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Re: Two tanks, run by one canister filter



On Fri, Sep 20, 2002 at 02:51:45AM -0400, Gitte wrote:
> I currently have only two small planted tanks, a 20G and a 10G in
> separate rooms.  We are painting our entire house room-by-room and I am
> having to move the tanks occasionally.  Later on we'll be setting up one
> huge tank but for now I'm thinking of setting these two up side-by-side
> in a room that has already been painted, so that I don't have to move
> them for a while.  There's no reason for the fish from both to be
> separate - - they all have similar living requirements.  It's only due
> to bioload that they are in two tanks.
>  
> Each tank currently has an Aquaclear filter but due to ease of
> maintenance, I would prefer to use a single Eheim canister to filter
> both tanks.  If I bought a filter of the correct capacity for 30G (is
> there such a small Eheim?).
>  
> Can anyone think of significant disadvantages to using this approach?  I
> realize that water from each tank would get circulated through the
> filter into the other tank but if it were one big tank (which it will be
> eventually), the fish would all be sharing the water too.

I have an Eheim Ecco on my 35g, works great.

Probably the easiest would be a sump-like setup: have one tank
higher than the other, have the output of the canister go to the
upper tank, input in the lower, and an overflow box on the upper
tank feeding to the lower tank.

But store-bought overflows ain't cheap.  Either make one yourself
(a bunch of DIY plans out there - just do a google search), or just
run a siphon from the upper to the lower tank at the same rate as
the canister rate.  Tubing and a gate valve or ball valve.  Although
this is potentially more dangerous because water will continue
flowing when power goes out.  Hmm, maybe you should stick with an
overflow after all. ;)

That being said, I think I would just bite the bullet and buy a
larger tank now.  That way you haven't wasted any time cobbling up
a short-term solution.

-Eric