Can I plumb my tank this way?

[Moneymaks24]

I was wondering if this is a good idea, I have a 34 gallon solana and an overflow box,
I also have a 8 gallon nano evolve tank I want to use an a display fuge
I have a 5.5 gallon tank that I can use as a place to house the return pump
I want to drill the evolve 8 to put a PVC to flow into 5.5 gallon tank.

What are the dangers of doing this? Any advice please help.
Have you done this before ?
Is it worth it ?

 

[cmantis]

Your drain on the middle tank should be higher otherwise if the pump in 5gal fails your in trouble. I just worry how much each of those tanks can hold in the event something gets clogged or fails.

 

[Moneymaks24]

Your drain on the middle tank should be higher otherwise if the pump in 5gal fails your in trouble. I just worry how much each of those tanks can hold in the event something gets clogged or fails.

Ok ill put it higher its not drilled yet.

Is there a way to make this setup safe with some kind of emergency extra PVC pipes or something to prevent a disaster in an event of a clog somewhere.

Would I be better off without the 5.5 gallon on bottom and maybe get an external pump or something.

 

[edd]

i would feed the fuge off return pump and let it drain into sump, this way you can control flow to fuge. you don't want heavy flow through fuge. run your over flow from DT to sump. thats how i run my own. this way you don't have to worry about fuge over flowing.

 

[tosiek]

The safest way is to have two drains and two pumps feeding separately into the sump, or 2 drains and split the return pump but you might need a stronger pump if its already unrestricted and running the 30g. Treat the sump as a sump for both tanks. That way if one clogs or fails the other is left undisturbed. Dedicated drain and pump running from the sump to the display, and a deciated drain and pump running to the fuge.

And yes, your sump is a bit small at 5g. Its not enough room to handle the extra water from both the 8g and the 30g. You want a bigger sump to handle both. Your thinking 2-3 gallons of extra water from the 30 and about 1 from the 8 gallon and you need about 2-3 gallons of water for the sump to work properly. Thats over 5g already.

 

[Moneymaks24]

Thanx so much guys so just to make sure, I drew how I think the plumbing should be. Is this ok . Or should I add another dedicated pump for the fuge.

 

[Moneymaks24]

I just realized something. I can't use a Rubbermaid because I need baffles for the air bubbles. So basically I'm jus gonna have to buy or make a real sump and stop trying to reinvent the hobby right?

 

[edd]

that looks good to me. thats how mine is set up. only one pump to worry about.
for your sump, see what size tank you can fit and put baffles in. i think minimum of 10g.

 

[Moneymaks24]

that looks good to me. thats how mine is set up. only one pump to worry about.
for your sump, see what size tank you can fit and put baffles in. i think minimum of 10g.

Sounds good thanx a lot. Ill have to get a 10 gallon. Or some kind of cheap used sump

 

[House of Laughter]

Just make sure the 2 DT's power break drain volumes don't exceed the sump volume and you'll be fine.

This can be adjusted/measured by how far into the water the supply hoses and and how high each of the DT's drain are in relation to the water surface.

Another way to measure, for example, is if the 8g tank is 12" tall, each inch you drop the water volume represents less than a gallon of water. Same with the display tank (measure inches to total water volume and divide - this will give you gallons per inch you drop).

Hope that makes any sense.

House

 

[viplok]

cool idea. but the overflow box will look very ugly over the solana. i use to use that and flow it down to my sump. soon or later you will find your better off drilling both of those suckers to save urself headache....

now i am thinking about adding a display fuge too :scratchch

 

[Moneymaks24]

All I want is a drilled tank, but I can get a definite answer if solana is tempered or not people are 50/50 and company doesn't exist to answer me. I would risk it maybe if I didn't have all my fish an corals in there. For now my HOB Refugium looks very ugly so an overflow can't be any worse.

I'm concerned about what happens if and when the overflow looses suction, I understand we're supposed to drill a hole on the pipe going back into tank

I have all the supplies to do this I'm just worried about a flood or something since I don't have an apex or anything I run a simple reef tank w out fancy equipment.

 

[Moneymaks24]

cool idea. but the overflow box will look very ugly over the solana. i use to use that and flow it down to my sump. soon or later you will find your better off drilling both of those suckers to save urself headache....

now i am thinking about adding a display fuge too :scratchch

I love that u also call it a display fuge lol people always give me crap about that saying its just another tank and not a DF. Anyway

How strong should my pump be btw to handle both tanks, and is 1 inch PVC gonna be good or no?

 

[viplok]

with head lost, y splitter, i think 6-700gph is a good flow. however, which overflow box your using? make sure you dont exceed that rating. very important:duh:

 

[homegrowncichlid]

If you're gong to go through all that effort of connecting the 3 tanks, (overflow boxes are expensive, drilling holes cost me $20 at the glass shop) why dont you just sell the 2 tanks you have and just buy a single larger tank like a 40 breeder, with a permanent glass divider that is glued in. Custom design your tank with the placement of the divider. You can put spacers in and control waterflow. A 1/4" glass plane is just a few bucks. You can even use 3 planes of glass to create a baffle. Build a refugium in. View from the back or side. Try partitioning off a corner, go crazy with it. Incorporate a tricke filter.

 

[Moneymaks24]

Selling my tank would be cool except its been up for sale for like 4 months and noody needs it.

Anyway i may be over my head on this project, ill just stick to my AIO for now but thanx for all the advice people appreciate it. Maybe when i save some $ ill buy a new one and do it right