DIY trickle tower sump on multiple aquariums?

[Jabberjaw]

Has anyone used Joey's DIY cheap and easy trickle tower sump? I watched his video and am thinking of using it for a rack of aquariums. I have 3x 10's, 2x 20's that I'm wanting to put on a central sump and thinking this might be work. It's going to be hidden, so idc what it looks like, I just want it cheap and functional. Thoughts?

 

[OceanTruth]

I used to run something like that with a 90 gallon tank and a 50 gallon sump. It was pretty much my first DIY project with fish tanks. I thought it worked great and it was very easy to maintenance. I had no issues with it for several years. If I ever want to go back to using a sump I’d probably just do it again.

[Jabberjaw]

On 10/26/2022 at 5:45 AM, OceanTruth said:

I used to run something like that with a 90 gallon tank and a 50 gallon sump. It was pretty much my first DIY project with fish tanks. I thought it worked great and it was very easy to maintenance. I had no issues with it for several years. If I ever want to go back to using a sump I’d probably just do it again.

That makes me feel really good. I don't know about doing a 50 gallon sump though that's awfully large. I was leaning more along the lines of a 20 gallon. I can pack a lot of filtration in a trickle filter in a 20 gallon tank. At the moment I only have a total of 70 gallons between the tanks but even if I added tanks in that rack it wouldn't be able to fit more than 90 gallons. A 20 or a 29 I would think would be big enough, don't you?

Edited October 26, 2022 by Jabberjaw

[gardenman]

It's hard to find a filtering technique/method that doesn't work. Trickle towers work well but can be a tick noisy. Evaporation also increases a bit. If you have some sort of media and some sort of water flow through it, and you don't obsessively clean it, it'll work as a filter. What's best? Eh....it depends on your situation, wants, experience, etc. Pretty much everything works. Sponges, box filters, HOBs, canisters, sumps, and more exotic things like rotary drums and Bakki showers all work. In an absolutely perfect world, this is the best filter ever made situation, you would have a filter that physically removed waste from the water column (most filters just trap the waste but don't remove it.)  You'd have a large biofiltration chamber for aerobic breakdown and an even larger anaerobic/plant chamber with very slow water flow for nitrate consumption. 

The physically removing the waste can be done in a sump using a rolling fleece prefilter. Instead of tank water going through a sock it goes into the fleece filter that traps the debris and then advances the fleece with the debris in it out of the water column. (Rotary drum filters work in a similar fashion.) Lots of makers are hopping onto the rolling fleece filter idea. Klir, Clarisea, Red Sea, Aquamax, and others are all fielding such units these days. If you get the waste out of the water column completely you vastly limit its ability to breakdown and pollute the water. Typical filters simply trap it but keep it in the water column.  Get it out completely and it's much less of an issue. K1-type fluidized media in its various forms seems the best right now for biofiltration. More and more hobbyists are exploring the deep mud and bog type sections for nitrate control/removal.

Whatever works for you is what's best for you. You can build an extremely effective filter for under $20 (sponge filter, air pump, airline tubing) or spend $20,000 or more. And there's absolutely no guarantee that the more expensive type is better. You can't really go wrong with anything as long as there's media and water flowing through it.

 

[Jabberjaw]

On 10/26/2022 at 10:38 AM, gardenman said:

It's hard to find a filtering technique/method that doesn't work. Trickle towers work well but can be a tick noisy. Evaporation also increases a bit. If you have some sort of media and some sort of water flow through it, and you don't obsessively clean it, it'll work as a filter. What's best? Eh....it depends on your situation, wants, experience, etc. Pretty much everything works. Sponges, box filters, HOBs, canisters, sumps, and more exotic things like rotary drums and Bakki showers all work. In an absolutely perfect world, this is the best filter ever made situation, you would have a filter that physically removed waste from the water column (most filters just trap the waste but don't remove it.)  You'd have a large biofiltration chamber for aerobic breakdown and an even larger anaerobic/plant chamber with very slow water flow for nitrate consumption. 

The physically removing the waste can be done in a sump using a rolling fleece prefilter. Instead of tank water going through a sock it goes into the fleece filter that traps the debris and then advances the fleece with the debris in it out of the water column. (Rotary drum filters work in a similar fashion.) Lots of makers are hopping onto the rolling fleece filter idea. Klir, Clarisea, Red Sea, Aquamax, and others are all fielding such units these days. If you get the waste out of the water column completely you vastly limit its ability to breakdown and pollute the water. Typical filters simply trap it but keep it in the water column.  Get it out completely and it's much less of an issue. K1-type fluidized media in its various forms seems the best right now for biofiltration. More and more hobbyists are exploring the deep mud and bog type sections for nitrate control/removal.

Whatever works for you is what's best for you. You can build an extremely effective filter for under $20 (sponge filter, air pump, airline tubing) or spend $20,000 or more. And there's absolutely no guarantee that the more expensive type is better. You can't really go wrong with anything as long as there's media and water flowing through it.

 

So, I really didn't get the answer I was looking for. Would a trickle Tower and a 20 long or 29 gallon be enough filtration for multiple tanks that contain a maximum total gallons of 90 to 100 gallons be adequate or am I going to have to figure out a different route?  I'm not really concerned with the noise factor due to of the location of the sump , I'm more concerned with being able to pack the most amount of filtration in the smallest amount of area for a price I can afford. Otherwise I need to stay with all my sponge filters until I can build a larger regular sump and I don't really want to wait. A central sump would make it a lot easier to keep all of the aquariums cleaner as well as do water changes. I guess I could just do it and watch my numbers and see what happens. Anyone have any ideas or advice on the particular type of filtration I am talking about?

[OceanTruth]

On 10/26/2022 at 9:19 AM, Jabberjaw said:

That makes me feel really good. I don't know about doing a 50 gallon sump though that's awfully large. I was leaning more along the lines of a 20 gallon. I can pack a lot of filtration in a trickle filter in a 20 gallon tank. At the moment I only have a total of 70 gallons between the tanks but even if I added tanks in that rack it wouldn't be able to fit more than 90 gallons. A 20 or a 29 I would think would be big enough, don't you?

I agree 50 gallons was definitely overkill. It’s just what I had on hand and I didn’t want to get something new just to use as a sump. In my opinion, 20 or a 29 would work perfectly fine. If both work space wise or ease of obtaining I would go with the 29. Nothing wrong with extra water running through a system. I’m no filter expert though, I just love sumps even though I’m not running any at the moment.

[Jabberjaw]

On 10/26/2022 at 11:43 AM, OceanTruth said:

I agree 50 gallons was definitely overkill. It’s just what I had on hand and I didn’t want to get something new just to use as a sump. In my opinion, 20 or a 29 would work perfectly fine. If both work space wise or ease of obtaining I would go with the 29. Nothing wrong with extra water running through a system. I’m no filter expert though, I just love sumps even though I’m not running any at the moment.

That makes me feel better. I kind of figured a 20 or 29 would be fine. I have both a 20 would fit better but I guess I'll just have to wait and see how high the water level needs to be. Thank you