Is anyone running a central sump???

maginter · #1 09/24/2006, 09:35 AM

I am looking at adding another tank, or two or three...

I am looking at the idea of a central sump to manage one water supply. I would have the ability to shut off a tank in the event of a contamination or infection. I am thinking that doing this will eliminate the need for several equipment setups and could potentially reduce the electric bill...but more so to minimize the setups.

Any comments?

TIA,

Mark

jeffgp · #2 09/24/2006, 09:47 AM

depending on what size tanks .. you would need one big sump and skimmer to go along with it.. not to mention the pumps youll need to get the water to each of the tanks

rickh · #3 09/24/2006, 10:10 AM

The problem is by the time you would detect the infection it would already be everywhere. R

DrBDC · #4 09/24/2006, 10:17 AM

I run my frag tanks off of the same sump as my display. I plan on an upstairs tank plumbed to the same sump as well. I use a 110 gallon stock tank for a sump. I would probably even plumb my softy tank off of it if it were located in a better spot.

maginter · #5 09/24/2006, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DrBDC
I run my frag tanks off of the same sump as my display. I plan on an upstairs tank plumbed to the same sump as well. I use a 110 gallon stock tank for a sump. I would probably even plumb my softy tank off of it if it were located in a better spot.

That is what I am looking at doing. A stock tank is in my opinion, the best approch. My issue is that I am all on the same floor. I am planning on placing the sump in the garage which is about 18 inches lower that the living space floor. I am going to have to do some calculations to ensure I can the water up into the tank.

humbugy · #6 09/24/2006, 03:12 PM

i run a 40 breeder fuge/growout tank, 90 gallon display, and a 46 gallon bowfront full of extra liverock off one 20 gallon High tank as a sump

exoticaquatix · #7 09/24/2006, 04:23 PM

you can use one huge pump to move water to all the other tank, drain them all back to your common sump and have a big skimmer there. its pretty simple, basicly how the systems at the store i work at run. only proble we run into is getting good flow in each tank, but thats with about 30 tanks. 3-5 should be no prob plus a few powerheads here and there.. just make sure you have redundant drains on each tank to avoid overflows. a big sump means a big mess with a clog.
-nick