# 100g Mbuna tank with sump



## Lee79 (Nov 7, 2017)

I have been wanting to share my experiences with my fairly new tank for a while. About 11 months ago I converted an old reef tank into a cichlid tank. I have had many different set-ups through my 15 years of fish keeping but this one is by far the best and easiest to maintain.

I did a lot of research before starting my build, on this forum and others, as well as youtube. After many months, I had decided what IMO was the ideal set-up as far as maintainability and efficiently. These are my experiences and by know means definitive of anything, I consider myself a student of the hobby not a master.

Filtration:
Many people seem to favor commercial filters-especially canisters. My tank was already drilled and ready for a sump, so that is the route I choose. Now with SW tanks this is the norm, but with FW, not so much. I have no idea why this is other than maybe the cost of buying a drilled tank. I have had canister filters in the past and compared to the customizability of a sump it didn't like it.

Well it is Thanksgiving, and family is arriving. I will pick this up later. Happy Thanksgiving all.


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## BlueSunshine (Jul 13, 2014)

When family is gone and things settle down I would like to hear more details on your sump . Just ordered a drilled tank that will be used for african cichlids and will be venturing into the world of sumps.


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## Cyphound (Oct 20, 2014)

Well that was short on detail after the buildup.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I like canisters for the silence.


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## Lee79 (Nov 7, 2017)

Filtration:
As stated earlier, I chose to go with a sump. I use a standard footprint 55g tank with three chambers separated by baffles for a sump.

For mechanical filtration I use a filter sponge cut to size and wrapped in Polyfill quilt batting (100% polyethylene). See the diagram, the sponge wedges nicely in the gap between the baffles. I pay $5.00 a year for filtration.

For biological: Kaldnes K1 moving bed. IMO it doesn't get any better than this. It has been maintenance free every since it has been set up. It did take a good bit of trial and error to get it moving around like it is supposed to. Joey/King of DIY has some great videos on youtube concerning this type of filtration. Where my setup differs is I do not use any air, just one power head pointing straight up. I have studied these filters in detail, and I have seen many sources say these filters are notorious for stripping oxygen out of the water with out having enough air being pumped in to keep the water churned up. That being said, I have also read that disturbing the surface of the water is what oxygenates the water, not the air itself. Air pumps are noisy, especially one big enough to properly agitate K1 media. Again, trial and error, during my cycling I experimented with powerheads. I ended up with one large powerhead in the center of the chamber pointed straight up, it agitates the media extremely well and I have never had any problems with O2.

As you can see in my diagram, there is an extra pump on the left side. This is for water changes and also maintaining the water level of my sump. I run a drip system that adds 20-25 gallons per day to my sump and as the level rises, the water is pumped out (King of DIY has a great video, I'm so original :wink: ). I LOVE having a drain pump and a water line run into my cabinet. Now about my tap water, I have only chlorine in my water, no chloramine and the ph is about 7.6-7.8. That means a .5 micron carbon filter is all I need to dechlorinate for a drip system. THIS WILL NOT WORK IF YOU HAVE CHLORAMINE IN YOUR WATER, PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH AND DON'T KILL YOUR FISH!!!!! I change the cartridge at about 2/3 of the capacity it is designed to filter. Did I say how awesome it is having water run to my aquarium? I put more thought and design into this than anything else. My water and drain lines are run through the wall my tank shares with a bathroom. The biggest advantage to a drip system is I only change my water every six to eight weeks, and even then only about 30% (basically the sump's capacity). Again, I must give fair warning, my drip system keeps the toxins in my water very diluted. And as of now, I only have 10 2"-4" fish in 150 gallons of water. Do your research and don't kill your fish. I am not saying you don't need to do water changes.

That covers water and filtration except for ph and additives. That's easy, I add nothing as there is no point with a drip system. Anything I add to the water will be diluted down anyway. Also, I don't use any thing like crushed coral to raise my ph. Whatever comes out of the tap is what I get. I know the water conditions at my LFS and that is what I mimc (dechlorinated tap water with around 7.6 ph). He sells only tank raised specimens, nothing wild, so achieving that perfect Lake Malawi ph is not necessary.

My return pump is spectacular. I use a Jebao DCT-6000. It is a dc pump with ten speed settings, and it is dead silent. I run it at 50% always and I believe that turns my display tank over about 8-10 times per hour (it has been a while since I "mathed" it though). I will never have another ac return pump. I use my old one as the drain pump and it is LOUD. I have to turn it and my drip system off at night.

More to come.


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## Lee79 (Nov 7, 2017)

BlueSunshine said:


> When family is gone and things settle down I would like to hear more details on your sump . Just ordered a drilled tank that will be used for african cichlids and will be venturing into the world of sumps.


Please ask any questions you might have, and I'll answer what I can.


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## Lee79 (Nov 7, 2017)

DJRansome said:


> I like canisters for the silence.


That is very true, and I hate excess noise.


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Nice! I thought about converting my 1st chamber to K1, like most fluidized bed setups, but so far my aragonite bed has been working pretty awesome so I don't want to change it as of yet. I am using a layer of lava rock, ceramic rings, Eheim substrat pro and a gallon of matrix for bio media. I use a prefilter pad and coarse sponge above that. I have a canister filter with the intake and return in the sump for mechanical filtration so I can flow more water through the biological media and have less restriction. I'm using a jebao 12000 and a Current USA 6010 as return pumps on my my 180 gallon tank. I'm wondering if you're getting enough turnover rate using a 6000 on 50% I've got both pumps running at about 75% on mine.


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## Lee79 (Nov 7, 2017)

My tank was dirty in these. I had a light fixture go out and I wanted to show the dramatic difference of algae from one side to the other.


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## Lee79 (Nov 7, 2017)

caldwelldaniel26 said:


> Nice! I thought about converting my 1st chamber to K1, like most fluidized bed setups, but so far my aragonite bed has been working pretty awesome so I don't want to change it as of yet. I am using a layer of lava rock, ceramic rings, Eheim substrat pro and a gallon of matrix for bio media. I use a prefilter pad and coarse sponge above that. I have a canister filter with the intake and return in the sump for mechanical filtration so I can flow more water through the biological media and have less restriction. I'm using a jebao 12000 and a Current USA 6010 as return pumps on my my 180 gallon tank. I'm wondering if you're getting enough turnover rate using a 6000 on 50% I've got both pumps running at about 75% on mine.


Ahhhh, I see. As I said it has been a while since I ran the numbers. When I chose that setting I was aiming for around 8-10 times an hour turnover. I actually have it set at the middle setting, around five dots. I think the first dot is actually 50%. I wish I could remember where I found what each setting actually was. Now I want to re-calculate it, and I was so confident it was set correctly. On your Jebao what position on the little light bar is 75%?


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Well I'm running it two dots away from full speed so I guess that would be more like 80% actually. Each dot is a 10% power increase. Are you only running one drain to the sump? What size?


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

Lee79...

what kind of rocks do you have?...

and how high in the tank do you have them?... it looks like may be 3/4 of the tank...

do you keep the water level all the way up?...

:fish: :-? :-? :-? :fish:


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## BlueSunshine (Jul 13, 2014)

Thank You for the details.


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## Lee79 (Nov 7, 2017)

caldwelldaniel26 said:


> Well I'm running it two dots away from full speed so I guess that would be more like 80% actually. Each dot is a 10% power increase. Are you only running one drain to the sump? What size?


You might find this interesting or useful. It took some searching to find this, and I have seen this other places as well. To give proper credit, this was posted on Reef2Reef.com by glb on the thread "return sump speed and water level question". This is a chart for each power setting.










After calculating and adjusting for head ht. I am currently pushing about 2450 L per hour up to the display which is about 647 gph. I could probably bump it up a little. With the amount of rock and sand I have, I would say my total water volume including the sump is around 100 gallons.


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## Lee79 (Nov 7, 2017)

joselepiu said:


> Lee79...
> 
> what kind of rocks do you have?...
> 
> ...


I am not sure what they are exactly, maybe some type of shale or sandstone. They were collected by a friend of mine from the banks of a river in northern AL in the foothills of the Appalachia Mountain chain. I have one piece of petrified wood in there as well.

My water level is maintained by my overflow. It stays about one inch from the top. The rocks do come up pretty high, probably about 3/4 of the tank. The pictures just don't capture the depth well. The rocks in the back are actually leaning back against the glass, the bottom is pulled away about 1"-2" to create a nice long cave along the back wall. This also provides plenty of hiding places. I really enjoy watching them chase each other through the rock work. I have it set up in such a way that the fish can go into the rocks and come out just about anywhere.


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## Lee79 (Nov 7, 2017)

Canopy and Stand: 
The stand came with the aquarium and is made of pine and was unfinished when I bought it. I stained and sealed it as well as installed a back and bottom in it. That means the stand is completely enclosed except for the doors on the front - why that is worth noting is for two reasons. 
1. Being enclosed it dampens the sound of any equipment I have down there. This is good since it is in my bedroom.
2. The sump (55g tank) is now built in to the stand because it is to large to come through the doors. So if anything goes wrong or I want to do any major mods to the sump, like moving baffles, etc., I have to tear down everything. But on the flip side how often would you need to do that?

When the lights go out, the fish get busy pilling the sand in that corner one mouth full at a time. It make it look I have way more sand than I do.









The canopy is handmade. I tied to match the stand as close as I could. So it to was made from pine, I stained them together so no problems matching colors. I am no carpenter, but I do know this much, different woods take stains differently. If you want the colors and grain to match, you have to use the same kind of wood. Of course if you are going to paint it a solid color that does not really matter as much.










Inside the canopy is a 60" light strip I bought off of Amazon earlier this month. It is attached to the underside of the canopy with about about a 2" gap between it and the canopy. I have no idea where those little brackets came from, but they came in handy. The light is made buy AE-Shop, sorry I can't figure out how to post a link. I am very pleased with the light so far, it runs really cool and gives the tank a nice shimmer. The color temperature is a nice cool white, which makes the colors of my fish pop nicely.


















Also you can see my cooling fan and vent holes. This is really a hold hover from days gone by, when lights put out a lot more heat than they do now. But if you are still running T5's, PC's, or MH's under a canopy this design is noteworthy. I use a four inch fan on one end blowing out, and put my vent hole on the other end. This creates excellent air flow across my light fixture by pulling in cool air from one end and blowing out hot air on the other. The vent is actually the same hole size I drilled for the fan covered with an extra fan vent. From the outside, both ends look the same.


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

I like the canopy and it just gave me an idea of something to do to mine (the chain you have on the right side to hold the door). Didn't even think of that. Thanks


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

gillmanjr said:


> (the chain you have on the right side to hold the door).


depending on the material (obviously  :lol: ) they might oxidize, right?...

opcorn: opcorn: opcorn:


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## Lee79 (Nov 7, 2017)

joselepiu said:


> gillmanjr said:
> 
> 
> > (the chain you have on the right side to hold the door).
> ...


 :thumb: I know, it's terrible. I don't even notice it anymore. This canopy use to sit over a reef tank. I do not miss the salt at all.


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## Lee79 (Nov 7, 2017)

gillmanjr said:


> I like the canopy and it just gave me an idea of something to do to mine (the chain you have on the right side to hold the door). Didn't even think of that. Thanks


The lock comes in handy as well because it secures the the lid from coming open when taking the canopy on and off.


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Yes, stainless steel would be the only chain material that would hold up long term under those conditions.


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

or some kind of plastic... given that is only visible when the canopy is open...


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## scubacrazy123 (Jan 5, 2015)

I too am in the process of converting an ex reef tank into a cichlid tank.
It's a similar sump to yours, but I have another chamber where my skimmer used to sit. I use a fluidised sand filter, and another reactor full of Siporax.
Also, my heaters are in there, controlled by a TC10 controller, which also has fans connected if the temp goes up. There is also a top-up system in place, whic I like.
I much prefer sumps, as it's what I'm used to !!


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

I went to Home Depot last night and got a small length of chain for mine. They have small black chain at home depot, thats what I used. I think its some kind of rubberized coating on the chain, not paint. Its perfect though.


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

:thumb: ...


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