Connecting multiple systems/Tanks

Centerline · Sep 24, 2018

Flexin said:
Where is the Jaw-drop emoji!!! The layout is very nice, the center tank display, on a separate note, is breathtaking!!

So you have one return pump, I was thinking having one per system and did not think to plump and have one. I am assuming designing it was something else.

Thank you for your very kind words.
Using one return pump works just fine as long as you have all the head pressure calculations down. Designing it was less fun than you might think as I actually had the whole system completed and then @mcarroll pointed out that based on his calculations it would be unlikely that I would get the return rate I was looking for. He was correct and I ended up redoing a bunch of plumbing. Thus the measure of twice comment. That said it was rewarding and SEEMS to have greatly simplified the process. The tank is dead silent and I am very pleased. The key to making it happen was the manifold that services all the tanks. Its not rocket science but it did take a little planning. Feel free to ask if you need any advice or help.

Thespammailaccount · May 19, 2021

Ron Reefman said:
Have your wife call my wife, I had 2 systems that each had 2 tanks at the same time (600+ gallons of saltwater in the house). One in the great room and one in a spare bedroom (also known as The Reef Room). And we don't have basements down here so our 'above ground basement', previously sold to us as an attached 2 car garage, was full of shelving with spare parts and plumbing and a 500+ gpd RO/DI, a 45g storage tank for RO/DI water and a 200g cistern for reject water that I use to do the laundry! Oh, and the bathtub in the hall bathroom had a shelf unit for the stuff I used more regularly or didn't want to keep in the garage! I wish I had a photo. Since I've downsized the bathroom is back to being 100% bathroom!

Over time I used the 2nd tank as a Gorgonian tank along with Flamingo Tongue snails (photo below), an anemone tank, a butterfly tank, a clown harem tank and a display refugium tank. The Flamingo Tongue was great fun to keep, I only know of one other person who ever kept one. The trick is, the ONLY think they eat are gorgonian corals (which I could collect in the Keys).

You asked if I had an incident... I love it! If you call a snail getting into the drain and slowing the flow so the 50g cube slowly over filled and gently spilled 10 gallons of water on the floor an incident. Oh, and I discovered it at 3am when the return pump started making slurping noises due to drawing in air!

But my wife took that pretty well in stride. You see, 3 years ago my 180g tank sprang a leak where the back glass meets the bottom, and dead center from either side. Leaking 30+ gph and unstoppable, discovered at 6am. I spent 5+ hours setting up Brute garbage cans, spare 5, 10, 20 and 40 gallon tanks and a few 7g buckets to keep the corals, fish, inverts, rocks, etc. in while using the shop vac to suck water up from inside the monster towel levee I built around the tank on the floor! We got a bathroom remodel due to that one. The water went under the wall behind the tank and into the bathroom. The cabinet sat in a shallow hole due to the ceramic tile done around the cabinet by the previous owner. The cheap particleboard cabinet sucked up water and practically fell apart!

BTW, I am my wife's 3rd husband and she is my 3rd wife. We've been together for 18 years now, longer than any of the 4 previous marriages) and we've only had one 'raise your voice' argument in all of that 18 years! Her response to the 'incidents' was,"What can I do to help?" I can't begin to tell you how much I love her!