1 sump/refugium and 2 large tanks

[Hitman]

Anyone running 2 or more tanks on 1 sump?
I’m thinking about running the 600 gallon tank off the 90 gallon sump/fuge hooked into my 240 reef tank.
Here’s my thoughts: My 240 gallon reef tank is running so clean that I have to dose both NO3 and PO4 so if I plumb the 600 gallon predator build into it I would think I would no longer have to dose it. I’m dosing 3ppm of NO3 and 1ppm PO4 daily and if I skip a day both Hanna and Salifert tests read zeros.
Any thoughts on my thinking from those that are doing this?

 

[Brett S]

It definitely can be done. I don’t have any tanks that big, but I certainly prefer to run all of my tanks on one system because it means that I only need to monitor the parameters for one body of water, do water changes and top off on one system, run one set of filters/skimmer, etc. However, I think there are a few things for you to consider.

First, I’m assuming you’re dosing calcium and alkalinity in one fashion or another on the reef tank and not doing so on the 600G tank. If that’s the case then be aware that adding another 600G to your reef system means that you’ll probably need to bump up your calcium and alkalinity dosing considerably and that could add a lot of expense.

Second, a 90G sump might be a bit small for the two tanks. The big concern is the amount of water that will backflow into the sump when the pumps are shut off for maintenance or during a power failure. With tanks that big you may need to allow for as much as 40 or 50 extra gallons to wind up in the sump when the pumps are off and that means that you won’t have much room for water in the sump/fuge during normal operations.

And finally, you need to consider that disease could transfer from one tank to the other if they are both on the same system. If you have a good quarantine procedure and are confident that the two tanks are disease free then this might not be too much of a concern. If you’re using feeder fish of questionable health in the predator tank then there’s a bigger chance that the health of the reef tank could be affected by something in the predator tank.

 

[Hitman]

The extra water level in case of power failure did slip my mind! Thank you for that!!! The other issues I’m prepared for as I planned to move up to the 5 gallon buckets of ESV and I have a 80 watt Pentair Aquatics UV to assist in the nasties. But your correct if something gets in one tank it will be in both, I’d like to think I have a bullet proof QT process but things can and will happen.

 

[asting]

It definitely can be done. I don’t have any tanks that big, but I certainly prefer to run all of my tanks on one system because it means that I only need to monitor the parameters for one body of water, do water changes and top off on one system, run one set of filters/skimmer, etc. However, I think there are a few things for you to consider.

First, I’m assuming you’re dosing calcium and alkalinity in one fashion or another on the reef tank and not doing so on the 600G tank. If that’s the case then be aware that adding another 600G to your reef system means that you’ll probably need to bump up your calcium and alkalinity dosing considerably and that could add a lot of expense.

Second, a 90G sump might be a bit small for the two tanks. The big concern is the amount of water that will backflow into the sump when the pumps are shut off for maintenance or during a power failure. With tanks that big you may need to allow for as much as 40 or 50 extra gallons to wind up in the sump when the pumps are off and that means that you won’t have much room for water in the sump/fuge during normal operations.

And finally, you need to consider that disease could transfer from one tank

First, I’m assuming you’re dosing calcium and alkalinity in one fashion or another on the reef tank and not doing so on the 600G tank. If that’s the case then be aware that adding another 600G to your reef system means that you’ll probably need to bump up your calcium and alkalinity dosing considerably and that could add a lot of expense.

Second, a 90G sump might be a bit small for the two tanks. The big concern is the amount of water that will backflow into the sump when the pumps are shut off for maintenance or during a power failure. With tanks that big you may need to allow for as much as 40 or 50 extra gallons to wind up in the sump when the pumps are off and that means that you won’t have much room for water in the sump/fuge during normal operations.

And finally, you need to consider that disease could transfer from one tank to the other if they are both on the same system. If you have a good quarantine procedure and are confident that the two tanks are disease free then this might not be too much of a concern. If you’re using feeder fish of questionable health in the predator tank then there’s a bigger chance that the health of the reef tank could be affected by something in the predator tank.

Re nutrients for 600g, I disagree. Certainly getting levels right on 600g more will use more dosing, but having more volume doesn’t mean the rate of usage goes up proportionately. You might just have to get 600g to match and after dose close to the same amount (discounting coralline or other additional growth in the predator tank).

 

[Rjramos]

Like said, it’s possible, but something like what I have set up as my frag and grow out tanks is more feasible and runs trouble free.
This is a pair of shallow 60 gal. tanks set up on parallel stands and sharing everything underneath.
Under one stand, an elevated refugium (which dumps into pump sump in the other stand) and my top off container. Under the other stand, return pump sump, with attached external pump and skimmer.

With my experience it is best to use display tanks with same size and volume. And the purpose of the 2 tanks should be similar.

Sounds like you are trying to compensate the deficiencies of one tank with what another much larger and stocked tank is able to produce. I feel this will lead to more instabilities and problems. Just my thought.

 

[ca1ore]

Obviously the most important thing is to make sure the sump has enough capacity to handle drain down in the event of power loss or pump failure. I run multiple tanks, of varying sizes, into my main sump. No issues at all.

 

[asting]

Woops - looks like my post got jacked up on mobile.

My point is just by connecting your second tank doesn't mean you will go through calcium twice as fast and need to dose more. Probably slightly more if elevated levels in the predator tank cause greater coralline algae.

 

[Hitman]

Woops - looks like my post got jacked up on mobile.

My point is just by connecting your second tank doesn't mean you will go through calcium twice as fast and need to dose more. Probably slightly more if elevated levels in the predator tank cause greater coralline algae.

I completely understood what you meant lol