Sounds like the sump is great but more work and more potential for failure. With 6 fish or less in 300gallons it seems like a sump is more overkill than 2 legit canisters. Has anyone really had terrible results from two FX6's??? Ahhh
Cleaning Arowana Tank - HELP!
- Thread starter GoldFinger
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- arowana cleaning jump water change
Wether the combo or lone eheim is expressive or not is irrelevant. What i am saying is the eheim out performed the fx6 which had the help of an ac110. Asides from the eheim having more flow the fx6 is riddled withe bypass and if you follow the manufacturers recommendations how much bio does this filter actually hold?
I'll ask again what canisters are you using ?
Op could use a bunch of cans or a sump, he can be restricted to the gph of a can and the maximum amount of bio the cans can hold, along with having all of the gear visible in the display tank, and the lug around cans spending time squeezing out foam where as this would not take place with a sump. A pair of decent dc pumps will provide more gph than most will need but give him the flexibility to raise/lower it with the touch of a button
Asides from arguing with me over my dislike of the fx6 why not atleast comment on the other aspects a sump can provide that we have mentioned ? If not id rather not continue to derail this thread with pointless arguing if you have any valid points on why he SHOULDNT use the sump then by all means we would all be open to hear them
I would do some research on those fish. Discus should be kept in groups of six or more, and shouldn't be kept with fish that can stress them out, the arowana.
As far as the filters, I think they will be ok, at least while your fish are young. As they grow you will probably want to add another one, maybe even two canisters to the tank. Both arowana and rays are very high waste producers. This means that the ammonia they put into the water could actually build up slightly in the tank before it has a chance to run through the filter and get converted into nitrate. This isn't a very big deal for many fish but you have chosen rays and discus, which are both about as sensitive as you can get in the freshwater aquarium hobby. So, the canisters will probably work decently, but a sump would still be a very large improvement.
I am really not trying to discourage you in any way. If I hadn't experienced this for myself between my canisters and my sump I wouldn't be recommending it so strongly. I know that canisters are so easy to look at and set up, and I questioned myself several times during the course of setting up my sump whether or not I should just ditch the sump and go with canisters, and I'm so glad I followed through with the sump. Maintenance on them is so much easier.
Keep in mind, just because the filter, no matter what kind it is, has captured the organic material, it still decomposes and puts ammonia in the water. The only way to stop this is to remove this organic material. In a canister, this doesn't happen until you clean out the canister. In a sump, this can easily be done much more often, some even do it daily. With a good filter sock setup, you can easily change the filter socks in mere minutes and can change them daily, if you wanted.
Im not trying to sway you because i like sumps just think if you post the question in the set up amd filtration section you will get an overwhelming support for sumps. Lots of ray amd aro keepers frequent that section.
Also you can do a little fact checking instead of listening to us. Look up how much bio media and fx6 can hold. Then take a look at all the those trays, think all the water is hitting all the foam pads ?
Then look at all the pads. Does it look like something that will be easy to clean and remove those organics
Fish Tank Travis
mentioned.Good luck with the set up hope it goes smoothly
Also if your dead set on filters i'd much rather go with a 2262. Holds more bio and 0 bypass. Dirty water has to hit all levels of filtration
**** it im getting a sump I hate you guys. Once and for all what is your opinion on the best way to set up the actual intake outake so it's least visible in the tank but still effective?
I drilled the back of my tank and used black pvc overflows and returns. I then painted the back of my tank black and they blend in very well and leave the entire bottom of the tank open. One drawback is that I have to keep my tank about 6" away from the wall, but that is completely fine with me.
J
jaws7777
. And
Fish Tank Travis
you guys put it so much nicer than me! You sold me on sumps and I already use them!! I'm sure
GoldFinger
will be thanking you guys in a few months when his stock is healthy and his maintenance routine is simple and easy!
Fish Tank Travis
you guys put it so much nicer than me! You sold me on sumps and I already use them!! I'm sure
GoldFinger
will be thanking you guys in a few months when his stock is healthy and his maintenance routine is simple and easy!
I am new to the sump game, but for me it came down to cost vs benefit. I was able to put together a sump for under $200 that adds approx 40 gallons to my system and has a max flow rate equal to around 5 FX6 canisters or $2000 worth. I am only running a single dc pump rated at 3,900 gph so there is no built in redundancy, but I plan on just ordering a spare to have on hand since they are relatively inexpensive. The only time I would worry about the system not operating is if I was out of town or an extended power outage. I am not a ray keeper (yet), but unless the tank is overstocked water quality should not be an issue in a single day. The single DCT 15000 I have uses 105W max while each FX6 uses 43W of power. I am not knocking canisters at all but in reality you are at just as great or greater risk of a flood with a canister than a properly set up sump system. I have a single fx6 on a 125 and have no complaints,
J
jaws7777
just has dirty fish.
Edit: I should add that the 125 also has an ac110 and until recently only housed a single fish.
Edit: I should add that the 125 also has an ac110 and until recently only housed a single fish.
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No, no, you should go canisters...;-) j/k
I have known people with HOB and canister filters that were successful keeping large aros. So I would say it could work for you too. But that doesnt mean it's your best option.
I have one lei aro, two BP and two small plecos and prefer a sump. I dont consider having a sump because of the price value of the fish. My fish are NOT expensive. I like sumps for their function, flexibility and convenience. Not to mention I can put all my equipment there rather than in my peninsula style display tank.
Since you are going custom, why not coast to coast with dual internal overflows. Toss up between BA or Herbie drains, really.
I would suggest you research a bit on drain methods, plumbing, overflow and sumps and ask questions. Don't just take our word for it.
