Someone else has a thread going about sumps and multiple tanks and how to set up the returns and rather than hijack that thread I thought I would come here with my idea. I'm not sure if this would work so I would like some feedback.
Here is what I want to do. I would like to set up a series of 15 and 20 gallon tanks. I would like to have them drilled an all drain into a sump for a larger system and to make water changes easier. I know that having one return pump would require different return lines and different adjustments to each line, especially since the tanks would be on 3 different levels and this can get confusing, I also know that individual pumps would get pretty costly and cluttered since I am thinking of perhaps 15 tanks in the system.
Here is my idea. Since the water flowing out of the tanks will be equal to the amount of water flowing into the tanks I thought that if I could do this it might work out. have all 15 tanks drain into one lower level sump. In this sump I would have the filter, heater, return pump etc. Instead of having the return pump return water to each tank individually it would pump water to a second reservoir positioned above the tanks. This reservoir would have 15 individual bulkheads each with its own line leading down into one of the display tanks. The return flow to each tank would be gravity fed. A larger overflow bulkhead would be provided to drain any excess water from the upper sump to the lower sump if for some reason a bunch of the tank siphons got plugged. I could even do two lines to each tank maybe one set a bit higher in the upper reservoir to prevent this if needed. I could put in large enough return lines so I could put a ball valve on each one to regulate the flow if I needed to or to shut it off all together if I needed to.
Can anyone see any potential problems with this sort of setup. Any comments would be welcome.
Here is what I want to do. I would like to set up a series of 15 and 20 gallon tanks. I would like to have them drilled an all drain into a sump for a larger system and to make water changes easier. I know that having one return pump would require different return lines and different adjustments to each line, especially since the tanks would be on 3 different levels and this can get confusing, I also know that individual pumps would get pretty costly and cluttered since I am thinking of perhaps 15 tanks in the system.
Here is my idea. Since the water flowing out of the tanks will be equal to the amount of water flowing into the tanks I thought that if I could do this it might work out. have all 15 tanks drain into one lower level sump. In this sump I would have the filter, heater, return pump etc. Instead of having the return pump return water to each tank individually it would pump water to a second reservoir positioned above the tanks. This reservoir would have 15 individual bulkheads each with its own line leading down into one of the display tanks. The return flow to each tank would be gravity fed. A larger overflow bulkhead would be provided to drain any excess water from the upper sump to the lower sump if for some reason a bunch of the tank siphons got plugged. I could even do two lines to each tank maybe one set a bit higher in the upper reservoir to prevent this if needed. I could put in large enough return lines so I could put a ball valve on each one to regulate the flow if I needed to or to shut it off all together if I needed to.
Can anyone see any potential problems with this sort of setup. Any comments would be welcome.