Which is better? Sump or multiple canisters?

[chabbs]

Hi everyone, I'm going to set up a new tank (90L) in the coming months and I'm interested in setting up a sump. However, it seems to cost more money and requires more work than stringing together a bunch of canisters I have lying around the house.

Is it worth the time and money to set one up? Or should I just connect my eheim 2213 to my 2217 instead?

[KiwiBigD]

Really depends on what your goal is. If you're looking at high quality shrimp for water stability etc then its worth it. But you can do the same with

less as well. Personally for 90L I think you'ld be wasting your time, I'd got with either of the Eheims instead. Sumps are more useful when you want

to put together a larger setup with numerous tanks all plumbed together. Not for the faint-hearted without doing some research

[JonX]

Sumps are noisy!

[BlueBolts]

+3 with the eheim's....many overseas breeder use canisters vs sumps.... I sort of use a combination of the two .....

All water changes are done on the tank/sump below, as it lessons the any "shock" of water temp, TDS, additives ...etc.

[northboy]

Horses for courses, I have used sumps for years and they are way better than any number of canisters, mostly for there ease of cleaning, how ever if it is inside there can be a noise issue if they are not set up right and if you have not don't one before, I would imagine researching on the net would be nothing short of confusing as every one will have a different EXPERT opinion.

As BB said water changing vir a sump lessons any shock and you can automate you water changes to, At one time I had 122 tanks on sumps and 45 off sumps and always had problems with winter time water changes on the non system tanks.

Bob

[KiwiBigD]

If you've a setup like Bob's then yeah, I'd be doing sumps as well. But for 90L personally I think its an overkill myself. But if you're looking to

expand and maybe this is going to become 6 tanks then go with the sump. Just beware of the noise like other mentions. And if its a display

tank in the house then I'd definitely go canister, small looks good to the family and not as intimidating. Also going sump on a 90L tank you

need pretty much a small return pump along the lines of 400 - 600lhr and those aren't necessarily cheap either, often easier to get a high flow

pump as opposed to the lower end.

[northboy]

OH hell yea on 90lts go with your canisters, it is to small for a sump unless you want to pack it with big fish, so shrimp = canisters.

Bob

[JohnH]

+3 with the eheim's....many overseas breeder use canisters vs sumps.... I sort of use a combination of the two .....

All water changes are done on the tank/sump below' date=' as it lessons the any "shock" of water temp, TDS, additives ...etc.

How is that setup plumbed BB?

It looks like the pump in the sump runs to one of the canisters and you also have a pickup in the sump too?

[chabbs]

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm going to stick with my canisters instead :)

[Squiggle]

Big tanks/systems are definitely sumps tanks, small tanks are definitely canister tanks, big garage tanks are definitely sump tanks & display tanks inside in the lounge room etc are definitely canister tanks. :encouragement:

[BlueBolts]

How is that setup plumbed BB? It looks like the pump in the sump runs to one of the canisters and you also have a pickup in the sump too?

Yeah, both the 2217's are filtering the sump tank......they don't have the capacity as the top tank head height is 1.8m. Have a pond pump @ 3500 lt/h to do that job .....