Refugium instead of sump?

[Phoenixphire55]

So I've always wanted to do a sump for my future 50 gallon goldfish tank. I want extremely good filtration because I plan to have 8 or 9 goldfish in it plus a couple weather loaches. I may have to do a 60 instead. Anyway I was thinking a sump would be great, but I've been reading about them and it sounds like they're noisy, and can flood unless I drill a hole in the tank and I'm not sure I want to do that. So I was thinking I could just use some really nice HOB filter or two, and then a refugium attached to the tank. I don't know much about refugiums either but it sounded like a cooler way to filter the tank. A sump is still totally a possibility if I can find a way to make one work for that tank. If I have a sump I don't really want to have any other filters on the tank, but if its necessary then I guess I can.

 

[neilanh]

Why the desire to use a sump? Why not some good canister filtration?

 

[FastFly67]

i'm looking into doing a sump for my future tank as well. i'm not worried about the noise or space because i'm thinking of having it plumbed down into the basement. i'm trying to find some DIY but can't seem to find ones with pretty pictures or anything more in depth.

 

[Phoenixphire55]

I've always thought sumps were cool and seemed really efficient. I have a small canister filter for my 30 gallon and its a piece of crap. The water basically trickles out of the output part. I assume its faulty and/or the tubes are clogged but its kind of soured me towards canisters. I'm still open to considering using one though. I wouldn't want to have to use more than one canister filter for my goldfish tank though, so that makes a sump or refugium more appealing.

 

[neilanh]

melevsreef.com has some great sump information.

I swear by my canister filters. Properly maintained, you can't get better filtration, IMO. A sump doesn't provide the same benefits on a FW tank that it does on a SW tank.

 

[jsoong]

2nd melevsreef site.

A sump can become a fuge if you put critters/plants in it. So the 2 are basically one & the same. SW people usu. have 3 or 4 compartments in the sump .... one for bioballs/filter media, one for Ca reactor, another for protein skimming, and one for a fuge. In FW, you don't need all the complexity. All you need is one compartment for the wet/dry filter, ther remainder of your sump is where your return pump sits. If you light & plant/stock that compartment, you have yourself a fuge. <PS - look at some pond designs as well, what I described is basically a 2 pond wet/dry setup.>

You don't need any other filters if you have a good sump setup. A sump is definitely more complicated & noisy. A good canister can certainly do the job as well. <Although for a goldfish setup, I'd oversize it ... eg a Fluval XP4 or even the FX for that 50 breeder.>