Plumbing two tanks together

[Boxxr]

I am in the process of setting up a new AGA RR 120G. I will be using the AGA mega flow sump also. Once this new tank is operating, I would like to add my 24G aquapod into this new system to have a larger volume of water. I also have plans on using the Nano as my refugium.

 

One suggestion to combine the two, was to raise the nano so that the tank will be taller than the 120, use a small pump to take water out of the 120 into the nano and then gravity feed Nano return into the 120. That is going to be difficult since the stand that I have for the 120 (an oceanic stand) is very tall.

 

Any other thoughts?

 

Thanks

[phisigs79]

I have a frag tank that is feed from a pump in the sump and returns back to the sump and them another pump feeds my main display. My frag tank sits higher then the sump so without knowing what room you have this is another idea that might work

[Boxxr]

I have a frag tank that is feed from a pump in the sump and returns back to the sump and them another pump feeds my main display. My frag tank sits higher then the sump so without knowing what room you have this is another idea that might work

 

I think I will have the room, but cosmetics are a big thing. I am married to an interior decorator and I am trying my best to cover up as much as I can. My nano will be about a foot away from the main tank. The back of the nano tank is plastic so I can easily pop a hole in the back and add a bulkhead there.

 

I wish I had a picture of the proposed setup, but that's at home and alas, I am at work right now.

Edited December 29, 2006 by Boxxr

[phisigs79]

CAN YOU PLUMB THROUGH THE WALL SO THAT YOU DONT SEE THE PLUMBING?

[Boxxr]

CAN YOU PLUMB THROUGH THE WALL SO THAT YOU DONT SEE THE PLUMBING?

 

No I can't. Behind the tank is the outside wall. Good thought though. My worry with the gravity feed set up is the possibility of dumping a lot of water into the 30 IF the flow is resticked somehow from the 30 back into the 120.

[davelin315]

One thing you could do is drill the back of the tank where the overflow is and plumb your refugium to there. You'd need to lower the stand pipe a bit in order to have the water drain in, but it would be plumbed together... well, on second thought, that's no different from having it simply feed into the sump itself.

 

There's a lot to be said about having it gravity fed, but if you're looking to maintain a lot of pods, it really doesn't affect it that much to have the refugium drain into the sump and then have the pods sucked back up by the return pump. It will chop up some of the bigger pods, but enough small ones will make it back to the tank to have an impact on your pod population. The other alternative is to simply sit it on top of your tank or inside your canopy if you have one.

 

In the alternative to the alternative, you could always build something like what I made for my 58...

 

http://www.wamas.org/forums/index.php?show...448&hl=58RR

[rooroo]

If you can put the aquapod lower than the 120 but higher than the sump, you can gavity feed from the display to the aquapod, then gravity feed from the aquapod to the sump.

[Boxxr]

There's a lot to be said about having it gravity fed, but if you're looking to maintain a lot of pods, it really doesn't affect it that much to have the refugium drain into the sump and then have the pods sucked back up by the return pump. It will chop up some of the bigger pods, but enough small ones will make it back to the tank to have an impact on your pod population. The other alternative is to simply sit it on top of your tank or inside your canopy if you have one.

 

In the alternative to the alternative, you could always build something like what I made for my 58...

 

And

 

If you can put the aquapod lower than the 120 but higher than the sump, you can gavity feed from the display to the aquapod, then gravity feed from the aquapod to the sump.

 

The more I think of it, I will gravity feed from the Nano into the display and the pump from the main back into the Nano. But, I will figure out some way to put a switch (Mccgiver a auto-top off??) on the pump so that it will shut off if the gravity feed stops.

 

Today I have another problem. I have a 3/4" pvc pipe running underneath the display stand that I intended to use for water changes. But that engineering task was not approved. So now I have to rethink that one. I don't like the idea of lugging water up and down the stairs.