Small sump vs large external filter?

[Oughtsix]

View attachment 1357710 My plan was to have mechanical filtration via foam in the first bay where the water is entering. Second bay being biological filtration via bio balls. Last bay housing heater and the return pump.

I am a big fan of bio balls when using them in a wet dry filter. There design does a really good job of breaking streams of water down into water drops which increases the water to air surface area increasing water oxygenation and degassing various compounds from the water.

For a completely submerged application I think you can do much better than bioballs. I would recommend a bag ceramic rings with a couple of air-stones underneath them.

I like your idea of filter pads in the first compartment... coarse on top with finer pads underneath. You could also consider a filter sock holder with a filter sock. To me the biggest consideration for mechanical filter media is easy access and easy to remove and clean. The easier it is to clean the more often you will clean it before the organic matter has a chance to break down into nitrogen compounds.

 

[Matteus]

As much as I agree with all the sumps and how much better they are for the filtration and the fish. I am in a similar situation as you with being in hot water with my wife over sound and space alienation. Personally I don’t think we need a couch, but we do need another big tank... lol.
She has other ideas like reading a book by the fire in the quiet. I say “hey the waterfall is a nice tranquil sound to read by”. She says “it’s not a waterfall I hear it’s a buzz and bubbles.” So I say “don’t ever unplug my filters and pumps to read a book again, while I am out of town- do you know how to reset it if it doesn’t turn back on?..”then I sleep on the couch. anywho, back to the lecture at hand.

I ran the diy pvc overflow syphon system for about 6 months before the inconsistency of the syphon drove me to drinking and an ac110 hob added to my existing fox-5. Now I am looking to drop another fx5-6 in addition to the one I already have. I am only going this rout because I don’t want to drill my tank while I have fish in it. Sumps are amazing and can’t wait to get it up and running on my next set up, but sometimes it’s just best to do what Fish Tank Travis has mentioned before ending up with an ex like duanes . Lol

Btw- duanes will always have amazing advice on how to take the best care of your fish and filtration imo. Much respect Sir.

 

[Oughtsix]

As much as I agree with all the sumps and how much better they are for the filtration and the fish. I am in a similar situation as you with being in hot water with my wife over sound and space alienation. Personally I don’t think we need a couch, but we do need another big tank... lol.

Please setup a poll... we will help you two decide between a couch and a tank.

 

[Matteus]

Lol. I may need the couch- to sleep on.

I suppose we could just move it to the center of the room

 

[Vdubers]

As much as I agree with all the sumps and how much better they are for the filtration and the fish. I am in a similar situation as you with being in hot water with my wife over sound and space alienation. Personally I don’t think we need a couch, but we do need another big tank... lol.
She has other ideas like reading a book by the fire in the quiet. I say “hey the waterfall is a nice tranquil sound to read by”. She says “it’s not a waterfall I hear it’s a buzz and bubbles.” So I say “don’t ever unplug my filters and pumps to read a book again, while I am out of town- do you know how to reset it if it doesn’t turn back on?..”then I sleep on the couch. anywho, back to the lecture at hand.

I ran the diy pvc overflow syphon system for about 6 months before the inconsistency of the syphon drove me to drinking and an ac110 hob added to my existing fox-5. Now I am looking to drop another fx5-6 in addition to the one I already have. I am only going this rout because I don’t want to drill my tank while I have fish in it. Sumps are amazing and can’t wait to get it up and running on my next set up, but sometimes it’s just best to do what Fish Tank Travis has mentioned before ending up with an ex like duanes . Lol

Btw- duanes will always have amazing advice on how to take the best care of your fish and filtration imo. Much respect Sir.

Cheers for the reply. Definitely sounds like we are in a similar situation haha. Tbf 6 months ago she said she didn’t want any tanks in the house so shouldn’t push my luck too much!

Having read the responses here I agree It would have probably been better suited to just get another fx5. However now it’s all set up I just can’t bring myself to ditch it. At least not right now anyway.

I mostly put shrimp in the overhead boxes, so there's no pump in them to suck the shrimp around.
I also usually don't compartmentalize my sumps.
Water runs into filter socks for mechanical filtration, and ease of cleaning.

and I put bio-media in mesh bags for easy lift out and rinsing.

Compartments always produced a plenum effect where the walls, met the floor, and formed dead spots for me where debris would build up, and because most sumps are on floor level, not always easy to siphon that debris out.

Ah cheers for the tips. I have a guard on my pump but shrimp may not be the best option still.
I do have a vacume syphon so getting the debris that build up shouldn’t be too hard but more time consuming than your way.

I am a big fan of bio balls when using them in a wet dry filter. There design does a really good job of breaking streams of water down into water drops which increases the water to air surface area increasing water oxygenation and degassing various compounds from the water.

For a completely submerged application I think you can do much better than bioballs. I would recommend a bag ceramic rings with a couple of air-stones underneath them.

I like your idea of filter pads in the first compartment... coarse on top with finer pads underneath. You could also consider a filter sock holder with a filter sock. To me the biggest consideration for mechanical filter media is easy access and easy to remove and clean. The easier it is to clean the more often you will clean it before the organic matter has a chance to break down into nitrogen compounds.

Thanks for the tips. Maybe I can do ceramic rings underneath and bioballs on top where the water meets the air. I have some media nets ordered so should make it all a lot easier to clean in theory.

Again thanks for all your help everyone .

 

[Matteus]

One other thing that I don’t think I have seen posted on here, since you have decided to go with the sump.

The fx-5/6 holds roughly 5g of water and media, even if the sump is only filled part way up you can fit roughly 3-4 gal worth more of water and media if you do it right. So now you have it upyou night as well max it out.