The Best Filter for Fish Tanks - Setting Up an Aquarium Sump

Hello everyone, it’s Pierre, the Fish Beast and welcome back.
Today’s video shows how I set up a new sump for the 210 gallon tank which I recently moved to a better spot in the fish room.
A sump is any container that is connected to a main display tank. This often serves as a location for filter media, heaters and even a place to put fish. It also increases the total volume of the aquarium which is always a good thing. There are many types of sump and these can be done for freshwater or saltwater.
In my opinion, sumps are the BEST filter for an aquarium IF you have the ability to set one up. They have the largest filter media capacity, keep equipment out of sight, are very customizable and are also on the cheaper side for what you get. I like using sumps since it keeps the main tank free of visible wires, heaters and filters.
I chose to use a 75 gallon tank as my sump, which brought the total system volume to 285 gallons.
To get water down to the sump, I set up 4 pipes in the overflows that came with the main tank. I then attached tubes and pipes underneath which drained into the sump.
To push water up into the tank, I installed a 1200 gallon per hour pump in the sump. This has a flexible PVC hose that went all the way up to and over the top of the main tank. I installed a union ball valve to control the flow of water.
So the water is pumped through tubing up to the main tank where it circulates and then overflows into the drain system and back into the sump.
Next I needed a way to divide the sump into compartments. I made dividers using lighting diffuser, black plastic mesh and zip ties. To ensure a tight fit on the sides of the dividers I used plastic hose cut in half and slid that around the edged.
When I was done, I placed the dividers in the sump to create compartments. I used a carpenter’s square to ensure that the dividers were perpendicular to all the sides of the sump. The divider closest to the pump didn’t need mesh since it would support foam.
I used black plastic grates to space the dividers.
I then used several ceramic tube media pieces to line the floor of 3 of the compartments. These would provide additional surface area for beneficial bacteria to grow and also helped with divider spacing.
I left a larger middle chamber free for my large heater and also as a refugium or extra fish space. I used some cheap glass cleaner magnets to support the upper parts of the dividers to ensure they wouldn’t move.
I also added coarse and fine foam in different areas of the sump for mechanical and additional biological filtration.
Now it was time to fill the tank and set up the filter media. harvested some K1 media from my trash can filter. I added it to the first chamber where the force of the draining water would help fluidize it. Finally I took a mature sponge filter and squeezed it into the tank water.
After a while, the K1 was fluidized. My plan was to add the rest when I move the fish back. The middle chamber had the heater, driftwood and a PVC cave. The 30 PPI foam kept the return pump section separate. This also had another heater and a UV sterilizer. Here you can see how the magnets keep the divider in place. An extra smaller chamber had some 50 PPI foam and a bit of Java moss in it.
And there you have it! A 75 gallon sump for filtering my 210 gallon display tank. Thanks for watching and happy fishkeeping!

[@fishnewhere387]

From the thumbnail I thought you were using pasta wheels as bio balls 😂

[@TheFishBeast]

lol 😂 you just gave me an idea 🤔

[@TheGlassBoxFish]

Wow! How did you make that look so easy? Very ingenious use of the magnet cleaners. Very cool!

[@TheFishBeast]

Thanks! 😊 I didn’t trust suction cups 🥲 and didn’t want the hassle of silicone