Fluval FX5 vs A Sump

[CEverii]

For a75g Cichlid tank, which would be better?

-Fluval FX5 retails around $199 on ebay

OR

-Pretty sure I can get around 20-30 gallon sump/return pump with bioballs for around the same price.​

 

[mattrox]

For being compact, I'd go for the fx-5. Also, to me it seems less fuss than a sump.

 

[Deep Seven]

I don't know anything about Cichlids in particular, but if you have the space I'd go for sump for the extra water volume and cleaner display tank.

 

[HUKIT]

I run a FX/5 and a Aqua Pro 175 sump on my 150 mbuna. I have a pretty heavy bio-load with over 60 fish.

The fluval is filled with Biomax and the sump is filled with Bioballs and a prefilter pad.

 

[CEverii]

I run a FX/5 and a Aqua Pro 175 sump on my 150 mbuna. I have a pretty heavy bio-load with over 60 fish.

The fluval is filled with Biomax and the sump is filled with Bioballs and a prefilter pad.

So on my 75g, which one would you rather have? Probably going to have between 20-30 fish. 20-25 if possible, but in case of aggression issues, I want to have a filter that can cope with that many fish if necessary.

 

[HUKIT]

I would prefer the sump over the Fluval for overall filtration due to a higher capacity for bacteria growth and media options depending on sump layout.

 

[WhiteDevil]

Sump over fluval. get an eheim if any canister, they produce alot more filtration per dollar spent.
I run a aquapro(sealife systems) 175 on my 52g ram/angel tank and a aquapro 300 on my 210 with a eheim pro 3 2080 canister as well.

sump pros are water volume, water clarity and ease of maintenance , NO canister is easier to maintain then a sump. In my sumps all I gotta do is change out filter pads on top thats it. with the eheim i gotta shut things down, remove hoses, wheel to the sink, drain, rinse, drain,rinse, replace media, sift media.

get a sump.

 

[CEverii]

Thanks for the info. Yeah I called around and I can get a sump + 800gph return pump for about $150. The FX5 is, like I said, $200. If its cheaper, and better, would rather do that lol. Plus, not like i'll need bioballs or anything. I'll have about 100lbs of base rock that will become LR eventually right?

 

[WhiteDevil]

When i was buying filters for my 210, I got the aquapro 300 w/ 2x model 12 pumps(1200 gph each), the thing with return pumps is head height as in how high does it have to pump to get the water back into the tank, and they lose alot with height.

I priced the FX5 and the pro 3 2080 eheim, both were around 400 bucks, however the eheim had alot more to it and alot better water flow design then the fluval.
I dont know anything about salt so i cant say either way on the lr however i do know some folks that have sumped marine tanks and they always use bioballs.

 

[CEverii]

Question I guess Im trying to ask is that if LR works the same in a FW tank as a SW tank. If so, then I think that a sump would be a better option just for the water volume factor, and throwing some carbon in there.

If I use a canister, wouldnt me having LR in the tank and the media in the filter kind of working against eachother?

 

[HUKIT]

I don't know about live rock but having that in the sump will have bactiera growth but I would use the Bioballs for media or pot scubbers from the dollar store.

If your looking to raise the ph and your using crushed coral in the sump that's different.

 

[Crepe]

Question I guess Im trying to ask is that if LR works the same in a FW tank as a SW tank. If so, then I think that a sump would be a better option just for the water volume factor, and throwing some carbon in there.

If I use a canister, wouldnt me having LR in the tank and the media in the filter kind of working against eachother?

I hope you're not considering on using LR in FW lol. But yah, essentially if you had a pile of rocks in your sump it'd work the same as bioballs or biomax or what have you. However, SW supports a greater bacterial density than FW as it's more oxygen rich due to their having a huge water flow rate. So it's more effecient to just use something like biomax in lieu of rocks in the sump. The rocks in your DT won't supply much filtering capacity as LR does in Marine set ups.