Hooking up a 3rd tank to the system
 

So I have a typical setup with a 45g DT above with a 20g sump on the bottom. I am running out of room for equipment and because of the way I have designed my sump without much foresight I am having troubles fitting a standard skimmer into my setup. I have some tanks lying around and was hoping to hook up a 3rd tank into my system but can't really come up with a nice way to do it. I was hoping someone might be able to help me come up with an idea as to how to go about this. I was hoping to maybe add a bigger DT and use the current DT as a display refugium which would give me more room in my sump for more equipment.

I had a look over your build, I think the biggest problem is your stand. What is the height on it?
You could build a new on the cheap and it would solve the clearance problem. You could keep the current plumbing setup that way too.

One option is, 2 DT's side by side. Independent drains, one sump, 2 return pumps.

Yes, you're totally right. The small size of my cabinet is the starting point of the issues. it's only 23 inches tall in terms of clearance on the inside. I was dumb and made my baffle 13 inches high in the skimmer section. Most traditional skimmers start at about 18-22 inches high with operating height around 6-8 inches. If I have to raise the skimmer 5-7 inches there isn't enough clearance for the skimmer. You're also correct in that building a higher bigger stand could be a solution but I also like the idea of having 2 separate DT connected in 1 system as it could allow me to do some more specific tanks in each one.

Hmmmm, I'll dabble at designing something with your idea. Seems like a good way to do it. Do you think I could still just have 1 powerful pump that splits and provides return for both tanks?

If you do this (which I personally don't recommend right now), then you should add a much larger sump since if the power goes out, the overflows will be draining water from the top layer of two tanks and could overwhelm the excess carrying capacity of a small sump.

Next time you're over we can draw up a few possibilities but since this tank was just set up, I would sit back and enjoy it for the summer and consider an upgrade farther down the road. A large part of the enjoyment of this hobby is to relax and let things grow, rather than constantly tinkering and upgrading (which is fun but 2 months is too soon IMO to upgrade).

Cheers,

Anthony

Insightful as always Anthony, I definitely don't plan on doing this right away. Like I mentioned when I was over earlier today I will probably doing lots of trips for races and events during summer so I will most likely wait until fall before I take any actions. I just love to research ahead and start getting ideas going. It only took me 5 years before I actually bought my first tank :razz: haha

Hey Brian come out to the VAHS spring auction on April 9, bonus it's in North Van and pickup a new to you bigger DT for probably a very good price.

Where and when is this auction?