max tank size for a 55 gal sump

[darklcd]

good day all

well my old man finally got a house and it wants a tank that I get to put together for him. I am pretty sure that he is only doing it to give me a lilttle of the green eyed monster and its working lol. But needless to say its going to be on a sump system and I have an old 55 gal tank that is collecting dust in my basment and I told him that he could have it to use for a sump. What I am wondering is what is the max tank size that I can put together and still use that 55 gal as a sump for it. The tank is 48" long by 12" wide by 20" tall I believe.

If anyone has any idea and can help me out that would be great

thanks

 

[mmkeeper]

In my opinion tank size and sump size are not a ratio. Some people have more water volume outside of their show tank.

 

[Sascha D]

One thing I would consider is that for you to use a 55g as a sump, you would have to buy 120g minimum or you wont be able to fit it under the stand. I had a 60g under my 200g with a ASM G4X and a decent size frag containment area in it and still had about 2ft of free space for a refug.

 

[Scooterman]

Unless you build your own stand LOL! I would think a 120 or so would be fine & make for a nice reef tank.

 

[Krish]

That sump would fit nicely under a 6ft tank as well like a 125 gal However, IMO, the sump only needs to be big enough to support your equipment you plan to keep in it.

 

[blind1993]

yea but if it is bigger u can have a larger bio load and more stability.

 

[Angelscrx]

The more water volume the easier it is to keep the parameters in check in my experience. Two schools of thought though on sumps A) only to house equipment and B) as big as possible to increase water volume. I use mine for equipment, fuge, and dosing.

 

[Sascha D]

The more water volume the easier it is to keep the parameters in check in my experience. Two schools of thought though on sumps A) only to house equipment and B) as big as possible to increase water volume. I use mine for equipment, fuge, and dosing.

I agree but I think a 55g is plenty big for even a 200g as long as the stand can support it.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

MAKE SURE THE TANK IS NOT OVERLY LARGE SUCH THAT A POWER OUTAGE COULD CREATE AN OVERFLOW SPILL. (SORRY, CAP LOCKS)
Keeping the level in the sump low would help. I figure 3 to 1 in most systems is fine so you could go for a 180 give or take.

 

[blind1993]

yea u dont want a sw flood.

 

[MC Lighting]

I am running a 55g on my 180 and other than hating the dimensions of the 55g (not nearly wide enough) it works fine and has plenty of room for shutdown water levels I run it about 3" below the top at all times.

 

[darklcd]

I was thinking of a 180 or a 200 gal tank but my old man isn't into the "reef" end of things. he just wants fish for hte most part but do you think that a 180 or a 200 gal woudl be ok or could it be a little bigger at all?

 

[theJ]

IMO, the sump only needs to be big enough to support your equipment you plan to keep in it.

Yup!! a sump is a sump is a sump. As long as you can fit all your equipment in/on/around it, you can do whatever you want as far as a display.

My sump is a 20g, I estimate when running it only holds about 15g or so. The display is a 58g. The extra 15g in the sump doesn't do much for 'extra water volume', but provides a GREAT area to hide your ugly skimmer, heater, dosing pumps, etc Oh and a nice place to put a fuge, if you are into that kind of thing

It also gives me a great area to do water changes, I can drain the sump dry, vacuumed out all the detritus that has accumulated, and not dry out any coraline up in the display