ok, I have a 75 gal saltwater tank. loving the hobby I have been looking at more tanks. Well low and behold I acquired 4 more tanks. a 55, 45 hex, and 2 30's. I am wanting to set them all up. I was thinking of doing 1 big sump to run them all. Is that a good idea or should they all run on there own? If 1 big sump will work what size should it be? I was thinking of using 1 of the 30's for a sump is that big enough? I may scratch setting up the 45 gal hex do to space and the fact that I have to replace a pain of glass in it. I thought that it may be less expensive if I use 1 sump also.
Advice on adding more tanks
- Thread starter t5535
- Start date
seapug
Premium Member
If you run all the tanks off one sump, use the 55. If they all have overflows you're going to get a lot of back siphon when the return pump is shut off (don't trust check valves). You'll need a large sump to accommodate it all or you could easily end up with a flood. Standard 55 gallon tanks have very bad dimensions for reef tanks, anyway.
I was thinking of putting the sump under my 75 gal. It has a nice oak stand that I built for it and I built it to put a sump under it. But there is not enough room for one of them large 100+ gal tanks at the feed store but that is a great idea. We are moving and I will have to look in the new house tomorrow and see if there is a place to stash a large tank like that in the room I am putting it all in.
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I was thinking about using the 55 for fish only (aggressive). Using the 75 the way it is (fish and reef). If I get the 45 fixed I was thinking about using it for reef only. Its a tall tank and kinda round I thought it would look good with a reef in it but I don't know if its worth fixing or not. 1 pain of glass in it is cracked. 1 of the 30's I was thinking of using to breed brackish fish in to feed the aggressive fish (trigger or lion fish). And last but not least the other 30 for like a refugium of sorts (grow plants and so on) or use as a sump. so 1 30 would be on its own as a brackish tank. This all may sound crazy but that was kinda my plan. I like building all my own stuff. I'm kinda a DIY junky lol.
