Sump

Dwaynereece

New member
I was given a 200gl tank last week and I'm in the middle of cleaning it. My question is how big of a sump will I need?


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I would use as big as you can find/get under your stand. The increase in water volume, and the ability to use a large section as a refugium will make for an awesome 200gal tank with less maintenance (from my research) I am using ~50% DT volume as sump in my new tank and I am seeing pretty much no variance in water parameters with fish only.
 
There is no "formula" for sump size other than bigger the better as that gives you more water volume thus changes/issues in water chemistry,etc.. are not nearly as big of a deal..
But that also means more water, more cost, greater potential maintenance, possibility for more water on the floor,etc...

In general plan it out based on the equipment you intend to keep in there and go from that..

You don't even need a sump to BTW.. But its sure nice to stick a skimmer,etc.. down there vs hanging off the tank where you can see it..
But.. you don't even need a skimmer... so...

Its all about what YOU want to do with the tank..
 
I have a 265. All I could find to fit in my stand was a 40 long. It works great....but... my compartment for my heaters (refugium) is a bit small and I can 'just' get my heaters in there with some creative placement.
All that said, if you could go with a 50 long do it. You'll have more room for your equipment. If your stand hasn't already been built by someone else-mine was- then you could build it with sump size in mine.
I plan on making my own acrylic sump in the future so I can get something long and skinny to fit in my stand-I can't afford to custom order a sump which is a thing, but it ain't cheap!


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If you have a tall stand, I would do a 55 gallon. Then that way if you want some space in the display you can put some extra rock down in the sump.
 
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What are the dimensions of your tank?I personally would not use a standard dimension 55, they are too narrow and with the DT at 200 gals I would expect a fairly good sized return pump to fit the DT size would be too much flow through the narrowness of a 55. A 50 or 40 breeder makes for a good sump, they both have the same footprint but IMO are a bit small for a 200, a standard 75 would be nice if you can fit it.
 
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