Central Filtration

I will be moving into a new house in probably about a year. That house should have a room for me to put all of my tanks in. My plan is to have all the display tanks mounted in the wall, so that they can be viewed from the rest of the house but maintained in the fish room. Anyway, i would like to have all my display tanks on a single filter system, to make maintenance easier, etc. I have the following tanks that i want to hook together:
125 Planted Community
55 African Cichlid tank
20 Planted Community
~240 Gallon CA Tank with odd dimensions (85"x67"x10")


My first question is what kind of flow would i want? (GPH)

I will try to draw up some plans ASAP

I made a model of what i think i want to do. Brown is dirty water from tanks, blue is clean water from sump. For the pump, i was considering the 2250GPH one: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=5163+5164+10814&pcatid=10814

So, in theory, with the T's, i would get:
2250 out of the sump
1125 to the 240
562 to the 125
281 to the 55
140 to the 2x 20s

I am just guessing that that is how it would work, because the T's should make half the flow go one way and the other half the other way, correct?

Also, what size PVC piping should i be looking at?

Finally, any recommendations for the sump? I was considering a stock tank (the plastic looking ones), but how big should it be?

fishyman;2066630; said:

well all together there is 440 gallons and if you want a good filtration not real sure like 70/30 job

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Just wondering, what does 70/30 mean?

Thanks for the input My only concern now is if placing a T actually splits the flow in half or not. In theory, i think it would, but does anyone have any experience to prove this?

Also, i just quickly found the pump i linked to - does anyone have any specific recommendations for a sump pump that is able to pump about 2000 GPH?

WyldFya;2066915; said:

I would skip that idea. Each of your tanks has different needs. Plumbing them together is going to make one big headache. First would be your pH problems, next the flow rates. With a difference in tank size like 20 vs. 240, your twenty will have ridiculous turnover, and the 240 will have next to none. With some fancy plumbing this can be avoided, but then you will need an even bigger pump. The planted tanks should be at a slower flow rate, and the CA tank could be up pretty high in turnover.

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All my tanks use strait tap water, and none of the planted tanks are dosed with any ferts or CO2. I understand the 20 will need a lot less water flow than the 240, and i am attempting to figure out how to avoid that problem.

Dr Joe;2066983; said:

Total 460g, 2x - 3x turnover is good for display tanks if not overstocked.
That is good to know - so a 1500GPH pump would probably be more than adequate?


Swimming pool pumps are not constructed for 24/7/365 and usually are not efficient (electrically wise).
Is the pump i linked to a pool pump? I thought it was a pond pump, but oh well - i will look at what others on MFK have used and if they have experienced sucess

Return water to a manifold and regulate flow from there with valves. "T"'s will split the flow, but rate is dependent on resistance (pipe size and length).
The 240 will probably be lower, because i would like it to be able to be viewed from the side and top. My other theory was using 2 pumps - one for the 240 and one for the rest - is this even worth the effort?

Your problem will lie in tank volume balance (normally all tanks are connected to balance) so one doesn't overflow since you have an extra reserve of water. But, Hey, that hardly ever happens...right
If they all run on overflows to the sump, that should be fine if the sump can handle the extra volume, right?

Check some of the other posts lately for pump recommendations.
Will do

Dr Joe

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I answered in your quote

EDIT: Looked around, and got yet another great idea:

What if i put a valve before each of the tanks, except the 240, to control the flow rate? That way i could fine tune each tank, with the extra running into the 240? That way i can adjust each tank to its exact needs, circulation wise