How can I run a sump and a separate fuge?

[beerfish]

I know I am being a pansy, I just do not want to drill a tank unless it is really needed and if someone can help me

but would this concept work with an overflow box instead of the hole in the 10g?

also I am assuming the 10g would have to be positioned higher than the 55g

Getting someone to drill the tank would be cheaper than an overflow box.

It would, but why risk another potential fail point... gravity hasn't failed me yet.

Yes, but if you drill as high as possible on the new tank, only by a couple of inches.

 

[masterswimmer]

what I meant to say is that the overflows on my tank are rated at 600gph each (1200 total) but through all the piping to get to the sump it slows down

Also it slows down in the pump, originally I tried a 1200gph return pump, but I was returning water to the DT fast than my sump was filling up (disaster waiting to happen)

Through the use of a ball-valve I saw that I did not need to adjust too much, I had a spare 950gph pump from my old tank so I gave it a shot and it worked perfect. If there is every an issue I can switch back to my basically new 1200gph pump and just dial it down

Based on what you've said here your overflows are not capable of handling 600 gph each, regardless of what they are rated. Either the rating is wrong, the plumbing itself has a problem, or the pump you initially used (1200 gph?) is not flowing at its stated flow.

swimmer

 

[SevTT]

Don't bet on it!, the odds of the pumps being the same flow and/or remaining the same flow, are against you, you WILL have a flood!

Naw. So long as each tank has an overflow into the sump and a pump from the sump, you don't have to worry about balancing the flow. That'd only be a problem if you did something crazy like having a pump to the fuge and then a pump from the fuge to the DT and then an overflow from the DT to the sump. In other words -- if the pumps and overflows are in parallel, that's fine. If they're in some weird serial set up, you're asking for trouble.

You could also stack the systems with the fuge on top. You run a pump in the sump that goes up to the fuge, then the overflow from the fuge runs into the DT, and the DT has an overflow into the sump. This is best for allowing for transport of critters from the fuge to the DT, but you're gonna need a pretty big pump to push the water up that far, and a good amount of vertical space, and no problems with working on a stepladder.

 

[SevTT]

I know I am being a pansy, I just do not want to drill a tank unless it is really needed and if someone can help me

but would this concept work with an overflow box instead of the hole in the 10g?

also I am assuming the 10g would have to be positioned higher than the 55g

Stop being a pansy. In all honesty, drilled tanks are inherently superior to ones with an overflow. I'm serious about this: an overflow is a -huge- failure point, and you're practically guaranteed a flood at some point or another if you use one. A drilled tank with proper plumbing and which is maintained is much, much, much less likely to have its returns fail than an overflow losing its siphon. You can get tanks drilled from the manufacturer through any good fish store, though there'll probably be a few weeks of lead time.

If you're having both tanks drain into a common sump, then you don't need to worry about balancing the flow or having one higher than the other. It just doesn't matter at all.

-However-, if you're only planning on using a 10G for a fuge, which is pretty small, an overhead fuge is pretty feasible. In this case, you could use a small pump positioned in the 55 to feed the fuge and gravity to feed it back into the DT, or you could use a larger pump in the sump to feed it and have it overflow into the DT -- just make sure that the overflow/return in the DT can take the combined flow of both pumps. Any of the pumps could fail with either setup and there would be no danger of a flood. However, a failure of any overflow could cause major problems -- just as it will on any tank system.

Remember, if you use a common sump, -both- tanks are screwed if an overflow fails. (The sump will run dry, and then both tank swill lose circulation from the returns, and, presumably, your heater and skimmer.) In this situation it's even more inadvisable to use an external overflow instead of having drilled returns.