Aquarium Rack - Heating and Filtration Advice

[Foisy Aquatics]

Hello all, I’m hoping to get some advice on my upcoming aquarium rack build. To date, I have only had individual tanks in different rooms of the house with HOB filters, sponge filters, and an occasional sump. I just bought a home and will be building an aquarium rack in the basement. The rack will consist of three rows, with each row holding three 10 gallon aquariums. They will be on an automatic drip system with LED lighting, but I’m struggling to figure out the most energy efficient and logical way to heat and filter these aquariums. The small plecos I will be keeping will require a temperature of around 78F, and heating the entire basement to this temperature is unfortunately out of the question as others in the home also use that space. The room will likely be kept at 70F - 72F year round. With that being said, I can only think of the following three setups as options:

1. All 9 tanks utilize only sponge and box filters, getting constant auto water changes from a drip system and overflowing the waste water. This would be the safest way to prevent spread of disease, but would also require each tank to have a small heater, likely with a temperature controller on the outlet. I would however save on the cost of filters as one air pump would filter all the tanks. This setup would use 1 air pump and 9 smaller output heaters with temperature controllers.

2. All 9 tanks feed into one central sump for filtration, removing the air pump and sponge / box filters from the set up. The sump would house plenty of media and pump water to all the tanks, which would drain individually into the sump and not into each other. Still would utilize auto drip system. One heater in the sump would heat all 9 tanks. This runs the biggest risk of a disease spreading if something sneaks past quarantine. I would also have a UV filter follow the pump up to the tanks to help kill diseases. This setup would use 1 higher output heater with a temperature controller, 1 water pump, and 1 UV filter.

3. Each row of tanks feeds into a sump, meaning 3 sumps below, each maintaining 3 tanks. Still utilizing auto drip system. Same idea as my previous setup, but with some added separation to prevent a disease from hitting all tanks. This set up would use 3 medium output heaters with temperature controllers and 3 water pumps (no UV filter).

Please don’t hesitate to bring up another potential setup you think might be better. I’m hoping to pick your brains a bit and find out which system you think would use the least amount of electricity and make the most sense for the situation. Thanks!!

 

[rlederer]

I have two racks of 6 tanks each, serviced by one sump. They are acrylic, so the inflow and outflow go into drilled holes in the tank, so no overflow box is needed. But your plan is similar. I've had this setup for 8 years now and only once have I had a disease issue in one rack. That was ich and soon as I saw it, I dosed the whole system. The disease remained confined to one tank and I only lost 3 fish to the disease (out of about 100).
One central sump, option #2, means only one filter to clean and one heater. I highly recommend that setup and feel that the disease problem is not a big issue and you'll minimize that with a UV filter.

 

[Foisy Aquatics]

I have two racks of 6 tanks each, serviced by one sump. They are acrylic, so the inflow and outflow go into drilled holes in the tank, so no overflow box is needed. But your plan is similar. I've had this setup for 8 years now and only once have I had a disease issue in one rack. That was ich and soon as I saw it, I dosed the whole system. The disease remained confined to one tank and I only lost 3 fish to the disease (out of about 100).
One central sump, option #2, means only one filter to clean and one heater. I highly recommend that setup and feel that the disease problem is not a big issue and you'll minimize that with a UV filter.

Thanks for the advice, that is definitely the direction I’m leaning towards as I don’t think 9 heaters will be good on the electric bill. My hope is that the UV is truly strong enough to stop the spread of a disease that might manage to get past quarantine.