help with plumbing please

[forestal]

Hello all...

I am coming into a 125 gallon tank and my desire (and i've been given official permission too) is to put in next to my 120 reef, but in a corner so the non viewable side of the 120 will be covering the left 24" of the 125. Lighting will be minimal and the tank will be a 6-8" deep sand bed stocked and letting it cook, and eventually putting my axanthellate corals in (sun corals and some gorgonians).

maybe some fish, but the idea is to utilize this tank to increase the overall water volume and use a large populated sand bed to help the reef

the question is how to connect the 2 tanks? You all have very elegantly designed tanks/plumbing and i am hoping for some help

i thought of having both sharing the sump, but my 2 problems are 1: power outage, sump may overflow, depending on water level, and believe me if its possible , i'll do it... 2: i want to avoid using the HOB overflow (i have cpr one with the little pump) as it invariably develops an air bubble and the little pump sucking out the air will break down and flood...

drilling if it is not too hard, might work with a bulkhead up high so just 1/2" water is flowing to sump and return pump, so flow isnt as fast, but ideally it would be nice to have water flowing to 120 reef then to sump to bring with it the lil pods and stuff...

2 pumps of equal size in each tank also not so elegant...

drilling the 120 is not an option as it is full, the 125 won't be , but as easy as drilling may be, i would be awful scared i would break it, and will have to check how expensive it would be (if bottom is tempered which it prob. is- cant drill it i know)

thanks for any help

 

[Frankie]

If you get the book "ultimate Marine Aquariums" there is a set up in there i think is what your looking for. It's called "Inadvertent Reef" on pg. 156.
There is another also on pg. 176 called "A Pair of Reefs" Though no pictures of how there paired. the first one i mentioned had a good picture of them and explains it a bit.

 

[forestal]

thanks frankie, i have it and must have missed it...

looks like he has both tanks drilled and sharing a sump essentially which i think would make the most sense,

i have to doa search on drilling and see if it is doable and perhaps do a on the back durso standpipe on the 125

 

[searoyalwulf]

Just thought I would chime in my 2 cnts... I have this same idea in the works. I already have a sump in the basement which is gravity fed by the sump under the main display tank. Later this month I'll be switching to a much larger one ( 55g => 150g)

If you look at some of the photos in my gallery you can see where I have drilled the back of my tank (Perfecto 90g). I couldn't drill the bottom because of the tempered pane. I use the basement sump for equipment mostly and will be adding more very soon (Kalk reactor, Calcium reactor). I keep the sump level at a point where it CANNOT overflow with power outage. I've tested that scenario repeatedly

Drilling the tank is really quite easy.. Just keep the diamond hole saw well lubricated (water works best) and when you get close to the end, don't push too hard or it will chip. I put a pretty good chip in mine, but a good bit of silicone and it has not leaked even one drop in over a year.. Hope this helps.. If you like I could post some photos of the drilling...