Is there any good videos on YouTube you’ve found helpful about running a sump filter for multiple tanks ? Never ran a sump before and I went to my local fish store yesterday ( picture above) and was told by one of the workers they run a sump for this filter instead of individual filtration and heaters when I asked him. So far I’m running 3 ten gallon tanks and 2 20 gallon and more to come, it’s been a pain to filter all the water, looking to convert to something more efficient like the store. Thanks in advance!
Pictures for attention
Posted by Telephone_Super
2 Comments
Think of the sump as another tank that is home to your equipment. Things like filters, heaters, uv sterilizers, sensors and other things you may not want in the display tanks. Also for treating and maintaing water quality across all tanks.
You plumb your other tanks to feed into the sump and then have a pump that returns it back to the separate tanks. Normally with overflows and valves to control levels and flow
Just a few comments on sumps and filtering multiple tanks with a single sump.
If one tank gets sick that means every tank gets sick. You no longer have isolated systems. Each one will share bioload, water conditions, etc, with each other so keep that in mind. It’s both a more efficient but also in many ways, restricting system if you filter multiple tanks with a single sump.
You need to have a fair understanding of plumbing as well as being confident in drilling into glass to make intakes for the overflows and sealing them. Unless you buy future aquariums that are already setup for a sump.
Drilling into the tank also means you are locking your tanks into a more restrictive shape and layout. Going back from that is not recommended since you drilled into the tank already, that part of the glass cannot bear that much weight anymore or it risks cracking.
Sumps are not the greatest if you want plants either. You can seal the sump to prevent CO2 gassing off but another thing to keep in mind.
In theory it is more efficient but just keep in mind you are locking the tanks that share a sump to sharing all of the water conditions and health. It may be nice if you plan on having very similar setups between each tank that is sharing a sump and you don’t mind having the overflow pipe in the tank.