Pros and Cons of combining sumps

[New&no clue]

I'm currently daydreaming about my next upgrade..

...Okay back to reality. I have watched several people slowly build a tank over a couple years and gather their equipment through vendor sales or online forums and would like to try to do the same. My dream tank would be a 160-200 gallon peninsula tank in my basement family room. I don't necessarily have the time right now for two tanks (2 & 5 year old). So I would like to take the next couple years to gather all the equipment needed. I currently have a 75 gallon and was thinking about combining the sumps of my existing tank and new tank. I've been reading a lot about combined sumps and fish rooms and have come up with this Pro and Con list. However, did I miss anything? Are there other issues that people have found over the years, or other benefits? I would love peoples thought on it.

Pro
Increased water volumes helps with stability of both systems
Only one water change instead of two
Only one system to test instead of two
Only one system to does instead of two
Decrease cost for tank controller, one instead of two

Cons
Problems in one tank transfer to the other (disease)
Different tanks may need different parameters (softy vs sps)
Increase amount to does for larger water volumes
Increase cost for larger equipment

 

[Miller535]

I do not really think there are any cons. Good husbandry and preferably a good QT process and you shouldn't have to worry about disease. Also any equipment including maintenance equipment is going to cross contaminate anyhow. As well as tanks close to each other can infect each other through the air according to humblefish. Plenty of people have mixed reef tanks and do so successfully. Unless you are trying to get a bunch of hard to keep sticks, I really wouldn't worry about that. And while larger equipment may cost more, it should also be more energy efficient then multiple smaller units.

Additional pro: measure all your levels once and be done, and not be measuring 5 or 6 things in multiple tanks. I don't know about you, but I do this once a week, and it's a chore to measure 5 or 6 things every week. I do not want to do this in multiple tanks.

 

[New&no clue]

Additional pro: measure all your levels once and be done, and not be measuring 5 or 6 things in multiple tanks. I don't know about you, but I do this once a week, and it's a chore to measure 5 or 6 things every week. I do not want to do this in multiple tanks.

I agree, I'm not a huge fan of testing, but I begrudgingly do it each week. I know a lot of people have fish rooms and combined filtration for multiple tanks, so obviously it is working.

 

[Miller535]

I agree, I'm not a huge fan of testing, but I begrudgingly do it each week. I know a lot of people have fish rooms and combined filtration for multiple tanks, so obviously it is working.

IMO it's the only option. And a larger sump for people who have fish rooms allows them to have filtration and supplement options that people with small sumps just do not have room for. I dream to have a fish room some day.

 

[New&no clue]

IMO it's the only option. And a larger sump for people who have fish rooms allows them to have filtration and supplement options that people with small sumps just do not have room for. I dream to have a fish room some day.

Well it wouldn't necessarily be a fish "room" it would just be in the unfinished part of my basement, which happens to be right under my current tank. I was thinking I could set up a shelving unit and put a large sump on the bottom with skimmers, filter socks and such, then take my current sump and turn that into a large Refugium. you can't see it in my very professional schematic that I came up with, but my RODI unit and mixing station are on the opposite wall in the basement so I could run a line over for the ATO. Of course then I look at this and think OMG, that's a lot of plumbing and you know how to do none of it.

 

[Miller535]

Well it wouldn't necessarily be a fish "room" it would just be in the unfinished part of my basement, which happens to be right under my current tank. I was thinking I could set up a shelving unit and put a large sump on the bottom with skimmers, filter socks and such, then take my current sump and turn that into a large Refugium. you can't see it in my very professional schematic that I came up with, but my RODI unit and mixing station are on the opposite wall in the basement so I could run a line over for the ATO. Of course then I look at this and think OMG, that's a lot of plumbing and you know how to do none of it.

We are looking to move soon. When we move, I ideally would like a similar set up as you are talking about, or to have the tank and everything in a finished basement, and build a fish room in it.

 

[Zar]

There are several reason but I think the biggest thing is point of failure. Really Depending how you plan to set it up. Are you wanting equal flow, or could there be an advantage to a high flow vs low flow sump?

I like the idea of multiple tanks connected together, but that means more things to go wrong and/or more sensors to monitor the water levels. Again it depend how it configured.