Frag Tanks & Filtration

[newbcoral]

I am going to do 2 frag tanks. Size of the frag tanks will be 65cm lenght , 30cm width & 20cm height. These will be placed on top of each other.

Top frag tank will have a hole to overflow in the aquarium beneath it. I will place a canister filter of around 1000 litres per hour. It will take the water from the bottom aquarium and pump it in the top aquarium. Is that enough for filtration?

The skimmer will be an internal one place in the bottom aquarium. I maybe add an NP Pellets reactor near the canister filter.

This system is just for frags only.

What do you think?

 

[rwb500]

what is the canister filter for? and it won't work in that manner anyway because they are not designed to pump against head pressure. You will have to use a pump to circulate water between the two tanks.

 

[newbcoral]

canister is an external filter. I thought I make a hole in the upper aquarium so that when level goes up water will get down to the bottom aquarium and the canister will take water from there

 

[CuzzA]

Not going to work. The second a pump is turned off, power goes out or the pump fails the top tank will drain all of the water into the second tank and subsequently the floor.

Now if you set up an overflow similar to a traditional display/sump it would work (which basically you're just turning the sump into a frag tank too), But I would forget the canister filter and just use a return pump, especially if you'll have a skimmer in the bottom frag tank. I would just put rock rubble in the bottom of both tanks. Between the skimmer and the rock that would be plenty of filtration for frags, inverts and a fish or two to eat algae and feed the corals.

 

[rwb500]

canister is an external filter.

I know what a canister filter is, I was asking you why you were planning on using one. We don't typically (or ever, really) use them in SW tanks.

And yeah even if the filter's pump was somehow strong enough, it would cause a flood in the way you have described it.

 

[aznxgqb0yx]

If your just doing it purely as a frag tank no fish etc., then keep it simple use one tank with good flow and keep up with water changes that's all you really need.

 

[Bodnaahh]

So I agree with a lot of other comments here that this is probably not the best way of going about this. But in theory it could work.

I've seen canister filters fight about a meter of height used in the way your describing (not really well though). Also, I can't tell if you were eluding to using an overflow standpipe or not but if you weren't, it would regulate the height of the top tank's water (even with no power) solving that issue.

With that being said, I would encourage you to explore other approaches.