Sump Filters – Types of Planted Aquarium Filters
Now that you know the different and critical types of filtration in a planted aquarium, how it relates to Mother Nature’s natural water filtration systems, and how aquatic plants aid in the water’s filtration in our aquariums, it is now time to discuss the Sump Filters, one of the types of planted aquarium filters.
Planted aquarium filtration is the lifeline of all the inhabitants in the tank. Aquarium filters remove physical, dissolved chemical wastes and other contaminants from the tank. Without it, you would have to change the water more frequently, and this hobby becomes a chore (you will not be able to enjoy your planted aquarium that way). It simplifies our maintenance and widens the days between water changes.
Furthermore, it affects the health and well-being not only of your faunas but also your plants. Aquarium filters are critical to support life in your tank. As I said before, our planted aquariums are a relatively small and enclosed ecosystem compared to our faunas’ natural environment. We have no running water here, and at the very least, we should replicate their natural environment by using an appropriately sized filter.
Table of Contents
Functions of a Planted Aquarium Filter
Types of Planted Aquarium Filters
Sump Filters
How does a Sump filter work?
How do I maintain a Sump filter?
What should I be aware of when using a Sump filter?
Pros and Cons
Below the Tank
Pros
Cons
Overhead
Pros
Cons
Stressing This Out Again!
Conclusion
Closing Remarks
The function of an aquarium filter for our planted aquarium is not limited only to provide filtration.
- A suitably sized aquarium filter can provide the needed water flow or turbulence to distribute the nutrients and CO2 (if you are injecting CO2, prolonging the CO2 bubbles contact with water so it can be dissolved before it reaches the surface).
- Not just distributing nutrients and CO2, it provides the water current that some fish loves to swim against. Plants swaying with the gentle water current is a sight to behold.
- A breeding ground for beneficial bacteria to break down harmful Nitrogenous compounds (Ammonia, Nitrites) into less harmful ones (Nitrate).
- An aquarium filter can also provide the water surface agitation, aerating the water for our faunas and beneficial bacteria’s nitrification activities.
- It can also prevent the accumulation of wastes, sludge, mulm in the substrate, keeping them suspended/floating so they can be taken in by the filter’s intake.
There are numerous things to consider when buying your planted aquarium filter by providing each filter’s pros and cons. Still, before we get to that and find you the right one (you can even DIY your own filter), you need to familiarize yourself with the different types of filters available in the market. Also, we are on a planted aquarium website. Obviously, we will discuss those popular filters applicable to a planted aquarium.
So Undergravel filters, you are out! Nobody wants to rescape their planted aquariums every 2 to 3 months to clean the detritus that’s been pinned down by this filter. With the advent of aquascaping, that’s the nail in its coffin.
Types of Planted Aquarium Filters
Sump Filters
The defining features of a trickle filter are its tower and the water trickling down (vertical) the several stages of filtration, oxygenating the water well, which results in an excellent biological filtration. What if we remove that tower? That leaves us with only the sump. We defined the sump in conjunction with a trickle filter as just a holding area for the filtered water before it gets returned into your main tank. A sump can be a normal tank or water container below your main tank. But how can we make a sump to provide filtration?
Think about a trickle filter as vertical filtration stages and a sump filter as a horizontal one by utilizing chambers separated by baffles to route the water horizontally. The main takeaway here is that the filter media are always wet/submerged in water as opposed to a trickle filter.
A sump filter can be positioned below your main tank, overhead, or integrated.
Using an Overhead Sump Aquascaped by Jeano Gabriel Sunico Philippines
Using an Integrated Sump Filter Aquascaped by Hernani Permalino Philippines
How does a Sump filter work?
For a sump filter under your main tank, like a trickle filter, a sump filter starts with some overflow system letting the water overspill from your main tank and then will drain into your sump filter (no drip plate here) with the help of gravity. If you don’t want to drill holes into your main tank or don’t want to modify it, you can use a commercially available overflow box that is self-siphoning or you can DIY your own one. Or you can use two submersible water pumps: one from the main tank to pump water out and two, from the last chamber of the sump to pump filtered water back into your main tank. The pump that will push filtered water back into your main tank should be more powerful as it needs to overcome gravity.
Here is a great video example of DIYing your own overflow system by Joey Mullen also known as the King of DIY, on Youtube. There are also sump filters that are integrated into the main tank, complete with the overflow system. You can even DIY your own design and can have limitless room for customizations (if you are handy). Provided below are two of the most common implementations of a sump filter, bottom and overhead. Take note of the design of the baffles resulting to the media always submerged in water.
DIY Integrated Sump Filter by John Joshua Wang JJ Philippines
Same Tank as above – Designed and Aquascaped by John Joshua Wang JJ Philippines
Bottom Sump Filter and Water Flow Diagram
Overhead Sump Filter and Water Flow Diagram
As I said above, the filter media are always wet/submerged in water instead of a trickle filter, and the water is routed horizontally. This is done by chambers separated by baffles to route the water. The first chamber is usually where you will put all your mechanical media. The second and the rest of the chambers, depending on how many, will be home to your biological media. The last chamber will be the holding area (much like the sump in a trickle filter), which holds the filtered water before it gets pumped back into your main tank.
Customized Overhead Sump Filter Designed by Bhoie Baguito Philippines
Customized Sump Filters by Jhayar Gonzales Philippines
Empty Sump Filter Below the Main Tank by Jancy Delos Reyes Philippines
But what about a sump filter above your tank? An overflow system will not work since we are fighting now the force of gravity. In this case, we can use a submersible pump inside the tank to pump out the water upwards and into your sump filter. The water pump’s power should be able to overcome the force of gravity, so make sure the height of your sump filter with respect to your submersible pump’s height is not too high.
Overhead Sump Filter Designed by Ian Rocha Philippines
For sump filters situated over your tank, you can just let the filtered water drain down into your main tank with the help of gravity, or you can channel the filtered water into a spray bay. The raining/draining water will further oxygenate the water. Sump filters positioned over your tank are designed that in the case of a power outage, the water will not drain completely due to the baffles’ design, keeping your filter media wet until the power comes back on. Here is a great video example of designing your Overhead Sump filter by Joey Mullen, also known as the King of DIY, on Youtube.
DIY Overhead Sump Aquascaped by KP Pasia Philippines
How do I maintain a Sump filter?
Depending on your filter’s design and how you integrate easy access to an effective mechanical filtration, you will not be required to maintain your sump filter for a very long time and reducing the need for water changes. This means you only have to clean or replace your mechanical media and lets you leave your biological media alone for a long, long time.
To add to that, do not maintain/clean your filter/media with chlorinated tap water! Always see to it that you clean your filter media using old extracted water from a water change. Tap/chlorinated water can instantly kill the beneficial bacteria you have long-established. Your tank cycling reverts to zero. You will have the agony to repeat it (Hello cloudy water/bacterial bloom!!!).
Bottom Sump Filter for a Biotope Tank Designed by Nigel Sia Philippines
Custom Bottom Sump Filter Designed by Chrisrock Orongan Philippines
Customize Bottom Sump Filter Designed by Chrisrock Orongan Philippines
Squeeze and rinse whatever mechanical media you have with old tank water only from a water change to release all the detritus, muck, organic matters trapped by it. Keep your biological media wet by submerging them, also in collected old tank water. Do not use foams, sponges, brushes, even your fingers, or any abrasive products to scrub them (your biological media). Just rinse them with old tank water.
DIY Integrated Sump Filter by Braga Matteo Fernando Philippines
DIY Side Integration Sump and HOB Capabilities by Mark Mota Philippines
DIY Sump Using Alternative Materials – Storage Boxes
What should I be aware of when using a Sump filter?
They are suitable for large to huge aquariums (100 gallons and up) (most often utilized with monster fish planted or non-planted tanks). But there are smaller tanks that have integrated sump filters as well (10 to 50 gallons). You can even DIY your tank with an integral sump filter (but that will take away space). There are many DIY designs and tutorials that you can research and implement all over the internet that will teach you to set up your very own sump filter using inexpensive materials. But really, no one can stop you from using an external sump filter for small to medium planted tanks. I have hobbyist friends that do. Here is a great video example of designing your Sump filter by Joey Mullen, also known as the King of DIY, on Youtube.
Also, with all the water surface area exposed into the air and all those water movements, and splashing, the sump filter provides excellent biological filtration due to a lot of aeration your water is being subjected to. Remember, nitrification activities depend on how much-dissolved oxygen is present in your tank and available food for your good bacteria. However, you will waste a lot of your CO2 if you are injecting causing you to raise your bubbles per second (bps) just to reach equilibrium and just to measure a 1 pH drop.
Custom Overhead Sump Philippines
Overhead Sump Filter by Jhayar Gonzales Philippines
Sump Filter by Chrisrock Orongan Philippines
By using a sump filter, it effectively adds more gallons of water to your system. More water means a more stable system. Any Ammonia spikes will likely go unnoticed, and you don’t have to follow the “1 inch per gallon” rule when it comes to stocking faunas. They are usually 1/3 the size of your main tank, but I know hobbyist friends that designed their sump filters equal or even larger than their main tanks. You can not put a larger sump filter than your main tank in terms of volume at the top for obvious reasons.
Plus, you have a lot more room for your mechanical and biological media, but this means you have to spend more on media. Still, you can use cheap alternative media as a replacement to the commercial ones like lava rocks or pumice stones.
Overhead Sump or Trickle Filter? This type of overhead filter can act as a Trickle or Sump Filter. It depends on your implementation. If the water just trickles down into your media and your media is not submerged in water, then it acts as a Trickle Filter. If you find a way to slow down the draining of the water, and you keep your media submerged, then it acts as a sump filter.
Setting up a sump filter for a beginner hobbyist might be restrictive due to the higher startup cost (available commercial models or customized ones). Not to mention you have to design the system well (DIY). However, considering a DIY sump filter requires careful planning and design in the event of a power outage to prevent overflow in your bottom sump (if you are using some sort of an overflow system). Please refer here for the number of scenarios that you must watch out for.
You can also set up your very own Aquaponics system with this filter. Aquaponics is a fusion of aquaculture, in which you grow fish and other aquatic animals, then Hydroponics, which is growing plants without soil. Aquaponics combines this symbiotic relationship in which plants get their nutrients from the aquatic animals’ wastes while plants serve as a natural filtration for the water for the aquatic animals’ benefits.
Depending on the size of your main tank, sump filters take up a lot of space, even though you can keep them hidden under your aquarium cabinet. There is little to no room anymore for your other equipment. A sump filter above your tank may rob you of some room/space to maneuver while working with your planted tank or doing maintenance. Did I not say that it causes distractions on an otherwise pleasant scape?
Sump Filter and Aquaponics by Renz Marrion Gabayno Philippines
To summarize, here are the pros and cons of a Sump filter:
Below the Tank
Pros
- provides excellent mechanical and biological filtration – plus you have a lot of room for your media
- very customizable when it comes to the filter media of your choosing
- Depending on your filter’s design and how you integrate easy access to an effective mechanical filtration, you will not be required to maintain your sump filter for a very long time and reducing the need for water changes. This means you only have to clean or replace your mechanical media and lets you leave your biological media alone for a long, long time.
- can be completely hidden from view – you can also hide some of your equipment such as your heater from your main tank
- ideal for heavy loads – you can get away with overstocking without affecting your water parameters
- adds more water volume to your system – more gallons of water make for a more stable enclosed ecosystem for your faunas and plants.
- Completely customizable – you can design or buy customized ones according to your requirements.
- Very flexible regarding main tank size – before, sump filters are only meant for huge tanks. But nowadays, they can also be very flexible with small to medium to large tanks.
- It can be home to your very own Aquaponics system or a refugium. A refugium can allow you to home delicate fish/shrimp species or allow you to grow plants that can assist in nitrates reduction (you need another light though, but daylight LED bulbs will work), such as Pothos plants (Epipremnum Aureum).
Sump Filter Under the Main Tank Aquascaped by Yong Uayan Philippines
Cons
- requires considerable planning and design to prevent flooding as a result of a power outage (if DIY) – if you are using some sort of an overflow system. A couple of scenarios are discussed in depth in the Trickle filters article, which uses the same overflow systems. Please refer here.
- can waste a lot of co2 (if you are injecting) due to the surface area of the water exposed to air and all that water movement, splashing, etc.
- could be too overwhelming for a beginner in terms of cost (commercial models or customized ones plus the filter media and pumps) or when planning and designing (DIY)
- takes up a lot of space even though you can keep it hidden under your aquarium cabinet
- Unless you have an overflow box or DIY-ed your own overflow system, or using submersible pumps, you have to drill the tank, which may not be appealing to some. Also, it isn’t easy to sell your drilled tanks in the second-hand market.
Sump Filter Customized Designed by Chrisrock Orongan Philippines
Overhead
Pros
- can provide excellent mechanical and biological filtration
- very customizable when it comes to the filter media of your choosing
- Depending on your filter’s design and how you integrate easy access to an effective mechanical filtration, you will not be required to maintain your sump filter for a very long time and reducing the need for water changes. This means you only have to clean or replace your mechanical media and lets you leave your biological media alone for a long, long time.
- Can return highly oxygenated filtered water – the draining of filtered water from an overhead sump into your main tank will create water surface agitation, which will further oxygenate your water.
- Ideal for heavy loads – you can get away with overstocking without affecting your water parameters
- adds more water volume to your system – more gallons of water make for a more stable enclosed ecosystem for your faunas and plants.
- no need to plan for a power outage to prevent flooding since there is no overflow system and the pump will stop as well – sump filters positioned over your tank are designed that, in the case of a power outage, the water will not drain completely due to the baffles design, keeping your filter media wet until the power comes back on.
- can be home for your very own Aquaponics system – can grow common indoor plants that roots in water even with room lighting only
Using an Overhead Sump Filter Aquascaped by Gene Chee Philippines
Using an Overhead Sump Filter Aquascaped by Neil Aldrin Tiongson Philippines
Cons
- it causes distractions on an otherwise pleasant aquascape of the main tank
- could be too overwhelming for a beginner in terms of cost (commercial models or customized plus the media and pump/s) or when planning and designing (DIY)
- may rob you of some room/space to maneuver while working with your planted tank from the top or doing maintenance
- You must put a pump inside the main tank (another eyesore and equipment in the tank) to pump water into the overhead sump filter. The pump’s power, noise, and height of the sump filter are another concern making sure that the pump of your choosing can overcome the force of gravity.
- can waste a lot of co2 (if you are injecting) due to the surface area of the water exposed to air and all that water movement, splashing, etc.
- Adds to the weight from the top of your main tank – limiting you only to use light-weight filter media – imagine the weight of a sump filter stuffed with filter media, full of water, adding more stress to your main tank’s structure.
Using Sump Filters Designed by Chrisrock Orongan Philippines
Using an Internal Sump Aquascaped by Hernani Permalino Philippines
Stressing This Out Again!
Whichever filter you had chosen from the list above, do not maintain/clean your filter/media with chlorinated tap water! Always see to it that you clean your filter media using old extracted water from a water change or a water source known to have no chlorine. Tap/chlorinated water can instantly kill the beneficial bacteria you have long-established. Your tank cycling reverts to zero. You will have the agony to repeat it (Hello cloudy water/bacterial bloom!!!).
Squeeze and rinse whatever mechanical media you have with old tank water only from a water change to release all the detritus, muck, organic matters trapped by it. Keep your biological media wet by submerging them, also in collected old tank water. Do not use foams, sponges, brushes, even your fingers, or any abrasive products to scrub them (your biological media). Just rinse them with old tank water.
Conclusion
Next are the Sump filters. A sump can provide filtration horizontally, opposite the Trickle filter, by employing chambers separated by baffles to route the water.
It is designed that the media are always submerged in water instead of a Trickle filter in which the media is always exposed to air. A sump filter can be placed below your main tank, overhead, or integrated.
The frequency of maintenance is very far apart. If the mechanical filtration part was designed very efficiently and has easy access, you will only need to clean or replace your mechanical media and leave your biological media alone for several months to years.
Before, they are more suitable for large to huge tanks, but nowadays, smaller tanks have integrated sump filters. A sump filter effectively adds more gallons of water to your main tank. More water means a more stable system.
We also discussed the pros and cons of a sump filter for each: under and overhead.
Want to Explore More?
Closing Remarks
I hope you enjoyed this article. If you have additional questions or want to share your experiences with the Sump Filters you used, please leave a comment below.
Next, we will be discussing the Fluidized Bed Filters.
Wow, what an article! I had no idea at the level of knowledge and detail that goes into setting up an aquarium. You really dive into the details and highlight how important it is to carefully choose the right filter for your aquarium. I also appreciate the photo examples you include, I’m more of a visual learner so those helped. I’m not much of a DIY person, but its really cool to see what some others are able to create as well.
Thank you for putting this information together and sharing your knowledge!
Hello Dereck,
Thank you for visiting my website and appreciating my article. I hope in some way or two, I was able to help you in your decision to keep a planted aquarium at your very own home.
We have a 40-gallon tank that has two Oscars that require lots of filter changes and for a while, I been wanting to change to a sump filter. This is more beneficial for us because we are always on the go and these you can leave for a longer period of time. We travel for long periods of time we want to build our own we’ve got all the parts we have been debating. The only thing is that we want to help keep the good bacteria inside and what filters to use.
The filter is a big part of keeping your tank safe and with sump filters this allows us to wait longer to clean the filters.
Thanks for this article is relates to us and our situation with moving our regular pump to a sump filter lots of learning today.
Hello Matthew and Deloris,
Thanks for visiting my website and sharing your experiences with your 40 gallons tank for your Oscars. Oscars can get big and I bet a carefully designed sump filter can keep up with all the waste they produce in your aquarium. May I know what is the current filter type that you are using? If you are planning to migrate to a sump filter, you can just transfer the existing media to your new sump. But keep in mind to always keep the media wet or submerge with old tank water in preparation for migrating to minimize die-offs of your good bacteria. Do not dry the media out.
Hi Lemuel,
My dad used to have a tank at home, but he abandoned it after one year due to the hard work related to keeping the water clean for healthy fish & plants. I have to admit it’s quite relaxing to see fish swimming in a water tank, but the maintenance is just too much…
It’s good to know that you share different types of filters we can use for the tank, and it’s comprehensive and educational. I believe people who are looking for the information can find what he needs from this article.
Thanks for sharing today,
Matt
Hello Mattlin,
Thank you for visiting my website and sharing your experience. I hope in some way or two, I was able to help you in your decision to keep a planted aquarium in your very own home. I can’t wait to hear about your experiences and what aquascape you can come up with.
Yes, one of the considerations when buying a filter for our planted aquariums is the ease of maintenance and how often you need to maintain your filter. Naturally, the frequency to maintain is longer as the filter volume increases but the ease of maintaining may be tedious.