Second discus tank

[Tony13]

So I started with 10 discus from Hans up in Baltimore in a 75 gallon tank and they are about a year old and doing well. I have seven from my original 10, one committed suicide while I was away and I lost a couple along the way. One of them is a monster the rest are good size my other biggest one was the one that jumped out of the tank.
So I want more, so I bought myself a 150 tank planning on putting my big ones in the 150 and getting probably 10 more from Hans and putting the 75 while they grow out then putting them in the big tank.
I had a black background on my 75 planning on doing like a baby blue which I have seen on a lot of tanks seems to make the discus pop more, still contemplating filter thinking of fluval fx6 dont want sponge filters in my display, a little nervous about putting drill to my brand new tank would like to have a sump the guy at the store said it wasn't tempered glass its a marineland.

[Ryan925]

So I started with 10 discus from Hans up in Baltimore in a 75 gallon tank and they are about a year old and doing well. I have seven from my original 10, one committed suicide while I was away and I lost a couple along the way. One of them is a monster the rest are good size my other biggest one was the one that jumped out of the tank.
So I want more, so I bought myself a 150 tank planning on putting my big ones in the 150 and getting probably 10 more from Hans and putting the 75 while they grow out then putting them in the big tank.
I had a black background on my 75 planning on doing like a baby blue which I have seen on a lot of tanks seems to make the discus pop more, still contemplating filter thinking of fluval fx6 dont want sponge filters in my display, a little nervous about putting drill to my brand new tank would like to have a sump the guy at the store said it wasn't tempered glass its a marineland.

If you don't want want to drill you could always go with an external overflow

[Pardal]

There are advantage and disadvantages with every filters sytem.
I will share with you my experience with my current display tank I had since 2014
tank is a 150g 48"x 24"x 30" kind of cube although is not.
I started with a drilled inside of the tank overflow box . The tank was clean, inside the overflow was a pain to maintain , anaerobic conditions I spend most of my time vacuum inside the overflow box area in my daily WC, that anything else. neither to said the system was not as quiet as initially required tweaking constantly . I was always traveling (retired Navy).
So I removed it , purchase an Aquatop canister filter, every thing was fine for about 6 to 8 months ,problems arrive when we lost power the canister will overflow, not matter what I did you can (use a check valve on the outlet from the pump to the tank but not on the drain line to the canister) good thing I have tile no carpet. did a research and was a common problem of this brand the O ring tends to failed plus cheap plastic wears out. to the point I won one a few weeks ago in a Christmas party raffle of my Fish Club and I trade it for an LED light right there.
These days I have two old fashion 350 hang over Marine Land power filters. The set up works perfect as I'm a firm believer of daily WC.
the draw back you will see the heaters cables and the inlets from the filters.
I planning to go back to the sump , but it will have no overflow box, the pipes are going to be naked, just will decorate paint with some liquid safe plastic to make look more like wood and to blend with the drift wood.
What I trying to say there is not perfect system, all will required maintenance and you will have to either sacrifice convenience or aesthetics.
At the end your tank , your choice. I hope this will help you to make your opinion.
If you planning to get a canister filter make sure you get a good one stay away from the cheap stuff.

[farebox]

I would like to piggyback on Pardal's comments. I too have tried an FX-5 canister filter, then went to an DIY 20G long sump with an DIY PVC overflow pipes. Few month later after an WC, siphon failed and flooded the tile floor. Back to the drawing board and discovered this overflow box that said in 29 yrs. of use never an flood or siphon break. Well to this day I've been using the Lifereef filter system (3 yrs) and no issues. Also very easy to clean when needed. Recommend this if your tank isn't drilled and you want an sump. Check video: https://youtu.be/wR4w-uvOAUo

[bluelagoon]

I have never had a sump,but I'm very pleased with my FX6 in my 6 footer.Lots of filtration with this filter.I have never heard of anyone saying that they leak and are very quiet for their size.I had other canister filters that were rated for this size tank,but two of those were needed instead of one.

[geo57]

I have never had a sump,but I'm very pleased with my FX6 in my 6 footer.Lots of filtration with this filter.I have never heard of anyone saying that they leak and are very quiet for their size.I had other canister filters that were rated for this size tank,but two of those were needed instead of one.

I'll second Merv, I've used canister pumps for ever and never had a leak, Rena's, Fluval's, and Eheims and plenty of all cept the Eheim, just tried my first one in my last tank, and I love it. FX5 was one of my favorites cause it has tons of sponge in it on top of the baskets, I just bought a FX6 to back up my Eheim in case it ever fails. My only problem with sumps is that, by MY logic, since you bring water from the top and add water to the top you don't turn over your entire tank, what happens to the water at the bottom? Unless your pushing it up it would appear, to myself, that it's not moving the bottom part of the tank or aquarium. I'm probably wrong lol, but that's why I've been married to canisters and I have had good luck with them.