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Help! Adding a 10g display fuge.


Jules

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A sump wouldn't hurt although it sounds like your doing two things. I.E. Connecting the two tanks and adding a sump. If you do then I would just do a HOB overflow for the sump which can be done on either tank. You will need a small pump for the sump to feed the tank but otherwise it's pretty straight forward. To connect the two tanks you will still need to do the u-tubes and have a pump to transfer water between them. The plumbing for each is more or less separate although you may be able to join them by plumbing between the HOB's on both. (If I recall right you said you have a hob on the display?) Alternatively you could do hob overflows on both tanks.

 

Keep in mind I may be misunderstanding what you are describing. You might be better off to sketch out what your thinking and post a picture. There really are a few ways this can be done however you need to be careful to do it in a manner that will not allow an excessive amount of water to drain into a lower tank/sump when the power is shut off and that has some redundancy in case a tube gets plugged.

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The way I was seeing it is to use the pvc overflow coming out of the fuge to the sump then the return pump takes it from the sump to the DT. It is basically not fool proof I'm sure but if it is done right and the power goes out and comes back on it (the pvc overflow) should stop and start right back up. I would need to match the flow from the pvc overflow to the return pump of course. With that I was thinking putting a valve after the overflow and before the sump to adjust the flow if needed and to do maintenance. The sump will be the connection between the two tanks. As far as I know that is typical in most systems am I right?

Does that make sense? Here is a pic of what the pvc overflow will look like. 2 sections in and 2 sections out of tank. The T goes to the sump.

post-6292-141867757649_thumb.jpg

post-6292-141867757653_thumb.jpg

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Just make sure you have enough room in the sump for the overflow from both the fuge and the DT. Remember to make the pump box big enough to avoid large daily top -off's or put an ATO on it.

 

I don't have an overflow on the DT just a small HOB filter that I will run carbon in. I may not of mentioned it was a filter and not an overflow. DOH! Do I need to keep that water in account as well? When i removed it in the past most of the water drained into the DT, there was plenty of room for it, (it is a very small HOB)

 

Figuring out how to keep two different levels in the sump is something I have to figure out now as well. If that even needs to be an option....I'm thinking the baffles have something to do with that. (scratch) More reading. (whistle)

 

I have been considering ATO as well, mainly because the intake on the overflow will be just below the water level and I wouldn't want it to start sucking air. (scary)

 

I will be going to pick up everything I need for the pvc overflow tomorrow maybe to get that made and tested. I still have a long way to go yet. But am having fun figuring it out. I really appreciate the input from everyone too.

Thank you.

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Yes, you need to either run 2 pumps with overflows on both tanks (which is what I would do and then the heights don't matter) or you still need one or two u-tubes between the tanks. There will be no need to worry about separate levels in the sump. To be sure you have enough room in the sump you need to get everything set up and running (just enough water in the sump for the tanks to be at normal levels) and then shut the system down to let all of the water drain down to the sump. Then you fill the sump up to the highest level you feel comfortable with and then start it up again. Then mark the water level on the sump after it is running normally. This will be the highest level that is safe when you add topoff water.

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Thanks Rick, I have a couple questions.

1. The overflows you are talking about is that the boxes that can be place in the corner inside the tank?

2. What and how is a U-tube used on the tank, it seems to be really general and I have no idea exactly what it is in accordance to a tank and what it does.

3. Should the sump be big enough to hold the water of both tanks combined or am I missing something there

4. Do I really need a sump if I have 1 overflow in each tank and two pumps?

 

Sorry for so many questions.

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Thanks Rick, I have a couple questions.

1. The overflows you are talking about is that the boxes that can be place in the corner inside the tank?

If you don't drill then they will need to be hob overflows. They will have a box both inside and outside with a u-tube between them.

 

2. What and how is a U-tube used on the tank' date=' it seems to be really general and I have no idea exactly what it is in accordance to a tank and what it does.[/quote']

Literally nothing more than a U shaped tube. Both ends are submerged. One in each side. Once the air is sucked out of the tube water will flow freely between them

 

3. Should the sump be big enough to hold the water of both tanks combined or am I missing something there

Not necessarily, It needs to be big enough to hold any water that drains back when the power is shut off. How much that will be depends upon how it's set up. Hob overflow boxes will probably let 1 or 2 gallons drain back on those tanks. In addition to this there needs to be enough room to have water for a pump in there. The sump itself can be as simple as a small plastic tub that is 10 or 15 gallons or can be an acrylic one like what you usually see. More is better though. I would try for as large as possibble in the space available.

 

4. Do I really need a sump if I have 1 overflow in each tank and two pumps?

Yes, the whole purpose of the overflow is to drain the water into a sump where it is then pumped back into the tank. If you use two then they can be set up independantly which makes the locations where the tanks are more flexible. They just need to be within a reasonable distance of the shared sump so the plumbing can lead to both. (With big enough pumps and enough plumbing some people put sumps in basements and plumb up through the floor but I doubt you want anything that extensive)

 

I'll tell you what, of you want it I have a 10 gallon tank here that I had set up as a sump at one point that you can have. It had a small leak so it needs the old silicone cut out and new silicone put in. I can show you what needs to be done. (I would do it myself but I have no use for it) You could also add baffles to it if you wanted at the same time. (I think I took the ones out that it had but I'm not sure) Total cost for it would be a tube of silicone, cost to pick it up, and maybe some glass for baffles if you wanted to add them.

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Okay so I think that will be what I am going to do then put an overflow on both. and place 2 pumps in the sump? One to each tank?

 

I don't have enough room under the cabinet for a 10g I will have to get a somewhat smaller container. I will figure something out.

 

If all else fails I can just switch everything from my 12 to the 10 and make the 12 into a freshwater like it was meant for! add a fuge to the 10 and call it good.

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That makes sense to me.

1. put an overflow on both tanks draining to a sump

 

2. place a return pump in the sump that is able to handle pumping water to both tanks

 

3. split the return plumbing to go to each tank w/valves on each line

 

Now that sounds easy :)

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I have changed my mind about that set-up. I am just going to transfer everything from the 12g to the 10g, put a fuge/sump under it. My reef needs better lighting so this way I can make a top and get some good lighting for the ten. The tanks don't look so good next to each other either.

 

Sooo, what is the best way to transfer everything from my 12 to my 10? Should I put everything in a bucket with the old water and place new water in the tank with the sand and then aclimate everything after the sand settles?

 

The 12g is going to be a freshwater planted Dwarf Puffer tank. :D

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I have changed my mind about that set-up. I am just going to transfer everything from the 12g to the 10g, put a fuge/sump under it. My reef needs better lighting so this way I can make a top and get some good lighting for the ten. The tanks don't look so good next to each other either.

 

Sooo, what is the best way to transfer everything from my 12 to my 10? Should I put everything in a bucket with the old water and place new water in the tank with the sand and then aclimate everything after the sand settles?

 

The 12g is going to be a freshwater planted Dwarf Puffer tank. :D

 

take about 20-30% of the water out and put your livestock in it. put the rest of the old water in the 10 gallon, then put your rocks in, rinse your sand in some fresh saltwater, then put your sand in, add any additional water as new salt water kind of like a large water change. turn on the pumps and run some carbon, let your sand settle down. sometimes i use seachem's clarity to help clear up the sand faster. once your water clears up, (bout 2 hrs) do a quick nitrate, ammonia test, if ammonia or nitrate is detectable to levels that are not ideal, put in some nite-out, prime or other nitrate / ammonia reducer of choice to remove it, let mix in aquarium for 10-20 min and then retest, if parameters are good, put your livestock in. try to keep your livestock from being in their container for longer than 4-5 hours max. use a small power head to keep their water oxygenated and maybe a heater.

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