Looking for the ultimate sump ideas for a 300 gallon freshwater tank with a high bio load. Looking for the best of the best.
Ultimate sump
- Thread starter nelsonpush
- Start date
Brace for the K1 comments....
If you are looking for turn over of at least 5x hour, your overflows will need to handle 1500gph...so an appropriate return pump will also be needed. You have a myriad to choose from both internal and external types. A high bio load will also mean strong mechanical and there are a number of ways to achieve appropriate mechanical, from filter socks to Poret foam.
Bio, although hotly debated, really comes down to what you are comfortable with setting up. K1 often mentioned and is the hot set up these days..but bio can be anything from liters of scintered glass, ceramic rings, balls and blocks to fluidized sand beds and plastic pin wheels to wet dry bioballs.
Don't forget about heating the tank, and heaters in the sump are very efficient placed there.
Get the biggest sump/container that will fit beneath or behind the tank and go from there. The sky is the limit in sump design and research will need to be done on your part to see what fits for you.
If you are looking for turn over of at least 5x hour, your overflows will need to handle 1500gph...so an appropriate return pump will also be needed. You have a myriad to choose from both internal and external types. A high bio load will also mean strong mechanical and there are a number of ways to achieve appropriate mechanical, from filter socks to Poret foam.
Bio, although hotly debated, really comes down to what you are comfortable with setting up. K1 often mentioned and is the hot set up these days..but bio can be anything from liters of scintered glass, ceramic rings, balls and blocks to fluidized sand beds and plastic pin wheels to wet dry bioballs.
Don't forget about heating the tank, and heaters in the sump are very efficient placed there.
Get the biggest sump/container that will fit beneath or behind the tank and go from there. The sky is the limit in sump design and research will need to be done on your part to see what fits for you.
Ultimate sump? That is, of course, subjective.
I would error on the side of massive mechanical....Poret foam and filter socks.
I would error on the side of massive mechanical....Poret foam and filter socks.
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I already had the plan of filter socks and also have a bunch BioHome left over from other projects. I have looked into K1 and K1 mini beds.
My ultimate (but very space consuming) sump employed the main tank draining into a shallow planted tank (a 40 breeder) which drained to a 100 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank filled with lava rock, and other biomedia, the flow was then divided between a fluidized bed (4 ft tall X 8" Diam), and a 3ft tall protein skimmer (fresh water), and ended up in a 50 barrel that contained multiple filter socks, pump and heaters, and water then sent back to the main tank.
1st stage above, the planted 40 breeder tank
below the fractionator, you can see the concentrated waste it produced in the catch bag, this had to be emptied daily
below the 3rd stage, a fluidized bed using aragonite sand as media, to act as an alkalinity buffer, in tandem with the bioaction, where after leaving the fluidized reactor water was sent to the blue barrel thru a filter sock
and last stage the barrel containing filter socks, pump and heaters
Between the stages, the total sump gallons ended up to be around 150, treating tank volume of about 300 gallons.
A few years later, when I moved to a less spacious place, I was able to reduce size and volume by using a combination bio-fractionator, and a 20 gal planted sump using papyrus instead of submerged plants, and a 50 gal tank for pumps and filter socks.
Below the combination bio-fractionator, produced a much more concentrated waste in a smaller space )compared to, and replacing the 100 gal stock tank
and the 20 gal refugium, placed above main tank in a window, filled with papyrus really ate up the nitrates, and doubled as a refugium
1st stage above, the planted 40 breeder tank
below the fractionator, you can see the concentrated waste it produced in the catch bag, this had to be emptied daily
below the 3rd stage, a fluidized bed using aragonite sand as media, to act as an alkalinity buffer, in tandem with the bioaction, where after leaving the fluidized reactor water was sent to the blue barrel thru a filter sock
and last stage the barrel containing filter socks, pump and heaters
Between the stages, the total sump gallons ended up to be around 150, treating tank volume of about 300 gallons.
A few years later, when I moved to a less spacious place, I was able to reduce size and volume by using a combination bio-fractionator, and a 20 gal planted sump using papyrus instead of submerged plants, and a 50 gal tank for pumps and filter socks.
Below the combination bio-fractionator, produced a much more concentrated waste in a smaller space )compared to, and replacing the 100 gal stock tank
and the 20 gal refugium, placed above main tank in a window, filled with papyrus really ate up the nitrates, and doubled as a refugium
i recently switched to k1 for my new additional tanks. i still use ceramic and bioballs. i can say its effective, though i believe its really just the illusion of seeing it working as it tosses, turns, and boils. i have a huge thread on it for my recent tanks. I would like to say go 100% with k1, but there are so many draw backs to it. List of drawbacks -
Power consumption (needs insanely strong airpump to run. depending on your fish of course)
Evaporation (moving bed filter definitely evaporates the quickest out of the sumps)
Humidity issues (the boiling process creates tons of humidity)
Death to tranquility (Its loud. you sacrifice tranquility for the welfare of your fish. its loud from the combination of the pump, the clashing of media, and bubbles)
Media itself is quite expensive, though currently it seems to be at a more fair price.
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i am using k1, but now also putting in alot of other filtration units on my tanks as well. on my 180 and my 300 i have 1 55 gallon tank/sump with 100+ liters k1, 1 fx6, 1 large sunsun canister, and am now in the process of making a 4 foot biotower for each of them. I do this because i do not want to see even the slightest changes in my parameters. not noticable changes atleast. i will also possibly be installing a hydroponics system or a water drip system in the future.
But to answer your question from my opinion,
for amount of filtration to space for large tanks, k1 is definitely the way to go.
the amount of bioballs and potscrubbers vs k1 is much different.
Power consumption (needs insanely strong airpump to run. depending on your fish of course)
Evaporation (moving bed filter definitely evaporates the quickest out of the sumps)
Humidity issues (the boiling process creates tons of humidity)
Death to tranquility (Its loud. you sacrifice tranquility for the welfare of your fish. its loud from the combination of the pump, the clashing of media, and bubbles)
Media itself is quite expensive, though currently it seems to be at a more fair price.
____________________________________________________________
i am using k1, but now also putting in alot of other filtration units on my tanks as well. on my 180 and my 300 i have 1 55 gallon tank/sump with 100+ liters k1, 1 fx6, 1 large sunsun canister, and am now in the process of making a 4 foot biotower for each of them. I do this because i do not want to see even the slightest changes in my parameters. not noticable changes atleast. i will also possibly be installing a hydroponics system or a water drip system in the future.
But to answer your question from my opinion,
for amount of filtration to space for large tanks, k1 is definitely the way to go.
the amount of bioballs and potscrubbers vs k1 is much different.
Thanks Jesse K1 prob not gonna work if it is that loud going in living room.
I have had limited success with my diy fractionators workimg with my freshwater tanks.....I have had some success with commercially available skimmers....and I definitely like the addition of plants to a sump for nitrate reduction/removal.My ultimate (but very space consuming) sump employed the main tank draining into a shallow planted tank (a 40 breeder) which drained to a 100 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank filled with lava rock, and other biomedia, the flow was then divided between a fluidized bed (4 ft tall X 8" Diam), and a 3ft tall protein skimmer (fresh water), and ended up in a 50 barrel that contained multiple filter socks, pump and heaters, and water then sent back to the main tank.
1st stage above, the planted 40 breeder tank
below the fractionator, you can see the concentrated waste it produced in the catch bag, this had to be emptied daily
below the 3rd stage, a fluidized bed using aragonite sand as media, to act as an alkalinity buffer, in tandem with the bioaction, where after leaving the fluidized reactor water was sent to the blue barrel thru a filter sock
and last stage the barrel containing filter socks, pump and heaters
Between the stages, the total sump gallons ended up to be around 150, treating tank volume of about 300 gallons.
A few years later, when I moved to a less spacious place, I was able to reduce size and volume by using a combination bio-fractionator, and a 20 gal planted sump using papyrus instead of submerged plants, and a 50 gal tank for pumps and filter socks.
Below the combination bio-fractionator, produced a much more concentrated waste in a smaller space )compared to, and replacing the 100 gal stock tank
and the 20 gal refugium, placed above main tank in a window, filled with papyrus really ate up the nitrates, and doubled as a refugium
The ultimate sump, in my opinion, would have plants or and algae tower/wall and a fluidized sand bed....both silent and extremely effective.
If that is the case a wet/dry or a submerged sump would be your best bed. Do mind the weight capacity of your floor. A submerged sump will increase the weight greatly.
