ive been wondering..

[demon_surfer]

...is it possible to run more than one tank through a single sump?

i know you would have to have them at the same water parameters but is there any reason why you couldnt?

im thinking if i had a couple of good sized community tanks i could plumb them all together to a sump in the garage or what ever.

would that be possible or practical?? anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

[Bruddah Chrispy]

I think that is what many fish stores do. Maybe some of those folks who polled as having 7+ tanks could answer this?

[demon_surfer]

i think they do..ill have to ask the next time im in.

the idea just seems neat to me. it would cut down on equipment costs but i wonder if it would make maintenance harder than it would be other wise...hmmm i dunno anyone have any opinions?...can you imagine trying to find a fish in all the piping that would be required for something like that? :D

ROFL would it be cool if you could make like a giant hamster cage type thing with the tubes goign all over for your fsih to swim through...your favorite lil fishy can follow youi all over the house :D

[RTR]

Of course you can, many folks (including me) do so.

There are two varieties broadly speaking:

1. "Pure" central system: Water is pumped into a manifold, with individual piping to each tank, individually adjustable. Each tank is equiped with static overflows, or constant-level siphons. The out-flow stream is merged back to the filters/sumps.

2. Circulating range sysytem: Water is pumped to tank 1, then flows passively to tank 2, then to tank 3...etc. to tank n. From tank n it returns to the filter/pumps, etc.

Mine is the second format, but with two separate loops (one with six tanks, one with four), so is something of a hybrid between the two.

Neurotic quarantine is absolutely required - you have too much at risk to introduce any fish of which you are not absolutely certain.

Clogs and overflows are a major hazard.

Water changes are a snap.

[demon_surfer]

yeah i can imagine..one lil fishy wipes out your whole stock with the sniffles =/

with water changes..you just take it out of the central sump? if so doesnt that mean that there is a chance the water in some tanks could still get a bit stale? :o

[RTR]

Your water is circulated through the entire system at rates you control. No part of the system escapes circulation, so no part can get "stale".

You can, and do, vacuum individual tanks as much as you want - you are just pumping water into the sump as you are removing it from tank x, or you have an alarm on the sump so you don't drain it dry or flood it while vacuuming individual tanks in the system. With a couple of dozen tanks operating at the moment, I do several per day - some in the system, some not. Some days - if the system is a bit behind on partials, I just use the sump to water change only. It is much more complex to set up than to operate.

[demon_surfer]

i think i have a picture in my head of what you mean now :o

having all the extra water linked up would help keep your bacteria levels more stable too right?

[RTR]

I'm one of the folks who believe more water is more stable than less water - but that is debatable just like everything else about fish-keeping.

My system has so many plants that nitrification bacteria are not a big issue - some tanks are basically veggie filters, and the 4-tank loop is on reversed light cycle from the 6-tank loop. There are no pronounced day/night O2/CO2 variations. There has not been any detectable ammonia or nitrite in ~15 years. I frequently have to add nitrates - but that is a function of whether or not I've done my gravel vacuuming in the FO units - they less I vacuum, the less nitrate I have to add (positive feedback is a bad thing in this case).

[demon_surfer]

so basically its running like an actual lake or somesuch. would it perhaps be a bit more stable with the nitrate and nitrite if you had more fish in the system?.

Also would you mind telling me what a reverse light cycle is?

hehe i know most of these questions are kinda basic stuff but everyones gotta learn somewhere you know. thanks alot for your help RTR :D

[demon_surfer]

i just thought....what would happen if you plumbed a big pond into a ssytem like we are talking about?

i mean aside from the added water would the extra goodies that grow in ponds like the bugs etc be able to make their way to the interior tanks?? that might have some advantages if they could like a refugium feeder type thing almost...thought if they COULD get rhought the plumbing it would probably be in pretty small numbers and you would probably get a huge insect population in your house which wouldnt be pleasant :D

[RTR]

The easy one first ;)

Reversed light cycle is just that - when one set of tanks has their lights go off, the others are coming on. One set has day 11 AM to 11pm, the other has day 11PM to 11AM. The dark cycle set feeds CO2 to the lighted set, the light set feeds O2 to the dark set, the 24-hour cycle is smoother. One set is fed mornings, one set is fed evenings - balance the load out.

Hook up with native or wild waters is never ever desirable - disease and other contamination can go both ways, and is rarely good, usually illegal.

But the setup can be handled as a series of refugia. A FO carnivore tank followed by a heavily planted tank, followed bt a daphnia tank (eat bacteria and other smallish beasties) and that followed by a wood shrimp tank (who sit in the incoming current harvesting the daphnia that wash over). I have a rainbow tank with lots of Java Moss , adjacent tanks are heavily planted and serve as Rainbow fry nurseries, many of which are carried in by the flow. You can say you are playing with a highly restricted and limited ecosystem - the plant tanks help produce the snails to feed the puffers (my main carnivores), while the plants are eating some of the puffer waste (but only some). It is fun and challenging - not that you will have a closed system, but that you are using some parts of the system to offset the needs from other parts of the system.

[demon_surfer]

that does sound neat :)

do the snails, daphina etc just drift round the set up to the fish that are gonna dine on them or do you help it along some?

i did not mean an actual river or something just a pond but i assume that the same things would apply to hooking it up with the diseases and all.

do all of your tanks have some fish in them or are the planted/daphnia ones just that, planted and daphnia tanks =)

hehe...i love this hobby, i defy anyone to find anything this intricate in hamsters or what ever ;)

[Bruddah Chrispy]

Originally posted by demon_surfer

hehe...i love this hobby, i defy anyone to find anything this intricate in hamsters or what ever ;)

The key is to put the hamsters to work powering your aquariums by running on their wheels.

[demon_surfer]

LOL:D :D :D theres a good idea....hamster wheel powered mechanical filters :o and automatic feeders to...when they fall off into the tank ;)

[RTR]

Some units are FO, none are pure plant only (PO?) - they have daphnia, or shrimp, and snails (common, pond, MTS), or even fry for growout, or bristlenose breeders). That varies with time and my needs of the moment.

The daphnia tank overflows to the woodshrimp tank. After wood shrimp comes a sponge-filtered pump, so that is dead end for livestock.

Snails are harvested/collected by type and size to feed particular puffers. That I do. Plus there are other stand-alone snail breeding tanks.