new house-fish room finally!

[sachabballi reef]

ok..so in the next 30-45 days we will be closing on a new house and will finally have the ability to make our 2 tanks display only and remotely have the sump and fuge(combo frag tank) through the wall and into a storage area. This is a big deal for me because one of the tank's is a 92G corner tank with EXTREMELY limited under area that has been a source of incredible stress and irritation....there is simply no room to even have more then a 15G sump and to work under there creates ridiculous stress...the other tank is a 75G bowfront that although has been set up somewhat isn't functioning as we knew we would be moving relatively soon and didn't feel like going the whole 9 yards just to break it down etc....so that is exciting to know I can finally have an LPS/softie tank and dedicated SPS...currently they are mixed and its not a good situation in the least.

 

Point of the post is what will I need in terms of pumps etc to link these two tanks together and create one integrated system?Any tips or hints for doing this seamlessly?

 

Plan is to have the 75G and 92G and 100G sump and most likely a 75G refugium/frag combo all linked together, also a 20G ATO. It is only through the wall not a different floor.

what should I keep in mind for creating this and what strength pumps will we need to get this going?

 

Thanks in advance for any insight as this is all new to us as we have had the 92G set up for 6 years but have never been able to expand to anything like this before.

Edited March 20, 2011 by sachabballi reef

[dbartco]

I would guess something like a Sequence Dart would be sufficient. Fairly efficient, relatively quiet, and fairly low cost. Since there is little head pressure, you probably don't need the higher rpm pumps.

 

Are you planning on additional circulation in the tanks like powerheads, tunzes, or vortecs?

 

Congrats on the new house!

[treesprite]

Nice!

[Jon Lazar]

Point of the post is what will I need in terms of pumps etc to link these two tanks together and create one integrated system?Any tips or hints for doing this seamlessly?

 

Plan is to have the 75G and 92G and 100G sump and most likely a 75G refugium/frag combo all linked together, also a 20G ATO. It is only through the wall not a different floor.

what should I keep in mind for creating this and what strength pumps will we need to get this going?

 

You need to decide on a couple of basic design ideas, because those will impact what you need for a return pump.

 

How much total circulation do you want in each tank, And are you going to achieve that with the return pump alone, or a combination of the return pump and powerheads/closed loop? This will give you a total number of gph you need to be able to move.

 

Then consider any head pressure from moving the water up. In your case it sounds like only a few feet from the bottom of the sump to the top of the tank, but it can still be significant.

 

So now look at what sort of pumps exist in the gph range you need to achieve. Downselect to a few that have been in the business a while and have excellent reputations.

 

It's important to realize that by using a single pump to return water for all three aquariums, you're creating a single point of failure for your entire system. This is a double whammy because you probably have your heater, ATO, monitoring equipment, and skimmer all in the sump. So if your pump fails, you effectively lose all that equipment too, and you lose it for all your tanks. At the very least, it makes pump maintenance and replacement more difficult.

 

I would buy two smaller pumps and plumb them so either one can provide life support for all three tanks. That way you're ok if a pump were to fail, or you have to take it offline for maintenance.

 

Jon

[Aurora]

Utility sink in the same room as your sump is a must to really reduce the work on tank maintenance.

 

 

[sachabballi reef]

THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE FEEDBACK!

 

We definitely want to install a utility sink in there....would be a crime if we didn't since its such a handy place to take care of all the fish stuff in one place. I guess first thing we need is a plumber

 

I think it makes complete sense to do multiple pumps vs just one. That is the route we will take for sure. We currently use multiple power heads in each tank (not closed loop) and will continue to do so for flow....how can I calculate how much flow we want vs how we do it now <which is hmmm that looks like a dead spot...we should add a PH> lmao

 

i will check in to the sequence dart...don't know much about them so looking forward to reading...the word quiet is my goal. Currently the tanks are so loud it makes it hard to hear the TV thats in the same room...not too enjoyable.

 

I will need to upgrade the skimmer as well was thinking of my reef creations MR-3R to handle the volume increase- anyone have any thoughts on it?

[Jon Lazar]

Currently the tanks are so loud it makes it hard to hear the TV thats in the same room...not too enjoyable.

 

Are you sure the noise is coming from the return pump and not other sources? IME the biggest noise producers are the crashing waterfall sound or gurgling from the overflow, water splashing into the sump, big/loud fans in the hood, vibrating skimmers, and then a noisy return pump.

[lhcorals]

The dart is a good pump, but feeding different tanks is not its best function. If you are going to do one of the tanks over flow's going to the fuge it might be alright to feed both tanks. If you are going to build a manifold to feed each tank it individually it wont move enough water.

Edited March 22, 2011 by lhcorals

[Origami]

I actually run 4 tanks and associated reactors, etc. from one Dart. You need to plan your plumbing appropriately, though, to keep lossy restrictions down. If the tanks are on the same level, it's a fine, power-efficient pump. If you have to do any real lifting (like to another floor), it fails miserably as it simply does not have the head pressure.