Design advice

[Troy Valentine]

What is the distance from the 185 to the 40b? Personally I would sell the 2 sumps you have, and get a large custom multichambered sump under the 55 or whichever tank you choose to put where the 55 is now. figure you will need at least 25 to 30gal when the tank back siphons, especially if you choose to go with a large return pump with a lot of plummbing. I have 2 tanks and a sump on a 300 gallon system with a 3.0 sicce as a return pump. My system will backsiphon 15 to 20 gallons depending on algae growth on the drains. Looks like a fun project..

[ramsey]

Thanks for all the advice! I thought about it and talked to my wife. I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and get a custom sump made, get a larger protein skimmer and a Reeflo pump. That's what I eventually wanted to do but I was hoping to rig something up in the meantime. I'd really hate to plumb everything then change it all in a year. Thanks again for all the advice, guys!

[Scutterborn]

Ace ( Hobogato ) is really good at building custom sumps. I'd PM him and get a sump. He does amazing work. I know first hand.


-Ben-

[ramsey]

I've been emailing him the past couple of weeks! I've heard nothing but good things.

Ace ( Hobogato ) is really good at building custom sumps. I'd PM him and get a sump. He does amazing work. I know first hand.


-Ben-

[Scutterborn]

Good deal. Oh, yeah. You won't hear anything other than good things about his work.

[ramsey]

I've been thinking about plumbing today. Specifically for the drains. My 185 has two 1.5" drains. The other two tanks I want to have a minimum of two drains. I was thinking about building two manifolds for this (3 drains each) then entering the sump into a reverse durso. Any better ideas? Does my plan sound like something that would work?

[ramsey]

Bump, anyone? I know there's some plumbing gods on here! Free GSP and Kenya tree for any good advice! Lol

[Brickster]

I'm in the process of helping a friend set up a system with a 185 softie display, a 55 display fuge underneath, and a common sump located remotely in the room adjacent. It's too new to really comment on how well it works, but we plumbed each tank independently with its own pump and returns. It's filled and works like we expected. You can shut off either (or both) tank(s) and the water stays off the floor. Be sure the sump is large enough to accommodate drainback from all tanks simultaneously in the event of a power failure.

Two sumps would give me a headache personally. Put them at the same height and run a balance pipe between them so they stay at the same level and it *should* work out. I still think I'd find a single big(ish) sump. It's the same reason multiple carburetors suck, lol. On paper its great, in the garage it's a hassle. In a giant interconnected system you don't need more volume, per se. Just a box to wrap around the ugly bits.