expanding the reef to 3 tanks

so i have a crazy idea. my 75gal tank and sump reside inside of a room i built. the display for the 75gal is inwall to the adjacent room. i also have a peninsula off of the corner of the room where another tank is at. the edge of the tank that touches the room has a hole for the plumbing to enter. right now the 55gal tank is a cichlid tank and the fluval canister is in the 'fish room' next to the 40gal sump. i took the old 17gal tank and put it next to the 75gal and cut a hole in the wall to see what it'd look like. thats going to become the mantis tank.

im considering now taking the 55gal of cichlids and sell them to my LFS or friend with another cichlid tank. if i do this i can setup a small 55gal predator tank for a lionfish or something.

im considering making it so that the entire setup is one system. each display would filter through the same fuge/sump combo with a central return pump feeding them.

id like input on my crazy idea. i am for sure doing the 17gal mantis tank build and plumbing it into the existing 75gal/40gal setup.

i hvae yet to buy the pvc plumbed return pump for the 75gal/40gal setup. right now its operating on a temporary submersible pump.

my unanswered concerns to this idea:

1) will the 'predator tank' potentially cause a toxin problem for the system? i understand that lionfish can release toxins into the tank if they feel threatened.

2) will keeping "reef" water parameters throughout the system cause a problem for the mantis / predators? right now i keep the tank temp at 79 degrees, 0 nitrate, 0 nitrate, 480 calc, 10 dkh, ph 8.4.

3) do the CPR overflows loose siphon during a power outage when using the lifter pumps on them to keep the oxygen out? need to make sure there wont be reverse siphon from the 17gal/55gal tanks. my 40gal sump is spec'd to handle the reverse siphon from the 75gal mixed reef at this time, and has a few gallons of room for additional overflow but i havent calculated what it would be. i figure i wont have to calculate it if the CPR overflows remove the siphon when the lifter pumps loose power.

ive included a picture of the design idea. the green piping is the return plumbing, the red pipe is the drain from the sump to the return pump, the grey piping is from the overflows back to the sump.

 

I don't foresee a problem with #2 or #3. With #3, you don't need to worry about the overflow, it shouldn't lose the siphon, but even if it does, the aqua lifter will restart it as soon as the power is back on. What you do need to worry about is where the return flows back into the tank. You should either make sure it's just below the water's surface or drill holes immediately below the water line so that if you lose power, those hole will allow air in and that will break the siphon. You could actually drill them just above the surface too so no water will flow back into the sump. If you do that on all of your tanks, there's shouldn't be a problem.

 

ha it'd be a "3REEF"

 

dont know the answers to your questions... but I LIKE YOUR IDEAS

 

1 If you use carbon definitely no problem.
2 No they have similar parameters in the wild.
3 All over the top overflows have a greater danger of losing siphon. I would drill if I were you.

 

yeah, i considered it. i have the bit now, and it would make more logical sense to do it that way to insure there is NEVER a problem with the overflow.

im going to do this in phases. the 17gal mantis tank is first. it has nothing in it and can be drilled with no issue. the 55gal can also be drilled its not tempered.

also, should i go with one return pump for all 3 like that or split off the drain with a T and put another return pump on the left side (refer to the image in the first post)

 

yeah ive got the 'bug' bad....

if i could capitalize on more floor space in my home i would have more tanks. i have the basement of my home to work with. and so far i think im doing pretty well. got a huge couch pit with these three tanks wrapping it. it'll be neat to have a predator tank, mixed reef, and a mantis shrimp to look at seperately while watching tv, video gamin, or whatever. plus above the tv you got the bearded dragon to look at in its 80gal woody tank.

plus the cost of startup is lessened on the two additional tanks. just requires a bigger return pump. lighting i already have for both tanks from my mishaps on the 75gal build.

 

If the pump is strong enough you could go with a manifold with valves for each line to fine tune the flow to each tank.

 

return pump choices....

800GPH to the 75gal
150GPH to the 17gal
500GPH to the 55gal

1450GPH

Calculating in head pressure is where I get lost. Pressure must be different based on the alignment of the PVC. If its vertical its higher head than horizontal right? So if its 4FT vertical from the return pump and then 7FT horizontal is that 4FT head or 11FT head or some other calculation to factor in the pipe orientation?

I dont want to buy a crazy huge pump or a under powered one. So its hard to know if I should go with something like the Iwaki MD70RLT (1500GPH and maxhead of 31FT) or one with less ability for high head.

 

oh i planned on having them valved off from the manifold to control the flow. as they 17gal doesnt need the same flow as the 75gal