filter/sump

[fishphoto]

Hi. Im new to keeping discus, and im about to try and build a sump filter system for my tanks. I have a number of different sized tanks the total volume of water is about 1000 Ltrs. I would be very grateful for any advise on how big my sump should be? what filter medium to use etc? Is there an in line heater available on the market to keep 1000 Ltres at 30 degrees.
thank you
regards--Robert

[drew22to375]

I'm not sure how big a sump should be for a fresh water 1000 liters of tanks. The main issue I could see is it just needs to be big enough to hold the pump/s heaters, Bio media/sponge filter and can handle the amount of water flow thru the sump. It also needs to be big enough to have enough room for all of the water to flow back to the sump from all of the tanks when the water pump/s are turned off. For reference Saltwater aquariums usually have the sumps about 1/3 the size of the main tank.

Drew..

[Graham]

Drew it doesn't need to be bigenough to handle all the water from all the tanks. It just needs to be able to handle what water is in the pipes and the bit that may back siphon or overflow out of the tanks.

The overflow/standpipe in each tank just needs to be no more that 3/8'' below the surface, so that's all the water that would come out of each of the tanks.

I have a 33 gallon as a sump for the 175 and it's never more than 1/2 filled when the power goes off.

Graham

[drew22to375]

Drew it doesn't need to be bigenough to handle all the water from all the tanks. It just needs to be able to handle what water is in the pipes and the bit that may back siphon or overflow out of the tanks.
Graham

Yes correct that is what I was trying to to explain. My brain and fingers are not always in-sync.

[machine77]

just might add.. the down side to a multi tank set up all running on one filter... central system, is if for some reason any of your fish get sick, there is a really good chance it will affect all your fish. just my 2 cents!
nolan

[fishphoto]

Thanks guys very helpful, i suppose having all the tanks running on one filter system could be a problem, as if one tank got sick then the rest would proberbly get sick also. I just think its worth the risk, as i could incorperate some sort of water change system into it, water changes at the moment is time consuming and wet.:) any ideas.

cheers-robert

[shoggoth43]

Depending on the size of the sump, you would just need to shut off the pump, drain the sump and refill to the proper level. Instant water change. If you needed to, you could do this a couple times a day. No need for panicking the fish by dropping water levels way down. You'll probably still need to siphon the bottoms of the tanks, but if you have the overflows drawing off the bottom of the tank you might not even need to worry about that. ( NOTE: the overflow drawing from the bottom is simple to implement, BUT you must do this correctly or you'll completely drain the tank which is likely not what you're after )

-
S