cannister filter or sump

[kswong34]

Hi all,

Any suggestion will be appreciated.

we are setting up a 6x2x2 tank (will set it up this friday). Will be stocked with discus, catfish, corydoras and plecos. Will like to have some plants in there as well in near future but no intention to get on to CO2 system.

So will a cannister or 2 be better off from a sump or vice versa. Will have a fluid bed filter as biological filter as well.

Thanks in advance. :wink:
Angie & Thomas

p/s: not too sure is this the right section to ask this question :roll: . Pls move it if it should belong to some other section. Thanks

[Nathan]

id go 2 external cannister filters. 2 eheim 2213, if your budget can afford.

nathan

[Merrilyn]

A lot of folk are using a sump on their larger tanks, but they are noisy. You will have a "waterfall" sound all the time, and there's no way around it.

Personally I'd go with two cannister filters on that tank.

I've had such a good run with Eheims, being very quiet and very reliable, that I wouldn't buy anything else. A few of our sponsors are running VERY good deals on Eheim Filters at the moment, and I know one said they are going to do a super Mother's day special. Might be worth a phone call or two :P

[revkev]

Have a look at the new FLUVAL FX5 I have one on my 6x2x2 using Eheim Pro III 2080 Media Set easy to setup and works great.

[DR.V]

I would prefer sump for big tank, easier to maintain and clean.

Also, you have no intention to get on to CO2 system, sooo sump would be great.

Remember, if you gonna setup CO2 then you cannot use sump because it gonna strip off the gas out of the water.

HTH

[taksan]

For a 6x2x2 with plants a cannister or two is a far better option.
Plants do very poorly with sumps.
My Cannister Recommendations would be:
2 Eheim 2028's or 2 Eheim 2217's or 1 Eheim 2080 or 1 Eheim 2260 or 1 Fluval FX5.

[kswong34]

Hi,

Have to work with budget :lol: So will use the aqua pro CFD1500 which I am currently using on a 4ft and might get another CFD1200 for it.

Thanks for the input :D

[dreamer]

you eliminate the noise from overflow using 'durso' or 'stockman' standpipe.

if you are going with aqua pro canisters you may want to invest in eheim quick connect taps or something similar, you will thank me when it comes to cleaning time...

[kswong34]

the CFD range come with a quick release taps/valve which I found is very easy to take them off and bring the cannister to clean.

:wink:

[wild_amazon]

I converted my 4x2x2 with sum to Eheim 2028 cannister filter.
The tank is stock lightly.
You need at least 2 x large cannister filters like 2028 (2228) for 6x2x2.
I couldn't stand the noise of the sum setup even with "dorso" pipe.
Now it's much quiter even with 4 tanks, all with eheim cannister filters.
Sum filter is easy to clean if you don't mind the noise and I think it does a better job than cannister filter.
I didn't have much success growing plants with trickle filter even with double the light wattage.

[bubba8]

Fill the overflow with bioballs and cover with filter floss .this eliminates the waterfall sound

[DR.V]

you eliminate the noise from overflow using 'durso' or 'stockman' standpipe.

This is also works to reduce the water fall noise, I tried this before.

[wild_amazon]

My experience with the dorso pipe is that it works well if you have a reasonably low water flow (small pump). I used to keep groups of tropheus in 4x2x2 with 2 eheim pumps 1250. The dorso pipe reduced the noise considerably and worked well with one pump. But with both pumps on, it was still too noisy for me. I ended up connecting the pump to the light timer so it's not too noisy at night.
Yes, the dorso setup does help to reduce the noise level. But for someone like myself that's fussy, it was still too noisy.
I also think that it's very difficult to beat the efficiency of trickle filter which has "open system" where the high oxygen level encourages bacteria growth. Trickle filters also usually have a lot more filtering volume than cannsiter filter.