Terrible Advice Tuesdays (T.A.Tues): Why You Should Ditch Your Sump
Terrible Advice Tuesdays: Sumps are outdated technology. A canister filter is a far superior method of filtration over a sump.
The rest of the story: Some things make me want to vomit and terrible advice like this definitely makes my stomach turn.
Let’s look at some basic facts first:
- A canister filter can act as a mechanical, biological or chemical filter depending on what type of media you put in it.
- A sump can also act as a mechanical, biological or chemical filter.
At this point it appears that a sump is just as good as a canister filter. Looks can be deceiving though and digger deeper, here’s where a sump starts to pull ahead:
A sump adds water volume to your system and everyone knows a larger system is more stable than a smaller one. While it is true that a canister filter does add some water volume to your system, it won’t add near the volume that a sump will. Advantage: Sump
A sump can also house a protein skimmer to remove waste from you tank. You can’t add a skimmer to a canister filter no matter how hard you try. Advantage: Sump
A sump also houses other unsightly equipment such as heaters, pumps, probes, etc. If you have a sump, these pieces of equipment will be out of sight leaving you to enjoy the uncluttered look of your display tank. Advantage: Sump
Here’s a big reason I prefer sumps: with a sump, you’ll see detritus building up, which is a sign you need to do a water change. And when you do that water change, you can easily suck out the detritus. Less detritus means less nutrient sources which will help keep things like algae out of your tank.
Does a canister filter also collect detritus? Absolutely! But you won’t see that detritus and if something is out of sight, it’s likely out of mind. Unless you clean that canister filter frequently – as in weekly – then it will collect detritus and cause issues. Advantage: Sump
Bottom line: Keep the sump and sell the canister filter to some freshwater person. Oh, buy some frags with the money you made!
P.S. There are successful saltwater tanks run off canister filters and you’ll more utility out of a sump. Keep the sumps and NOT the canister filter.
Browse the Store! Questions?
Not to mention that you can place a heater, thermometer, live rock, macro algae, mangroves along with many other things in a sump. Canister filers really limit your filtration options in your SW setup. I would only use a canister filter if I had a freshwater setup or a very small SW setup.
I had a sump with the bio balls and learnd that refugium is the way to go, so I made one of my own. And I went from 5 gallon sump to a 14gallon refugium for a 75 gallon SW tank. Refugium/sumps it the only way to go in the SW Tank world. Keep up the great work Mark.
Oh if only I had the space for a sump! Several years in running a Fluval 305 and I agree with everything you say above. I’m making it work but it isn’t ideal.
Try putting a naughty fish in time out in a canister filter.
And I thought kneeling in the corner for 30 mins was bad.
I would point out, that a canister filter run in tandem with a sump\refugium can be beneficial. I know a guy who runs a saltwater tank with a sump AND a canister filter.
Would you agree Mark?
I call my refugium the gangster tank. I have three naughty fish that are not community-oriented. They have their own pecking order and they get along with each other just fine. But I am thankful to have this extra space to put those children that just refuse to get along with their tank mates.
I think both sump and canister filter together are great. I have a 30 gallon display and 2 sumps. I have a 15 gallon sump running to the display tank. I also have a 10 gallon refugium that is bridged to the main sump. I use a fluval fx-5 to filter the bridge. I clean the canister every 3 weeks and there is also a filter sock coming off the display.
I have such low nutrients I am able to keep fish, softy’s, LPS, and SPS corals together with no trouble. But if I had to choose. It would be the sump.
I basically have 30 gallons filtering 30 gallon display. I went from 30 gallons to 60 and my animals are super happy. Had a blue cheeked goby for a year and he is fat and happy.
I have 125long, a 30long chambered sump and a fluval canister filter.
I wouldn’t want to do without either but the sump I can watch and see what’s going on and hide all the equipment.
if I need to add anything to the tank I put it in the sump and wait for it to be easily sent to the display… Purple up…
one of my favorite subjects! And one that really has no hard answer until certain epiphanies come into one’s head. The core of the issue is ‘mechanical’ vs ‘no mechanical’. mechanical water appeals to those who was to strain out flock and bacteria which makes water seem ‘dirty’- or at least– not like glass in clarity. BUT mechanical is also acted upon by bacteria in time and the law of unintended consequence soon takes hold. at that point mechanical becomes counter productive and as it gains a life of its own ( clogging, decay, out competing aerobic bacteria activity and in effect thwarting it). On the other hand, if mechanical straining is tended to regularly, it REDUCES the very component that leads to nitrogen waste ( more ammonia and more nitrate). That is a good thing! In short it beings your pollution ambient readings lower in general
Sumps main advantage is without a doubt, gas exchange. Something a closed canister simply can’t provide. As once one traps organics you really do need to vent nitrogenous gases.
I think you can appreciate that there is no true answer. It is all about management and ‘ways’ to process or suspend water deterioration in the short fun. In the end, the design that blunts the actual build up of negative factors and keeps the basic water parameters of pollution at near non measurable levels is the winner! And guess what– a water change is the ultimate technique for accomplishing this! It not filtration at all in the end.
Also with a canister filter you cannot filter the top of the water that has oils that need to be removed and with a sump you need an overflow which filters the top of the water. Sump wins again!
Actually you can skim the top coat of the water with a canister filter.
all you have to do is attach the hose to the bottom of a overflow box or a drilled part of the overflow. I’ve been doing this for years, I clean mine once a week, 4 baskets filter floss rubble rock on all 4 baskets.
then my sump has an old canister filter that I used only the container and took my table saw and made deep cuts all a long the bottom. Filled it with 3/4 rubble rock and more filter floss, then on to the skimmer.
Jail cell for bad critters to house till ready to give away
I’m in total agreement about sump’s being superior in all the ways talked about by all the knowledgeable people in our line up above, but I would like to point out a few thing that maybe unknown about the new canisters, about their newfeatures and some alternate uses to supplement the use of sumps and tanks themselves,
Firstly there are new innovations like internal heaters, UV sterilizers, and a few large enough to be used in a low nutrient situation. By that I mean that I’ve seen one by Fluval an fx5 I think which was used to keep a coral only (except for a few pickers) & clean-up crew which has a volume of 10 gallons. The ability in mostly all modern canisters to isolate the intake a slide out trays to clean sponges etc.
Don’t get me wrong about using them as the only source of filtration, rather I’m taking of using them as a multi layered means of using items that are not normally able to get total water flow thru them like polishing substrates that I use like Purigen, Hypersorb, Rowa Phosphate remover,Carbon. Normal reactors tend to clog or have their flow rate drop, which can also happen in a canister but because of mechanical filtration before the above mentioned, the flow can be kept going for longer if installed after, or at the end of your sump to get the cleanest water going thru the canister. It sure beats having a bag of something shoved in the corner of your sump. The other thing is that having to use a pump to feed each reactor when using multiple agents that clog when in a gravity fed situation will be costly and take up room, instead using 1 large canister with 4 or 5 trays can have the use of just the pump housed in it. The last pro in favour of cans is the ability to surface suck your tank, although this use will negate the clean water uses of installing the canister at the end of the sump, so use 1 idea (multiple substrate housing reactor elements) or surface sucking not both together. The other down side is that if you need to have a tumbling effect that a reactor gives the a canister is not for you. If you do use one write the date, of the time it was serviced what substrates & their dates & periods of effectiveness on the canister. This is only to do away with having to use multiple reactors. Maybe your sump has individual compartments for substrates, then the can should be given the can. PYB
Glad I got a sump, where could I put my teddybear crab else?
I’ve read the rest of these comments and I’m not sure if I fully agree. The store I work at uses sumps, and I agree that they’re easier to clean the tank with. However, I use a canister filter with my person tank. It was little more expensive than other methods, but overall it’s been much easier to maintain. All of the points you made in the post (besides the water volume, you caught me there), such as the cleaning of the canister filter, the protein skimmer, and the clutter, can all be easily fixed with proper maintenance. I clean my filter regularly, I have a separate protein skimmer, and I keep all of my filters/heaters/etc. underneath my stand just as you would with a sump. In fact, the bottom of my stand is much cleaner than any sump I’ve ever seen, so I guess you should factor in the bacteria that can manifest from a sump outside of the tank and at the bottom of your sump. I think I would need much better evidence before switching form my canister.
Amanda, I get it that you prefer using a canister filter over a sump but what I don’t get is how do you use a heater and skimmer in your stand without a sump. I have a canister filter that leaked several times and now it is collecting dust in my shop. Both are effective at filtering your aquarium water as long as they are properly maintained.