If u have plumbed 2 tanks together give me advice!!!

[ajremington68]

I am looking to attach my 30g frag tank to my 180g. In the photos, you can see the stand of the 30g and its overflow and return locations. I also have the 180g photographed to see how it is run. I am looking to add the 30g to the right of my 180g, as photographed with the red box drawn.

Now, I want to feed the overflow to the 180g sump floss basket and then add a return pump into the 180g return section back to the 30g. On the 30g after the overflow and return, there are unions which I can attach the new plumbing to and run from there. I have a decent idea of how to run the plumbing, but I think on the return line, I will add a back siphon attachment to stop the water from coming back to the sump.

Now, my worries. How can I make sure that my current sump in my 180 won't overflow if both are to turn off and stop flowing? As is, once the 180g shuts down, the sump fills. It was a used sump, and there is a hold drilled in the acrylic in the return section. Once I shut down the pump, it stops right under that. So I don't have much room for the 30g to flow water from the tank over to it if the return is turned off.

I can also include anything asked like turning off the return to either tank and seeing the water level drop and if that'll help determine it. Want to know 100% that I can do it and nothing will overflow if I plumb them together before I do it. But I want to test and do water changes on 1 tank, not 2... cuz I already suck at doing 2 so half the work should motivate me better. And I wanna do ICP and moonshiners shortly so would be cheaper to do 1 system.

 

[ajremington68]

Also bought the 30g setup all plumbed and wired already, and I plan to set the sump and all the plumbing together just in case I am to make it independent in the future or sell it because it is decked out. But I don't want to get rid of the sump underneath it so I can put the 20g ATO tank under it to hide it. And I want to paint the 30g sand the same black as the 180

 

[Fish Fan]

My friend, I have no idea lol!

But this is something I would like to learn how to do too!

I'm trying to plan a 150 DT with a 40 display/macro 'fuge, and I know enough to know that I don't know how to plumb it so nothing floods when the power goes out

If anyone can help @ajremington68 here please speak up, I'd like to know too!

My humble thread that went (largely) nowhere:

Mangrove/Macro Display Fuge Ideas and Questions

Hey guys! I am planning a new 150 gallon tank that was finally delivered today :) I also have a brand new 40 gallon IM Nuvo Black (non-AIO) rimless tank that I'm looking to plumb into the main DT as something of a display fuge, which I've never done before. I've have always been interested in...

www.reef2reef.com

Good luck!

 

[disaster999]

Now, my worries. How can I make sure that my current sump in my 180 won't overflow if both are to turn off and stop flowing? As is, once the 180g shuts down, the sump fills. It was a used sump, and there is a hold drilled in the acrylic in the return section. Once I shut down the pump, it stops right under that. So I don't have much room for the 30g to flow water from the tank over to it if the return is turned off.

Usually most of the water black flow into the sump comes from the return nozzle sucking water from the display into the sump. You can either install check valves to prevent it (which may still leak unless you have a high pressure head and regularly replace it to ensure the seals are fresh) or have the nozzles just barely poke through the water surface (which may produce tones of splashes or noise and maybe draw in air into the tank and have lots of micro bubbles)

You can estimate the amount of water drained back into your sump by the multiplying surface area of the display by how far the nozzle is below the water surface. That should give you a ballpark number to see if your sump can hold the extra water volume.

 

[Bruttall]

Why not double overflow gravity feed the frag, you can DIY one real easy for the 180, let it flow into top of the 30 with overflow in the 30 feeding into the sump, only time water flows is if Main Return Pump for 180 is on.

Crude picture, but this design actually works. This is a DIY over the top gravity drain. Short pipe side goes in the water, you add water to the tall pipe to prime the siphon. 90 on the lower right corner is drain.

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

Why not double overflow gravity feed the frag, you can DIY one real easy for the 180, let it flow into top of the 30 with overflow in the 30 feeding into the sump, only time water flows is if Main Return Pump for 180 is on.

Crude picture, but this design actually works. This is a DIY over the top gravity drain. Short pipe side goes in the water, you add water to the tall pipe to prime the siphon. 90 on the lower right corner is drain.

Don't understand this

 

[Bruttall]

Don't understand this

Overflow such as this in Display Tank, set level so it ONLY flows water when your return pump is on, Another of these in the Frag tank flows into your sump.

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

Overflow such as this in Display Tank, set level so it ONLY flows water when your return pump is on, Another of these in the Frag tank flows into your sump.

Oh but don't understand its use that well, Sorry I'm a little dumb

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

Wait this is so that you frag tank does not overflow right? But won't ur sump overflow

 

[Bruttall]

Oh but don't understand its use that well, Sorry I'm a little dumb

Thats ok, the OP who actually ASKED A QUESTION will probably understand this.

 

[keepingfishwithnoidea]

Ok thanks I'm probably gonna use this if I figure this out as it seems like an incredibly ingenious design and I think I understand it

 

[Fish Fan]

Ok thanks I'm probably gonna use this if I figure this out as it seems like an incredibly ingenious design and I think I understand it

These contraptions are not without their drawbacks, not the least of which is I don't want a PVC pipe in my display tank, but hopefully this video helps you understand how they work and how to build them. There are other designs too, and some that add a small AquaLifter, making them potentially more reliable, so do some research if you want to do this.

 

[Fish Fan]

My plan would be to Tee off from the display tank's return line and run that to my 'fuge tank. Then, drill the 'fuge tank for a Modular Marine overflow, and drain that back to my main sump. To me this "works", I'm just trying to think through what happens when the power goes out, as far as will my sump hold everything that drains back with no power.

 

[Fish Fan]

This is basically what I'm thinking. I *believe* the overflows are returns should minimize how much water flows back into the sump when the power goes off, and I would just need to make sure the sump was large enough to hold it all.

Need help plumbing 3 tanks together

Hello - I’m looking for some guidance on how to plumb my setup. I attached a picture of what I’d like to do, only difference being - I want to install a frag tank underneath the refugium in the stand. I’m looking to maximize effiency by avoiding the refugium overflow being recirculated back...

www.reef2reef.com

Does this seem like a solid setup to those who have done this?

 

[ajremington68]

Why not double overflow gravity feed the frag, you can DIY one real easy for the 180, let it flow into top of the 30 with overflow in the 30 feeding into the sump, only time water flows is if Main Return Pump for 180 is on.

Crude picture, but this design actually works. This is a DIY over the top gravity drain. Short pipe side goes in the water, you add water to the tall pipe to prime the siphon. 90 on the lower right corner is drain.

I have built one of these for my 55 but you need to prime the water EVERYTIME power goes out, and that’s if your there so I don’t want that, also I have the bulkheads and overflow already included so I would like to use that

 

[ajremington68]

Thanks for all the responses, in reference to the DIY pvc idea I am saying away from this because I don’t want to manually prime it, and I don’t want pcv in my display.

I am thinking of just running the main overflow to the floss section of the sump and the emegency into the main section of the sump. As for the return I am thinking of getting a return that will fit in the section I have in my sump and run it to the 30g not tieing it into the 180. I will also include the device that stops back siphon from my return to allow as little water back to the sump as possible.

I just need to think and find others who have done multiples to see the complexity of if one tanks return is off and how that effects the sump and other tank. In a ideal world I would like to tie the overflow and return in to the 180 but with everything hard pvc in sch 80 I won’t be chopping that up cuz it was expensive to make in the first place.

 

[ajremington68]

The one thing I find is everyone has overflows alone tnag go to a section of the sump, but typically all the tanks are plumbed to 1 return pump which I am not sure if I will run in to problems running 2.

I know currently when I turn off my 180 it back flows a decent amount to my sump but it’s not overflowing. I also can adjust the returns on the 180 to point up more to get less back flow water. And on my 30g currently it back flows like 5 ish gallons because of the return so if I could make a back siphon stop valve on the return line to cut it as soon as the pump is off so it would only back siphons maybe a gallon or so, which my sump can tolerate. If I can create that I can plumb this thing together soon.

 

[ajremington68]

This is a good video I am going to refrence of a check valve and research using it in conjunction to my return like so once my return is on it will push water thru the check valve back to the 30g tank and then once the return is shut off the little trap door should close not allowing any water to the sump, then allowing minimal back siphon to the sump to not cause a overflow.

One thing I am going to look up is specs of allowed flow rate you can push through these, any potential for leaks, and also the life expectancy if I need to put it between unions to replace or if it will last years, also leaching make sure it’s a rubber trap door and no metal to cause leaching into my system.