270g sump recommendations

[Maui The God]

Hello...Been a while since posting on here. Big lurker and reader of other posts though. since my last positive bought a house, battled custody and almost lost everything. The bounce back is real and now that the personal life has calmed down a build can be started. when i bought my house i also got myself a present being a 270g tank bundle from glass cages. 84"x24"x31" joe was amazing to work with and super helpful. Shout out to the whole team there honestly!

now the actual question i have. what would be some sump recommendations? size recommendations? brand maybe? the sump will be located in the stand as i dont have room for a filter room or ability to do anything outside or in the basement. i do plan on having a roller mat.

I've been looking at Bashsea pro sumps. I've used them before and absolutely love them, just expensive. even if i do go with their pro series that supports the roller mat im torn if i can do the 48"x18"x16" vs the 60"x18"x16". i understand bigger is always better. im not crazy with over complicating it, i like the multiple chambers of the bashsea bhut also would probably have the extra chamber just have bio media. just tough for me to really justify the 60" sump because of the price difference. that extra $400? could go to other equipment. i use bashsea as the example because thats what i was looking at.

any help/suggestions would be appreciated

 

[C_AWOL]

If you can live without fancy chambers and have enough height under the stand, I would opt for a basic 60-125g tank and call it a day.

 

[Maui The God]

If you can live without fancy chambers and have enough height under the stand, I would opt for a basic 60-125g tank and call it a day.

im not crazy about making my own sump. ive done it before and just wasnt crazy. completely user error most likely but for me its almost easier to have it already with the chambers and just go from there

 

[jft]

I spent a fortune on sumps over the years Bashsea leaked tideline leaked and then ran into problems with skimmer dimensions. They did NOT FIT. I would buy a standard tank and modify it. CHEAPER and BETTER IMO!

 

[Stevorino]

I've been a big fan of my Synergy Sump. I'm running a 280g display

 

[Maui The God]

I've been a big fan of my Synergy Sump. I'm running a 280g display

which one do you run?

 

[C_AWOL]

im not crazy about making my own sump. ive done it before and just wasnt crazy. completely user error most likely but for me its almost easier to have it already with the chambers and just go from there

Is there a particular reason why you need those chambers?
You wouldnt need to do much/anything for modifications unless you wanted a refugium in the same sump. In that case some egg crate and suction cups/filter foam would more than suffice.

Examples of some basic tanks I use as sumps without fancy baffles/partitions

 

[Maui The God]

Is there a particular reason why you need those chambers?
You wouldnt need to do much/anything for modifications unless you wanted a refugium in the same sump. In that case some egg crate and suction cups/filter foam would more than suffice.

Examples of some basic tanks I use as sumps without fancy baffles/partitions

i guess my own history of organization and clean look. when i had used a tank i dont know if it was like an ocd but it never seems as organized to me. i always had more comfort with just a prebuilt sump. i used a 75gal tank on a 180 tank before and just everything seems out of place no matter how i organized it. i had trouble with the skimmer at that time also. again i chalk it up to personal ocd or error.

while were here which bio media is that? is marine pure still the top? wheni last used a marine pure block it crumbled away anytime it got slightly touched. i swear if i looked at that block wrong itd crumble. when i removed that block from the sump when i took that tank down it crumbled like an oreo left in milk too long

 

[C_AWOL]

i guess my own history of organization and clean look. when i had used a tank i dont know if it was like an ocd but it never seems as organized to me. i always had more comfort with just a prebuilt sump. i used a 75gal tank on a 180 tank before and just everything seems out of place no matter how i organized it. i had trouble with the skimmer at that time also. again i chalk it up to personal ocd or error.

while were here which bio media is that? is marine pure still the top? wheni last used a marine pure block it crumbled away anytime it got slightly touched. i swear if i looked at that block wrong itd crumble. when i removed that block from the sump when i took that tank down it crumbled like an oreo left in milk too long

Not sure what exactly you're trying to organize but a skimmer specific chamber at best might aid in water height consistency. Nothing any ato can't do.

Just some basic ceramic media from an lfs that cost me $1 a piece over a decade ago. The darker ones have been in use for ~13 years by now and the yellowish ones were extras I had in a box due to lack of room at the time.
Frankly I wouldn't over think biomedia brands and just go with some leftover rock if you really need it. A lot cheaper compared to name brand stuff and you can use it for re-aquascaping if desired/aquascaping a new tank.

This is one of my sumps that's "fancier" with baffles
Is it more organized than the others because it's "fancy" or because I got better at organizing? Perhaps it's actually still a mess in which case I would agree with you!

 

[Maui The God]

Not sure what exactly you're trying to organize but a skimmer specific chamber at best might aid in water height consistency. Nothing any ato can't do.

Just some basic ceramic media from an lfs that cost me $1 a piece over a decade ago. The darker ones have been in use for ~13 years by now and the yellowish ones were extras I had in a box due to lack of room at the time.
Frankly I wouldn't over think biomedia brands and just go with some leftover rock if you really need it. A lot cheaper compared to name brand stuff and you can use it for re-aquascaping if desired/aquascaping a new tank.

This is one of my sumps that's "fancier" with baffles
Is it more organized than the others because it's "fancy" or because I got better at organizing? Perhaps it's actually still a mess in which case I would agree with you!

i think in the end ill have a ton of "extra" rock to throw in the sump. something ive always done is just had a biomedia brick of sorts to constantly stay in the sump with the extra rocks. the rocks may cycle in and out as i did some rescaping the main or starting new tanks. i started going away from them as ive collected more rock over the years.

i really appreciate the input and picture references! even to my eyes that last picture is more organized/cleaner.

side note the ocd may or may not have been influenced by my five year old son also haha. i had two tanks in the last couple years and one prebuilt "fancy" sump and one sump was a regular tank. he would always say the fancy sump was nice and would explain every chamber..this is where the water comes from and goes here..gets sucked up and poop comes out(skimmer) then goes here and through here and back up. the other sump he would say daddy idk where the water goes, no matter how much i tired to explain its the same thing haha

 

[BZOFIQ]

Why don't you have one built by GlassCages?

 

[BZOFIQ]

I had one 72 x 26 x 20 built out of glass, wouldn't have it any other way. Total size ~160 Gallons with about 105 gallons of water volume added to the display which is about 82 x 32 x 24h

Here is a pic when it came.

 

[Maui The God]

I had one 72 x 26 x 20 built out of glass, wouldn't have it any other way. Total size ~160 Gallons with about 105 gallons of water volume added to the display which is about 82 x 32 x 24h

Here is a pic when it came.

you know i didnt even consider it. ill have to look into it

 

[Oldreefer44]

Jeff at Lifereef will make one for you. Custom sizing, colors etc.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

For me, GEO all the way. Room for my 400g display and 2 frag tanks. He is incredible to work with. I drove the man crazy with my ever changing design updates.

 

[Maui The God]

Jeff at Lifereef will make one for you. Custom sizing, colors etc.

ive never heard of them but taking a look. from a quick look these are some pretty sumps

For me, GEO all the way. Room for my 400g display and 2 frag tanks. He is incredible to work with. I drove the man crazy with my ever changing design updates.

also never heard of them but again some pretty equipment.

i really appreciate the recommendations. is there a certain "size" i should be looking at or planning on? i obviously want to go as big as i can but also justifying price for 12" in length when i can put towards other equipment gets me. also could just be me not exactly knowing. this is going to be my biggest tank and its my dream build

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

ive never heard of them but taking a look. from a quick look these are some pretty sumps

also never heard of them but again some pretty equipment.

i really appreciate the recommendations. is there a certain "size" i should be looking at or planning on? i obviously want to go as big as i can but also justifying price for 12" in length when i can put towards other equipment gets me. also could just be me not exactly knowing. this is going to be my biggest tank and its my dream build

If you are going custom, they can steer you correctly, provided they know what they are doing. Someone should be able to tell you the % of display needed for the sump to handle overflow when pumps off. I forget what it is.

 

[Maui The God]

If you are going custom, they can steer you correctly, provided they know what they are doing. Someone should be able to tell you the % of display needed for the sump to handle overflow when pumps off. I forget what it is.

that % of display needed is also what im not sure about

 

[C_AWOL]

that % of display needed is also what im not sure about

You can calculate that by taking LxWxH and dividing that by 231.
For example your tank is 84x24xH (H being the lowest bulkhead return position from the top) to get a good gauge of how much back flow you will experience.

If we assume when the power goes off and it back drains 6" of water, thats (84x24x6)/231 which equates to a sump that needs to handle ~53 additional gallons on top of whatever will be in there already.

A 72x18x20 if you keep 9" of water in there has ~61.7 gallons of buffer room which can accomodate my calculated 6" of display back flow without factoring volume loss due to baffles/partitions

Hope this helps!

 

[Maui The God]

You can calculate that by taking LxWxH and dividing that by 231.
For example your tank is 84x24xH (H being the lowest bulkhead return position from the top) to get a good gauge of how much back flow you will experience.

If we assume when the power goes off and it back drains 6" of water, thats (84x24x6)/231 which equates to a sump that needs to handle ~53 additional gallons on top of whatever will be in there already.

A 72x18x20 if you keep 9" of water in there has ~61.7 gallons of buffer room which can accomodate my calculated 6" of display back flow without factoring volume loss due to baffles/partitions

Hope this helps!

YES!!!!! This is what i needed. i didnt know the conversion or how big the sump would need to be to accommodate back flow. do people still run check valves? ive seen less and less of them