Will this work? idea welcome

[Bizzaro]

I have a 240 which im looking to stock really heavy. maybe... I want to pick up a smaller 150 -120g tank to put next to it... as a plant tank.... i just thought.. should i keep the tank lower then the 240g and flow the water into the planted tank then into the filter and back to the 240g? And idea one how? drawling some thing up... should i pipe or get a skimmer cuz the second tank will be below the water lvl of the frist 240. thanks

update a lame pic... lol hope it helps a little... oh my 240 is 72x30x24

 

[sweeTang21]

it might work. i dont have much experience with sumps but you want to make sure that if the power goes out that it wont back siphon to much into the sump and over flo. im not sure if this is possible but if the siphon from the plant tank to the sump gets blocked by dead plant matter, then that tank might over flow. like i said im not sure but just a thought. i'll have to pay attention and learn a thing or two maybe lol.

 

[rallysman]

Yea, that could work. Just put a HOB overflow that flows into the smaller tank, and a HOB overflow on the smaller tank that flows to the sump. Then just have a pump in the sump to return the water to the big tank. Make sure the sump is big enough to handle the extra water in case of a power failure.

 

[ewurm]

Looks good to me!

 

[Bizzaro]

Will the HOB slow down my flow rate... or if theirs a big pump back in the sump it will pull more from the HOB? i don't know anything about overflows?

Heres one for you plant tank ppl... Should i just run oh lets just guess from the overflow a straight pipe and just let the water fall on top? like an inch above the water... Another thing... the plant tank is going to be loaded with cleaner fish, SAE, Shrimp... all the works. Will Overflow be ok for them?

 

[rallysman]

A HOB overflow will only flow as much as the pump can return. Think of it as a hole drilled in the tank.

 

[Bizzaro]

A HOB overflow will only flow as much as the pump can return. Think of it as a hole drilled in the tank.

So how can u pull alot of water from the first tank? keep the outlet under water?

 

[Bderick67]

I think it would be safer and easier to regulate if you were to keep both tanks water lines at the same elavation. The two tanks can share a sump, but just have seperate overflows and return lines.

BTW planted tanks do not do very well with wet/dry filters, you will lose mort of your Co2.

 

[Bizzaro]

The hole idea was to "feed" the planted tank before filtering. I'm not looking to go with CO2 system on the planted tank.

 

[Volenti]

While I'm not using a planted tank I do have a similar setup, DIY sump with flow up to one thank that feeds into another lower tank then back to the sump via DIY overflow. (note, no overflows with loss of power)

In your case if you don't have drilled tanks you can use DIY overflows, one from the main tank to the planted tank and another from the planted tank to the sump.

If you have big sump pump you could have 2 overflows in the main tank, one direct to the sump and the other to the planted tank (incase the flow is too much for the planted tank.


(note this is a temporary setup untill my 180 gal tank is finished)