1000+ questions :)

[Lija]

You could still drill low on the side for a sump. There are a lot of advantages to a sump, but they can be a pita to set up. It's getting that right overflow/return rates set right. That's the pain. But the advantages outweigh that. You can heat the sump instead of the tank. Water changes are much easier, removing excess water is easier. If you plant your sump with live plants, you increase your biological filter to a ridiculous size, but mostly, you don't have to worry about accessing any mechanical parts inside the tank, leaving you a lot more room for the frogs.


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

what is a sump? I mean i know in theory, it is a tank that is getting water pumped in and out, usually placed under the main tank and for advanced fish tank people, that wasnt ever applied to me
Is it ultimately fish tank without fish?

You can laugh now

[deranged chipmunk]

what is a sump? I mean i know in theory, it is a tank that is getting water pumped in and out, usually placed under the main tank and for advanced fish tank people, that wasnt ever applied to me
Is it ultimately fish tank without fish?

You can laugh now

no laughing. it's kind of an abstract concept really. but think of a sump this way; it's a much larger, open concept of a canister filter. that's kind of the bare bones of it.
water leaves the tank, enters the sump (the canister), and is filtered by numerous ways. you can use foam blocks, live plants, offset eggcrate panels that you grow algae on, filter floss, bio balls, ect. then you pump it back to the tank. it increases water volume, making it easier to stabilize water chemistry.

and yes, i guess you could romanticize it by calling it a fishless fish tank. but then again, i keep a 30g planted tank just for growing plants. no fish. so, i guess then there's the question of when is a fishless fishtank a sump lol