210g discus tank...filter questions.

[Matt in Houston]

Im preping my new 210g tank and Im thinking about a discus SA biotope....thin layer of white sand with lots of wood and low lighting....maybe some floating plants.

I just wanted to check in and ask the box about my filtration options. The tank will house 10 to 15 large adult discus, a variety of tetras, cories,...maybe some dwarf cichlids as well. Im looking at an eheim 2080 or 2180 and a CPR CR3000 wet/dry with overflow box and built in sump.

Honestly Im a little reluctant to run an overflow wet dry system but I know there are many benefits, including increased oxygen and biological filtration. My tank is not drilled so I would need to use the overflow box....a little unsightlly but im thinking it could go on the far right side of the tank which is near a wall, and would allow me to put the back of the tank closer against the wall.

But, do I need it?....would it be better/easier to just run two eheims instead of one eheim plus the wet dry? I do like the fact the CR3000 has a sump...

Any opinions?

[peterp63]

I'm assuming no plants since all you're using is a thin layer of sand. If not, wet/dry all the way. Nice choice on the 2080 or 2180, too.

[schance]

WET DRY FOR THE WIN. what type of tank? ou might be able to drill a side and no bottom.

[myjohnson]

if no plants = wet/dry

if you plan on having more plants later and dose with ferts then the canisters will do fine.

[Matt in Houston]

Thanks for the input so far....

The tank is a 7ft oceanic but Im really not interested in drilling a hole in the side of it. As far as plants, I already have a fully planted hi tech SA angel tank / ram tank so I really wanted something different this time. If I have any plants it would be the floating variety...

Looks like the wet dry is my best bet! I think it comes with a "quiet one" water pump so I hope its not too loud....I dont know anything about in sump pumps.

[Zulaab]

wet/dry is the way to go unless you decide on having plants..
Problems is a wet/dry will ruin any co2 build up for your plants.
A canister filter, will not.
2080 + wet/dry or 2x 2080/2180

[peterp63]

IMO, the main problem with plants and a wet/dry is the leaves can fall off and clog the overflow.... that would suck.

[myjohnson]

Not at all Peter, I use to have to trim my plants all the time cause I had 7.2wpg. Which means the plants grow fast like weeds. If I could have a wet/dry to suck up the leaves instead of me having to net them out after a trim that would be great!

But like Jesper said above, the water movement cause by a wet/dry system removes the amount of CO2 you want in the water for the plants.

I say go for a wet/dry if you are not going to do a lot of plants. Some plants will still work, i.e. java ferns and anubias. However, any floating variety plants not tied down will get sucked up in the wet/dry.

[peterp63]

dude, i just heard of some dude that had a overflow box plug up and made a mess. can also burn up a pump...

[Matt in Houston]

How loud would the wet dry system be? I would hope since the overflow box is rather short that it wouldnt have too loud of a waterfall sound compared to internal overflows....but I have no experience with them yet. What about the sump pump, are those loud too?

[myjohnson]

sump pump is not loud. Its the water falling that causes a lot of loud noise. There are mods you can do to make it not so loud. But no matter what you do, it's not going to be like a eheim canister.