Sump plumbing for several tank, help!?

[ccole]

Hey everyone, I need some help again. I am in the process of creating several tanks. One idea I have is to have three tanks all on one shelf linked with one sump. . .

I have searched the site for images of the plumbing needed to do this kind of thing. . .

I know there are loads of experienced fish house keeper's here and was hoping you could describe how you plumbed several tanks and possibly have photo's?

Hope that makes sense. . . Thanks one again.
respect cole

 

[BENNO]

hey mate i am in the same boat but i have come up with an idea that has prbly already been thought of but i will have 2 tanks on top rack and 2 on bottom
i will have the top 2 tank outlets running into bottom 2 then bottom 2 into sump
the return will then go into top 2 tanks =] if you get what i mean

 

[meloizias]

Aaah no i see what you mean, i would avoid doing that benno sorry. As that is a sure fire way of extreme contamination and you will find the water quality of your bottom two wont be as good as your top two. if you both send me your email what i will do is draw a diagram for you two and email it. Pictures paint a thousand words

 

[Zebra Pleco]

If you check my gallery, I have 3 four foot tanks and one sump. The three tanks are all on top of each other and fed into the sump, the sump then returns to the top tank. Each tank also has its own filtration along with the sump incase of failure etc.

Ther tanks, have a n upright pipe drilled from the bottom up. So that it sets the water level, so in the event of sump pump failure the water level never goes below this.

As a rule, all drain pipes need to be 1.5 times the input. So if you have a 1" pipe coming up from the sump, you need 1.5" drainage.

As for water cleanliness, I use an Ehiem sump pump that turns the water round in the whole system 12 times an hour, but I need high flow for Zebs etc, so also have aquaballs in the tanks.

Hope this helps.

 

[Zebra Pleco]

 

[macvsog23]

You got that in the house?? Fugging ell
I did have a dream once were the Sturmbannführer let me have a small tank in the house with some water in it and no "Swiming fish"

 

[Lornek8]

Hey everyone, I need some help again. I am in the process of creating several tanks. One idea I have is to have three tanks all on one shelf linked with one sump. . .

I have searched the site for images of the plumbing needed to do this kind of thing. . .

I know there are loads of experienced fish house keeper's here and was hoping you could describe how you plumbed several tanks and possibly have photo's?

Hope that makes sense. . . Thanks one again.
respect cole

With three tanks on the same shelf you simply drill all three & have the drains return to the sump. You have a pump in the sump which send the water to the tanks with valves on each leg to control the flow into each tank.

I seen it done the other way too with the top tanks draining into the bottom tanks into the sump. Wil only work if the tanks are at different elevations though.

 

[meloizias]

Yeah echoing my good man here, bloody hell. Loving the construction.

 

[ccole]

WOW! i dont want to brown nose or shout I KNEW I WAS RIGHT but i said you guys knew it all!! thanks to everyone for their input - i'm going to sketch out what you all said. I think its great you have those tanks in your living room.....i am trying to get my wife to let me but she isn't budging....thats why i am trying three tanks in a row to try and make it look like a giant display tank.... the other thing is i have you things that make the least noise...i have three tropical tanks in the living room all ready and she says the noise drives her mad lol...better break out the straight jacket!!!

cheers ev31 i'll let you know how it go's


respect
cole

 

[Lornek8]

Gotta ask, why a sump?
If noise is an issue, they aren't any quieter than other filters, in fact they are often noisier. More plumbing means more to go wrong. All your tanks will have the same water parameters so your choice of tank inhabitants becomes a bit more limited. Probably most important, especially in your case as you don't have a QT tank, if disease gets into your system, all your fish will be exposed. Would strongly recommend that if you go this route that you look into the addition of a UV to the system.

 

[ccole]

hi lorne

you have made all good points.

I have since invested in a tank for a QT tank
I agree and think UV is always the way to go and have one in my system at the moment just for precaution.

I was thinking of a sump to maximise the volume of water and size of filter material.

I have been speaking to meloizias's and am def thinking of going the external filter as suggested by him.

cheers
cole

 

[Breamlegend]

Sumps do save on heating costs. I have 8 tanks set up with sumps. Top drain to bottom but the holes are on the back at the top of each tank with fine strainers so I don't see the bottom tanks getting any dirtier. I'm running one sump on two tanks so I can keep different water parameters if I choose. May switch to one large sump on four tanks one day. They are big tanks. 900 x 600x 500 mm.

 

[ccole]

Cheers brem-i like the idea of smaller sumps so gets rid of the problem of different fish that have different needs. What pump do you use to get the water to the top? Cheers!

 

[trevor]

would also like to know