What size sump for 200 gallon?

[Backfromthedead]

I think the key bit of info not mentioned on this thread is that your overflow setup will dictate how large your sump MUST be.

You MUST have enough spare volume left in your sump to catch ALL of the water that will drain from your tank in the event of pump failure/power loss, etc. So with your 25g sump, you will have to make sure that whatever water drains out of the 200 will not overflow your sump and flood your home.

Perhaps it was mentioned and I missed it but in my mind this is the only hard and fast rule concerning sump size.

 

[Fishman Dave]

I think the key bit of info not mentioned on this thread is that your overflow setup will dictate how large your sump MUST be.

You MUST have enough spare volume left in your sump to catch ALL of the water that will drain from your tank in the event of pump failure/power loss, etc. So with your 25g sump, you will have to make sure that whatever water drains out of the 200 will not overflow your sump and flood your home.

Perhaps it was mentioned and I missed it but in my mind this is the only hard and fast rule concerning sump size.

Read all the way through this thread…….. I laughed at pickle jars, got wound up about the the fantastic ability of K1 with little or no mention to where the detritus actually goes, see the obvious about bigger the better, cos as we all know it’s easier to keep more water, but finally at last I see it mentioned…………
as a guy who finds putting 200g of water on the floor such an easy thing to do, the only thing that really matters (or at least that’s what the wife keeps saying when I do) that it holds whatever drains out of the tank when the pump switches off, cos that will happen, and that’s when you get to realising if it was big enough.

 

[Disturbed.)]

If my house was big enough I'd have a sump under every tank. Even the 5.5 gallon because the eheim canister on that is still a pita to clean and clean up the mess from cleaning it.
I moved some severum grow outs into a bichir grow out tank last night along with the sevs cascade 700. I needed to clean it anyway... Spent 2 hours trying to get the *@!÷×?& thing to stop leaking afterwards.
It's funny that under gravels came up. I took a 20 year break in fish keeping. When I came back I couldn't find one for a 220 so I custom built a reverse undergravel only to learn almost everything I "Knew to be true" had been overwritten while I was away. And the kicker is I have fish friends that still insist their undergravel is better than my 145 gallon sump system because they don't clean their undergravel. I know it's anecdotal but they are constantly unexplainably losing fish and I only lose them when they murder each other.
I run pickle jars on tiny tanks and hate it but it's my only way to cram in enough bio to keep super healthy fish. Just my experience, but if you need X amount of bio to deal with the nitrogen load of your livestock then you'll need X times 15 to really handle all the needs of an ecosystem to keep it pristine.

 

[Disturbed.)]

I brought up the return chamber issue some time back. And that's not the only thing that will flood your house if the sump isn't designed right. Just the most prevalent the second would be an over the rim overflow and then improper overflow in the sump if you get a clog.

 

[Midwater]

If my house was big enough ...

Now you have got to the heart of the matter. You probably imagine that your house is for the benefit of your own comfort, or even your family's. No. Tear it down and build a purpose built fish house with enormous basement for sumps! You can sleep in the corner somewhere.