Has anybody plumbed two tanks together?

[zuzecawi]

I've got this 125gal or so acrylic aquarium floating around my storage unit, it's a little scratched but not deeply, and I was kicking around what to do with it. I'm not really so hot on acrylic reef tanks, because of the whole scratching thing, but dang! 125 gal! Vs my 58 gal Oceanic! Why not put them together? (This comes of looking at tangs) Now here's the question... could they actually be plumbed together? Could I... gasp... run them for a sort of super system like in pet stores? Or, should I just be prudent and put the dang thing on the ground behind my sadly smaller-every-time-I-look-at-it 58 gal and just use it as a big grando sump? Is this yet again a case of quality vs. quantity? (Says I who stares at every big tank in the classifieds religiously)

 

[dscount]

I think you know the answer. I'm make it a huge sump myself. You can always give it away to fellow Aquariumadvice members. I know one.

BUT your other options:
- Put it up for sale. You mentioned not a lot of tanks in the ads.
- Take the cash (Granted not the full price) and buy a bigger glass, sump the 58gal.
- Might be someone out there looking for a good 125gal sump?
- Drilling holes (Big ones) between the two might not be a grand idea, but I've seen it done on two acrylic tanks. (Fancy LFS did this in California)
- Park it in a closet and run lines to/from that location to the tank? (Depends on your layout of your place and what not)
- MOD it for your snakes and reuse the tanks they are in? Not sure what sizes. Clean those BIG TIME if you do reuse.

 

[zuzecawi]

The snakeys are all parked in acrylic tanks of megalithic proportions which will NEVER be suitable for aquarium use again. (They were turtle tanks from a LFS and have HUGE gouges and strange mods) So that one is out... Can't plumb to a closet, my house is small. And pretty full (funny how small houses fill up quicker). There is about 1.5' room behind my tank, and room for it to come forward if I find a new stand for my 38gal cube quarantine tank, so I COULD shove the 125 on the ground behind it, (Would look kinda funny though, and security of water is an issue with a baby in the house) I wasn't actually looking at drilling, I was thinking of running over the back, or connecting them via a bigger sump beneath the 125. Maybe building a L-shape cabinet (I have a lot of time on my hands coming up, getting medically retired from the Army) for the corner to hold both tanks, and plumbing them together down below via a sump. Would there be any reason NOT to do this?

 

[dscount]

Hmmm. Baby proof makes it harder to suggest anything of a sump nature in the open. My friends had a new kitten knock out the 125gal feed back to the sump. Well needless to say they had about 20 gallons on the floor when they got home.

If you can manage I'd just build up a large stand to include the 125 gal sump.

You can always firmly attach some tie wraps against the wall to hold the tubes, wiring etc from baby pulling. Buy a large piece of nice wood for the entire top of the 12gal and put stuff like books, water buckets, etc to keep the little one out of the sump tank. Them kids just love playing w/water. I know mine managed to feed my fresh water tank about 2 cups of flakes one day. (10 gal tank) Lucky for me I had a great siphon and lots of patience.

HTH

 

[zuzecawi]

Heh, books and buckets would just be projectiles for my boy. He's a firecracker. That's my main concern with using the big tank as a sump... and using the 58 as a sump is out of the question, it's bottom drilled. So I'm kinda stuck on this... if I built a cabinent big enough for holding the 125 below it, I'd be tempted to put the 125 ON it. Which leads me back to multiple plumbings.