Grow out connected to main tank?

[Waterboy655]

Just wondering if anyone has connected there main tank to there growout tank? I thought it would be a very simple way to keep two tanks running with the exact water. Im sure someone has done this but I cannot find any post/threads on this subject. Im thinking of just adding a 20 gal or so tank under my 180 and running a small pump to my 180 from my 20. Just curious on how to get the water back to the smaller tank at the same rate? If there is already a thread on this subject could someone throw up a link to it? This will be a temporary setup so the easier the better. Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[kallmond]

My grow-out tank often does double-duty as a quarantine/hospital tank so I def. don't want it connected to a main tank.

What you're asking though is the same principal as a sump. In the diy section of this forum there is a sticky that will help you tune your overflow from the 180 to the output of your pump to balance the flow in and out.

I'd feel better about doing this if you had a 3rd tank as a holding tank that ran roughly half empty to handle overflow water in the event of a power outage though. If your pump quits and/or loses power all the water in the system is going to drain to the lowest point. As well a few gallons of tank water will flow down until siphon breaks and you'll need room to hold that water as well.

 

[Toby_H]

Yes I have plumbed a grow out tank to my main tank to ensure exact water parameters... I've done so in a few different ways...

As mentioned, to do what you have described ('grow out' tank below main tank), you will either need A) a drilled tank set up with some type of overflow, B) a non drilled tank utilizing some form of "hang on" overflow box.

I'm assuming by the sonuds of this you do not have a drilled tank. I'm personally not a fan of overflow boxes as most of them come with some risk of failure. But I've seen a couple that are nearly fool proof.


I previously had 5 of these racks and several others with smaller tanks in my garage. I still have one of these set up in my living room (and a few in storage).

the bottom tank is a 75 gal (48" x 18" @ 21" tall) and the two upper tanks are 50 gals (48" x 18" @ 13" tall). The two top tanks are drilled and utilize an overflow to allow water to fall down into the tank below. It utilizes a 700 gph pump (at zero head) to push water from the bottom tank up to the top tank.


I loved this set up for plumbing fry tanks to a main tank. The first pic is a diagram so you understand it and the second is all put together.

This set up uses a simple powerhead to push water from the main tank into the fry tank. Then a couple PVC U tubes are used to maintain a siphon back down to the main tank. Relying on a siphon does come with a certain amonut of risk, but I found it very very simple to ensure no air at all ever got into the siphons from the fry tank to the main tank. I used a simple sponge prefilter to prevent the fry from getting sucked in.