Fish Room Design

saltysailor2329

New member
I have attached an idea I have for the fish room I am starting to build...well at least starting to acquire the necessary equipment. So far I have a Reeflo Barracuda pump, 100g stock tank, 20g tall and a 20g long. I will plumb this into my 40g breeder system that is currently up and running, which brings me to my first question...can I get the fish room system up and running and everything cycled and then connect the two together?

Any ideas, concerns, help, etc. would be greatly appreciated.
 

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Ok so I was thinking about this a bit more today and hadn't even realized a part of the system that I know nothing about, which is having each of the tanks draining to the next. How do I know the amount of flow from the 20t to the 20 long if the drain is completely submerged, has a horizontal portion and then drops down to the tank below? Am I going to have to rethink my plan or am I over analyzing.
 
It's called overflow for a reason. :)

What goes in the first tank overflows the drain into the second, which overflows into the sump, and so on. You don't control the flow, gravity does.

Jeff
 
And say if you have 400 gph being pumped into first tank and its not overflowing then you know the drain is flowing to the next at 400gph.
 
Why three seperate tanks? I would go with one large sump/refugium tank and keep it simple. If your heart is set on three tanks, the drain on the skimmer tank will need to be placed at the high water mark, not at the bottom. I don't see any need for bubble traps in tank #2, but I would place a trap in tank #3 before the return pump.
 
You need to raise the bulkhead on the top two tanks to the water level you want. The way it is now, they will drain faster than the return from the pump and will not hold water. To answer your question, yes you can connect the two whenever you wish.
 
You need to raise the bulkhead on the top two tanks to the water level you want. The way it is now, they will drain faster than the return from the pump and will not hold water. To answer your question, yes you can connect the two whenever you wish.

Ok, so let me make sure I understand this. My DT overflows at 600gph to the top tank and I have that bulkhead drilled at the height I want the water in that tank and it still overflows at 600gph (right?) to the second tank and I have that bulkhead drilled at the height I want the water in that tank and then that still overflows at 600gph (right?) to the stock tank. Then after all of that it is returned via external pump to DT. I would need to have valves so I could control the return to ensure that it doesn't suffocate the system, right?

Thanks for the response too.
 
The overflow will only flow at the rate of the return pump, if the return pump is 600 gph and the overflow is rated up to 600 gph, then the system is maxed out. If the return pump is only putting out 400 gph then the return will be at 400 gph. It is that simple. If the return is putting out 1000 gph and the overflow is rated up to 600, you will have a wet floor.

The level in the top two sumps will be determined by where the bulkhead is put, so plan that carefully. As you have it in the drawing, the top two tanks will hold no water as the bulkhead is at the bottom, raise the bulkhead to the water level needed for the skimmer in the first tank, and the level desired for the second tank.
 
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The overflow will only flow at the rate of the return pump, if the return pump is 600 gph and the overflow is rated up to 600 gph, then the system is maxed out. If the return pump is only putting out 400 gph then the return will be at 400 gph. It is that simple. If the return is putting out 1000 gph and the overflow is rated up to 600, you will have a wet floor.

The level in the top two sumps will be determined by where the bulkhead is put, so plan that carefully. As you have it in the drawing, the top two tanks will hold no water as the bulkhead is at the bottom, raise the bulkhead to the water level needed for the skimmer in the first tank, and the level desired for the second tank.

Thanks for that info...still learning flow rates, etc. I will adjust the overflows on those two tanks to the proper level.
 
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