dual sumps

[SurferStevo]

I added a custom made 15g tall (that's how much room I had left under the stand) for a second sump. Now I'm running 2 overflow boxes & 2 pumps. The sumps are not connected together because the original sump is glass & the new sump is acrylic. The problem I'm having is getting the water in each sump to stay at the same level. One fills the other empties! Balancing water flow from 2 pumps in 2 sumps is really tricky. As a temporary fix until I can figure this out, I got some 3/4" ID tubing & started a siphon between the 2 sumps so at least they will be at the same water level. Any suggestions on how to set this up right? I'm in the doghouse if I do another major spill again - but I need the room in the second sump for my new skimmer!
Steve

 

[gregt]

This sounds so familiar. I did something very similar years ago.

I used u-tubes to connect the two sumps and keep them the same level as well as playing with a dozen other ideas.

The problem with two connected sump is that there are more chances for things to go wrong. Although, with several u-tubes for siphon and daily "visual checks" to make sure the tubes haven't filled with air bubbles you should be pretty safe.

One problem with using siphon in this situation is that there's not a lot of water flow between the sumps. This means that any air bubbles that find their way into the tubes won't be forced through and will collect at the top eventually breaking the siphon. You'll likely find this more of a hassle than it's worth.

Sorry, I don't really have any silver bullet solutions for this one - other than to say replace them with one big sump.