New twin 140 tank system

Shaun Sweeney · Sep 16, 2016

I have an Oceanic 1/2 round salt water tank that I've been running for about 3 years. That was my foray into reefing and I'm hooked. Luckily, I haven't suffered a massive tank fail and I'm keener now than ever. Thru a comedy of errors, I ended up with a 2nd Oceanic 140 but it wasn't drilled so I used it for fresh water - something I've done for a long time. In any case, I recently committed to bringing the 2nd tank up as another salt water and the project has started in earnest. Here follows an overview of the design and I'll happily take any and all suggestions that make it a better system.

* both tanks will be part of the same water system
* I will build the sump / refugium from a 160 gallon drilled tank
* the common sump will use two pumps - each capable of about 1000 mph
* there will be a frag rack (something I've never kept) somewhere in line
* pumps, skimmers, filters, UV, etc., will all be in the basement in my man cave
* some heat will be provided by my solar heating system

cromag27 · Sep 16, 2016

Wow sounds cool! post a build thread.

Shaun Sweeney · Sep 16, 2016

cromag08 said:
Wow sounds cool! post a build thread.

I'll do the best I can to describe the project. Here is a bit more info. The two tanks are labelled "dining room - DR" and "living room - LR". Since the LR tank has been up and running for 3 years, I will complete the DR tank and then move livestock and coral to that tank. As an aside, I have flatworm in the LR tank and eradicating it (wish me luck) will be part of the move procedure. For now, back to the build of the DR tank. I installed an ESHOPS Eclipse L overflow - after an hour of very slow drilling with the bit they provided. My first minor problem after installing it was to discover that it is probably a tad lower than I would like. I must say though that I really like the low profile of the box. In any case, I've traced the cross section and plan to build a small matching top with grates to force the tank water a little higher. The Eclipse has 3 @ 1" outlets and includes the suggestion to allow the 3rd one to serve as reserve overflow for when the pumps start up. Meanwhile, after purchasing the product, you will discover that they recommend the "Pro upgrade" kit to help make it quieter. The kit includes two valves and an elbow - near as I can tell. I've asked ESHOPPS for more info but no response to date. My guess is that the valves allow you to throttle the drain to the point where the inlets stay underwater and don't make a sucking noise. I'll go ahead with that theory and install at least 1 throttle valve at the back of the tank. Two of the outlets will run about 5' and then drain into a 2" manifold before running another 15' to drop into the sump. The third has a dedicated 20' run to the sump. Point of interest ... since I need barb to thread 1" I went looking and discovered that there are two flavours. One costs you ID size and the other doesn't. Important since I am determined to minimize resistance. This raises the question of suction (syphon) force. At this point, I'm planning to keep the outlet of the drains submerged in the sump to maximize syphon force. The "cost" will be eliminated aeration. Can I get comments on this point? Enough said for now.

Shaun Sweeney · Sep 21, 2016

I've decided not to use the 160 gallon (2x2x6) for my sump / refugium. It just looked too dang big in the pump room. That brings me back to individual component tanks. One for primary filtration, one for skimmers, one for refugium and one for final return. I've used a plastic tub for the skimmer for my existing 140 and it has worked out well. Any comments out there?