Before I post what sounds as uneducated as it truly is, I want to provide some background about me...
1) I've been an electronics technician since 1967; I was 12 back then.
2) I've jumped into and out of maintaining aquariums more than a few times over the ensuing decades.
3) My wife and I've been maintaining a healthy tropical aquarium for the past three years or so; selling off our 37g when I picked up a 75g marine setup for $200 back in April.
4) We jumped together into saltwater aquariums back in February with a NanoCube 29g; no significant problems with it, although we learned a good lesson about water changes the last two months and are now doing 5g changes every Sunday.
On to the subject now
The 75g includes a 10g dual-chamber sump; we recently inherited a 10g tank from my daughter-in-law and I found another thread when I had the incredible idea of using the 10g as a third-chamber 'fuge. One quick Google and here I am!
Because I have virtually no experience with plumbing, yet grok the basics like how siphons work and that water always seeks its own level, I'm having a good deal of trouble understanding how the plans here work and how to incorporate them into my plans.
My primary concern is, of course, preventing the newly-acquired 10g from overflowing.
The 75g has one overflow, so I know how to use that when plumbing just one tank (the sump). Splitting the flow between the two is a no-brainer, but how can I plumb the two together without trying to drill the second tank?
Is there some sort of siphon setup that will maintain a good water level in both yet leave enough room for the potential overflow from the 75g due to power loss?
I've set up the standpipe in the main tank such that it should never drain more than 10% but I won't know for sure until after I finish routing the complete plumbing arrangement and take it for a test drive. And I have plenty of time to spare...the work is a slow process at this time.
Does anyone here have pictures of a similar setup? And a good description of the fluid dynamics involved (I have a thing about understanding the hows and whys of anything I build)
Thanks in advance!
1) I've been an electronics technician since 1967; I was 12 back then.
2) I've jumped into and out of maintaining aquariums more than a few times over the ensuing decades.
3) My wife and I've been maintaining a healthy tropical aquarium for the past three years or so; selling off our 37g when I picked up a 75g marine setup for $200 back in April.
4) We jumped together into saltwater aquariums back in February with a NanoCube 29g; no significant problems with it, although we learned a good lesson about water changes the last two months and are now doing 5g changes every Sunday.
On to the subject now
The 75g includes a 10g dual-chamber sump; we recently inherited a 10g tank from my daughter-in-law and I found another thread when I had the incredible idea of using the 10g as a third-chamber 'fuge. One quick Google and here I am!
Because I have virtually no experience with plumbing, yet grok the basics like how siphons work and that water always seeks its own level, I'm having a good deal of trouble understanding how the plans here work and how to incorporate them into my plans.
My primary concern is, of course, preventing the newly-acquired 10g from overflowing.
The 75g has one overflow, so I know how to use that when plumbing just one tank (the sump). Splitting the flow between the two is a no-brainer, but how can I plumb the two together without trying to drill the second tank?
Is there some sort of siphon setup that will maintain a good water level in both yet leave enough room for the potential overflow from the 75g due to power loss?
I've set up the standpipe in the main tank such that it should never drain more than 10% but I won't know for sure until after I finish routing the complete plumbing arrangement and take it for a test drive. And I have plenty of time to spare...the work is a slow process at this time.
Does anyone here have pictures of a similar setup? And a good description of the fluid dynamics involved (I have a thing about understanding the hows and whys of anything I build)
Thanks in advance!
