Using another Aquarium to add water volume ?

[candymancan]

Ok I know its basically like using a sump.. but I don't want to get that complicated..

I have 3 fish tanks in my bedroom.. my 92g discus tank, my 27g hexagon and a 10g bowfront.. My bowfront is more of a hospital tank then anything.. I have a blind Electric blue ram I keep in there to feed easier.. and 5 serpair tetra's and if I have a sick fish I tend to put them in there and medicate..

My 27g hexagon.. has basically become a tank I don't use anymore.. All that's in there is a big rainbow shark and a few guppies and like 4 or 5 platies.. Its extremely heavily planted... lol .. I have plants in there I want to move to my 92g but I have a snail issue in the tank and im debating on bleaching the plants and risking killing them and risking having an outbreak of snails in my 92g tank..

I already took the neons and most of the fish that were in it and added them to my 92g tank, and I took the power compact lights off it to use on my 92g.. So I also have no lighting for the tank anymore except the original 15 inch t8.. So hense a dead tank basically.

So I was wondering.. if I were somehow remove the snails.. Could I use this this tank with a pair of pumps as added water volume to my 92g tank.. Effectivly making my 92g around 125 gallons of volume.. Further diluting nitrates..

If so how would I go about doing this ? The tanks are almost next to eachother maybe by 6 feet and that's it . Is my idea stupid or what ? Im just trying to figure out a use for this tank.. I don't have lights for it.. nore do I really care much for it.. Im not sure what kind of fish I should use it if I decide to keep it running.. So what do you guys think I should do with this tank

 

[threnjen]

I think you would really have to make it like a sump setup or risk overflow in the event of any equipment failure. Meaning the hex would need to be at a lower level than the 92g so that you can use a gravity siphon to bring water to the hex, and a pump to return it to the 92g.

Really it's just a sump system, just one where you might not have any filter media. It would make your life much easier for water changes!

 

[candymancan]

Well the hex and the 92g are both the same height.. Both 24-25 inch tall tank and I believe the stands are the same height.. I have my computer desk in between the 2 tanks.. couldn't I just run two small pumps on my desk the same GPH to run water back and forth.. Im not sure how to do this.. Ive never done it before.. and over filling a tank is a major concern lol I deff don't need 120g of water on my floor in the upper level.


That's my goal.. while this 92g helps with water changes over the 44g it replaced.. 3-4 days vs 2-3 days.. The extra 27g of water would help even more I think.. Soo how do I make this happen ? Ive never had a sump or anything like it before..

 

[threnjen]

Well the hex and the 92g are both the same height.. Both 24-25 inch tall tank and I believe the stands are the same height.. I have my computer desk in between the 2 tanks.. couldn't I just run two small pumps on my desk the same GPH to run water back and forth.. Im not sure how to do this.. Ive never done it before.. and over filling a tank is a major concern lol I deff don't need 120g of water on my floor in the upper level.


That's my goal.. while this 92g helps with water changes over the 44g it replaced.. 3-4 days vs 2-3 days.. The extra 27g of water would help even more I think.. Soo how do I make this happen ? Ive never had a sump or anything like it before..

I really wouldn't recommend that, it would be absolutely catastrophic. You couldn't make sure that the GPH was EXACTLY the same, down to the drop. I'm allowing for the possibility that I'm not thinking outside the box here and not thinking of some idea, but one of the directions really must be gravity based because you can't possibly get it *perfectly* matched with a pump.

Even two of the same pump would inevitably have the slightest variation that over days or weeks will result in unevenness. Not to mention that a pump's abilities are affected by many other things - their depth in the tank, any impediments to the intake (in the main tank it would have a sponge, what about in the return tank? what about the discrepancy when the main tank sponge acquires some mulm buildup, while the return tank doesn't?)

And then what if for some reason one of the pumps fails, and the other does not, and you're not home to stop it?

You just can't make two pumps between two tanks perfectly even, imo.

Just put it on the floor and make it lower

 

[candymancan]

Ok but if I put it on the floor and use a siphon effect wouldn't it just fill the aquarium until it overflows ? Im a idiot when it comes to sumps and tanks on the ground under a aquarium so im trying to understand how this works

 

[threnjen]

No you would use an overflow box like this:
prefilter box, siphon box, overflow box, siphon overflow, Eurobrace, Euro-brace, Euro-tank

Water will only flow out the upper aquarium if it is high enough to flow into the overflow box

I have that one I linked and I can confirm that it has never lost its siphon when the power goes out.

 

[Mebbid]

The 2 pump idea wont work without a fairly intricate set of controls to prevent it, i actually asked the same question myself a while back

The siphon set up on the main tank is set to skim the surface of the water and allow the water to drain down into the lower container.

With the siphon skimming the surface of the water if the pump stops pusjing water into the main tank, the water level of the main tank will drop to whatever the overflow is set at.

You have to account for the amount of water that will flow into the lower tank to make sure it wont overflow.

Following that, if you were gojng to do this i would HIGHLY recommend drilling the 92g tank as those hob overflows can fail and a lot of water will go on your floor... again

 

[threnjen]

Following that, if you were gojng to do this i would HIGHLY recommend drilling the 92g tank as those hob overflows can fail and a lot of water will go on your floor... again

Just curious, what element do you think could fail? I am confident that ours is foolproof. But the hubs and I might just be awesome like that.

 

[sinibotia]

 

[Mebbid]

Just curious, what element do you think could fail? I am confident that ours is foolproof. But the hubs and I might just be awesome like that.

The overflow itself. If air gets into it the siphon can break with obvious implications.

I ran a 20g reef tank and that almost happened. Thankfully it wasnt a full siphon break and it was in my bedroom while i was asleep at the time. I only lost about a quart of water out of the tank which woke me up.

 

[threnjen]

The siphon box we have is pretty badass. It is mechanically impossible for air to get into it unless you were to blow it in on purpose.

It's the one I linked to the Op, they advertise no siphon breaks and I believe it because I understand the mechanical design of the box. Now that website is a total mess and looks really unprofessional so it's hard to take it totally seriously but it's an amazing HOB siphon box. I trust this product 100%. It would be impossible for the siphon to break without my direct physical intervention to make it happen.

 

[Mebbid]

The siphon box we have is pretty badass. It is mechanically impossible for air to get into it unless you were to blow it in on purpose.

It's the one I linked to the Op, they advertise no siphon breaks and I believe it because I understand the mechanical design of the box. Now that website is a total mess and looks really unprofessional so it's hard to take it totally seriously but it's an amazing HOB siphon box. I trust this product 100%. It would be impossible for the siphon to break without my direct physical intervention to make it happen.

Its the same general mechanism for air to get into them. small water bubbles occasionally make their way into the overflow and dont flow out. Its simple to claim no failures on a website.

 

[threnjen]

Its the same general mechanism for air to get into them. small water bubbles occasionally make their way into the overflow and dont flow out. Its simple to claim no failures on a website.

I am willing to admit that anything is feasible.

But you will not be able to break my faith in this box, not ever

 

[threnjen]

And then - what the heck is that??

 

[PB_Smith]

That is a two tank system using a water bridge. Water is drained from one and returned to the other and they maintain equilibrium via the bridge.
Because you are only using one pump and the two tanks are physically linked, the issues of uneven flow are circumvented.
BUT if something obstructs the bridge, you could have issues.


From what I have read, they are pretty reliable.
I have seen other setups like this, some pretty crazy.
http://gizmodo.com/346527/fish-brid...iums-if-only-fish-were-smart-enough-to-use-it

 

[PB_Smith]

I really wouldn't recommend that, it would be absolutely catastrophic. You couldn't make sure that the GPH was EXACTLY the same, down to the drop. I'm allowing for the possibility that I'm not thinking outside the box here and not thinking of some idea, but one of the directions really must be gravity based because you can't possibly get it *perfectly* matched with a pump.

Even two of the same pump would inevitably have the slightest variation that over days or weeks will result in unevenness. Not to mention that a pump's abilities are affected by many other things - their depth in the tank, any impediments to the intake (in the main tank it would have a sponge, what about in the return tank? what about the discrepancy when the main tank sponge acquires some mulm buildup, while the return tank doesn't?)

And then what if for some reason one of the pumps fails, and the other does not, and you're not home to stop it?

You just can't make two pumps between two tanks perfectly even, imo.

Just put it on the floor and make it lower

very true.
while I was "tuning" my salt sump I thought I had everything dialed in perfect, it had been 3 hours and the water level appeared to be ok.
so I went out shopping for a couple of hours, started cooking dinner and somewhere along the line I wandered into the bedroom to see water overflowing my tank .
there was a minute difference and the water was pumping back faster than draining. lucky for me I only lost about a gallon or two.
A few tweaks to my DIY overflow and a tweak of a valve and problem solved, BUT it took over 3-4 hours for it to start overflowing!

 

[Mebbid]

I am willing to admit that anything is feasible.

But you will not be able to break my faith in this box, not ever

Thats good, just like you wont break my faith with my drilled tank

If i had one of those aqualifter pumps id be less worried about using a hob overflow.

 

[candymancan]

Id be worried about drilling this tank.. I mean it says not to drill on a big sticker on the bottom... Wouldn't I risk cracking the glass from the weight of the gravel and so forth ?


I like the idea of the hang on back overflows but id be worried of something made of acrylic like that breaking.. Like a seal going bad and what not.. vs plastic molding.. Couldn't I just make my own overflow some how using PCV pipe ?


And Im confused how does this 2 tank bridge work lol the pipe is higher then the tank lol so how would that work ?

 

[sinibotia]

Id be worried about drilling this tank.. I mean it says not to drill on a big sticker on the bottom... Wouldn't I risk cracking the glass from the weight of the gravel and so forth ?


I like the idea of the hang on back overflows but id be worried of something made of acrylic like that breaking.. Like a seal going bad and what not.. vs plastic molding.. Couldn't I just make my own overflow some how using PCV pipe ?


And Im confused how does this 2 tank bridge work lol the pipe is higher then the tank lol so how would that work ?

The atmospheric pressure is equal on both tanks, so the water stays in the tube. It works as long as the water level is the same, otherwise water will drain through the tub until they are even again.

 

[1972ford]

You run a piece of airline tubing into the bridge with a small piece of styrofoan on the end you then suck out all the air. Its the same principal as filling a cup underwate and pulling it out upside down the water stays till the siphon is broken