Crazy aquarium idea?

[AudreyG]

Hello all, I have made the decision to get another saltwater aquarium to have a fish-only tank and another fish + reef tank. I currently have a drilled 75 gallon that has been running great for years with a sump. I am going to be acquiring a 150 gallon that is not drilled on the bottom like most, it is drilled out of the side of the aquarium about three inches from the very top of the glass. (See pictures below) I would prefer to have both aquariums on the same water system to save myself some hassle doing water changes and have the stability of 225 gallons versus 150 and 75 alone, but I can’t seem to figure out the best way to do this.
A. I had an idea to have both aquariums drain into the sump I have for the 75 gallon so that the protein skimmer can take care of both tanks, but that seems like a good way to over flow my sump. In that plan I would have two pumps in the sump, one going to the 75 that is above it and the other going to the 150 next to it.
B. An alternate version of this plan would be to just have one high gph pump that splits and goes to each aquarium.
C. The next plan I played with was having one tank pump into the other (probably the 150 pumping into the 75) then the other draining into the sump and pumping the water into the first tank instead of back into the second. This one seems more logical if I could figure out how to match the pump rate from tank 1 to the overflow of tank 2 to the sump pump back into tank 1 with all the change in height.
D. If all else fails, I do have another sump and I could potentially just have them on two different systems and just double my equipment used for my new tank. I don’t get the added stability of 225 gallons and I would have to do two separate water changes for the individual tanks, but I wouldn’t have to deal with all the crazy plumbing.
I also was thinking about having a pump in the bottom of a drainage sump box that just pumps into the sump. This idea could be applied to all of the ideas above, but I can’t seem to find anything anywhere about it. I’m sure I could be missing something here with the logistics, but why aren’t pumps used instead of U-boxes for undrilled tanks? If you have a pump sitting at the bottom of a sump box pumping into the sump, it should be able to do the same job as a bottom-drilled overflow box would. The main issue I can see here is that if any big chunks of food or anything like that gets down the sump box, the pump might not be able to handle it and might clog.
Also, does anyone know how I could just use the drilled piece (shown in the picture) as if it is drilled in the bottom? I would want some sort of slits or filter or something to prevent my fish from getting sucked in.
I would greatly appreciate it if you could reply and let me know which idea (A,B,C, or D) you think would work best and why. If anyone has done this before, I would really love to hear how it went for you.
Thanks,
Audrey

 

[fish farmer]

I'll address the pump out vs U pipe overflow.....matching flow into sump then back up would be a pain...always worry of over pumping into main tank. Sure you can put float switches on BOTH pumps, but is adds another level of equipment that could fail. I did a similar thing on my first tank, made an "overflow" box with a pump in it, switches on both pumps, they would be going on and off a lot to keep up with flow, until they were matched. I eventually went with a HOB overflow and now drilled.

I would have one big sump pump and split the flow between.

 

[WvAquatics]

Love the idea. I wonder if mixing both tanks into the same sump could cause an issue with cross contamination. But I am new so no real experience in this. If I were to choose I would go with plan b. I would overflow both into sump and have a high powered return to supply both. I woul aim to have return lines as close to same size so it pumps equally into both tanks. Definitely following to see the final project

 

[AudreyG]

I'll address the pump out vs U pipe overflow.....matching flow into sump then back up would be a pain...always worry of over pumping into main tank. Sure you can put float switches on BOTH pumps, but is adds another level of equipment that could fail. I did a similar thing on my first tank, made an "overflow" box with a pump in it, switches on both pumps, they would be going on and off a lot to keep up with flow, until they were matched. I eventually went with a HOB overflow and now drilled.

I would have one big sump pump and split the flow between.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[AudreyG]

Love the idea. I wonder if mixing both tanks into the same sump could cause an issue with cross contamination. But I am new so no real experience in this. If I were to choose I would go with plan b. I would overflow both into sump and have a high powered return to supply both. I woul aim to have return lines as close to same size so it pumps equally into both tanks. Definitely following to see the final project

There wouldn’t be any contamination because the other aquarium is brand new. There would be any fish or organisms to infect my current creatures. Thank you for your response.

 

[Desmond]

1 pump sounds like the safest bet to me. Only 1 thing that can fail.

 

[link81]

one pump or 2 pump, fine either way. but i would valve the returns separately so you can control the flow to each tank.

However, the biggest issue i see is that your sump needs to be big enough so that when all flow is stopped, and both tanks drain to the sump, the sump doesn't overflow. And you want a fair amount of safety margin here.

 

[YankeeTankee]

I'd say A or B. About the pump, if you have one pump and it fails, that sump will likely flood with both tanks draining in unless your sump can handle that volume.

 

[AudreyG]

one pump or 2 pump, fine either way. but i would valve the returns separately so you can control the flow to each tank.

However, the biggest issue i see is that your sump needs to be big enough so that when all flow is stopped, and both tanks drain to the sump, the sump doesn't overflow. And you want a fair amount of safety margin here.

That’s a very good point. I didn’t even think about that. I already have a max and min fill line that I drew on the sump to make sure it wouldn’t overflow, but I guess I’ll have to remeasure that and make my overflow accordingly.

 

[AudreyG]

I'd say A or B. About the pump, if you have one pump and it fails, that sump will likely flood with both tanks draining in unless your sump can handle that volume.

Thanks true, if I have two separate pumps and one fails, then at least one of the aquariums will continue running if I go with plan A. That way I could turn one aquarium off if I need to fix it and not have to halt the cycling of the other tank.