# sump vs. canister



## csnake (Feb 22, 2009)

I'm surrounded by canister filters, and I've never had an issue with them. And so, I was planning on buying a new 125 tomorrow and just using a few of my canister filters. However, I have an opportunity to pick up a 135 gallon with built in overflows that includes all the plumbing, the sump and pump for super cheap (plus I have an old/extra trickle filter lying around).

My question is.... noise? All the canisters I've ever had are super quiet, like you can't hear them at all type quiet! Will I get any noise from the overflows, wet/dry filter, and pumps that I don't get with the canisters? I know the benefits of all that filter media space, but is it worth sacrificing the silence of a few canisters?

Wet/dry people... help me out here!


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## solgood (Sep 23, 2009)

Love my wet/dry, But there is noise. There are things you can do to limit the noise, But its not like can filter.


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

If you enjoy "tinkering" with your equipment, get the drilled/sump based tank.
If you want to just do routine maintenance on the tank, use your spare cans on the other tank.
Sump systems can be made completely silent, but it involves some time and energy on your part.
If the costs are comparable and you enjoy working on your tank get the 135.
Worst case, you plug the holes and sell the sump.


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## rogersb (May 21, 2007)

I have a sumped reef and a FW canistered tank in my living room. I like having the extra volume of my sump, I can get in there and do work easily and not shut anything down, and I have an auto top off perefectly linked to it. My only problem is the noise. I've had it for a year and went too big on the return pump. I didn't do any research and just got a huge pump thinking I wouldn't have to buy power heads. What a mistake. I would suggest you use the sump but get a smaller return pump, somewhere around 5x the tank gph. Also get a submersible pump. That's another thing I'm changing, going from external to submersible.


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## paradigmsk8er (Apr 13, 2009)

I have a submersible pump, still have some slight buzzing but its minimal. That should be an easy fix.

My problem is the trickling noise from the overflow into the wet/dry. The filtration is very efficient and does a good job, my water is in great shape and its just running fishless right now. And as stated above, all my work is done in the sump and I keep an extra 15-20 gallons in my tank.

I have toned down the noise a lot, but with an overflow I think you'll always have noise. I'll keep playing, and see how the wife does with the noise, but I would say that is something you have to come to accept. I have hofer gurglebusters, so I have no gurgling...but its mentioned above..matching flow rates and getting everything to balance properly is very difficult. Right now my drain and return are matched well..but my drain lines, one is running at 60% and one at like 15-20%. So now I have to play to get it flowing at 100% to get rid of the noise. It takes time.


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## rarefaction (Aug 6, 2009)

I also love my sump, but I still wouldn't stop using my eheim. Half the fun is pondering improvements to my wet dry system, testing them, and then getting it quiet again. Silence can be achieved but it doesn't come easy...


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## Bearbear (May 8, 2010)

Love my wet/dry, just depends how much the noise bothers you and if you are willing to tinker with it to lower it.


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## Rick_Lindsey (Aug 26, 2002)

Out of curiosity, how much does flow rate affect noise level? I'm looking at a sump system that would probably have under 200gph of flow... what impact will this have on my noise level?

-Rick (the armchair aquarist)


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

In my experience, flow rate has a lot to do with noise, at least when using overflow boxes (I currently use Tidepool SOS overflows).

I have a 20 gallon "water reservoir" on a 100 gallon tank. At a high flow rate, I get some gurgles and occasional slurps.... regardless of how I adjust my overflow. Step down to a Quiet One 2200, which reduces my flow (at a head height of about 3 feet) to about 200GPH. At this low flow, the overflow is silent.


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## Rick_Lindsey (Aug 26, 2002)

I'm looking at drilling a 20 or 29 gallon tank, for use with a 10 gallon sump and a quiet-one 1200 pump (overkill, I know).

-Rick (The armchair aquarist, who moved since he last saw his glass drills )


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

Rick_Lindsey said:


> Out of curiosity, how much does flow rate affect noise level?
> -Rick (the armchair aquarist)


Noise is Directly Proportional to Flowrate. 

You can pretty much quiet any flowrate with enough tinkering.

What happens is you quiet one annoyance only to find another that is just as annoying. Rinse and Repeat. Sooner or later you end up right where you started.


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## KaiserSousay (Nov 2, 2008)

*What happens is you quiet one annoyance only to find another that is just as annoying. Rinse and Repeat. Sooner or later you end up right where you started.*
:lol: :lol: 
Drive a guy crazy kind of frustrating..eh..
But even with a certain amount of dementia left over, it was worth the fight.


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## NYRCBoatr (Jun 14, 2010)

this is an interesting post. I have a nice sump i used on a 55gal reef some 15years ago. i now have a 46bow, and a rena xp2 with mixed african's. I was thinking about rigging the sump and instead of using my old return pump which is external, too big and too noisy for the 46, i thought maybe use a small return pump or powerhead and run the output of the sump to the input of the rena, and then from the rena back up to the tank...i wonder if this would work...any ideas? i thought that if the rena was not moving enough water, the sump would overfill, but at ~300gph it should be enough...


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

I tried doing the same thing with a Fluval 404. It did not work. The pressure resulting from the "push" of the water into the canister blew the motor head seal and it started leaking.


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## NYRCBoatr (Jun 14, 2010)

interesting...was your return pump just too strong though? i wonder, if the sump was elevated in the cabinet, and i just use the siphon from the rena, to bring the water into the canister, the pump side should be enough to get it back up to the tank, just wont know if its enough flow to keep up with the siphon on the sump...hmmm


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

A problem with using two pumps in serial flow is they need to be matched or identical.

Mebbe consider disabling the pump in the can, unplug it or remove the impellar if the heater is integral, and go for a higher rated pump after the can back to the tank. opcorn:


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