Sump Biological Filtration Suggestion 200 Gallon

I'd recommend Poret foam.

 

Stephan @ Swiss Tropicals is the only US seller I know of.

Should be the only media you would need in a sump.
Uae a few large piecs so one can be cleaned when needed.

It ain't super cheap but it does not degrade over time.
10 years plus for sure.

 

I use this foam(30PPI) to make corner filters in my planted tanks.
Keeping an extra piece for a swap out when changed.
I sterilize every piece of foam removed and then use for the swap out.
Having a very small phish load and an extreme amount of plants with low pH a "cycled" tank is never a concern for me.

If I had a sump I'd use 3 pieces for water to pass through.
Eliminating socks and ceramic type media.
One piece of foam could be removed every few months and cleaned without affecting BB

 

I use pumice in mesh media bags. It's the same as seachem matrix at a 5th of the cost. I order mine here,

https://www.generalpumiceproducts.com/order-here/38-size-15lb-bag-garden-pumice

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I used bio-balls in the past, now using bio-bale. Both work fine, but the issue is cleaning. The bio-bale is like a spring-loaded dirt distributer. If you can get your sump out easily for cleaning, it is propably best to do this outside. But my sump is a converted aquarium, so it's too heavy for this. Makes a terrible mess of the cabinet and rest of the house whenever I try to clean this stuff. You don't have this with the bio-balls, it just takes forever to fish them out. So I'm probably going to try the suggestion from Phishless, with the poret foam. It would be interesting to hear if others are using that in their sumps. My only concern would be clogging up if the cleaning is not done religiously. You never get that problem with bio-balls or bio-bale of course!

 

Depends on the PPI of the foam. If you go with larger sizes, say 10 PPI, it’s far less likely to clog up. If you go with a descending size, 10/20/30/45 PPI, it might clog but may break down the crud before it can as well. A lot will depend on bio load and whether you catch plant matter in some floss or porous foam before it gets to the poret foam mats/plates.