Piggyback aquarium Cycling

[reelss]

Hi folks,

I have an established 80 Gallon tank running off of a sump and I’ve recently set up a 180 gallon and a different sump.

The plan is to tie both tanks together using a single sump. The new tank was started with live sand and seeded with 4-5 sponge filters coming from the established tank.

is it safe to connect the two together using the same sump or should I wait for the new tank to properly cycle?

establised tank:

new tank:

 

[dank reefer]

Here's how I would tackle this.

When doing water changes, i would take out water from the 180, and use it on your 80. The water you take out from the 80, pur back in the 180. I would do 20% water changes every 3-4 days while keeping an eye on the 80 gallon to make sure all was good. By the forth or fifth water change I'd put a frag into your 180 and see how it does.

I did something similar but I tied a 50g to an exsisting 90 system, and running off 1 sump. I added a ball valve on the return side of the new tank, and once I was ready to add both I just slowly opened up the gate valve every day till where I wanted it.

Just make sure your sump can handle the extra water volume and any dosing lines dont get submerged in the water after you tie them together.