Need Help Combining 2 55 Gallons

[Soul Of The Night]

I have 3 55 gallon tanks. All built by AGA (not sure if they are glass or acrylic). and I wanted to somehow link 2 of them and use the third as a sump. One of them already has a custom wet/dry in it. and one of the tanks is already drilled to work with the sump/wet/dry filter. Anyone know how i could do this? I am looking to use one tank as a soft coral tank and one for sps. But I want them to share the same water and sump.


Please someone help.

 

[craigybaby37]

so let me get this right...you want 2 seperate tank to have the same water and use the same sump and equipment like heaters, skimmers etc??

if thats the case you will have to set the tanks up where they will be then try and put the sump underneath them and just run overflows from each tank into the sump. And then when it comes to returning the water just use 2 return pumps.

Another thing to think about is leave anough space in the sump for when you turn the return pumps off as the water from both tanks with have to go into the sump until its clear of the overflow pipes.

 

[andywg]

You could do it the way described above, or two other ways.

First have the two tanks draining into the sump (either seperate or one combined drain) and then have one pump with the outlet split and use ball valves to control the amount going into each of the display tanks.

Alternatively you can have one tank high than the other which is in turnb higher than the sump. Have one pump send the water to the top tank which drains into the second tank which drains into the sump.

I wouldn't bother with two pumps. They will almost always take up more room than one pump with twice the power.

 

[Soul Of The Night]

hey thanks guys for the info. It seems I have a great deal to look into.

 

[SkiFletch]

Agree with Andy on this one. It really comes down to physical space I guess

Are you going to build these into a wall or something, or just have them individually?

 

[Soul Of The Night]

I am going to have them separate. I guess the general idea of doing this is quite simple. Its the same as for one tank but for two.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Ive thought of doing this before and the method I had planned was pretty much the first mentioned. Two tanks drain into one sump and are pumped back via one strong pump with a ball valve and splitter. That's just because that would be easiest for me and look the best in this particular room. The method andy mentioned with a sort of cascading effect is undoubtedly cooler though. Would definitely make for a pretty cool show piece if you have the space.

 

[Soul Of The Night]

Yeah, i am actually planning on having both tanks next to each other. I am going to make a custom stand so I can hold both tanks and the 55 gallon sump directly beneath the tanks. Does anyone have plans for a strong enough stand for these 3 tanks? And what kind of wood/materials should I use? This is my first stand I am to make.

 

[craigybaby37]

Well my stand i made for my 50G tank is simply 3 x 2 timber frame then lined with 9mm MDF to keep the frame rigid......but then if you planning on 2 x 55G tank i personally would use the same principle but along the back of the stand make sure you put plenty of upright pieces of timber in to stop the back sagging and maybe a couple on the sides. Then for the front if you work out what size your doors with be then position the upright timbers to suit the doors so you can fix the hinges for the doors to them if you get what ime saying.

 

[Soul Of The Night]

I understand perfectly. So I should basically add as much support as possible, especially along the back. and I should be fine right.

 

[craigybaby37]

not just on the back but along the front aswell as an equal ammount of weight will be on the front as there will be around the stand.

What i ment was just add the support on the front where you can as you will have doors on the front of the cabinate for access to the sump, and you dont want a support in the way of a door as it will make access to the sump difficult.

 

[Soul Of The Night]

Thanks. I cant wait to get started. This is my first project like this.