Need help making this work!

[Zoalover34]

Well im going to be drilling my 55 and hopefully it's not tempered lol.. Well my other problem is the stand it came with.. Not very big and theres a big divider in the middle.. Almost like its 2 halfs.. I was thinking about puttin 2 10gallon tanks in the stand.. 1 on each side of the divider and drill a hole through the divider and plumb the 2 tanks together.. 1 for a sump and 1 for a refug.. My question is how could I do this? Should I get a small pump and pump from 1 10g to the other and then back up to the main tank? Any info/pics/suggestions would be great! Im gettin my bulkheads and hole saw tomorrow..

 

[rarelyseriousb]

Om doing the same thing. put the 2 tanks in the stand. Add a bulkhead (towards the bottom) from 1 10gallon to the other. they will equalize, if you want you could turn a piece of PVC up in the fuge 10 so that stays at a constant high and only the 10 with the return will lower with evap. just remember to leave room for flood back with loss of power or the return pump turning off.

 

[ficklefins]

Try getting a pic of the divider so we can help you plan something out.

Plan #1:
I don't like trying to link two tanks like this for a sump but if you have to do it one solution would be to place one tank higher than the second (raise it with a few 2x4s). This way you could drill a few bulkheads into the higher one and place an elbow into it dumping into the second tank. This would reduce any problems caused by a pump going bad, or the need to dial in the flow between your sump-2-sump pump and your return pump.

Plan #2:
This would be the best case scenario and might actually be the easiest to accomplish. If your tank's divider is just a single 2"x1" in the front by the doors and one in the back, then I would cut the one in the back out. Place a longer sump into the stand and screw the divider back in with a scrap piece of wood as wide as your divider on the top and bottom where you cut it.

Keep in mind showing us some pics may change these plans.

 

[rarelyseriousb]

the stand for a 55 is only like 10.5 inches wide so 10 is the biggest tank that can fit. 2 will fit. unless you get something bilt but IMO dont bother building. 2 10 should work. The skimmer is the biggest problem. may have to hang one.

 

[Psychographic]

If the drain from the DT went into one of the 10's and the return drew from the other 10, you would not need a pump. I would suggest you oversize the bulkheads and plumbing between the two 10's for the rating of your return pump. By oversizing the plumbing you also lesson the risk of any clogging from debris.

I don't see a reason for rasing one tank higher than the other.

 

[Zoalover34]

Heres some pics, thanks for the ideas so far keep em comming!

 

[rarelyseriousb]

Id run with it. I think all these ideas are good. but just keep them level and you will be good to go. Psychographic laid it out well. put the pipe stand in the 10 where the tank drains (and its the same tank with the fuge), put the return pump and all other equipment(top off and heater) in the 2nd tank. keep them same hight and connect with as big of plumbing as possible.

 

[Railrider1920]

If you are planning on drilling the ten gallon tanks, be careful. I have a couple of them. Some are regular glass and some are tempered. I found this out after I took one apart and tried to cut some of the glass. I took apart the tempered one. There is a way to tell the difference, but I don't remember what it is. Someone at a glass shop could check them for you.