Connecting 2 - 55g tanks?

[Technorch]

Is it possible to connect 2 55g to have one as a sump for skimmer and return and the other 55g as a fuge?

My idea is having one of the overflow drains go into a 55g/fuge and the other one go into the skimmer section of the other 55g/sump/return.

I could add a ball valve between the 2 tanks in case I need to adjust the flow.

Would this work at all?

 

[JohnK]

It would be possible. A couple of considerations though;
-Restricting the flow would be a flood waiting to happen.
-If that connection between the tanks got obstructed in anyway, you would have a serious flood and likely burn out your return pump.
-When connecting tanks at the same level like that, you don't have gravity helping the flow, so the flow will be really slow through the bulkheads as compared to a drain application. For example, a 1" duroso drain can usually handle about 600gph, but moving water horizontally like that it would be a fraction of that.

I think it is possible, but would be very hard to make flood resistant. I would also be concerned about one or both tanks cracking sooner or later with a set up like that because even the very slitghtest misalignment would potentially stress the glass and set it up to crack (if the connection pipe were flexible, and somewhat long the risk would be reduced). Overall, IMO possible but too risky to be worth it. Mr. Murphy and his law love stuff like this

 

[jayman10134]

Yes, that can absolutely be done. Just use a 3" pipe to connect the two with no valve in between the two tank. I would use a 125 gallon though if you have the room. It will be over 2 feet shorter and also it would all be contained in one tank. You can still do the two drains going into different sections with the 125 too.

 

[afboundguy]

Piggybacking on what John said you could always raise one tank a few inches and have gravity help and get something like a HOB overflow or do multiple holes that gravity feed down into the other tank...

 

[MikeG]

Just wanted to mention also that many 55 gallons are tempered glass on all sides so keep that in mind if you are planning on drilling. With a large enough bulkhead and using spaflex for the connection it should work though. I personally would raise one tank a few inches and use gravity though and only drill one tank.

 

[Technorch]

Seems to be a bit of a hassle to try this. I would definitely raise the fuge at least an inch or two to try to gravity feed the water. I was also thinking of maybe using a power head to feed the water from the fuge into the sump, but that seems like an overflow waiting to happen.

I wish I could fit a 125g under the stand I can barely fit a 55g but my plan was to have 2 of them and one of them would be sticking out of the stand and that one part would be where I will have the skimmer so it would be easily accessible to clean and take apart. I would build a cabinet to cover that part of the sump that would be sticking out.

I'm actually concerned of the tanks being tempered while drilling a hole. One of the 55g I currently have is an oceanic tank and I'm almost sure that one is fine to drill. I would have to find another one that I'm 100% I can drill it.

Also, is there any kind of base with wheels I could use under a sump so I could just slide the sump in and out of the side of the stand to do maintenance? I'm looking for a base with wheels that could support enough weight for the water volume in the sump. Any ideas what I could use for this?

 

[stingythingy45]

Do a basement sump if you can and avoid all the issues with trying to do it under the tank.
Less noise and less chance of spillage when doing water changes.Easy to test the water and do regular maintenance of the skimmer and other top-off devices.

 

[Technorch]

That's the plan when I buy a house For now I'm just renting a studio apartment while in college and unfortunately I'm very limited with space.

The day I buy a house, I'll have a built-in-wall reef with the sump and all the fish stuff in the back of the tank in a fish room!