Need help improving sump

Lyle Chipperson · Feb 1, 2020

This is my first post and if this isn't the correct section can someone point me to where I can get some help?
I've seen people who have a couple sumps attached and I can't quite figure out how it's done. I have an old 20 gallon tank that was my first cheap sump that I would like to attach to my current sump so that I have room to put more rock for filtration and any other extra filtration parts in it because the eshopps sumps don't have room for anything extra in them. The problem is I have no idea if it's possible to plumb it so that it all flows together or if i have to attach another return pump and do another return to the tank as well. Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Reefer40b · Feb 1, 2020

A simple bulk head on each sump with a union to disconnect easy if needed and a piece of pvc pipe.

Lyle Chipperson · Feb 1, 2020

Thank you for the response. You'll have to forgive me for needing it to be broken down just a little more for me to understand what I'm doing (my dad is a plumber by trade so he can help me).
Is a bulkhead going to work if one of those sumps is acrylic and the other is glass, or am I visualizing this all wrong? The one with nothing in it is glass.

shamrock · Feb 1, 2020

bulkheads are bulkheads (correct me if i'm wrong). they're used on both glass and silicone.

i suppose it depends on how you want to connect the two...? what do you propose? if you're going with refer40b's suggestion to use 2x bulkheads with pvc pipe +/- union, the only area where you'll have to pay attention to how how to seal the bulkheads with pvc.

look at the connection. i know it doesn't apply directly to you... but.. it's an idea

jomatty · Feb 1, 2020

I have two sumps on one of my tanks. One is a 29 tall and the other is a 20 long. The water empties into the 29 and I drilled it and used a bulkhead and pvc to make an overflow into the 20. The return is on the other end of the 20. If you can raise the sump that the tank drains into ivy enough to overflow it into the other sump it is an easy way to do it.

Lyle Chipperson · Feb 2, 2020

sharmrock said:
bulkheads are bulkheads (correct me if i'm wrong). they're used on both glass and silicone.

i suppose it depends on how you want to connect the two...? what do you propose? if you're going with refer40b's suggestion to use 2x bulkheads with pvc pipe +/- union, the only area where you'll have to pay attention to how how to seal the bulkheads with pvc.

look at the connection. i know it doesn't apply directly to you... but.. it's an idea

Okay, right on, thank you everyone that responded. this already all pointed me in the right direction. I'm not sure why I didn't originally think of a bulkhead as a solution but it seems like the best and easiest solution. I'm gonna finish this video you posted and do a little more planning and research and hopefully post some good results in the near future.