plumbing 2 tanks to 1 sump

[onehawksfan]

I would like to plumb an additional tank into the same sump I have now. Is this straight forward? or is there a trick to this? Overflows from each tank go to sump, separate pumps return to each tank. Any thoughts?

 

[LakeEd]

It should work just fine, as long as your pumps aren't sooo large for either tank, as to overwhelm your sump's capacity to flow water.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

And make sure the one sump is big enough to cover both tanks in case of a power outage

 

[onehawksfan]

yeah, that's what I was thinking. I wanted to keep the water level in my sump about 8-10" (for skimmer to work properly). That's about half full (75g sump). Someone told me that they plumbed the two return pumps to the two tanks and also together (incase one pump went out?). Not sure why? Any thoughts?

 

[LakeEd]

I suppose plumbing the two return pumps into a "Return Header" that would feed both tanks could work, as long as you are sure that either of the tanks overflows CAN handle the volumn of both return pumps, if for some reason one of the return lines happened to clog (worst case), and all water was only going into one tank???

 

[Herefishyfishy]

One better pump would be more efficient than two. Some larger pumps are reliable, quiet, use little energy and stay cool.

 

[servo]

Don't forget that if you upgrade to a large pump you could overwelm the capacity of your sump and end up with alot of microbubbles. What size are your tanks? A Dart Sequence pump is VERY quiet, reliable and you can dial it back and actually decrease wattage.

 

[onehawksfan]

200 gallon and 100 gallon feeding into a 75 gallon sump. So I could just Y off the pump and go to each tank? That might be a better idea than running two separate pumps. Pros and cons of using one pump instead of two?

 

[LakeEd]

One pump MAY draw less electricity, than running two. (depends on which pumps, of course).

One source of failure. If that pump has problems, it will effect both systems.

IF you have a back-up pump available, that single source of failure could be minimized to just the time it would take to swap it out.

 

[onehawksfan]

Thanks for your help everyone - looks like decision time for me. As usual, it comes down to how much money I can spend without my wife finding out! Thanks again!

 

[LakeEd]

Thanks for your help everyone - looks like decision time for me. As usual, it comes down to how much money I can spend without my wife finding out! Thanks again!

Ohhh, I know how that one works too! :lol:

 

[Herefishyfishy]

200 gallon and 100 gallon feeding into a 75 gallon sump.

That is a lot of gallons into a single 75 sump. Power outage could pretty easily get you a flood unless the sump is kept very low. Will the skimmer and fuge handle that?

 

[Skimmy]

honestly i would probably take 2 eheim submersible return pumps over one larger external pump, for redundancy in case a pump failed, both systems wouldnt be down. the new german/european trend in sump filter design is to have slower flow through the sump and have stronger, more efficient filtration that in effect strip the water. were talkiing like 3 x the flow through the sump, compared to the more popular 10 x. but they incorporate those awesome skimmers(ati, deltec, h&s, bk) and also use carbon and phosphate media reactors to clean the water.

the only other potentially bad thing is the spread of disease or algae through both systems via a common sump, but if you practice good husbandry, (fish quarantine, coral treatment/removal for red bugs, aefw, bryopsis, etc) than that is a nominal consideration.