse, I could have utilized it on my 125! I think running a combination of sump and canister is the way to go, overall, sump is best, but most people like me cant stand the noise. I have just found a way to lessen the noise by adding foam to where the water is dripping too fast. no moe noise, only issue, I have to clean the foam once a week...

 

[jcardona1]

Somebody shoot me! I exchanged my sump and pump for a canister filter. Now having remorse, I could have utilized it on my 125! I think running a combination of sump and canister is the way to go, overall, sump is best, but most people like me cant stand the noise. I have just found a way to lessen the noise by adding foam to where the water is dripping too fast. no moe noise, only issue, I have to clean the foam once a week...

With regards to noise, see my info I posted in RED, in post #27