Actually, it turns out it was my Foxface that just turned "2" in the tank. The Achilles was added in May, 2007...so he's actually closer to "3", than "2".

Checking the records also tells me that my oldest fish is "Chuck" the (now) female clown who will be 4 years in April. Mostly, I still have young fish.

I'd love to go have a drink at your place

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/IMG_1431.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/IMG_1437.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/IMG_1438.jpg

That is a beauty Tank!! WOW

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/IMG_1431.jpg

I must have missed this but can you explain how your water gets from sump 1 to sump 2. I know sump one is elevated but the pumbing to sump 2 goes in at the top, how is the water traveling up?

Superb work. What a beautiful display.

Sump 1 (my Water change Sump), is just slightly higher than Sump 2 (Main sump)..but only 1" or 2" higher. The water level in sump 1 however, is significantly higher than Sump 2.

This is achieved because the sumps are connected by a Herbie "overflow" system. Sump 1 is bulkheaded at the bottom and connected directly to sump 2. There is a gate valve on this connection. If the gate valve is wide open, then the two sumps settle out at the same operating water level. But since the gate valve is partly closed, it takes more pressure to push the water through and the water level in Sump 1 is higher.

As it is not advisable to run a standard Herbie system with a single pipe, there is a second overflow connection that would kick in only if the water level in Sump 1 ever got too high.

This is the most unusual of the 4 Herbie overflows in my system.

Thanks for the info, so when you do a water change you just close the valve to sump 2, empty sump 1 and fill again? So you don't have to shut return pumps or anything off?

Yup, that is exactly it.

As soon as I stop the flow between the sumps, sump 1 fills up capturing 50 gallons. As soon as it fills, I stop the flow INTO sump 1 and that sump is now completely isolated even as the return pump continues to run. (water just flows directly into sump 2 through the Herbie emergency drain).

I then dump sump 1, and refill it with new SW which is pumped in from the mixing tank. Then put the sump back into circulation. One advantage of this system is that I get to drain away any stuff that has settled in Sump 1 when I dump it. It is a good way to get rid of detritis.

Perfect, I am setting up a new tank and your thread has given me all kinds of ideas, thanks for sharing.