Sump on a FW? Cannister filter? Or bioballs?

[Johnny Reefer]

Originally Posted by Dale

Just curious mark, what kind of F.W. tank do you have?
I have a planted community and don't really worry about nitrates - my plants use it and out compete the algae. The same with phosphates. For passive pH control I like to incorporate large pieces of driftwood.
All of those things you've mentioned can be incorporated into the sump anyways but to each his/her own

I had a 135g SA Cichlid tank, non-planted, which I just recently shut down. Also have a 90g planted tank which at one point was primarily Discus. I'm shutting this tank down next week. (Getting out of FW and upgrading SW). Finding time to do water changes can be a challenge for me sometimes, so the chemical medias I mentioned are a compromise. I agree that they could be incorporated into a sump. I'm just saying that I would use a canister....as the question was basically "What would you do?".....and this is what I would do. I've never had sumps on my FW tanks (although I thought of it) and have always used canisters. With my reeftank....I use a canister off the sump just 'cuz I'm so used to them and have it in my head that it is easier than media in the sump. But that may be just because working on the sump on my system is awkward due to minimal clearance under the stand. My thoughts may change on this when my SW upgrades are done. We'll see. Anyhoo, feel like I'm hijacking here, so I'll shut up now.

Cheers,