2 tanks, 2 canisters, shared water...possible?

[drdud]

btw. Nice drawing. This made your question easy to understand.

 

[wrek]

We addressed the water leveling with the siphon hoses between the two tanks... in more than one post.

 

[rainbowcharmer]

What happens if the heater fails and overheats? Typically I split the heating into two smaller heaters in case one craps out. You're talking about doubling the heater size to account for two tanks, so if that one crapped out and overheated, you'd have very cooked fish... Just a thought.

 

[Lillyan]

btw. Nice drawing. This made your question easy to understand.

Thanks, I use MS Paint for everything, lol. Pics always help.



Thanks for all the info you guys. Covered pretty much what I was wondering/worrying in the back of my mind.
Luckily no sick fish in a long while. Maybe because I haven't added new fish. Had in Ich scare, but that was because my 3 Hydor Theo heaters all died one after the other. The temp was down to 50F nearly overnight the last day before I moved the most sensitive fish to a 40g and was able to buy a fancy new heater and insulating the tank.

 

[RodInCALIFORNIA]

would be cheaper and easier just to run both tanks to a wet dry filter and call it done, its very simple and easy to do and very cost effective.

 

[CWO4GUNNER]

Two tanks side by side its difficult to manage flow without a sump tank underneath as stated, however the installation of a commonly located 1" bulkhead fitting on the lower back or bottom panels of each tank would facilitate equilibrium flow beteen both tanks without the threat of air bubble accumulation and hydraulic lock common in overflow boxes. Provided your tank panels are not made of tempered glass, diamond hole saw drilling with a common drill gun and bulkhead fitting installation would make your idea not only possible but viable and safe. Both available on eBay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/1-3-4-INCH-GLAS...022?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item414818f786
[YT]<object width="640" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/o5IRHrrzfFs&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/o5IRHrrzfFs&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></embed></object>[/YT]
http://cgi.ebay.com/1-Bulkhead-Fitt...805?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4a9fbaca95

 

[dundadundun]

dual heaters are definitely safer. kudos on the mention of that first and foremost issue.

a water bridge as has been mentioned would be the best bet in such an application vise just scrapping the whole idea and utilizing overflows, bulkheads, wet/dry, etc..

one thing i'd like to touch on... if i may ask, gunner;
would a 1" passive bridge be sufficient to pass all of the flow generated by a powered pump sufficiently (according to upper limit standards some folks have) if say one pump completely fails immediately after servicing/cleaning the remaining (good) pump rendering the flow uni-directional?

i'm not going to pretend to know the mathematical formulas off hand but 1" seems cutting it a bit close in a possible catastrophic failure to me. murphys law and all...