Ultima 10,000 Project - 2 Aquariums

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JasonsPlecosCichlids

JasonsPlecosCichlids

Goliath Tigerfish
MFK Member
Jan 23, 2010
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jasonsplecoscichlids.com
I've been thinking about this for a while now and would like to go ahead and do it if its possible and not crazy $$$.

I'm wanting to add my 265 gallon aquarium to the same system my 500 is running on. Between the two tanks is the door to my apartment and a short wall.

I need to know how would I do the plumping. Will I have to totally redo it all or can I add on to it?

The pump is 3600 GPH, will that be enough or will I need to bump it up?

Not sure if it matters but the 265 sits up higher then the 500.

I'm wanting to do this so I can move fish from tank to tank without causing any problems to the fish, to help save on electricity because right now I have 5 HOBS on the 265 with 2 heaters and I have 1 heater on the 500. The $$$ I can save on wasted electricity can be put into my 500 such as food, lights, etc. and more $$$ for rays :)

Has anyone ever tried to attach a heater to an Ultima like drill a hole, insert the heater into the filter and plug it up so it doesnt leak, is that even possible without causing damage to the heater?

I added some photos of both tanks and a rough drawing of current plumbing on 500.

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Certainly there are more creative folks on these boards than me (way, way more creative and knowledgeable), but unless you can go into the floor, I see that door being a problem linking the tanks up. Unless you're comfortable having to step over a pipe, or using a much stronger water pump to get the water over the door, it's going to be an obstacle.
 
Going over the door is your only option as I bet your floor is concrete. That means you will add not only pipe length but increase your head to over 7' high. If your tanks were level you could run a balance pipe that would keep the levels the same and use a pump on the 265 to pump water into the 500 then the water from the 500 would displace the water coming from the 265 but with them not level you can't do that.

I would not drill into your filter as you would have sealing problems. Your best bet would be to go to aquatic eco systems and get an external controller and an external heater or run an external 2 gallon water heater like I have and use the controller to work the heater. Beings your tank is inside and the temp loss will not be so great, you could probably get by with those 300 watt inline heaters that petsolution sells. They run on a 5/8" tube and are around $50 bucks. You could plumb a tee and a valve on your return and use the valve to restrict flow and force the water through the heaters.
 
im very interested to see how this turns out if it goes ahead!
 
Other thing you have to take into consideration is a power outage. If the tanks are uneven and the power goes out the tanks will want to equalize. The only thing you could do is put a actuated valve in place that is normally closed with no power. By the time you did that you would be better off paying your electric bill monthly. Now if you could get tanks to be same level then we can talk.
 
To connect both tanks with the same canister filter your going to have to connect both tanks with some plumbing to equalize the water level. Unfortunately both tanks need to be the same height for this to work.

Or, if both tanks have a sump, the sumps need to be at the same height and the canister (ultima) filter intake needs to be in the sump and the return going to each tank.

To save $$$ on heating you can drop the temps to 75, with your stock, without killing the fish. They will require a lot less food also.
 
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