DIY additional tanks tied into one?

[George771177]

so here is my question i have a 55 gal reef. Iam thinking of buying two 20 gals and putting them under neith the 55 gal. I know i can use pvc pipe to plumb one tank into the other, but is it possible for me to get a circular flow going where it runs off one tank and into the other back then back into the reef? i want to add one frag tank and breed ocellarus in the other. If i could figure out how to get a circular flow i think i can do this. I know its kind of a generla question but i figured i would give it a shot.

[sasquatch]

You will have to tier the tanks, top middle bottom, if you use multi pumps you probably will never match the flow so eventually you have flood

[aquaman3680]

or you could get 2 20 gallon acrylic tanks and cut a hole in both at the same height and run a tube from one to another. you could put a net or something on the end of the tube to stop the clowns from going though it.

Matt

[George771177]

iam really worried about the flood situation to get a pump to run it in a even flow. Thats a great idea about cutting a hole in the two 20 gal tanks and letting them be joined. I have ability to buy two 20 gal for $5 a piece so iam really thinking about trying this. PVC and a pump if only i could get it to move in an even flow????????????????????????????

[aquaman3680]

if you have incoming into one of the 20's and outgoing in the other 20 you shouldnt have a problem with overflowing/even flow

[George771177]

yeah i feel that. Thing is that bothers me though is if one pump breaks and the other dosent then i get a flood.

People have been talkin to me about putting a new filtration system in because right now all i have is a hang on protein which is fine with me, but every one seems to think that it insufficient.

[aquaman3680]

you wouldnt have 2 pumps, you would have an overflow on your main tank and a pump from one of the 20 gallon tanks. You cant pump two ways only overflow in and pump out.

Matt

[lcstorc]

What kind of skimmer do you have? It could be perfectly fine depending on what kind.
As to the multiple tanks I have two joined together but they are at the same height. I have a pump that moves water from the small tank to the larger and a gravity fed U tube that moves it back to the smaller tank. This keeps the water level in the tanks even. So far (over a year) the only problem we have had is when the I tube gets a bubble in it. We got a simple pump to push a bit more water amd all is well. We do need to clean pr replace the hoses frequently since it builds up a lot of algae and blocls the flow
HTH If you need more details just let me know.