Sump for 55gal...how big?

[ibr3ak]

Would a 10 gallon sump (with about 5 gallons of bio media) be enough for a 50-55gal mbuna tank (10-15 adult fish) ? (and no other filtration).

[Preposterous]

You should direct that to the marine peeps, they are the sump experts. For biological filtration all you really need is enough surface area and that certainly can fit in a 10 gallon aquarium, might consider some spongy-foamy stuff in addition to the bioballs. Also A. cichlids are messy and mechanical filtration is pretty important if you want to avoid frequent water changes. The Eheim prefilter rules.

[ibr3ak]

Yea I actually thought about posting this in the SW forum, but thought since it's for FW and cichlids I'd post it here.

In addition to bio balls I was also thinking of adding filter floss and whatever other filter media (to take care of mech. and chem.) I can in a stocking (carbon, etc..).

What I'm not really sure about is will a 10 gallon be enough for the tank size and the bioload.

P.S. if a mod could please move this to the SW diy I'd appreciate it.

[Mgamer20o0]

the bigger the better. 10 gal should be able to work but if you can fit something bigger i would.

[ibr3ak]

The only reason for the 10 is it is all I have to use for a sump, but if anything I guess I can get a rubbermaid tub larger than 10 gal :) as long as it fits into the cabinet.

[WeeNe858]

10 is way to small, its better off a qt or a fuge. i suggest a 25 gallon +

[ibr3ak]

I've been doing some reading (alot actually :) ) and alot of the diy sump plans list 10 gallon sump tanks for a 55, which also say that it's not the size of the sump but how many gph goes through it and how much media is in the sump.

Please note that this is not a SW system for which you'll need twice the turn around.

How about a 10 gallon for a 46 BF with ALOT of rockwork?

I do respect all opinions, but every place says something different.

[Rbishop]

By the time you take into consideration of the unused area of a sump for the failure overflow and lost space for the media and pre-filter pads....you should use at least a 20 gal long, preferably a 29.