Planning 3 Tank Waterfall System

[Dodgersfan]

tanks like that get dead zones for water movement, been unsuccessfully tried before

Couldn't that be addressed in the two lower chambers with strategically placed power heads? not sure how to ensure good flow in the seahorse section, but I'm sure the folks that keep them have tricks for it that could be adapted for use in this tank.

 

[stevieduk]

it could yes, but that defeats the object of have that style of tank. the only use really for cascading tanks are for stocking plants for freshwater aquariums in

 

[Dodgersfan]

it could yes, but that defeats the object of have that style of tank. the only use really for cascading tanks are for stocking plants for freshwater aquariums in

That's not true. there's also the fact that someone may want to keep species that cannot coexist (such as Lionfish and Seahorses in this case) but would rather have the stability of one 100 gallon system rather than individual 25-30 gallon systems. that's a legit reason for cascading tanks. The only difference between this and multiple linked tanks is it shares a stand so that a much larger sump than would otherwise be possible can be utilized, which means he can get a much better skimmer, have a frag section in his sump, use one controller instead of three, etc, etc. Cascading the water from one tank to the next also seems like a preferable option than the multiple overflows, 3 return pumps and triple the plumbing that it would take to do this with tanks that aren't linked to eachother but share a common sump.

 

[stevieduk]

well all im saying is that it was tried here in the uk for about 2 years by several nation wide aquatic stores, and all had the same results as far as marines were concerned--- death, so they all gave up on the idea. To get rid of the dead spots in the tank , the water had to be flowing at such a rate that it was moving the substrate and small rocks/corals around, tumbling the water, and acting more like a gold sluice

 

[SaltwaterScoop]

Awesome idea! If you haven't checked out Walter Adey's book "Dynamic Aquaria", I would highly recommend checking out a copy for ideas and inspiration. You can get used, older editions for a decent price online. I have a 22 gallon refugium that sits above my DT and gravity drains down into a 33 long display tank which in turn drains down into two (joined) sumps with an ATS. You'll love the diversity of life you can maintain all while running basically one aquarium. Following along!

Thanks for the suggestion! That sounds like a nice system. Diversity is definitely what I'm going for.

Cool idea. I'd probably swap the predator section and the reef section. I'm assuming you'll need to feed the predator section pretty heavily, would probably not want that overflowing into the reef section - seems like it would be better to go straight to the sump.

The first design was 3 different size tanks where the last one was the most shallow and that's the one I was going to do as the reef but since I think I'm going to do 3 of the same size tank but sitting at different heights, I might actually move the reef to the middle.

tanks like that get dead zones for water movement, been unsuccessfully tried before

Each tank will have it's own powerhead. I think I am going to do an MP10 for each tank so definitely no dead zones.

 

[pluikens]

I was thinking 1 inch bulkhead + cut PVC extension for the overflow. Kind of like...

Do you plan to pre intake grates on the bulkheads? Any concerns that would make you want two bulkheads per drop?

 

[SaltwaterScoop]

Do you plan to pre intake grates on the bulkheads? Any concerns that would make you want two bulkheads per drop?

I have been thinking about that and I'm not sure...2 would definitely be safer, but I don't wanna push my luck drilling so many holes into such a small area. If I do this, I'll probably use some sort of low-profile intake grate.

 

[SaltwaterScoop]

it could yes, but that defeats the object of have that style of tank. the only use really for cascading tanks are for stocking plants for freshwater aquariums in

The main purpose of this system is to keep things that I normally couldn't keep together in the same tank but also share a large water volume and sump area. @Dodgersfan described it perfectly. Being able to keep a planted, aggressive, and reef with the same sump, controller, and top-off system is the goal. The planted tank will act as a display refugium. The planted tank and over-sized skimmer will allow for adequate nutrient exporting to handle the aggressive tank. Since I'm only planning a single dwarf lionfish in the aggressive tank, I might actually have to worry about too low of nutrients.

 

[john.m.cole3]

Here's my coral grow out system. 3 40s tied into a 55 gal sump

 

[Newb73]

well all im saying is that it was tried here in the uk for about 2 years by several nation wide aquatic stores, and all had the same results as far as marines were concerned--- death, so they all gave up on the idea. To get rid of the dead spots in the tank , the water had to be flowing at such a rate that it was moving the substrate and small rocks/corals around, tumbling the water, and acting more like a gold sluice

Can we clarify this? I came up with reefing in the 90s and most of the best tanks of the era were nothing more than one giant dead zone, chalked full of rock. There are still many of these around with wall to wall sps.

Cool idea. I'd probably swap the predator section and the reef section. I'm assuming you'll need to feed the predator section pretty heavily, would probably not want that overflowing into the reef section - seems like it would be better to go straight to the sump.

Dodgers fan? Where are you located in Middle Georgia? I might like to visit one weekend and have a look at this. PM me.