Sump Setup Advice for 180g Show Tank

[Tommy75]

Hi everyone!

I’ve been keeping community tanks for about 15 years now—mostly with sponge, HOB, and canister filters—and never felt the need for a sump. But now that I’ve finally dipped my toes into the world of discus (currently waiting on a pair to hopefully do their thing in a 29g breeding setup!), I’m planning to upgrade my scratched-up 150g to a 180g discus show tank.

This time around, I’m aiming for a cleaner look and better long-term stability, and I’m considering going with a 40g sump. The 180g will be ordered through my LFS and will come pre-drilled and plumbed for sump filtration. I’d really appreciate some help and advice from fellow discus keepers here who’ve gone down the sump route.

Here are my main questions:

1. Is a 40g sump enough for a 180g discus tank? I’ve heard mixed opinions and want to make sure I plan right from the start.
2. DIY vs pre-built sump: I have a spare 40g that I could convert into a 3-chamber sump with baffles, but the cost of ready-made sumps shocked me. Is building my own a decent option, or worth investing in a commercial one?
3. Plumbing concerns: What’s the best way to set up plumbing to prevent overflows during power outages or drain-back issues?
4. Extended vacations: A couple times a year I’m away for 2–3 weeks. With a sump, is water loss due to evaporation a big issue? I’m concerned about the display tank level dropping below the overflow if I’m not there to top off.
5. Would love to see pics of your sump setups—especially those running discus tanks. It would help a ton to see what’s working for others.

I’ve learned so much from this forum already, and I’m really hoping to tap into the knowledge here to get this setup right from the start. Appreciate any input, tips, or photos you’re willing to share!

[Charlyc11]

I been using the wet/dry sumps and I am very happy with them. Also not to expensive but I over shoot on size due to evaporation. I use the 180 gallon for my 125 and the 150 gallon for the 90 gallon tank. The brand I use are the Aqua-link and you can get them barebones and use your own media or complete. The picture below is complete, he also has normal sumps at a decent price check his web site or call him real nice guy and very well made products, his name is Tim I met hime personally when I picked up my wet/dry.

Aqua-link For 200 gallons.

[danotaylor]

I don’t keep discus at the moment but I have twin co-joined tsunami sumps with wet dry towers on my 560gal stingray tank.
The answer to qn #3; the height of the weirs cause your main tank level to remain constant. The stand pipe drains behind the weir are usually about an inch or so from the desired water level in your display. The weir controls the water level in the tank. The way to avoid over flowing is to fill the main tank with your return pump/s off. Let the water fill the main tank, flow over the weir and fill behind the weir and up into your standpipe. Will will flow down into your sump. Fill your sump is as full as you want it. If fill mine to about 2” from the top of the sump. Turn on the pumps. The sump water level will drop as water is pumped up into the display tank and water will begin to return to the sump via your standpipes. When the water line in the sump stabilizes with the pump/s running, mark the water level in the sump with a permanent marker or piece of tape. This becomes your “fill” line for when the pumps are running. Never fill past this line when the pumps are on. In the event of a power outage as the main tank drains this will prevent your sump overflowing.

[Second Hand Pat]

I have been running sumps on tanks since I got my first 180 in 1986. The sump was like the two chamber one like you see in Chuck's post. When I layer the filtration material in the chamber I like to use quilting batting to filter out the fine stuff on (top down), a layer of foam under that (about an inch or so thick and several inches of pot scubbers under that for the biomeda. IMO people buy the fancy and expensive stuff which IMO is not needed.
Pat

[Iminit]

Wellcome to the site! This is my 180 I set up in 4/22. I use a wet/dry. It’s an old amiracle maybe 30g? Not quite sure. It’s got 2 chambers filled with media. Wet/dry balls and various other media. Most money spent on wet/dry was the pump and overflow. Overflow is an esshops. Pump is dc and moves about 1k gallons an hour. 3 years now. This thing moves so much water through so much media it’s all you need. But this is diy and if never using one I’d go Chucks route.
Aqua link makes great wet/drys I’m running one since 19 on my 125. I too oversized to a 150. Not sure if I needed to? Again these things hold so much media I doubt it’s all being used. Mine still has all the original media plus some added stuff I had laying around. The aqualink comes with everything but the pump. Again go with a dc pump. I’ll get back to you on the brand I’m using. I bought 2 for the price of one of the name brand ones. Still haven’t used the back up. Hoses come with the unit. Some replumb with pvc pipes I used the hoses. Works fine and everything is movable.

[Iminit]

The reason so many have floods is they never actually set them up as Daniel explained. Fill your tank set your overflow so the water fills your sump about 6”. Start your pump as check your flow rate. You’ll want to move 1k g an hour. Make sure your sump stays at the 6” mark. Add water to keep at 6”. Shut pump off and see how high the back fill brings the water level up. The overflow has an adjustment bolt from front/intank to back/outside tank with a slot to move the front up and down in the tank. This adjusts the flow of water going into the sump. This is how you keep your sump from overflowing. You need to set the amount of water so that it only fills up 3/4 of your sump on a power outage
Next yes there is evaporation. I find there is more with sumps than other filters. So you have to watch the water level inside the sump. If it runs too low the pump won’t have water to move. The dc pumps have an auto shut off when running dry. So if going on an extended vacation you’ll need someone to keep the sump full.
Next discus. They need water changes. Because of this the evaporation really doesn’t come into play. You’ll be changing 100% a week. I do 2 50% water changes a week. This is something else to think about if going on month long trips.

[Charlyc11]

To tell you the truth Tom (Iminit) got me into the wet dry sumps. I have two in service and two backups. I added floats for evaporation and I have in my water room a 6 gallon tank that feeds the floats as the sump evaporates and in case of failure only 6 gallons max will feed to any pf the two tanks.. I can switch to a larger tank if I go on vacation.

Here is my 125G with a Aqua-link 2020 EXT Wet Dry Filter rated for 180 gallons.




This my 90G with an Aqua-link 2020 Wet Dry Filter rated for 150 gallons.

[Tommy75]

Thank you for sharing your setup details and picture, this was very helpful and provided me tons of ideas!

[Tommy75]

To tell you the truth Tom (Iminit) got me into the wet dry sumps. I have two in service and two backups. I added floats for evaporation and I have in my water room a 6 gallon tank that feeds the floats as the sump evaporates and in case of failure only 6 gallons max will feed to any pf the two tanks.. I can switch to a larger tank if I go on vacation.

Here is my 125G with a Aqua-link 2020 EXT Wet Dry Filter rated for 180 gallons.




This my 90G with an Aqua-link 2020 Wet Dry Filter rated for 150 gallons.

Float for helping with evaporation loss is so cool! Is the water gravity fed or are you running pumps with the float? Please share more on this setup

[Charlyc11]

I have a small pump that it's always running with a splitter that pumps back to the reservoir and the other to the two floats in the sumps. This way their is no strain on the pump and it's good enough to trickle top off the sumps. You could have it connected to the tap but if it fails you have a flood but with a 6 gallon tank that would be minimal if none.

[Tommy75]

I have a small pump that it's always running with a splitter that pumps back to the reservoir and the other to the two floats in the sumps. This way their is no strain on the pump and it's good enough to trickle top off the sumps. You could have it connected to the tap but if it fails you have a flood but with a 6 gallon tank that would be minimal if none.

Thanks again for sharing, i will certainly try this method whenever i am traveling for a long time next.
I love your tank setup, did you paint the bottom white?

[Charlyc11]

Thanks again for sharing, i will certainly try this method whenever i am traveling for a long time next.
I love your tank setup, did you paint the bottom white?

Yes I did from the outside.